The Pleasure of Discovering Family Photographs: Sepia Saturday

I am marking Sepia Saturday’s 750th blog challenge by looking back at photographs  that I have received over the years.  They enhanced my family history and contribute to my enjoyment of 14 years of blogging, much of it on Sepia Saturday.

Reconnecting with Relatives

My initial blog posts were based on the shoebox collection of memorabilia at my grandfather  Danson's house which we visited weekly in Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire. 

 

  My aunt Edith Danson and my mother Kathleen Danson  are the two little girls at the front of this parade c.1912.

The cards my grandfather  sent home  from his time serving in the First World War  are among my top favourites. 

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Funerals can be a time when families  come  together and such was the cas,   when I chatted to my mother's cousin A.  who I had not seen since I was a child. I told her of my family history hobby.  She later kindly supplied me with memories of her father - my great uncle Bob, a postman  in Blackpool,  a 1928 press cutting of another cousin's wedding, and importantly contact details for other cousins, including P. now living in the English Midlands.

I decided to phone P. - given I was not aware of any sensitive family issue, I was happy to do this and introduced myself as "A voice from the past - I'm Kathleen Danson's daughter." 

 
What a wonderful reception I got  - P. outlined the family memorabilia she had up in the loft   and wondered what to do with it, offered to come up to Scotland to visit us,  and my husband I made a return visit the next year. The result of making contact, I received:

•  Memories of my grandparents William and Alice Danson - my grandmother died when I was a baby.  It was somehow funny in the nicest possible way to hear my grandparents referred to as  Uncle Billy and Aunt Alice.

• Memories of my great grandmother Maria Danson (1859-1919), nee Rawcliffe    passed down through her daughter, Jennie to Jennie's  two daughters.  I had not seen this photograph before and have found it quite difficult to date. 
   

• The only photograph I have  of my great grandfather James Danson (1852-1906), sitting merrily  in Poulton old stocks.

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• Memorabilia of the youngest Dansonson  George including a two letters written by him, just weeks before he was killed on the Somme in 1916 aged just 22. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  I touched and photographed  - Maria's tea-set, bought from collecting coupons in a "Daily Mail" offer;  and her jewellery including items brought back from Malta by her son Frank, who was hospitalized there in the First  World War.
  
  
   
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
• I was given a collection of some 50 postcard photographs  of Jennie's friends and their families, with many of the men in World War One uniform, so dated from c.1916.   It must have been the practice to exchange such cards between friends,  (the Facebook of the day!) and Jennie had thoughtfully  written their names on the  reverse.  
  
  
  
  
    Gerty Roskell - a popular surname in the Fylde area of Lancashire and one with connections to my Danson family
  
  
  
• Other  encounters with my  mother's cousins were less successful.  
  
  
  With one I received a friendly  chat, a memory of me as a child in pigtails,  a request to do research into  a sideline of the family, but nothing more in terms of memorabilia. Sadly the contact with Australian relatives petered out after initial e-mails. 
   
   Nevertheless a wonderful contribution to my Family Archive!  So the message here is do not dither and delay in reconnecting with relatives - you never know what might result to enhance your collection.
   
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  Other family photographs arrived on my computeras a  result of my blogging activity, with two unknown third cousins discovering it. 
   
   I found out about my first emigrant ancestor,  Alice  Mason nee Rawcliffe (1853-1930) - sister of Maria above. Alice emigrated to the USA with her husband John   and had a large family of 11 children - 3 dying in infancy.   The granddaughter of Alice's youngest child Florence got in touch  and we exchanged information and photographs. 
  

   

   

   

  John Mason (Alice's husband)  

  with his youngest daughter, Florence

  
  It was special to receive a later photograph of the Mason family (below)  with all eight surviving children. A number of descendants are listed as my DNA matches, /
  
  

   

   

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  My other big success was much nearer to home. Like me   Stuart was born in Blackpool, Lancashire and in fact we went to the  same junior school,   though not knowing one another.  We shared the same great great grandparents - Henry Danson and Elizabeth Calvert - Stuart from their eldest daughter Elizabeth (1831-1885) - me from their youngest son James (1852-1906) .
  

