Portraits that tell a Story - Sepia Saturday

Portraits  is the theme of this week's Sepia Saturday prompt.  No shortage in my collection with each one revealing a distinctive story hat makes family history such an absorbing  hobby - much more than just names and dates!

 

 My great grandmother Maria Danson, nee  Rawcliffe (1859-1919)  is at the heart of my family history, with her life giving me many stories  for my writings.  She was the seventh of eight sisters (five surviving infancy) and went on to have eight sons and as her last child,  only daughter Jennie. She showed  determination and resilience  particularly in the latter part of her life,   when her husband died in 1906, her eldest son Harry in 1907, and in 1905 her daughter in law Sarah died of TB  leaving a baby daughter Annie whom Maria took into her own home.  The First World War brought more sorrow  - the death on the Somme in 1916 of her youngest son George.  A year later young Annie's father John Danson  committed suicide whilst in army training.    

                         

 Maria's only daughter and youngest child.   Jennie Danson (11897-1986) was by all accounts  had a feisty character and held her own  against her eight older brothers.  Jennie was determined to lead her own life.  She shocked her mother by cutting off he long haired plait  and adopting the 1920's fashionable short cut.

Following her mother’s death in 1919,  Jennie  took over the  reins of the household, looking after her four brothers  still unmarried and living at home, plus her ypung niece Annie who had been orphaned.   Her marriage in 1929 prompted all her brothers to set get married in the following years.  

 

 My great uncle George Danson (1894-1916) who worked on W. H. Smith's station bookstalls and sang in the local church choir.  He was the favourite  uncle of my mother and aunt and was killed on the Somme in 1916.  

 

My great grandfather James Matthewss of Wolverhampton in the English Midlands .  John was a staunch Methodist who conducted the local church choir.  His wife Matilda Such had had a checkered  childhood as a third illegitimate daughter born to her unmarried nam-sake mother. 

 

 My  paternal grandmother Mary Barbara Matthews (1876-1958),  was the third of ten children born to John and Matilda Matthews  Mary's brother Arthur was killed in Gallipoli in  the First World War  and her sister Fanny Elizabeth died aged 33 in 1909, following a tragic  accident when a lighted candle set fire to her apron and she died of the burns.  

                    

 It is hard to believable that these two portraits are of the same man - Edward Stuart Ingram Smith, my cousin's grandfather. They  depict a sad tale, tracing his life from a handsome artistic  young man to a man 30 years later, with a dispirited air,    haunted by his WW1 war experiences and the breakdown of his marriage.   

                

My father   John Weston of Blackpool, Lancashire often talked about his war experiences and I am afraid it did provoke the reaction at times of “Not the war again, Dad”. It was only later that we came to realise what a life-defining period it was, and I persuaded him to write an account for his granddaughter.   I was also  proud to add my father's accounts to the BBC World War Two People's Story online.

Dad served in the RAF Codes & Ciphers Branch  and was seconded to General Bradley’s US 12th Army Group HQ. He landed at Omaha beach after D-Day and advanced via St. Mere Eglise, Avranches, Versailles, Paris, Verdun and Luxembourg through to Wiesbaden in Germany. Immediately after VE Day he was posted to Burma where he was for VJ Day. 

 

My father’s zealous spirit was reflected throughout his life.

He  joined the  church choir at the age of seven and remained a choir member wherever he lived, with a love of hymns and sacred  music.  Listening to Sunday Half Hour (hymn singing on the radio) was part of our Sunday evening ritual when I was growing up - as was TV's "Songs of Praise".

 

On his school life, Dad recalled " the deputy head was very good (he had been gassed in the war).  He was keen on poetry and I enjoyed it, he had us do the Merchant of Venice.  I was Bassanio.  I was very fond of him which, of course, made me listen to what he had to say".  In later life, Dad could still recite his favourite poems, often in dramatic tones.
 

Dad left school at 14 and worked as an errand boy in a local grocer's shop.  He then  became a commercial traveller (salesman) and rose to the position of Sales Director of a small Scottish company  - not bad for a largely self educated lad! 

 

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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers  

to share their family history and memories through photographs

 

 

 

Click HERE to find further portraits from Sepia Saturday bloggers.

