Marking Ten Years of Blogging

My tenth blogging anniversary  almost past me by - thank you to geneabloggers.com for reminding me in their anniversary listing. I don't know how I am still here, as I never expected to last this long,  when I  tentatively wrote my first post back in August 2010.  
 

My main concern then was "Is anyone finding this and more importantly actually reading it?" A few arms were twisted with  friends and relations to sign up as my first followers. But let's face it, although we enjoy writing,  recognition from others is a great motivator.

Ten years ago, I thought I would soon run out of material, but the online  prompts  and inspiration from other bloggers have been so stimulating.  Discovering two (third) cousins, one from my birth town, and one in the USA,  gave  me a shot in the arm, in providing me with  with fresh stories. 

My thoughts on the past year: 

• Given lockdown and the cancellation of a holiday in April, I decided at the last minute to take part in the mega April A-Z Blogging challenge of 26 posts in the month - my theme Family History Meets Local History. I just about survived the hectic pace!
• For the third year running, I joined Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge - though this year I was quite selective in which prompts I responded to,  to avoid being repetitive.
  
• Another  main blogging activity again has focused on writing for the prompt Sepia Saturday, but  it is becoming increasingly difficult for me not to repeat photographs I have  shown before.  Unfortunately the attempt a few years ago  year  to change slightly  the format of the site  meant that  many  regular bloggers pulled out of contributing.  A pity as I valued their input on  a site which actively encourages bloggers to comment and provides  a friendly, supportive network.
  
• My main aim  for 2020 has been to diversify.    I admit I am a "flitter" dodging between one aspect of my family history to another, and lacking focus. I was also very aware that so much of my attention was on my mothe's  Danson family which was a great source of stories, documents and photographs.
  
• The promp  "Through Her Eyes Thursday" encourged me to look more closely at  almost forgotten  female ancestors and to bring  them out of the shadows.
  
  
• My main research in recent months has been on my father's Weston family where I had little beyond names and dates, no anecdotes, and very very few photographs, but much help from some excellent local history society Facebook pages. 
  
• Continuing the blog I set up in 2015 for my local heritage group  - Auld Earlston - is a  challenge,  espcially when it comes to managing two blogs - but very enjoyable all the same.  Plus it has provided me with additional material for my personal blog,  which is great!
  

• I continue to read regularly Facebook genealogy pages , notably Geneablogers.com for its prompts and weekly listing  of blog posts;  and  We Are Genealogy Bloggers providing a forum for discussion, sharing knowledge and ideas on  all matters relating to the act of blogging. 
  
  
• I also have found very useful the Facebook page Genealogy Addicts UK & Worldwide  Research Group   which  specialises  in brick wall issues.    Two of my own queries brought an immediate flood of helpful responses, though at the end of the day, the consensus backed up my thinking - and my brick walls still stand!  I enjoy reading the entries from other family historians and sharing my own knowledge, especially when it comes to Scottish research.

  And finally - I have taken the plunge and sent away for my DNA.  I have very few living relations, a cousin and three of my mother's cousins, none of whom are on the inernet, and a brother. But I was encouraged to just test myself - and I hope I can understand the results!
  

I look forward to another year of discovering stories connected with my family history, writing posts that appeal to readers,  and reading the posts of my fellow enthusiasts.  

 THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT  FROM MY FELOOW BLOGGERS

 and

A TOAST TO OUR BLOGGING ACTIVITY 

 Images courtesy of Pixabay

 
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Cigarettes in Hand - Sepia Saturday

This week's prompt photograph from Sepia Saturday shows a group of three men in close conversation - all in suits, wearing hats and one smoking a cigarette - c.1944.  In the past I have  done men in hats, men wearing pocket watches, and threesomes, so what could i pick out this time? The answer - cigarettes with a few waistcoats also on show.

 

With my father, c.1946.  Dad's pose with his cigarette in his hand,  near a child would be very frowned upon now!  And he was weanng a waistcoat.

Fast forward to 1961 and Dad was still smoking. 