   

   Even better Stuart lived only 50 miles away  so we could  easily meet and spent afternoons,  sharing research, old photographs and memorabilia.  As a result I was given  a wonderful boost to my blogging activities in terms of family stories and images, just when I felt I was coming to a halt with my own material.  
   
  Stuart had done considerable research on many branches of his family.    His father's Smith family cane frin  the Scottish island of Unst  - the most northerly spot in the British Isles, 120 miles north of the Scottish mainland.  His grandmother married into the Oldham family  of Blackpool carters and coal merchants in Blackpool in a house with a large yard, hay loft, tack room. and stabling for around 7 horses.;   and his great grandfather was William Dower, a minister in the Presbytrian Church who became a missionary in South Africa. So rich material for blog posts. 
   
  
  
  

   Stuart's father  Arthur  Smith not looking too happy, as he perches on the chair, clad in a dress, as was the custom  for very young boys.  The tartan reflects the family's pride  in their Scottish links.    
  
   
  
  
   
   Stuart's Grandfather  - Edward Stewart Ingram Smith.  His early life was full of promise, but the impact of serving in the First World War at the age of 44 took its toll on him.  

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  Edward with his young family c.1916,  with son Arthur shorn of his curly locks.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  An elegant portrait of Sarah Alice Oldham on her wedding to George Butler in Blackpool, Lancashire  and what a showy outfit, magnificently decorated large hat, and a large posy set off by  long broad ribbons.  She was one of three daughters in the Oldham family of carters and coal merchants,
  

   

  Oldham grandaughter ~Elsie  Oldham   was my mother's second cousin. On the death of her  father in 1939  Elsie (left) took the helm with her husband Arthur Stuart Smith. She also ran her hairdressing concern her  as "Bobbing,   Shingling and Marcel Waves." This lovely evocative advertising blotter below is in the family memorabilia.

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Family history can take us in all kinds of directions and Stuart's family connections, although not my direct ancestors,  added a new dimension to my blog posts.  

•  How many people can claim to have a published poet amongst their ancestors? That was the case of my third cousin Stuart whose great great uncle was John Critchley Prince (1808-1866).  He became well known in his time as a writer of poetry in the Lancashire dialect. 
  
  
  
  
• A pioneering South African Missionary, a politician, a  test cricketer   - and one of the leading scientists of the  20th century - you can stumble across some amazing stories when you start to delve into sidelines of your family history. 
  
  
  Such was the experience of my cousin, Stuart who was researching the family of his Scottish great grandmother Isabel Edward from Banchory, Aberdeenshire. Isabel's  sister Jessie married William Dower  and in 1865 they set sail to South Africa  for William to take up an appointment as a Wesleyan  missionary.

 William and Jesse Dower

 

Their  children  and grandchildren made their mark in the world in a variety of key positions, amongst them

• Alan  Blumlein (1902-1942)  has been described as "the greatest electronic engineer of the 20th century", notable for his many inventions in  telecommunications, sound recordings, television and radar.  He died at the young age of 38 during a secret trial of an airborne radar system.
  
  

  

The commorative plaque in London.

 

Stuart's contact with me was my lucky day  - and I haven't even mentioned the war-time tales, the business bankruptcies,   the wealth of wedding photographs down the decades or the charming children's photographs that have found their way into my blog posts.  

 

So to finish - thank you to Sepia Saturday  for your 750 weeks of blogging challenges and the opportunity to feature so many photographs that have come my way from family connections.   

 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share
their family history and memories through photographs. 

 

 

 

  Click HERE to see posts  from other Sepia Saturday bloggers

 

 

New Furry Friends Joined our Family - Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday's "New Arrivals" theme offers this week,  as a prompt, a basketful of puppies.  Cue for me to feature again the three pets that were part of our family over a period of twenty years. 

Our third family pet is amongst this trio of lovely puppies.

