🎼Is this Clara Clayton/Dodsworth?

On Monday I shared this super cabinet card photo from my collection on social media.

Anne, a follower on Twitter sent me this message with a family photo she had:

“I wonder if she might be this lady? Her name is Clara Dodsworth, the second wife of my great great uncle, who was a musician and played summer seasons at Scarborough”.

I asked Anne what other information she had about her:

“I know that she was a widow when she married John Dodsworth and her previous name was Clara Desforge. She had two daughters, one of whom was a piano teacher, so I think they must have met through a musical connection as John Dodsworth was a professional musician, in spite of only having one arm!

They married in 1895, about a year after the death of his first wife. She died in 1907. I think she might have come from the Midlands, but I’d have to look it up.

John himself was from Bradford, and although he travelled quite a bit, he didn’t go there as far as I know, so she must have met him in the north.

That’s all I can tell you without looking it up. Interestingly, she was buried with John’s youngest daughter by his first wife in Undercliffe cemetery, and John was buried next to her after he died in 1910”. Huge thanks to Anne for letting me share all this information and the family photo she has on this blog.

Comparing the two photos side by side, it definitely looks to me like the same woman. What do you think?

A little Family History.

Following on from the great information that Anne had given me above I looked firstly for Clara’s marriage to John Dodsworth as I knew the date of that from Anne.

As you can see, Clara was a widow and John a widower when they married, as Anne had said.

John’s first marriage was to Mary Clough on 15 October 1868.

Mary Clough was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, in 1850. She died in the September quarter of 1894, a year before John married Clara. John and Mary had seven children that I have found so far, and 2 died very young.

Clara Clayton’s first marriage was to William Desforge on 20 September 1879.

Clara was born in the first quarter of 1856, registered in Bradford, Yorkshire. Clara died in the first quarter of 1909 in Bradford, Yorkshire about 18 months before John.

Clara was one of nine children that I’ve found so far born to John Mark Clayton and his wife Hannah Sutcliffe. When I was looking for their marriage, I came across the fact that the couple must have had a double wedding on Christmas Day 1857 in the parish church in Leeds, Yorkshire, see image below, two brothers married two sisters.

Here’s the small family tree on Ancestry that I have compiled for Clara and John: Clara Clayton Family

While researching, I also came across this super newspaper clipping that someone had shared on a public family tree on Ancestry, and it’s great, as it shows John Dodsworth sitting centre at the front with the long beard as the conductor of the orchestra at the Bradford Theatre Royal.