These Pages are a tribute to the POMFRETS who were born and lived in Lower Darwen, Blackburn and other parts of Lancashire, England. There are census lists showing family members and where they lived during the 1800's. Their occupations were mostly related to the Cotton Industry as that is how the people of Lancashire made their living in the 1800's.

My POMFRET ancestry outline follows the journey of JOHN THOMAS POMFRET born in 1889, Lower Darwen, Lancashire, England. John Thomas Pomfret was born on Paradise St. in Lower Darwen. The street was a part of the largest mill in the area owned by the Eccles family. A Map from the 1843 Survey shows the mill and the River Darwen, which was adjacent to the mill. I have marked in red where Paradise St. most likely was located. The mill was one of the better mills in the area. It offered a school for the children and housing for the workers. To see a photo of the mill. The Pomfret family lived on Paradise St. for many years. The family moved quite regularly to different homes on Paradise St., as the need for space and the availability of money changed. When a new mill was built on Branch Road, the older aunts and uncles of John Thomas went there to work and thus, moved out of the larger mill and away from Paradise St. Several generations of his ancestors were born in Lower Darwen, which leads me to believe that the POMFRET family had been in Lower Darwen since mid 1700's. It is hard to imagine what life was like during those times. There is a photo print of Market Street in Darwen which depicts life in Darwen about 1800. The Photo is courtesy of Lois Marshall.

The family belonged to the St. James Church in Lower Darwen since the time it opened in 1848. Before that time, it appears that they attended St. Mary's in Blackburn.

It appears that the POMFRET family of Lower Darwen were weavers for several generations. They must have begun as hand weavers and then graduated to power loom weavers. As the cotton industry began to fail, the men took on other jobs. THOMAS POMFRET, grandfather of JOHN THOMAS POMFRET, changed his occupation from power loom weaver to a laborer in the local paper mill. The others took the plunge across the pond to Rhode Island and Massachusetts to work in various cotton mill jobs. JOHN THOMAS POMFRET was a dyer living in Taunton, Ma. upon his marriage to Mary Ethel Bateson in 1913.

MARGARET (HAWORTH) POMFRET, born 1845, was the ideological mother. She accompanied her children and grandchildren to the United States in the early 1900's. She made several trips taking the younger women back to England with her. She and her husband, Thomas, made the trip in 1902 to originally escort her family to the United States. She made a second trip in 1905.

The POMFRETS of Blackburn had several different occupations. One family was the owner of the Inn and their children worked the Inn as well. Another branch of POMFRETS from Blackburn were farmers. They owned about 20 acres, a small farm. The remaining POMFRETS were cotton mill workers.