How it all  Began

 

Our daughter was 5 years old and Crufts Dog Championships Show was on television - how could we resist that combination.  The result by the summer was that Beauty a golden cocker spaniel became part of the family.  

 

 It was a sad time when we lost Beauty at the age of nine, and we said we would not go through that again. But surreptitiously we were all looking at adverts in the local papers, and within a month we had Colleen - a 2 year old gentle blue roan cocker spaniel. 

 

With my parents, taking a  break from a walk in the park.  

 

Colleen died suddenly at seven years old at a time when there were other stresses in the family. We could not imagine family life without a dog and that had to be a cocker spaniel.   So within a few months we had puppy Casmir (Cass) - an orange roan cocker - she had such a distinctive colouring, she became well known around our small town and lived to the grand age of 13.  A pet and great friend of all the family.

 

 

  Enjoying a good chew in the garden

 Pet Pleasures come in all times, whatever the weather! 

 

A wet and windy crossing to the Isle of Mull
with all other passengers sheltering below deck.  

   

Braving the elements on a windy day on the Isle of Iona. 

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I always thought of Cass as the "princess"   

if she was to star in a Disney animated film. 

 

 Our last photograph of Cass

 

Three much loved pets who are a part of our family memories.

But if you can't have the real thing, a favourite toy will do. 

 

Making do with a toy dog  for a studio photograph  -

 my brother-in-law with  a furry friend. 

 

 

Daughter with her little toddledog.

                    Granddaughter taking her little dog for a walk. 

 

 

As a child, my husband had a number of china animals,  but this this little dog  is the only one that has survived the 80 years plus  and sits on our window sill enjoying the sun. 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share
their family history and memories through photographs. 

    

    Click HERE to see posts  from other Sepia Saturday bloggers.

       

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New Arrivals in my Family Tree : Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday's November theme is "New Arrivals" and I am looking at "new arrivals" in my family tree - this time my newly discovered great grandmother Alice Ann English, her four sisters, Mary, Elizabeth, Isabella and Harriet, and my great great grandparents  Charles English and Mary Harrocks. This is Alice Ann's research story.

My last post here told the  story of my newly discovered grandmother Alice English (below)  who had been my major brick wall for many years until I traced recently her birth and the name of her mother - Alice Ann English.  

              My grandmother Alice English (1883-1945)  in 1916

So who was my great grandmother Alice Ann?

 My starting  Point - Alice Ann  was admitted to Liverpool Board of Guardians Workhouse on 11th   September 1883,  with the information  that she was a single woman  aged 30, pregnant  and born in Beverly,Yorkshire in 1851. She gave birth in the Workhouse to my   grandmother Alice on 23rd September 1883. 

It proved quite easy to trace Alice Ann's life through census returns and BMD records -  the most noticeable feature the fact that she was never traced living with her daughter.   

Alice Ann was the daughter of Charles English, and Mary Harrocks who married in 1851.  But the censuses listed two daughters born before that date, Mary in 1844 and Elizabeth in 1848.  This  prompted me to look for an earlier marriage for Charles.  His first wife was Elizabeth Barker and they married in 1842, but sadly Elizabeth died only six years later, aged just 23, shortly after the birth of their second daughter.

Charles and his second wife had a further three daughters – Alice Ann in September 1851, Isabella Caroline in 1854 and Harriet Elizabeth in 1858.   

In 1861  9 year old year old Alice Ann was living with her family   in the town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, with father Charles a platelayer with a railway company.

Ten years on in 1871 saw the  family at 6 Sutton Bank Railway Cottages, near Hull, Yorkshire.  Alice Ann aged 19 was working as a milliner - an occupation she does not appear to have followed in later life.  

 But the 1870s saw three tragedies in the family.  Alice Ann's mother  Mary died in 1872, her father  Charles three years later in 1875, and her youngest sister Harriet died in 1879  aged only 12.  

By the time of the 1881 census, Alice Ann  now aged 29  had made a major move away from home and was living with her sister Isabella and her husband Thomas Horrocks  at 22 Dickson Street, Liverpool - her occupation a domestic servant.  