It was a familiar sight to see my father seated at the small manual typewriter on his bureau, which had been a  wedding present from my mother.  He was either ploughing through the paperwork of his job as a sales rep., or keeping in touch with his mother, sister and brothers  by letter.  

I can date this photograph to around 1961, as it was taken in our new home in Edinburgh.  Shortly after we moved there from the north of England,  my aunt (Dad's sister-in-law)  died of lung cancer.  Dad immediately  stopped smoking and never touched a cigarette again.  

I don't have many group photographs in my collection, but here is one  of my Danson family from Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, on what seems to be a very happy occasion.    But  I don't know  what the occasion was - and I never asked the right questions, when I first came across the pictures in a family album. 

This appears to be taken outside a typical Blackpool bed & breakfast.  My grandmother (Alice Danson, nee English)  is in the centre of the group and to the right her daughters Kathleen (my mother), and Edith, and crouching at the side could be my Uncle Harry, wearing a carnation, though I did not instantly recognise him here.  And he was smoking!

My guess as to the occasion rests on Uncle Harry wearing the carnation  Was this his short- lived wartime wedding?  But where was his bride?  Or was he best man?  Is that the happy couple  on the left of the first photograph where the girl has her arm around the man by her side, who I think is also sporting a buttonhole.   But why was my grandmother taking the centre stage position? 

Throughout my own life,  Uncle Harry lived in the family home with my grandfather and sister Edith (my grandmother died in 1945).  But through snatches of conversation I picked up as a child, I became aware that he had at some time married and was divorced - all very hush, hush  in those days, swept under the carpet and certainly never openly mentioned. 

It was only after his death, I foud in clearing the house  the papers confirming a marriage on 11th June 1940, shortly after Harry had returned from the Dunkirk evacuation),   and his divorce in 1947.  

 

This billboard proclaims "Grey's Cigarettes as "just honest to goodness tobacco."  It was painted by my father-in-law John Robert Donaldson,   directly onto the board, because of a shortage of paper. immediately after the war.    Standing alongside  is  his son Ian  who followed  him into his signwriting and decorating  business. 

Some more cigaetts adverts, courtesy of Pixabay. 

 

 

As a former Reference Librarian, I always like to add some trivial facts to a post - so here goes.
 
Tobacco was first introduced into Europe in the late 16th century by Jean Nicot (hence the word nicotine).  At first, it was used  mainly for pipe-smoking, chewing, and snuff. Cigars became popular in the the early 1800s and by  the early 20th century,cigarettes were widely smoked.  In the two world wars, cigarettes were regarded as the essential gift to send to soldiers and prisoners of war in their "comfort" parcels.

But by the late 1940's and 1950's there was increasing scientific evidence that smoking caused significant health risks.  In the UK,  Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) was established in January 1971 by the Royal College of Physicians.  Campaigns eventually led to the banning of point-of-sale advertising, banning of cigarette vending machines, and the introduction of plain packaging with health warnings. 

And to my mind, it seems to have worked, as you see far fewer people these  days. with a cigarette in their hand.  

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In the prompt photograph I was struck by the middle chap sporting a patterned waistcoat  - a style that became popular, particularly with golfers   much later on and was manufactured by the knitwear firms in the Scottish Borders  where I live. So some more waistcoats on show here.

A photograph from my local heritage gorp connection Auld Earlston of a church choir outing  c.1906.  I was struck by the man on the right wearing an unusal double breasted waistcaot - complete wth pocket watch.   

Edward Henry Coombs(1857-1922) was the great grandfather of my cousin' s wife.  In 1879 Edward  married 19 year old Ann Elizabeth Shaw and in 18 years, they had a large family of 10 children.   He was founder of Coomb Bros.  - a wholesale grocery business and manufacturer of sweets and jams in Essex- and looks as if he  enjoyed his products!  His waistcoat, pocket  watch and chain are very evident in this photograph.

The period 1917-1918 was a tragic time for Edward,   with sons Percy and William killed in the First World War; the death of his wife  and of his daughter Lilian.  Edward died in 1922, aged 65. 