 

 

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Fun Times in the Snow - Sepia Saturday

This week;'Sepia Saturday prompt image shows a snowy scene  with  swings in an empty playground - the theme - playing in the snow.   I have no early childhood photographs in the snow - my family only seemed to bring the camera out  in summer, but here are other images of people enjoying themselves in snowy times. 

 Daughter playing  with our dog Casmir, out on the hioll behind our home in Hawick in the  Scottish Borders. 

  

Members of Earlston  Curling Club enjoying  a game outdoors on "real ice". Photograph courtesy of my local heritage group Auld Earlston.  

This is the oldest snow picture in my collection and brings back memories of my father.  This photograph was taken in the wartime winter of 1944 in Luxembourg.  Dad served in the RAF working in codes and cyphers and  at this time was attached to the US 12th Army Group commanded by  General Bradley.  Whilst stationed in Luxembourg, Dad became friendly with a local  family.   Here he is (on the left)  with Mr. Batten out for a walk with his little daughter.  I think he was able to enjoy a taste of family life amidst the realities of war. Dad remained in contact with the Batten family for many years.    I found   this photograph in Dad's album. 

More enjoyment on  Winter Walks 

 

Enjoying a winter walk with friends, 1966.   I am wearing my favourite fur hood, made,  fashionable after the film of Dr. 

 

With my daughter, 1975.

 

Husband also adding a splash of colour as we set out on a woodland winter walk near our home.  

Snow in Summer - this  was taken June 1997  as we stood on the Stubai Glacier  near Innsbruck , Austria - our favourite country for our summer holiday. 

But we can enjoy the beauty of snow.  When snow  first falls, it  can  be a wonderful magical experience transforming the landscape. 

 

 

Trees on the main A68 road which links the Scottish Borders with Edinburgh.

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 I spent a wonderful  year 1965-66  working in Cambridge, Massachussets near Boston and this photograph brings back memories of the kind of winter I had not experienced before -  here in a picturesque image through the trees of  Harvard Chapel.

 

12th century ruined Melrowse Abbey, 6 miles from my home.

 

 Trees on the old railway line through Earlston. 
 

The Leader Water at Earlston. 

And two images which  featured quite recently on my blog, but they fit the theme so well, I am repeating them here.

 

 

 

 Playing at snow angels - not my idea of fun! 

 

 
 

 2009 and my granddaughter exploring this new world of snow for the first time.

  

But spring and  summer fun were  not toofar ahead  - and she was soon back enjoying the swings.

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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers  

to share their family history and memories through photographs. 

 

Click HERE to find further snowy tales from Sepia Saturday bloggers.

Musical Moments in the Family : Sepia Saurday

This week's Sepia Saturday  prompt photograph shows a man at a piano.   I felt sure there was a photograph of me playing the piano, but no - it was not to be found, just this inanimate piano shot below. 

Take a look at interior decoration in Edinburgh  c.1968 - obviously  Christmas judging by the hanging lanterns and Christmas cards on the piano.  The picture on the wall had a recessed frame with a light above it. I remember my mother painting the walls  peach, or were they orange?  But must admit I cannot recollect the other side of the archway being green.

 

Below the story of  the piano in my family life:

 On my mother's part, she always wanted to play the piano and I got the impression that she was rather  aggrieved that her older sister Edith learned to play (she became a teacher), and her much younger sister Peggy did - but Mum missed out.  So she was determined that I had the chance, and the piano, complete with candlestick holders, was transported  from my grandfather's house to our cold front room, which only had a fire on for special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas - not conducive to nimble fingers across the keyboard!

One of my worst childhood experiences, at the age of 12, was   to take part in a local musical festival - I hated it, but reckoned the adjudicator must have felt worse,  having to listen to  us children playing (or murdering) the same piano ipece of music over and over again. I vowed never to go through that again. 

I didn't  progress beyond Grade 3 as we moved house across country and I never took up lessons again, but the love  of music stayed with me.  And my limited piano playing ability  (for hymns, community singing and party games) did come in useful in applying for a job as a school auxiliary. 

 

We weren't a particularly musical family, but my mother sang in the Townswomen's Guild Choir and my father sang in the church choir.  Radio & TV  programmes such as "Melodies for You, 100 Best Tunes, Friday Night is Music Night  and Songs of Praise  - were regulars we listened  to or watched.  

 

My parents and aunt were the people I have to thank for making music so much a  part of my life from an early age, introducing me to musicals, operetta and ballet (my most favourite art form).  I was lucky to grow up in Blackpool, Lancashire which  had regular touring companies to the Opera House and Grand Theatre.  