Two years later in the 13th September 1883,  Alice Ann of 25 Sun Street,  Liverpool admitted herself to the Liverpool Board of Guardians Workhouse.   On the 23rd September she gave birth to her daughter Alice (my grandmother).  Interestingly on the birth certificate which I obtained from the General Register Office,  (GRO),   Alice Ann could only make her mark in registering the birth.

Mother and baby were discharged from the Workhouse 29th December   1883 but who to and where  to remains a mystery.   

However on 11th September  1890,  the  Workhouse records,  (available on findmypast.co.uk) noted that 7 year old   Alice was readmitted to the workhouse along with an 8 month old baby May English,   and discharged the next day to Kent Street.  But there was a worrying statement that the informant on their  admission was "The Police  Book"  - what did that mean?   Liverpool Archives was unable to help on this point.  Then on the 18th September their mother Alice Ann was readmitted, but discharged the next day to a different address at Alma Sreet. 

So many unanswered questions on this period in Alice Ann's life!  Could I assume that baby May was her second illegitimate child?  Could the baby's name perhaps be Mary   - the name of Alice Ann's mother and eldest sister?    So far I have been unable to trace May's birth. 

I tried to find out more about the streets,  named in the  Workhouse records relating to Alice Ann.     They all seemed  to be in the dockland area of LIverpool,  near to the  Royal Albert Dock. Might there be directories that could help - I must follow this up. 

 By the time of the 1891 census, Alice Ann, had moved away from Liverpool.  She was  aged 39 and still single,  and was working as  General Servant – Domestic  at The Eden Orphanage. Higher End, Sharples, Bolton, Lancashire which provided care and support to Bolton's destitute orphans.  But where were her daughters?   - I have been unable  to trace Alice or May.  in 1891. 

https://www.bolton.org.uk/edenhome.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1901 - Alice Ann was still working at the orphanage, now as a cook.   Her daughter is thought to be the 17 year old Alice English   working as a living in domestic servant in Stockport.

 By 1904 daughter Alice was in Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire.   I was always told she had come to Poulton as a maid to the Potts family who were found to have Bolton connections. 

Three years later,  daughter Alice married my grandfather William Danson  at St. Chad's Church, Poulton.  Did her mother  Alice Ann  and other members of her  English family know about this event? We shall never know.   My mother never  gave any  indication of  any knowledge of her mother's relations.  The witnesses of the wedding were a local married couple, thought to be Danson family friends.

 St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde, known for its carpet of crocuses in the Spring  and where Dansons were

baptised, married and buried.
Photograph taken by my uncle - Harry Rawcliffe Danson 

 

By 1911 Alice Ann was living with her eldest sister Mary and brother-in-law Henry Bonner  at 12 Beverley Road, Bolton.

Daughter  Alice for the 1911 census gave her birthplace as Bolton - so did that indicate a link in the town with her mother?   It could also be to erase the fact she was born in at a Workhouse  - often regarded as a stigma.  Bolton  was also cited as her birthplace in the  1921 census,

Alice Ann  died  in October, buried 11^th October in Tonge Cemetery, Bolton aged 65, with her last address  12 Beverley Road,  the home of her sister Mary.   

1916 was also the year her daughter saw her husband conscripted to fight in the First World War.

 William and Alice in 1916

My grandmother Alice with her daughters Edith and my mother Kathleen, young Harry and baby Billy.  A son  George did not survive infancy, and  daughter Peggy was born after the First World War to complete the family.  Did Alice Ann ever know about her grandchildren?

It was gratifying to trace my great grandmother's life and discover the names of my great great grandparents  Charles English and Mary Harrocks, and my great great aunts, Mary, Elizabeth,  isabella and Harriet.  Even better I found that I had DNA matches with three descendants of Isabella; contacted them and they all replied quickly, but could not  give me any  more information on my great grandmother, Alice Ann.  

