Where Family History Meets Local History: 52 Ancestors - Wk 41

"Context" is the theme of this week's "52 Ancestors" prompt and this is a topic right up my street, for I am  a firm believer that family history is so much more than just names and dates on a family tree.  For it can takes us  in so many diverse and fascinating directions by linking family and local history. 

Some time ago, I came across a blog entry Writing on Family from Dawn,  where she reviewed an anthology entitled Women Writing On Family: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing. It’s edited by Carol Smallwood and Suzanne Holland and published by The Key Publishing House, Inc. of Toronto, Canada (www.thekeypublish.com).  

A key quote in the book struck a chord with me.

"The best family histories are rich in detail." 

So how can we find that detail? 

LOCAL HISTORIES

These are invaluable in  putting our ancestors lives in the wider context of where they lived.  My "ancestral" home is Poulton-le-Fylde near Blackpool, Lancashire and I try to buy every local history book on the small town.   I have discovered photographs of my great uncle in a local football team,  early class photographs about the time my aunt and mother ere at the  school,  photographs of my nursemaid grandmother's employers,  and the terraced house (since demolished),  where my great grandmother raised  a large family of eight  sons, one daughter and one orphanage granddaughter.

 Bull Street, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire

where my great grandparents and grandparents lived until 1926.

TIMELINES   to me are an important feature of a  family history narrative.  Our ancestors did not live in a vacuum, so set their  lives in a wider context of life around them - what was happening at a local, national and international leveL?  I usually present this in the form of a text box in each chapter, or as an chronology appendix at the end of my narrative.

My father was always called a Titanic baby - a bit of a misnomer, but it related to the  fact  he was born 15th April 1912, the night the Titanic sank.  For major events, date reference books can help, but local newspapers and local histories are invaluable sources of information.    Some ideas here: 

• Was your British ancestor alive when there was the threat of a Napoleonic invasion with towns and villages ready to light beacons to warn of the French attack?  I have come across  front page advertisements in a local newspaper of 1804  warning of this danger.
• Might your ancestors have seen the Jacobite army marching through Scotland and the north of England  in 1744-5,   as Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) attempted  to take the Hanoverian throne?   I have found in burgh records, discussions by the local council on this event.
• The coming of the railway to a community had an immediate and dramatic effect  with local newspapers giving extensive coverage the plans, the construction, the accidents,  the role of navies, and the excitement generated by the opening, as in the report below from the "Kelso Chronicle" of 8 June 1836:

  “The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway is to be opened on the 18^th inst. The journey, sixty miles, is expected to be performed in three hours. The sight will be splendid, and will do doubt draw together an immense multitude.”

  
  

  
  

• What about the impact of the invention of the sewing machine  on the task of making a family's clothes? 
  
   
• Might your female ancestors have seen suffragettes campaigning  locally?
• When was your local cottage hospital built, or the local football  club formed? 
  
• How did your  ancestral town or village mark the death of Queen Victoria in 1901? 

CENSUS RETURNS  are often the route to finding out more abut our ancestors.  The word "poorhouse" (or  "workhouse" in England) struck fear in people living close to destitution.  

But for family historians searching for a story beyond the simple names and dates, such a discovery is an  immediate prompt to turn to poor law records - not generally available online. These are one of the most popular types of offline tools at my local archive centre, the Heritage Hub, Hawick in the Scottish Borders,  and, although they have not been a source for my own family,  I find it fascinating to browse through them. 


WORK was a major part of our ancestors' lives, with long hours the norm.  So the more we can find out about their working life, the greater the rounded picture we bring to a family  history. 

We might not find the name of individual ancestors, but occupational records are invaluable in giving us a picture of working life and and have given me an insight into the lives of my husband's miner and mariner ancestors. So many of these records are not available online, and my message is -  search the online  catalogue of the Archive Centre relevant to your research,  and use their enquiry service if you cannot visit it. 

Leisure - how did our ancestors spend their free time?   

Earlston Orchestra in concert in 1899

A concert in Peebles.

A tea party in the  Scottish Borders

• How did your ancestors celebrate Christmas? Local  newspapers were full of the benevolent gestures by  landed gentry such as this report in the  Kelso Chronicle of 1836:

On the Duke of Roxburgh's  estate, two fine oxen were slaughtered and meat distributed to poor householders and indigent poor of the community.  The sum of £20 was used to purchase fuel for the poor of the town.

•  What kind of weather did your ancestors experience, for instance at harvest time,or  in winter?  - local newspapers and local historical societies  would probably provide the answers.
  
  Market Square, Earlston, Scottish Borders in the winter of 1947 - 
  recognized as one of the worst winters on record.

The possibilities are endless for adding colour to your family story!
Enjoy the task!  

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Acknowledgements:

• Auld Earlston Group
• Heritage Hub, Hawick 
• British Newspapers Online 1710-1963 on FindMyPast

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