U is for Umquihile, Unfortunate, and Unflagging

I am enjoying participating in this series from Aona at ttpw.gouldgeneogy.com/2012/05/take-the-family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge

U is for:

Umquihile  - this word was new to me until I began researching Scottish records. in more  depth   You may come across this in old documents, wills etc. and it  is an archaic Scots word meaning "the late" or "the deceased."  I lay claim  for this being  most unusual U word| 


We come across in family history research many Unfortunate souls, particularly when browsing through  Poor Law Records.  Some cases unearthed from Scottish Borders archives:

• Robert Leck, once a well known clockmaker of Jedburgh, admitted to the poorhouse aged 67, with a pattern of admissions and discharges until the time came when he was "wholly disabled, nearly blind and wholly destitute". Interestingly when I did a Google search, I found an illustration of a Robert Leck grandfather clock about to be auctioned in London.
• The story of Janet Scott had a more positive outcome. Her admission record in 1877 gives us a glimpse of the desperate situation in which many applicants for poor relief found themselves. A single mother with two children and a baby, working as an agricultural labourer, she was "wholly disabled by a cart falling on her". She was on parish relief for three years. However she also demonstrated her resilience, as in the 1881 census she was back earning a living, as an Ag. Lab, along with her two eldest daughters.



Janet Scott's entry in the Jedburgh Union Poorhouse Register, 1877.

• 15 year old James Robertson is described as "delicate and deformed by spine curvature and will never be able to do much. He needs a suit of clothes, 2 pairs of stockings and 2 handkerchiefs. Allowed.
• Mary Burns, also in need of clothing, was granted " 1 frock, 2 yards flannel, 2 yards drugget, 2 pinafores and a pair of boots.
• At Melrose, Rosburghshire, a mother and young children were "footsore and weary" and given help as they made their way from Newcastle to Glasgow to rejoin family - a distance of 114 miles.
• Mary Phllips was admitted to the Poorhouse as "this woman's husband deserted her, having absconded to America. She has 2 children and is about to be confined. Her parents very poor."

Unlucky - sometime researching family history is a matter of luck.  I have recently been reserching my father's childhood in Shropshire.  I was delighted to find that the Brosely Historical Society website includes extracts from newspapers  with fascinating titbits of life in the local church and school.  But guess what?  The crucial years I wanted of 1925 and 1926 were missing!  

You may also be unlucky when trying to trace  World War One service records for an ancestor, as so many were destroyed in a 1940's bombing raid on the National Archives in London.  My five Danson great uncles served, but I have only managed to trace the records for one of them - George.




Tom and George Danson

 Whether  it is military, school or work, photographs of our ancestors in Uniform  put them in the context of their wider lives.  Below  is my Great Aunt Jenie Danson  (second left)  with colleagues who worked in the local post office in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.

We are always looking for that Undisputed record on  our ancestor

My four times great grandfather John Danson had a daughter Ellen Danson, baptised at St. Chad's Church in 1763 (Poulton Parish Register) In searching for a marriage I came across an Ellen Danson marrying a Ralph Dewhurst - and made the basic fatal error of assuming this was "my " record - until I disoscvered that there were two other young Ellen Danson's in Poulton around the same time.  Given that the marriage entry does not name her father, I remain Unsure that I do have the right record. 

And finally I remain Unflagging in my family history activities and in following this A-Z challenge - soon to come to its end.