Family history never comes to an end  - and  so the search continues for the early life of my grandmother Alice  and that of her mother Alice Ann. It is stories like this that make family history so fascinating a hobby!

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share
their family history and memories through photographs. 

This post was written in response to Sepia Saturday's prompt of "New Arrivals". 

Click HERE to see posts  from other Sepia Saturday bloggers. 

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Celebrating Success -Breaking hrough my Brick Wall!

DISCOVERING MY “ENGLISH“ ANCESTORS

 “How far back have you got?" is a standard question for family historians, and I am sorry to admit that the search for the early life of  my maternal grandmother Alice English (1883-1945) remained a puzzle over many decades and quickly hit the proverbial brick wall.   Read on my  research tale.

THE BACKGROUND Alice married my grandfather William Danson of Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire in 1907 .  I had her marriage and death certificate with her age, so born around 1884.

 

1941 at a family wedding my mother's  Danson family - my aunt Edith, aunt Peggy, grandparents William  and Alice. my uncle Harry and my mother Kathleen.  

 Alice died when I was a baby, and my mother and aunt were surprisingly reticent about her early life.  I failed to ask the right questions at the right time, sensed a great reluctance to talk about her and I ended up with vague and conflicting information – was she born in Manchester, Bolton or Liverpool?   - a classic family history mistake!  It did occur to me that she might well have been illegitimate, but then  her father's name of Henry English (painter deceased)   was given on her marriage certificate.  Was this a fabrication for the purposes of respectability? 

Whatever the mystery about Alice's  past, the impression I gained from my Danson relatives was of a loving, loved wife and mother, and a respected member of the Poulton community. She became known locally as an unofficial midwife and her doctor wanted her to train professionally, but this was not possible.

Despite many years of hunting and using a professional researcher, I had been unable to trace a birth certificate for Alice to find out the name of her mother.  Queries on message boards, Facebook pages, and on my family history blog failed to elicit any positive response, and DNA provided no help.

Below  is one of the few photographs of Alice.  As she is wearing a corsage, could this have been taken on her wedding day?  A question I should have asked my mother, but didn't.

WHAT WERE THE FACTS?

• My starting point for research was the marriage certificate - Alice married my grandfather William Danson in April 1907, at St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire,   when Alice was 22 i.e. born around  1884. Her father's name was given as Henry, a painter (deceased).
   
•  I was always told Alice and I  shared the same birthday - September 23rd. 
• The family story was that Alice  had moved to Poulton as a nursemaid to the Potts family - prominent Methodists whose photographs featured in books on old Poulton, attending civic functions,  opening  fetes etc.
  
• Alice was confirmed at St. Chad's Church, Poulton in 1904 - I   have the prayer book presented to her on that occasion.
  
  
  
• Early census returns proved no help - I could  not trace her in 1891. In 1901  there was an Alice A. English, born Bolton aged 17, so born c.1884,  a living-in domestic servants at Stockport. This could well be my grandmother, but did  not help with any more information on her family.
  
• I had had to wait patiently for the release of the 1911 census to  find her entry  under her married name of Danson, with  her birthplace given as Bolton. Yet even that did not take me further forward as the GRO  (General Register Office)  and Bolton Registrar had no record of an Alice English with the details I had.  The release of the 1921 census confirmed the Bolton statement.
  
• The 1939 Register compiled to  facilitate  the issue of ID cards and ration cards in the Second  World War confirmed Alice’s birthdate as 23^rd September 1884.  I had hoped for more details on her birthplace but these did not feature.  
   
• Alice  died  5th July 1945 1945,  so I never knew her.   Her age of 60  on the  death certificate again confirmed her year of birth as c. 1884. 

 

FURTHER SEARCHES

 The Improved search facility for BMD and parochial records online  came up with a number of possibilities but none that tied in with my limited information. So more frustration!    I also have had no luck in tracing  a record for her father Henry English with very little to go on.  