 

 I loved "The Gypsy Baron" and wanted  a gypsy costume and headdress with long coloured ribbons  - the nearest I got was full skirt  trimmed with rows of ccoloured  ric rac.  My first ballet was "Coppelia" - an ideal choice for a little girl with the feisty heroine in a lovely pale blue tutu,  the handsome hero - and more folk dances.  

 

 My father in "Memories of his Broseley Boyhood" recalled:

 "We had a “palace” organ double keyboard, Mum was very musical and Dad, who so far as I know, had never had a music lesson, played in Coalbrookdale Brass Band, he could also play the violin.  From time to time Mum would play the organ on a Sunday night and Dad the violin - hymns from the "Ancient & Modern " hymnbook. There was one unusual feature about his, he never asked for a number but the nzme of the tune e.g.  Bishopthorpe etc."

 

 

 My paternal grandparents - Mary & Albert Weston

  

The family were keen churchgoers.  Eldest son Fred sang in the choir at St. Mark's 's Church, Warwick and my father sang in the church at Broseley. Shropshire and later at St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde. Lancashire  where I was baptized. 

Broseley Church, Shropshire where my father sang in the  choir from 7 years old.  

My uncle - Fred Weston, as a choir boy.

 
Singing in a choir (school, church, community)  has been a key activity throughout my life from primary school days onwards, whether it was folk songs from round the world, spirituals, carols, sacred music, opera and operetta choruses,   or songs from the shows - musical tastes that still mean a lot to me today. I was very happy to be a chorus girl, with no pretensions to be a soloist - I knew my limitations!

 

The  highlight of my university year was to take part in  a Gilbert & Sullivan opera -  I loved it the music, the staging, the costumes and the friendships.  I sang with my local choir the Roxburgh Singers  for over 40 years until I felt it was time to retire my voice!

 

 

 

It is a marvelous form of music making, whatever your age, a great creator of the "feel good factor",  and there is nothing to beat singing with the full blooded accompaniment of an an orchestra or  organ.  For me the highlight was probably singing Handel's wonderful uplifting oratorio "The Messiah".  

 

Family history research unearthed more musical connections.  

 

 I discovered in a local paper  that my Great Uncle George  (a favourite  of my mother and aunt), also sang in the choir at St. Chad's Church, Poulton. He was killed  on the Somme in 1916 at the age of 22, 

 

               
 

                                    

 I always knew from my father that his maternal grandfather John Matthews (above)  was a staunch Methodist,  but had not delved further into researching this aspect.  Then as a result of my blog, I was amazed  to receive an e-mail from a Matthews connection through marriage;  moreover with  the wish to give family treasures to a direct descendant.  As a result I received a   silver trowel and baton presented to John in recognition of his service to the church, plus the family bible with information on his ten  children. 

 

 Below is the silver crested baton  presented to John Matthews in 1904 in his role as conductor of the choir. 

 

The tiny inscription reads:  Presented to John Matthews by the Choir and Congregation of Wesleyan Chapel, Ladymoor:  28.11.04.

 

To hold the baton used by my great grandfather was a delight to me, as the love of choral music  has continued down through the family.  

 

Classical music continues to play an important in my life  through daily listening to Classic FM on the radio  and the marvel of DVDs - a love my husband shars - and it all began with learning to play the piano over 70 years ago.  

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

Click HERE to see more musical posts  from Sepia Saturday bloggers. 

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Happiness is Stitching - Sepia Saturday

Sea Stories from Master Mariner Ancestors - Sepia Saturday

"Ships" feature in this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt photograph -  a theme I featured earlier this year HERE.  So this time I am taking a look at the lives of my husband's ancestors who were 19th century mariners,  who sailed out of the River Tyne at South Shields, County Durham  in north eat England.  

Great Great Great Grandfather - Robert Donaldson, Master Mariner  (1801-1878)
Mariner records at the National Archives at Kew  showed that Robert Donaldson was  registered as a mariner on 20th July 1852.

Tyne and Wear Archives provided information on the sea-going  life of Robert Donaldson and the ships he sailed on, listed in "“A Dictionary of Tyne Sailing Ships: a record of merchant sailing ships owned, registered and built at the Port of Tyne 1830-1930”, compiled by Richard Keys. This is a complete A-Z of Ships, master mariners and owners, detailing ships, voyages, disasters and share-ownerships, and much more - a must for anyone with maritime ancestors in this region.

