My Theme for the A-Z Challenge 2023
Family Traits , Quirks and Characteristics
I for INSOLVENT
John Ingram Smith and Samuel Donaldson
The dictionary defines a person as INSOLVENT if he cannot pay his debts
i.e. Become Bankrupt - such was the case with two people in my family tree.
John Ingram Smith was born in 1847 on the island of Unst in the Shetland Isles. He left Unst to go to the mainland to work in
service as a butler at various large houses in the Aberdeen area.
John looking very smart in formal evening dress
But success there did not last long, as by September 1879, John's business was in trouble, with the sale of "the whole Hotel Furnishings and Hiring PLant belonging to the Trust Estate of Mr John Ingram Smith" - as reported in the local press.
Advertisement in the Aberdeen Journal: September 1879.
This must have been a very difficult time for the family, as their three year old son, Hardy had died a month before the sale. Upheaval followed for John, his wife Ella and their six young children., and John returned to service as a butler.
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But by 1882 another move took place, this time, leaving Scotland behind and returning to the role of hotel keeper in Yorkshire at the Cattle Market Hotel, New Wortley, Leeds. Here tragedy again befell the family with the death of young Ella in March 1883, aged nine.
But newspaper reports again showed that John was finding being a business man challenging, with the report in "The Yorkshire Post": 2nd August 1895 on John appearing at Leeds County Court with his creditors seeking redress. John attributed his INSOLVENCY to “illness, coal strikes, the high price of straw and bad trade”.
Did circumstances prompt another move or was John a restless individual always seeking a change? For by 1896 he was in the seaside resort of Blackpool, running a guest house at various addresses and becoming (according to the family) the Catering Manager of the Winter Gardens, built in 1896 and still today a major entertainment venue in the town - though I have been unable to verify Johns’s position there.
But John’s past caught up with him. For in October 1900 "The Manchester Courier & Lancashire General Advertiser" reported a court case with John Ingram Smith (53), a waiter at the Tower Restaurant, Blackpool charged with obtaining credit without revealing that he was an undischarged bankrupt.
In December John was discharged for a technical breach of the law.
In the 1901 census, John was listed as a caterer, living with his wife Ella and eldest daughter Lily. Ten years on, however, his occupation in the 1911 census was given as Furniture Dealer. He was thought to have retired on ill health grounds and went on to help his son in his furniture business. John's wife Ella died in 1919 and John six years later in 1925, preceded by the deaths over the years of five of their eight children - Hardy, Ella, Edith, Jessie and Edward.
John Ingram Smith was laid to rest in in Layton Cemetery, Blackpool.
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My husband's gggg grandfather was Samuel Donaldson of South Leith, Midothian, a merchant, property owner and ship master - but also an INSOLVENT.
My father-in-law John Robert Donaldson came from South Shields and often related
how his Christian names had been passed down through many generations of the
family. He was proud of his Scottish
roots, but vague on the detail, believing his ancestors came from around Edinburgh.
Research
began by tracing the family back from South Shields, using certificates
of birth, marriage and death, and census information. I was delighted
to establish the Scottish connection in the 1851 census for South
Shields where Robert Donaldson, mariner, was listed as being born c.
1801 in Leith, Scotland – this was a real bonus, as often census
returns just say "Scotland" as a birthplace, and not a specific
parish.
From there, research using www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, traced the family back to Samuel Donaldson, merchant, who in 1759 married Ann Howis at South Leith, Edinburgh's seaport.
Marriage entry for Samuel Donaldson in the 1759 Old Parish Records
for South Leith, Midlothian.
I
have been unable to trace a birth/baptism record, nor a death/burial
record, nor a will, yet other indications were that Samuel at some point
in his life had been a man of property and had five sons to inherit -
David, John. Samuel,Thomas, Robert and three daughter Ann, Marion and
Mary.
I came across in the British Newspapers Online on findmypast, this advertisement in "The Caledonian Mercury" of 3rd November 1759:
"To be sold by Samuel Donaldson at his shop at the foot of the Broad Wynd, Leith
a Cargo of fine pickled herrings for wholesale or retail."
But
twenty yeas later, a turn back into the newspaper archives, revealed that
Samuel's business dealings had taken a turn for the worst. For in "The Caledonian Mercury" of 8th January 1776 appeared a notice, including a reference to creditors of Samuel Donaldson.
"To
be sold by pubic voluntary roup [auction] . the whole HERITABLE
SUBJECTS belonging to SAMUEL DONALDSON, merchant in Leith".
But Samuel seems to have recovered from this setback and among the advertisements on the front page of "The Caledonian Mercury": 11th June 1785 was one for a ship of Samuel Donaldson trading between Leith and Hull:"
"At Leith for Hull and Hull for Leith
WILLIAM HUNTER AND SAMUEL DONALDSON, traders betwixt these two places take this opportunity to inform gentlemen, merchants and others that:........
THE FRIENDSHIP
SAMUEL DONALDSON, Master
WILLIAM HUNTER AND SAMUEL DONALDSON, traders betwixt these two places take this opportunity to inform gentlemen, merchants and others that:........
THE FRIENDSHIP
SAMUEL DONALDSON, Master
is
now loading at Hull for Leith the 17th instant and will continue
sailing from each place with the quickest dispatch in their power and
to assure their friends that every attention will be paid to the
forwarding of their goods by applying to them at Leith. "
Here my research on Samuel came to a halt. I am positive that the records I found relate to "my" Samuel
Donaldson, as I have not come across anyone else of that name and dates
in Leith. He sounded an enterprising man not deterred by setbacks, including being cited as an INSOLVENT.
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Onto J for JOINER
Excellent research on both of these ancestors and their insolvencies. You have to admire the pluck of these budding entrepreneurs that they kept at it even after some heartbreaking family losses and formidable setbacks.
ReplyDeleteInsolvencies seemed to not be uncommon in those days. I’m intrigued how similar your Donaldsons were to my Melvins. One wife came from North Shields and the Melvins were mariners in Leith for generations.
ReplyDelete