I placed many queries on various websites  and message boards without  much success, though Lancashire Genealogy on Facebook gave me some useful pointers;  as did Curious Fox  the village by village contact site for anyone researching UK  family history.  The immediate response was gratifying in number, but not particularly helpful,  apart from one respondent who took on board my query with great enthusiasm and pointed me in certain directions   But these avenues came to nothing.

THE DISCOVERY   

In 2024 I put a query on The Facebook page of FindMyPast Family History Forum  - and SUCCESS when a contributor asked if I had seen the entry for an Alice English born in the Liverpool Board of Guardians Workhouse   in 1883, with the crucial fact her birthday was the same as mine – 23^rd September.  Even better I was given the links to the workhouse records at Liverpool Archives, available on Find My Past.   This surely  was “my” Alice?  So I took out a monthly subscription to FMP to access these records.   The images of the entries were  poor  and I contacted Liverpool Archives who were very helpful with transcriptions.

 Alice’s mother, Alice Ann, a pregnant single woman, aged 30, born Beverley, Yorkshire  was admitted  to the Workhouse from 25 Sun Street, Liverpool on  13^th September 1883 and gave birth to her daughter Alice on September 23^rd,   baptised there into the Church of England the following day.

I obtained Alice’s birth certificate in a digital format from the GRO. It indicated that  her mother could only make her mark. 

 Mother and baby were discharged from the Workhouse 29^th December 1883   but,  unhelpfully, without any comment   indicating where they had been discharged to. 

Young Alice  was re-admitted  on 11^th September 1890 with “May (8 months)”, but discharged the same day with the nearest relative noted as Kent Street.   On 18^th September their mother Alice Ann was readmitted and discharged the next day, with the nearest relative noted as Alma Street. 

There is no indication about the reasons for 7 year old Alice’s readmission but under the section ‘By whose order admitted’ .  it appears to say ”Police Book”   -  a worrying statement.

It was frustrating to see that under the heading “Nearest Relative” , the answer in all the cases was not a person’s  name or a relation  but a street  name.  I have tried to find out a bit more about Sun Street,  Kent Street and Alma Street  and gather they were in the Dockland areanear the Royal Albert Dock.  Can I assume this was a crowded, poor housing area? 

Why had I failed  for so long to find Alice’s birth and the name of her mother?

·  I had always worked on the basis that Alice  was born around 1884, given her age at marriage  and death which occurred before her September birthday of that year.  Though surely in my searches I had  worked on the basis of a wider range for my searches?   

OOnce I had  what I thought was confirmation of her birthplace as Bolton. I used this detail in all my searches and online queries and discounted further suggestions of Manchester and Liverpool – a mistake!    

I II doubt if, in many queries  I had used the fact that  we shared the same birthday  - a fact which proved crucial in finding Alice. 

But lots  of questions remained

• Why did Alice give the Bolton birthplace name on official records?  What was her connection with Bolton?   (Later  research into her mother's life answered this question).
  
  
•  What were the circumstances that brought 7 year old Alice back to the Workhouse in 1890 with a reference to the police? Liverpool Archives were unable to give any help on this point.
   
• Was 8 month old baby May her sister, admitted to the Workhouse with Alice in 1890,  born around January 1890.  A birth record has not yet been traced. 
   
• Alice could not be traced  in the 1891 census, but an Alice Ann English (her mother) born Beverley, Yorkshire  was  traced to Eden’ Orphanage. Higher End, Sharples, Bolton, where she was working as a domestic servant.  So here was the Bolton connection. But with no sign of her daughter  young Alice. 
   

The good news is I found some shared matched with Alice's mother  on my DNA results to confirm I was on the  right tracks beyond the coincidence of our birthdays. The story  of my great grandmother  is  for another  blog post.

So the story of Alice English  and her mother is still ongoing.  But it  was a Special Occasion,  when I  got some answers to my long search for my grandmother.

 

My grandparents William and Alice in 1916 

 

PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE PAID OFF!

 

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      Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share
their family history and memories through photographs. 

This post was written in response to Sepia Saturday's prompt of "Special Occasions".

Click HERE to see how other Sepia Saturday bloggers are marking SPECIAL OCCASIONS

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