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The Sheldon family in Norton Green
The most readily available records that can be accessed which record the residents of any particular community are the national census returns which commenced in 1841. These records are published 100 years after the date of each individual census and the latest published relates to the census of 1901. Many of these census returns include addresses but sadly none for Norton Green are included until 1901, so a degree of guesswork and reference to other documents is necessary to ascertain where people lived.

Thomas Sheldon was baptised at Norton Church in 1814. He was the eldest son of Thomas Sheldon, also baptised at Norton in 1791, and the grandson of John Sheldon (born 1764) and Mary Frost who were married at Norton in 1789. Thomas (1791-1859) lived most of his life in Brown Edge and his gravestone (which is still there) carries a most unusual epitaph:

"O ponder well my sudden fall
Death will quickly soon you call
Ye little think who read this stone
How soon the case may be your own"

Thomas Sheldon (1814-1889) married Deborah Mayer at Stoke Church in 1838 which seems an unlikely venue as both of them gave their address as Lane Ends (now Sandy Lane ) Brown Edge, and in the 1841 Census they were recorded with their own family as living in Norton Green. His occupation was shown as coalminer.

Extract from particulars of sale of parts of Norton Green Hall estate. Lots 12 -15 relate to Sheldon's Row and Lot 18 relates to Mayer Street
sale of lots

Extract from particulars of sale of parts of Norton Green Hall estate 1842. Lot 18 includes properties in Mayer Street
sale of Lots

Thomas and Deborah Sheldon were also recorded as living in Norton Green in the 1851 Census and were almost certainly in the same house as they had the same neighbours as in 1841. The Census return for 1851 still shows a total of 18 properties in Norton Green although some of the residents had changed and it would be from around 1860 before the village grew in size commencing with the construction of Foundry Square, Trent Terrace and Leek Road .

By 1861 Thomas and Deborah had moved to a farm at Stanley and his occupation was now "farmer of 10 acres". Since their marriage they had produced 13 children, of which 2 had died, and by reference to the place of birth of the children it is recorded that 11 had been born in Norton Green, and 2 had been born in Stanley after their move around 1859.

In the 1871 Census Thomas and Deborah were still living with some of their younger children in New House Farm at Stanley and 2 of their older sons, Thomas (1839-1917) and Elijah (1848-1909) had married and were living with their own families in adjacent cottages on the farm recorded in the census as "Sheldon's Cottages". The 2 sons stated their occupation as "coalminer" and they would almost certainly have had to walk to and from Norton each day to the nearest coalmine.

Thomas (born 1839) married Hannah Mountford of Bagnall and Elijah (born 1848) married Martha Adams, also of Bagnall. Martha Adams' father William was the landlord of the Hollybush public house at Stockton Brook and her brother James also lived in a cottage attached to New House Farm.

All of the families left New House Farm around 1880. Thomas and Deborah moved to 148 (now changed) Leek Road Endon, Thomas and Hannah to Norton Green (no address), and Elijah and Martha appear to have had a temporary stop in Baddeley Green where son John was born before moving back to Norton Green (no address) around 1883.

By 1891 the elder Thomas had died and his wife Deborah was living next door to her son Thomas and from information included in a later census it is believed that they were living at 3 Mayer Street . Elijah and Martha are assumed to have been living at 11 Yardley Street (their address in the 1901 Census.

Deborah Sheldon (nee Mayer) died in 1894 and is buried with her husband in Norton churchyard.

In 1901 Thomas and Hannah were living at 3 Mayer Street with 6 of their 9 children. The other 3 children had married and were also living in Norton Green - Albert (married Sarah Morrey) at 2 Trent Terrace, Thomas (married Sarah Holdcroft) at 7 Mayer Street, and Sarah (assumed married to William Mayer) at 1 Mayer Street.

Thomas, Hannah, and their unmarried children John, May, and Mary Ann (who all died very close together in 1901/1902) are buried in a family grave at Norton Churchyard.

Children of Thomas Sheldon and Hannah Mountford

Name	Born	Died	Place of birth	Spouse
Thomas	1868		Stanley	Sarah Holdcroft
Sarah	1869		Stanley	William Mayer (assumed)
John Mountford	1870	1902	Stanley	Unmarried
May	1874	1902	Stanley
Albert Henry	1877		Stanley	Sarah Morrey
Mary E.	1880		Stanley
Endon	1882	1964	Norton Green	Elizabeth Fox.
Mary Ann	1886	1901	Norton Green	Unmarried
Alice	1890		Norton Green

In 1901 Elijah and Martha were living at 11 Yardley Street with 6 of their 10 children. Two other sons were married and living locally - William (married Harriett Holdcroft) at 132 Leek Road and Walter (married Sarah Elizabeth Scarlett) at Brown Edge. Daughter Hannah was in service with the Aspinall family at Ford Green House and it is believed that daughter Sarah had married Joseph Holdcroft or John Darsey.

Children of Elijah Sheldon and Martha Adams

Name	Born	Died	Place of birth	Spouse
Sarah Ann	1869		Stanley	Joseph Holdcroft/John Darsey
William	1870		Stanley	Harriett Holdcroft
Hannah	1873		Stanley	Samuel Worthy
Walter	1875		Stanley	Sarah Elizabeth Scarlett
Leonard	1877		Stanley	Matilda (Tillie) Haywood
Charlotte	1878		Stanley	Thomas Yardley
John	1880	1958	Badderley Green	Maria Mountford
Alice	1883		Norton Green	Samuel Heath
Albert	1885		Norton Green	Annie Mayer
Elijah	1887		Norton Green	Annie Dawson

It is known that Walter and his wife Sarah eventually moved to Smallthorne and that their son Walter John was killed in the Sneyd Colliery explosion on New Years day 1942. Another son, Enoch, was the landlord of the Fountain Inn at Meerbrook before it was flooded under the Tittesworth reservoir. Elijah married Annie Dawson and they lived at 40 Foundry Square and after the death of Annie Elijah moved with his son (Elijah Alan) to Trentside Road in the 1960's. Elijah Alan never married and when he died in 2005 at the age of 80 he was the last member of this branch of the Sheldon family to live in Norton Green.
John married Maria Mountford and they lived their married life in Station Road Milton.

Other Sheldon families
The first Sheldon to be recorded in Norton Green was Thomas (1814-1889) and his ancestry can be traced back to Brown Edge. Research has shown that around 1800 there were 4 branches of the Sheldon family in Brown Edge but it has not been possible to link them. The descendants of Thomas were always particular to differentiate between themselves and the "Brown Edge Sheldons". Members of these Brown Edge Sheldons who worked in, or moved later to Norton Green included Richard (born 1821), an unmarried farm labourer included in the 1841 Census working for William Turner, Deborah (born 1821) in service with the Repton family in 1841, Charles (born 1863) a poultry dealer at Backfold Farm in the 1901 Census, and the descendants of Sampson Sheldon and Hannah Willott who moved into the village after 1901.

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