 

Waistcoats were obviously standard wear even for young boys.  Young George Danson, my great uncle is on the left of this group of  boys with their teacher - all of them wearing waistcoats.  

I began with a photograph of my father - and end with one - my wedding with Dad in very formal wear,  including a waistcoat.  

 

 Click  HERE to see other bloggers in conversation over this week's prompt. 

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Men at Work: Sepia Saturday

This week’s Sepia  Saturday prompt photograph show two burly men working with very heavy chains.  So take a look here at more men involved in heavy work.

 

 

Men working with the heavy machinery  in the textile mill in Earlston in the Scottish Borders.   From the mid -19th century through to 1969, the mill was the chief employer in the village  and the mainstay of the local economy. 

 

 

Road workmen in Greece taking a break - my husband encountered this group in 1971 and when he took a photograph, they wanted some money! 

 

Highs and Lows of Work  

 

 Steeplejacks climbing the mill chimney at Simpson and Fairbairn Textile Mill in Earlston, Scottish Borders - early 1900s.

 

Arthur Smith, my cousin's father emerging from a manhole during his work as a linesman for the General Post Office. 

Getting Abou

 

Tommy Roger, a coracle maker, born c. 1845, Ironbridge, Shropshire -

 

My father John Weston grew up in Broseley on the other side of the river from Ironbridge, and this photograph was found in the collection of his older brother Fred.

You might be wondering, where is the mode of transport is  here? Well, it is on the back of Thomas Rogers, A coracle is a small, lightweight boat with a loosely woven frame traditionally covered in animal hide, but in more recent times calico, canvas and coated with a substance such as bitumen.    When the Iron Bridge was opened in 1779 locals objected to paying the tolls, so they used their coracles to cross the river instead.

Tommy Roger  was well known as a poacher and the local newspaper reported  his appearance in court on poaching charges.   He also  helped to build the new police  cells and court room in Ironbridge in 1862 - only to be one of the first people to use them!

 

 Staff and visitors at Earlston Railway Station, c.1920.  The Berwickshire Railway reached Earlston in 1863, but following sevee flodding in 1948,  the line only contineud with freight traffic not passengers and was finally closed  in 1965.

 

 

 Many family historians will have Carters among their ancestors and for the majority of people,  horse and cart was the only way to get around or to transport goods. But it was not without its risks and local newspapers regularly featured  reports of bad accidents - cartwheels coming loose, overladen carts overturning etc.  

 

One such report was on  the death on November 27, 1860 of Earlston grocer, Alexander McWilliam who was making his rounds, selling to customers and collecting produce from farmers, when he slipped and fell from his car.  He sustained head injuries and died at home.    He was just 36 years old and left two young children and a heavily pregnant wife.

 Farm work had its own risks too: 

 

 

Piling up heavy haystacks on a cart in Earlston. 

 

Grappling with sheep in sheep shearing in Earlston 

 Back to travelling by water  - my husband's ancestors were mariners sailing out of South Shields to face the hazards of the North Sea.

 

 

My husband's great great grandfather  John Moffet, master mariner  -  a burly man in this Napoleonic pose.

 

"The Shields Gazette" on   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.  A typical   examples is given  below:

 

 

 

 Finally - two family photographs  - in the 1930s and 1940s my grandfather William Danson of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire  was a general labourer at th ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) Works  at nearby Thornton,.  Here with a  group of workmen - with Grandad the seated figure in the front. 

 

Some 50 years  later, my brother, William's grandson,  was working in the oil industry.

 

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Sources:   

• Auld Earlston  - Photographic Collection  
• Find My Past  - British Newspaper Archive 
  
  
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 Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share 
their family history and memories through photographs

 

 

                        

 Click HERE  to see other bloggers at work on this prompt photo. 

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 Postscript:   I am having a great deal of trouble adjusting to this new Blogger Interface, in terms of font choice, standard sizing of photographs,  spacing etc.  plus the major factor  -  I cannot seem to access Print Preview.  I obviously dislike changes!!

Bridges over Rivers, Valleys - and Centuries: Sepia Saturday

This week's photographic prompt from Sepia Saturday shows an electric tramway crossing a bridge over a valley and major road.

