Samuel Dillow was born in 1815 in Glenfield, Derbyshire. He was the son of William Dillow and Rebecca Moore. On 2 May 1836 he married Elizabeth Bourne at Bucknall cum Bagnall. Elizabeth was born in 1812 in Norton, Staffordshire and the daughter of John Bourne and Ann Snape.
In 1851 they were in Derby and Samuel was an engine driver, they had 5 children including Anna aged 8, Mary aged 5 and Hannah who was 2.
They moved to Litchurch by 1861, the two sons had left and only 3 daughters were at home, Hannah was working as a silk winder at the age of 12. By 1866 Samuel was a railway driver in Llanidloes, when a porter was summoned by the manager of the Mid Wales Railway for unlawfully stopping the passenger train that Samuel was driving about a mile and a half from the station. The porter said he had a telegram that was very important, he had checked the times of other trains and thought it was safe to do what he did. It was decided that as he had done it with good intentions the case was dismissed, but if they thought it was just to “save his legs” the magistrate would have given him a penalty.
While they were in Llanidloes his daughter Hannah was working as a dressmaker.
They later moved to Greenfield, Stansty. Samuel was still driving a locomotive; his wife Elizabeth was now also a dressmaker and Hannah was still living at home.
Samuel died on 19 April 1887 in Florence Street, Rhosddu. Elizabeth remained there with Hannah until her death on 9 December 1893.
Mary Elizabeth had left home and in 1881 she was working as a parlour maid for John Richard Turner Eaton, the Rector of Alvechurch in Worcestershire. She stayed with the Eaton family for many years and later moved with them to Church Lench.
In 1901 she was in Leith Mansions in Paddington where she was the domestic housemaid for Walter Cecil Eaton, who was the son of the Rector, he would have known her for most of his life. By the time he was 35 Walter was a civil servant and the senior examiner on the board of education.
Mary Elizabeth came to Wrexham where she died at Haighland House in Stansty on 24 October 1905 aged 64.
Hannah was living in Spring Road with her sister Eliza Ellen in 1911, she had married William Clutton in 1876. Hannah died there on 27 October 1912.
Researched by Annette Edwards. February 2019. Grave ref: Wrexham Cemetery J-02493