The entries make fascinating reading, with all six ships on which Robert Donaldson sailed, having an eventful history and coming to a sad end  - though not under his charge.  

 

Image - Pixabay

• The Thetis became a wreck after sinking off the Yorkshire coast in 1869.

• The John was stranded in 1861 and became a wreck during a severe easterly gale. Twenty-eight other Tyne ships went ashore in the same area during the same gale.

• The Emerald, in December 1855, when on passage from the Tyne to London, foundered in five fathoms on the Dough Sand (Long Sand) Thames estuary. Three survivors were brought ashore by two Bridlington smacks. Eleven others were unaccounted for, including some of the crew of the rescuing smack who were in a small boat, which disappeared.

• The Hebe was wrecked in Robin Hood’s Bay, along with other vessels on 27 January 1861. The Ann & Elizabeth disappeared after leaving the Tyne in November 1863, with her captain leaving a wife and six children.

• The William Metcalfe was Robert Donaldson's largest ship.  On her maiden voyage, it transported 240 male convicts from Portsmouth to Hobart,TAsmania  on a passage that took 102 days. In January 1855 eight of her crew were sent to goal for three months each by the North Shields magistrates for refusing duty. In October 1858 her master and one man were washed overboard. Nine days later, the ship was abandoned, with the crew taken off.

These incidents were by no means unusual and bring home the hazards our mariner ancestors faced in their daily lives.

Great Great Grandfather John Robert Moffet (1814-1881)   

John Robert Moffet in a Napoleonic pose - the only photograph I have of my husband's mariner ancestors - shared with me by internet contact who was also a descendant of John.  
 

John's family originated from Tynmouuth, north of the river Tyne,  with his father Robert and brother William both mariners. Two puzzles about the family  remain unanswered.   John was born in Chatham, the site of the Royal Navy dockyard on the River Medway on the south  of England.  What had brought his family there?    John's   wife Frances Dunn Thomas, daughter  and widow of a mariner,   had three children, with two  born in the USA.   It would be wonderful to find the background to that, but nigh impossible without any indication of which state.  The family first settled in the London docklands area before returning to South Shields..   

In the 1861 Census,  John  was listed as master of "The Brotherly Love" sailing off Flamborough Head in the North Sea.     The crew of eight included three young apprentices, four seamen, and a mate, with most born in South Shields.

The caption  reads"The Brotherly Love" model. made for her  master Captain  Moffet."    

llustration supplied by a Moffet descendant. 

In South Shields Museum and Art Gallery, there is  a portrait  " The Brig "Brotherly Love" and the Tug "William" painted by  John Scott (1802-1885).

 Other mariner ancestors of my husband included, on his mother's side:

Great Great Grandfather  Matthew White (1821-?).   

The 1861 census listed Matthew  as master mariner on board the brig "Caroline" off South Shields.  Lloyd’s Captains’ Register,  recorded the ships he sailed on, travelling as far as the Adriatic, Mediterranean and Baltic ports.

 

From: the National Archives at  Kew, London 

 

 Great Grandfather  Matthew Iley White. (1849-1901)

On his marriage to young widow Louisa Moffet Pierce in 1884 at South Shields, Matthew was described as a mariner.  However he had a change of occupation and was next found as a member of the Tyne River Police, along with his brother Henry.

 

A  long-held story in my husband's family recollected a photograph (sadly lost) of a White ancestor in a top hat in the uniform of the River Tyne police.   A silver uniform button  (below) is  still held by the family.   

 

 

 

Tyne and Wear Archives provided some answers. The Nominal Roll of the Tyne River Police gave details that  two sons of Matthew Iley White  (senior),   had been  members of the river police force – but both with rather a chequered career.    Henry White  joined 9^th January 1882 and brother Matthew June 1896.  

 

The Police Defaulters Book recorded on 11^th June 1889 their  misconduct in the same incident -  "for assaulting a seaman A. W. Hanson and other irregularities, whilst off duty".   
 