Cue for a tour across countries and centuries  looking at bridges that span rivers, valleys  and a loch, mainly in the Scottish Borders.   So do read  about the place where poet Robert Burns first set eyes on England,  the Marriage House  by the River Tweed,  used by runaway couples from England;  and the riots at Kelso about the bridge tolls;    and I  finish by looking at a famous bridge with links to my own family history.

What  struck me in writing this post  is the length of time - i.e. 200 years - that many of these old bridges served their  community, before replacement structures were built  - progress sometimes seems very slow!

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A view of the three bridges, spanning two hundred years of history,  crossing the River Tweed at Leaderfoot, near Melrose in the Scottish Borders - 3 miles from my home.  In the middle the original narrow stone bridge built c.1776 to replace a ford crossing - this remained the main road linking Edinburgh with the north of England until the building in 1974 of the concrete bridge in the foreground which carries the traffic today. In the background is the impressive 19-arched railway viaduct opened in 1865 - the major engineering feat of the Berwickshire Railway,  until its closure 100 years later in 196

 

The Viaduct  remains a  popular spot for  photographers today  - here a view taken from the old road bridge which is now only open to walkers and cyclists. 

Another modern structure  - this time the Europa Brucke, linking Germany & Austria across the Alps into Italy; a photograph taken as we flew into Innsbruck. The bridge is 2,549 feet  long.  According to Wikipedia, it hosts a 192 metre Bungee Jump  - the 5th highest in the world.construction began in 1959 and the bridge opened to traffic in 1964. 

Back to the Scottish Borders  and the many crossings over  its famous  salmon river  the Tweed, as it weaves its 90 mile journey to the sea. 

Mertoun Bridge, near St. Boswells, built in 1837.

Coldstream Bridge over the River Tweed  marks the boundary between Scotland and England  and opened in 1767, built at a cost of £6000 - £725,000 in current values. (www.measuringworth.com).  It was paid for  by a government grant, local subscriptions and loans from Edinburgh Banks, to be paid back from the bridge tolls.  
 

But Coldstream Bridge Tollhouse at the north end of the bridge,  was more than just the location for collecting taxes.  For it was akin to Gretna Green towards the west as  the location for a Scottish  "Irregular Marriage".  This was in the form of a verbal declaration by the couple  giving their consent  before witnesses and did not require a clergyman, but anyone who took on the role for a fee.  No notice, such as banns,  was required, no parental consent  and no residency requirement.  Such marriages were valid in Scotland but were increasingly frowned upon and became less  and less acceptable. 

In the meantime, however, many English couples in particular,  eloped to places just across the Border,  to escape the stricter English marriage laws and obtain a quick, easy  and cheaper marriage.     

It was on the bridge that Scottish bard  Robert Burns had his first glimpse of England, as marked  by a plaque.

                                

Another crossing of the River Tweed with the Rennie Bridge at Kelso. It was built in 1800-3 to replace one washed away in floods of 1797. Designed by John Rennie, it was an earlier and smaller scale version of the Waterloo Bridge, which he designed for London. 

The Toll House, where the payment had to be made, was the scene of a riot in 1854, when  local people   objected to continuing to pay the tolls when the building costs had been long cleared. It still took three years for tolls to be withdrawn. For nearly 200 years, this narrow bridge  remained the only bridge across the Tweed at Kelso until the building of a new one in 1998 to the east of the town. 

From large to smaller structures:

Craigsford Bridge over the Leader Water at Earlston (my home village)   was built around 1737.  Until the building of the new toll road (the later A68) at the end of the century, it was the main route to Edinburgh.  It was sometimes referred to as the Mill Brig,  being close to the Simpson & Fairbairn Mill that produced textiles until its closure in 1969.

This  graceful,late 18th century bridge spans the Leader Water  linking  the neighbouring estates of Carolside and Leadervale at Earlston.

"The Statistical Account of Scotland" of 1834  gives us a beautiful description of Carolside  

"Poised on a green plateau beside the River Leader and sheltered by surrounding slopes of its own extensive woodlands, as a sweet and secure asylum from the toils and troubles of the world'."

