My Theme for the A-Z Challenge 2023
Mother Jane had given birth eight times in in sixteen years and at the age of 44, 2 years after the birth and death of her youngest child, she died in 1866, making her surviving daughters motherless at the ages of. 6, 8 11, 14, and 17 - Maria the youngest.
The Puzzle of a Change in Name
According to her birth certificate and baptismal record Maria's name was simply that. Yet in many official documents including her 1877 marriage certificate, the 1881 census,and my grandfather's 1907 birth certificate, her first Christian name was given as Martha - the name of her youngest sister who died at 4 months old. Maria was only just four years old at the time, so could hardly have remembered her, so why did she choose to adopt her name? To her two granddaughters, who are still alive, Granny's name was Maria.
Marriage
In 1875 Maria's father Robert married again - his wife, 20 years his junior, Elizabeth Brekall, (not a widow as I first assumed) but a single woman with three illegitimate children - four half- siblings followed with Robert over the next six years.
In 1877
Maria married at the age of 18. I had trouble tracing where the
marriage took place. Although the family bible recorded the date of
the event, there
was no mention of place. I eventually discovered that Maria married
in her husband’ s parish of Singleton with the certificate giving Maria’s address
that of her eldest married sister Anne in the nearby parish of
Thistleton.
One cannot help wondering if her father's second marriage and the presence of a step mother with her own three children had led Maria to make a move to her sister Anne's.
Maria married James Danson who by all accounts was a bit of a black sheep in the family. In the space of 20 years Maria had 10 sons (two dying in infancy ) and her only daughter Jennie - ironic given that Maria came from a family of all daughters
The early twentieth century proved a testing time:
- 1905 - Maria’s daughter- in - law, Sarah. married to son John, died of consumption at the age of 21, a year after giving birth to baby Annie Maria Danson, who was immediately taken to live with her grandmother.
Little Annie aged about 4 years old.
- 1906 - Maria’s husband James Danson died, leaving Maria a 47 year old widow with most of her large family still living at home, three of them under 14 years of age.
- 1907 - Maria’s eldest son Harry died at the age of 30 due to a heart attack.
- The First World War saw five Danson brothers called up for Army service - John, William (my grandfather), Tom, Frank and George - a worrying time.
- 1916 - Maria’s youngest son George was killed on the Somme 16th September 1 whilst serving as a stretcher bearer in the field - a perilous role in the heat of the battle. He had just marked his 22nd birthday on and his service record showed him to be a slight figure for such a role - 5 foot 3 inches in height, only 109lbs in weight and he wore glasses.
- 1917 - eight months later, further tragedy struck with the news of the death on 17th May of son John, aged 38 who had killed himself whilst in army training - his death certificate gave the stark statement - “Cut his throat whilst temporarily insane”. He left his young daughter Annie Maria an orphan.
Poulton War Memorial - 1919 - Maria Danson, née Rawcliffe died aged 60.
Maria's life has given me
endless stories for my family history, from the lives of her sisters , parents and stepmother to the lives of her own children - and also brought me the first knowledge of emigrant ancestors.
She led her life with determination and commitment to her family, amidst times off hardship, misfortune and great sadness. A truly RESILIENT woman.
Maria with her eldest granddaughter Annie Maria. Annie looks to be around 12 years old, so I reckon this photograph dates from around 1916.
- I was always attracted by the name of Maria which seemed much more exciting than the rather prosaic names of her sisters - until I read that. Maria was the 15th most popular female name in the 1850s - so not quite so significant as I first thought
- Maria’s name lived on in the names of her grandson, Harry Rawcliffe Danson (my uncle Harry); her granddaughter Annie Maria Danson and her niece, Maria Roskell, daughter of her sister Anne.
- Was Maria of Spanish descent, as in the apocryphal story of the Spanish Armada shipwrecked sailors who settled in Hambleton? It was in the local library I came across a small local history on the village - and there was the same story BUT not linked to the Spanish Armada. In 1643 during the English Civil War, a Spanish frigate ran aground the crew were taken off the ship which was set alight. Many of the crew settled locally.
- I was wondering whether my DNA results would reveal some Spanish ethnicity - but the answer was N0.******************Onto S for STOIC
What a woman, who did go through so many things in her life! It's great you've found so much about her.
ReplyDeleteMaria reminds me of my grandmother who faced similar difficulties and tragedies. As she lived until she was 89 I knew her well. These old girls had a large dollop of Resilience.
ReplyDelete