Matthew was fined 2/6 and transferred to the Newcastle Division at his own expense.  However he resigned a few months later. Henry was fined 2/6 and transferred to Walker Division at his own expense.  The Nominal Roll of 1904 noted his age as 42 and that he had 22 years of service, with a wage of 29/6

 

Storms off South Shields
 "The Shields Gazette" on  (FindMyPast Newspaper Archive)  abounds with  headlines and reports on disasters at sea, storms and gales;  the lifeboat responses. and the ensuing work of the Mariners' benevolent societies in helping families in distress.  Below is one typical  of what mariners faced. 

 

 

  

 

 Image - Pixabay 

 

 

Fascinating Fact  - one of the first purpose built lifeboats  was constructed in South Shields in 1789, prompted by a tragedy  when a ship with all its crew was  lost  at sea just off shore.  

 

 

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

 

 

Click HERE to see more posts  from Sepia Saturday bloggers. 

 

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A Span of Bridges - Sepia Saturday

Bridges have been a popular theme for Sepia Saturday posts.  So the challenge this  week was on what to focus on   - arches, rivers, stone detail, decorative designs.  people looking down -  A bit of all of all of these  in my post.  And I even managed to unearth some photographs I had not shown before! 

Here the stone detail is  the focus  with a footbridge   spanning the Leader Water on the Carolside Estate, near Earston in the Scottish Borders.  Carolside House is an 18th century mansion   with its gardens open to the public in summer.  

 

 

Looking down, you can just make out the bridge in the middle of this  photograph,   taken when out on a walk up the Huntshaw Hill .

More looking down - but not for the faint hearted! A footbridge over the rocks at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. The castle is best known for its links with the ancient King ARrhurs.  

 

 

 

Also looking down -people on this covered wooden bridge in Kaprun, Austria. 

 

 Lattice work on this footbridge at Aviemore Rail Station in the Scottish Highlands.  

 

Another footbridge with attractive wooden fencing in this autumn scene. 

 

 

 

An Archway and Pillars for this bridge over a stream in Lazienski Park in Warsaw, Poland, designed in the 18th century 

Back to Britain 

 

 

 More archways in this  charming vintage image of the Arches on the impressive Leaderfoot Viaduct,  built in 1865 on the cross country route  of the Berwickshire Railway  between the east coast and the central Scottish Borders. 

 

My father  grew up in the village of Broseley, near Ironbridge, Shropshire, known as the birthplace of the industrial revolution with  the world's first ever cast iron bridge, built in 1779  over the River Severn. Dad's father worked at the power house at Coalbrookdale, which meant a 35 minute walk each way each day over the bridge.   The local historical society has been particularly helpful in my family history. The Ironbridge Gorge is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

 

 

 

 

 

Another historic distinctive bridge because of its design  - The Forth Rail Bridge, crossing the Forth estuary near Edinburgh   is a celebrated Scottish landmark, and a milestone in the development of railway civil engineering,  

 

Built in the aftermath of one of the most infamous railway engineering failures  - the Tay Rail Bridge disaster in 1879, it was the first major structure in Britain to be made of steel and its construction resulted in a continuous East Coast railway route from London to Aberdeen in north east Scotland.   

 

The railway bridge, had the world's longest spans (541 m) when it opened in 1890.  At the height of constructive, it employed a workforce of 4600 with the loss of  57 lives.  It remains one of the greatest cantilever trussed bridges and continues to carry passengers and freight today. It now has been given   a World Heritage status.

 

 

 Forth Rail Bridge photographs courtesy of Pixabay. 

 

Until 1964 and the building of the Forth 'Road Bridge.   the only other way for vehicular traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians to cross the River Forth was by  a centuries old ferry service.  It  We lived 6 miles away and my father often travelled north on work, and left early to try and avoid the long queues for the morning ferries - a real bottleneck for everyone. 

 

You get a glimpse of the River Thames here through this garland archway at St. Kathrine's Wharf in London.  It was opened in 1828 as part of the London Docklands, but is now a marina area, popular with visitors. 

 

 

 

 Looking down from a hilly view point  - the Skye Road Bridge in the Scottish Highlands It  cannot be called historic, as it only opened in 1995, but the island is an iconic  symbol of Scotland's history.  The bridge across Loch Alsh links Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland with Kyleakin on Skye  with one pillar  on the small island of Eilean Ban. 

And if you  hanker after the romantic route, singing  "Over the Sea to Skye",   you can still cross by ferry from Mallaig to the south of the island. 

 

 

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

 

Click HERE to see more posts  from Sepia Saturday bloggers.

 

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