Taken on a hill walk, here we  look down on  the same bridge in the wooded glen.

To the Highlands and the Skye Road Bridge,opened in 1995, to the island that is  an iconic  symbol of Scotland's history.  The bridge across Loch Alsh links Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland with Kyleakin on Skye.   If you fancy a more romantic journey  to the Isle, you can still travel, as in the  song,  "over the sea to Skye" on the Mallaig ferry to the south of the island.

And finally a link with my family history.

My  brother is standing in front of the cast iron arched Ironbridge over the River Severn in Shropshire  - England's longest river.It was the first iron bridge to be built In 1781  and gave the valley the  description of   "the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution".It is now a World Heritage  Site.  

Our father spent his childhood in Broseley on the other  side of the river to Ironbridge.  Dad  went to school there, sang in the choir from the age of seven and began his working life at a grocer's shop, delivering goods by pony and cart.  Dad's father had a 35 minutes walk across the bridge  each way every day to get to his work at the Coalbrookdale Power House in the Severn valley.

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

Click HERE

  to see what  bridges other bloggers have come across.

Searching for Sarah Ann Jones - My Great Grandmother

The prompt from Diane of "Through Her Eyes" Thursday encouraged me to review my research on my femlale ancestors, in this instance   my great grandmother Sarah Ann Weston, nee Jones. My knowledge  of her early life, prior to marriage  was little more than a name and a few dates, so I set out to find more about her background. 

It proved to be a challenging task which involved a number of confusing relationships, false trails and unanswered questions remaining - not helped by the popularity of the name Sarah Ann Jones in her home county of Staffordshire in the English West Midlands.  I made very heavy weather of this research tale!  

 

 

 

The first clues  came from census returns after Sarah Ann  was married, with  her birthplace given consistently as Penn, Staffordshire, and born c.1851. Staffordshire Parish Records on FindMyPast confirmed her marriage  on 14th December 1875  to John Thomas Weston in Pattingham, Staffordshire, and   revealed the  key fact  - her  father’s name was Joseph Jones, a labourer. The witnesses were both members of her husband's family - so no help there.

I next turned to early census returns.  In the 1851 census  for Penn, I found quickly a  baby Saran Ann, aged four  months at Lower Penn at the home of her  maternal grandmothe, 64 year old Ann Brant, so born c.1787 and described as an Ag Lab.  Success  - I had the name of my great great grandmother.

Also in the household in 1851 were Joseph Jones, aged 26, an Ag. Lab., aged described as"lodger",  and Ann's married daughter Sarah Jones,  aged 27, so born c.1824,    described as "lodger's wife".  So far so good! 

Ten years on and the 1861 census held some surprises. Young  Sarah Ann  Jones was now ten years old, still at her grandmother' Ann Brant's home, along with another child Ernest  Jones, aged 4.  But Ann's daughter was now listed as Sarah Brant and described as unmarried. 

So was this the right family for my Sarah Ann?   For another  1861 census entry in the village of Penn,  Joseph Jones and his wife Mary, and their family including a 10 year old Mary Ann, and siblings James, Ann, and Jane Elizabeth. 

I turned back to the 1841 census for the Brant family of Penn and found that Robert and Ann Brant had two daughters, Sarah Brant,  aged 20  and Mary Brant aged 15 (ages rounded for this census).  

I was very confused!  Who was my great grandmother's   mother - Sarah or Mary?  Who had Joseph Jones married - a Sarah or Mary? 

To get a second opinion, I put a query on the Facebook page of  the Genealogy Addicts  UK and Worldwide Research Group and received some helpful replies, with  pointers for research.  

The GRO Birth Index confirmed that the maiden name  of Sarah Ann's mother  was indeed a Brant  - but no Christian nameswas given.

Parish Records were my next source.
The England  & Wales  Christening Index on Ancestry  recorded the baptism of Sarah Ann Jones on 19th May 1850 at St. Bartholomew's, Penn.  Father Joseph Jones, mother Mary Jones - no maiden name given.

