Christening record of William Ashcroft, 24 June 1804, son of Joshua and Esther Ashcroft. The christening took place in Manchester Cathedral, Manchester, Lancashire. William was their first child. His only brother, John, was born two years later, just before his father's death in 1806 in a fall from a roof. It is not known if his mother, Esther, remarried. William married Hannah Smith. He died in 1878, several years after Hannah. They are both buried in the Merridale Cemetery in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England. William named his youngest daughter Esther, after his mother. Esther, William and Hannah's daughter, is the author's great great grandmother.

Source: Parish registers for the Cathedral Church [Church of England], Manchester, Lancashire, 1573-1946. FHL MF 2357011: Baptisms, November 1798-January 1808.