Meeting Great Aunt Jennie - 52 Ancestors: Wk. 4

This week's "52 Ancestors" prompt asks us which ancestor we would most like to meet.  In the previous year I have already written in a similar vein about my great grandmother and grandmother, so this time I  have chosen my Great Aunt Jennie Danson.  

I vaguely recall in my childhood seeing her when she visited my grandfather's  home, but she moved south to the English Midlands and we moved north from Lancashire to Scotland and we never met again.

Many years later, I  was getting involved in my mother's family history and her cousin gave me Jennie's daughter's  contact details. We met  and I was given a  wealth of information and even better a collection of family photographs and memorabilia.  The lesson here  - do not delay in getting in touch with  relatives you have lost contact with.

So why would I love to meet Jennie Danson?  

By  all accounts of her daughter, Jennie   was a feisty character - note that determined look on her face in the photograph above ,the oldest one I have of her, taken c.1909.  I would love to talk about her own life and her memories of my great grandparents,  my grandparents and my own mother.So here are my questions: 

What was life like growing up as the youngest, and the only daughter,  with eight older brothers? 

Jennie was born on Christmas Eve, 1897 in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire,  only daughter of James Danson, a joiner,  and Maria Rawcliffe, born after the birth of ten sons (two not surviving infancy). It must have been a crowded hosuehold with her brothers George 3. Frank 5. Albert 7, Tom 9,H William 12 (my grandfather), Robert 16, John 18 and Harry 20 - a household of eleven. 

Tell me about the time the family suffered a number of deaths? 

• In February  1906, her sister in law Sarah died of TB, the wife of second brother John, who returned to his family home with his baby daughter Annie Maria.  Jennie, only eight years older than her niece, remained close to Annie (right)  throughout her life,
   
• In September 1906, when Jennie was only nine years old, father James died.
  
  
• In December 1907, Jennie's eldest brother Harry, a rural postman, died aged only 30.
  
  

What was life like during the First World War?

Few families in the country would escape the traumas of the war. and the Danson family was no exception, with five sons serving.   Frank was wounded and hospitalised in Malta,; Tom served in France and  William was awarded the Military Medal for gallant action in France in 1918.  Youngest son George was killed on the Somme in 1916. aged just 22, and second son John, aged 38  committed suicide whilst in army training in May 1917, leaving his young daughter Annie an orphan.

On leaving school, Jennie went to work in Poulton Post Office.  Her daughter Pam recalls a story that during the First World War, a telegram was received at the Post  Office for Mrs Maria Danson.  Fearing the worst, Jennie was allowed to run home with it.  Fortunately it was good news to say that Frank was in hospital in Malta but was doing well.   

The loss of her sons devastated Maria and she died November 1919.

Tell me about your friends? 

 Was this a group (below)  of Jennie's work colleagues, given they were all dressed in the  same skirts and blouses?   Names on the reverse -  Gerty Roskell, Jennie Danson, Annie Jolly, Margaret Porter, Madge O' Rourke, Edith Jackson.


All these names also feature in a wonderful  collection I inherited of around 50 postcards/photographs  of Jennie's friends.    Was it the custom to exchange such photographs  -  the Facebook of the day?  Perhaps with  a household  of all those brothers, Jennie  was especially grateful for the company of her female friends and their families. 

What was your mother's reaction to you getting your hair cut in the fashionable bob of the day?

 

           

I know very little about my grandmother Alice  English (1884-1945) who married your brother William.  What can you tell me about her?  
Alice is my major brick wall, as I have not even been able to trace her birth certificate and find out the name of her mother.  Anything Jennie could tell me would be a bonus. 

What do you recall about my mother and aunt growing up?
My aunt and mother were only 10-11 years younger than Jennie, with the two families living close by each other  in a block of terraced houses on Bull Street, Poulton.

 

 My aunt Edith (seated) and my mother Kathleen

What was it life like after your mother died and you had to take over the reins of the household?  

By all accounts of her two daughters, Jennie was quite a character, determined to lead her own life.  By her late twenties she decided she had had enough of fulfilling a domestic role for her four brothers,  who showed no inclination to marry and set up their own home.  So  1929 saw her marry Beadnell (Bill)  Stemp at St. Chad's Church,  Poulton.  This move prompted her brothers all to get married in the following few years! 

Tell me about your wedding?

  
The bridesmaids included Jennie's nieces Annie (seated), and little Peggy Danson.  The local newspaper report on the wedding in effusive  journalistic  style that makes entertaining reading.  A short extract reads:

"The bride,  who was given away by her brother Mr R. Danson,  was stylishly gowned in French grey georgette, veiling silk to tone.  The bodice which was shaped to the figure was quite plain, with a spray of orange blossoms at the shoulder, while the skirt, which was ankle length, was composed entirely of five picot edged scalloped circular frills, and the long tight sleeves had circular picot edged frilled cuffs in harmony.  Her hat was of georgette to tone with uneven pointed dropping brim, having an eye veil of silver lace and floral mount."                                              

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Ten years on in 1938,  and with the Blackpool area in a state of economic depression, Bill took the big decision to seek for work in the English Midlands.  Jennie duly joined him with their young daughter Joan and second daughter was born shortly afterwards. But the move was difficult for Jennie.  She had left her large extended family behind and found  the housing and the industrial environment uncongenial,  after the coast and country air in the Fylde. But the family  made various moves to better housing and life continued on  as  she enjoyed a close relationship with her daughters.  

The older Jennie  - but the determined look is the same! 

Jennie died in 1986 at the age of 89, leaving to her daughters a legacy of memories of her own mother Maria,  tangible family artifacts such as her mother’s tea set and jewellery,  a large collection of  photographs (with names inscribed on the back) and other family memorabilia, much relating to her two youngest brothers Frank and George.  

Jennie was truly a strong woman  who, like her mother Maria,  demonstrated resilience, determination and commitment to her family throughout her life.  

I would love to have known her!

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