England Select Marriages on Ancestry recorded the marriage at St. Peter's, Wolverhampton on 27th December 1848  of  Joseph Jone. a labourer of Horseley Fields, (father John deceased);  Joseph's wife - Mary Brant.  

Two convincing pieces of evidence  that my great grandmother's parents were  indeed Joseph Jones and Mary Brant.     No entry was found for a marriage between a Joseph Jones and a Sarah Brant. 

But so many questions and puzzles remain?

• In the 1851 census entry  for the Brant family, was it a mistake that 27 year old Sarah (not Mary)  was listed as Joseph Jones' wife?  No other entry has been found for a married Mary Jones, born in Penn, c.1830.
  
  
• If baby Sarah Ann was born in May 1850, she would be more that 4 months old by the time of the next census taken on the 30th March 1851. 
  
  
• Years of birth of the various family members are unreliable guides,  differing between the 1851 and 1861 census returns - a not unusual feature of the times.
  
  
• Where were Joseph  and Mary Jones & family in 1871?   - so far I have  failed to trace them.

But what of my great grandmother Sarah Ann Jones?  
I was unable to trace a census entry in 1871 for a 20 year old Sarah Ann  She could have been the servant,  listed in two possible households around Wolverhampton. 

Four years later   she was living in Pattingham, where she married my great grandfather John Thomas Weston, an agricultural labourer.  The 1881 census showed the family in Mere Oak, Tettnehall, with three children  Albert Ernest, aged 4,  (my grandfather) and Florence Clara Annie aged 2, both born in West Bromwish, plus three week old Frederick Henry, born in Tettenhall.

A rather fanciful thought?  Might Albert Ernest's middle name be after Sarah Ann's young brother Ernest when they were living together at their grandparent's home in 1861?  The Christian name continued down the generations of the Weston family, including my cousin.

By 1891 John Thomas Weston   had left the rural life behind  to work as a general labourer at iron works , near Bilston.  The family was living at the “Back of 2 Salop Street Navigation Inn”, with Albert (here listed as Ernest), 14, Frederick 10 and another son 7 year old Charles, with Florence not at home on census night.  Neighbours  included labourers, a publican/beer house keeper, a steel mill roller, a rudder at ironworks, a steel mill shearer, a tin plate worker,  and a forge mill manager – so very much an industrial community.

In 1901, at the age of 48, John was a brakeman in a colliery, Sarah 50, Albert at 24 was “an engine driver stationary”, Frederick a welder, and Charles a general labourer.  

In 1910 John Thomas  Weston  died , aged 56.   A year later in the  1911 census, his widow,  61 year old Sarah Ann was at the home of her son-in-law George Elliot Howlett,  a railway station manager at Sherstone, Lichfield, Staffordshire, with his three young sons under six years of age.   Their  absent mother Florence was traced to Queen's Hospital, Birmingham as a patient there on census night.  I was confident I had the right entries here, as my father poke of his uncle and aunt George & Flo Howlett and their youngest son had Weston as his middle name. 

Tracing Sarah Ann's death has so far proved a problem.

So from knowing little about Sarah Ann, when  I started this search, I  had found out about her birth,  her parents and grandparents - with the next task to discover more about their lives. Family history never comes to an end!  

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Notes:  

• The place names in this search   - Penn, Pattingham, and Tettenhal  are villages close to  or are now suburbs  of the industrial hub of Wolverhampton and Bilston.
  

• John Thomas  Weston research  - in contrast to the complexity  of his wife's background,  I found little noteworthy  on my great grandfather.  The most interesting discovery on his life was the fact, like many others at the time,   he made the  major shift  from working on the land to working  in a mine - an area worth looking at in more detail.
  
  
• Google provided me with some fascinating information on history of Queens Hispital in Birmingham, where Florence Howlett, nee Weston was a patient in 1911. It wasfounded in 1840, became a Free Hospital in 1875  with many extensions built later,   and only closed in 1993.
  

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Postscript - my first attempt in finishing this post with the  new blogger format -  - and the process was torturous!