William was born on the 18th of October 1812 in the village of Gisburn, which at that time was in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His mother was Hannah Alston¹, the 19 years old unmarried daughter of William and Anne Alston of Gisburn. The identity of the father is not known. When William was baptised on the 22nd of November 1812, at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Gisburn, the name of the father was left blank.

As no documents, such as census or school records, are available, we can only speculate about William's childhood.  In May 1817, when William was only 4 ¹/2 years old, his mother Hannah married Thomas Exton, a farmer of Wiswell and went on to have seven children with him. At such a young age, if William had been with Hannah as she began a family with Thomas, he would have most likely been brought up with, and kept the Exton surname. So perhaps he was brought up by Hannah's parents and 'hidden' from potential husbands!

In the late 1820's, once he came of working age, William would have been attracted to the work opportunities in the industrial towns, such as Blackburn, which is where he next appears. The Parish Register for the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Blackburn (now Blackburn Cathedral), records William Alston, an Engine Tenter and a bachelor, marrying Ellen Rostron a spinster, on the 8th of June 1835. Both of them signed the register with a cross. The witnesses were John Astley and Joseph Fairbrother but they were probably church officials, rather than friends, as they witnessed most of the marriages that day.

By the time the first detailed census was taken on the 6th of June 1841, William and Ellen are living in Kay Street, which was in the Nova Scotia district of Blackburn. They have a son, Edward aged 5 and a daughter Celia aged 1 - a third child, Mary Ann, died in infancy in 1838. William described his occupation as an Engineer.

When the next census was taken, in March 1851, the family had moved to Jubilee Street, which was close to the railway station in the centre of Blackburn and William was still working as an Engineer (in a Cotton Mill). A further five children have been added to the family. Curiously, in the last column of the census form, there is a tick against both William and Ellen's entries, this was used to signify that the person was either Blind or Deaf & Dumb.

The family were still in Jubilee Street in April 1861 and, apart from their seven year old daughter Mary Ann, all the children were working (even their son Thomas who was only ten years old). William's occupation was shown as an Engine Tenter in a Cotton Mill. There are no ticks on the 1861 census form, so it's unlikely that they were blind. Perhaps they had hearing problems or maybe the enumerator in 1851 thought they were dumb!

In April 1866, William's wife Ellen died at the age of 52 years. Her death certificate shows their address as 5, Holt's Buildings, which were just off Moor Street in the Lark Hill district of Blackburn but still close to the town centre.

William and Ellen had nine children, of which one died in infancy and another at the age of 15 years.

Edward Alston 1836-1906
Mary Ann Alston 1838-1838
Celia Alston 1840-1855
John Alston 1841-1895
William Alston 1844- ??
Thurston Alston 1846- ??
Hannah Alston 1848- ??
Thomas Alston 1851- ??
Mary Ann Alston 1854-1938

On the 25th of February 1867, less than a year after Ellen's death, William married a widow called Alice Bentham at St Peter's Church in Blackburn. This church was close to Brunswick Street, the address they both gave when they married. William gave his occupation as an Engine Tenter and Alice a Slubber². It is interesting to see that William gave his age as 49 years (he was in fact 54 years old) and Alice gave her age as 44 years when she was actually only 38 years old - clearly they were embarrased by the age difference.

Sadly, the marriage was not a long one, as William died of 'Inflammation of the Lungs' on the 16th of December 1869 at their home, number 59 Wellington Street in Blackburn. His eldest son Edward was present at the death and informed the Registrar, giving his father's age as 60 years (he was actually 57). William was buried in the graveyard of St Mary the Virgin Church on the 19th of December. The Burial Register entry describes him as 'William, son of Annie Halstead', which at first sight seems odd for someone of that age, however, all of the entries are written in that form, usually with the father's name. The fact that the mother's name was used is further evidence that his father was unknown.

There is no record of William and Alice having had any children. After William's death, Alice went to live with her mother at 9, Snow Hill in Preston, where she is listed in the 1871 census, as a 43 year old Widow working as a Rover in a Cotton Mill.

Notes

1. Surname Variants
The surname found in records for this branch of the family take three forms; Alston, Alstead or Halstead and seem to appear randomly rather than any deliberate attempt to change - presumably this is down to parish clerks and enumerators writing down what they believe they heard. On the 30 Mar 1851, the surname Alston was used on the census but Halstead used when William's son Thomas was baptised on the same day!

2. Occupations
A Tenter was someone who looked after a machine.
A Cotton Slubber operated a machine that removed imperfections (known as slubs) in the cotton in preparations for spinning.
Roving is the name for the loosely assembled group of fibres before it is twisted to make a thread. A rover operates the machine which takes the mat of aligned threads coming from the carding machine and splits it into these groups of fibres.