Joseph and Rachel Weldon

Their first born was William and was named after Rachels father.

William was the first, but certainly not the last as Rachel would go on to give birth to fifteen children in the following twenty-two years. Sadly, all did not survive childbirth. Rachel named a couple of her lost daughters Alice (prior to the surviving Alice's birth around 1904) and also a son, Thomas. God Bless them.

The family settled near Huyton Quarry, and the 1901 census shows that they lived at 29 Elm Street. In the next few years the family would also live at 11 Hall Lane, Huyton. This was not only a residence for a few of the Weldons, but a working shop.

Rachel was responsible for the day to day running of the shop, selling primarily Fish and Chips. Open for lunch, teatime and into the late evening for the locals from the pub. This was turn of the century England, where the only daily deliveries of supplies would arrive at the nearby Huyton Quarry train station on the Liverpool to Manchester line.

The younger members of the family were recruited to pick up fresh food, delivered from the city market, from the Station in their lunch time from school. It is also of note, that in the 1901 census, the Weldings were living on Elm Street (close to Hall Lane) and one of their neighbours, Charlie Harding, was a fish dealer. they may have known, or even have done business with each other.

Rachel used to joke that, as fast as she made money in the Fish and Chip shop, husband Joseph would spend it in the pub over the road.

In her mid fifties, Rachel passed over the responsibility of running the shop to her daughter Jane (who was known as Jinnie) it was about this time that they had the tragic loss of their son, Richard who fell at the battle of Cambrai in France.