GEORGE HOLDING was born around 1800 in Church, Lancashire. He married MARY SAGAR January 1, 1821 in St James, Church, Lancashire, England, daughter of JAMES SAGAR and GRACE HOULDING.
GEORGE HOLDING’s parents are not yet known but it is likely that he may well have been related in someway to his wife as Church was not that big a district in 1821. George and Mary had seven children all born in Church, Lancs - SAGAR, SHARPLES, GRACE, ELIZABETH, HOLDEN, JAMES and JOHN

SAGAR HOLDENa labourer, was born in 1821 was christened on the 25th November of that year. He had died by 1860, possibly in Burnley though that is not yet verified.
His wife was Ann Pilkington b 1820 in Accrington and together they had at least 4 children -
JAMES SAGAR HOLDEN born in 1849 in Accrington and died on the 28th February 1913
FANNY HOLDEN born 1851 in Accrington and died after 1881
ALICE HOLDENb 1845 & ELLEN GRACE b1853.
Ann Pilkington remarried before 1861 to a George Kennedy, victualler of the Bird in Hand in Lower House, Burnley. They did not appear to have had any children and both had died before 1891.

The eldest child JAMES SAGAR HOLDEN, a cotton weaver, married SARAH JANE RILEY. In 1881 he lived with his family in Rose Grove (a part of the Habergham Eaves district of Burnley) but by the time he died in 1913 he had moved to Padiham Road.
JAMES SAGAR and SARAH JANE had ten children, the eldest four being born in the Lower House district.
SAGAR HOLDEN, b. 1871, SHARPLES HOLDEN b. 1873, LOUIS HOLDEN b. 1874 and FRED HOLDEN b. 1876.
The younger children were all born in Burnley.
SARAH ANN HOLDEN b. 1878, & d. April 12, 1957.
MARY HOLDEN b. 1881
FANNY HOLDEN b. 1889, d. January 13, 1966,
ALICE HOLDEN b. 1891; d. June 25, 1967
The details of his death and those of some of his children were obtained from a rather impressive gravestone, at least 6 foot tall in Burnley cemetery. A gravestone like that would have been well out of the realms of affordability for a cotton weaver and I presume it was erected by one, or all, of his surviving children who had done quite well for themselves. There is also a possibility that it was paid for by another James Sagar Holden, more of which later.

FANNY HOLDEN was born 1851 in Accrington, and died Aft. 1881. She married a JOHN CALVERT , a labourer of Burnley, born 1848
On September 5th, 1868, when she married, Fanny was a weaver living in Greenhill, Habergham Eaves. Her marriage certificate shows that both Fanny and John Calvert’s fathers were deceased and that the witnesses to their wedding were her brother James Sagar Holden and an Elizabeth Calvert who was likely John’s sister. John at the time was living at The Ridge, The certificate also shows that the two Holdens were literate whilst the two Calverts were not.
By 1881 Fanny & John Calvert, were living at 7 Green Hill Yard, Habergham Eaves and John had become a collier.
Their descendants can be seen under the CALVERT page.

ALICE HOLDEN was the third child and known in the family simply as "Aunt Alice". In 1862 she had a sonJAMES SAGAR HOLDEN, who was my grandmother ELIZABETH ANN JACKSON’s "uncle" and was a great help to her when she needed it most. "Uncle" would have been a courtesy title as he would infact have been her mother’s cousin.
"Aunt Alice" was blind and lived with her son until she died in the 1900s on Padiham Rd. Nobody knows for sure who James Sagar’s father was but he was supposed to have been a married man with no other children, who was in a good position at Billy Holt’s Billiard Works in Burnley. It is thought that his father possibly was Billy Holt himself. Whoever the father was, he looked after his son financially. James Sagar Holden became a man of property and some wealth. I mentioned earlier about the other James Sagar Holden having a very impressive gravestone. I think that perhaps it was this James Sagar Holden that provided it. Certainly, he was likely to be the only one in the family who had the money to be able to provide it.
"Aunt Alice" eventually married to a William Whittaker and they had a daughter Elizabeth b 1865. By 1901 I lost track of Elizabeth, so presumably she had married.

The younger JAMES SAGAR HOLDEN died in the 1950s and was elderly then. He still lived on Padiham Road, and left his house to my great aunt ELLEN GRACE JACKSONwho lived there until she died in the 1980s.

As to the other Holdens with the wonderful names of Sagar, Sharples and Holden Holden, there is still a lot more to do on that research.
SHARPLES HOLDEN was still alive in 1881, living in Accrington on Plantation Place, with his wife ANN WHITTAKER and some of his family. The census shows him to be 62 and a calico printer, living with his wife, aged 60, and two daughters Winifred and Grace and a grandson with the surname of Thacker. There is also a 3 year old child called Mary A. who is down as a daughter though for his wife’s sake, I hope it is a misprint.
There is also,in 1881, in South St. Accrington a butcher called HOLDEN HOLDEN(b1852) who is one of Sharples’ sons. Holden himself has a son called Sharples eith his wife Elizabeth Grimshaw.
OMEROD HOLDEN (b1846) is another of Sharples' 10 children. He married Mary Alice Wade and 4 of his children have been found; Alice A,(1871) George Sharples (1877), Sagar (1875), Martha E. (1873)
JOHN SAGAR HOLDEN was another of Sharples' sons. A clogger by trade, he married Emma Grace and they had a son Willie in 1889, though nothing more is known.
SAMUEL S HOLDEN was the last son and youngest child of Sharples and Ann. He was born in 1861 and possibly died before 1881 though there is reason to believe he may have emigrated.
The daughters of Sharples & Ann Holden were; Mary Alice S., Elizabeth Ann, Fanny Maria, Winifred, Martha & Grace.