Families Together - Sepia Saturday

This week's prompt image from Sepia Saturday features a family group of father,  mother and baby daughter, probably taken, judging by the costume  and hairstyles,  around 1920.

I have an almost identical image, although in my instance the man was in the uniform of the First World War.  

This was one of the many photographs in the collection of my great aunt Jennie Danson of Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire.  In Jennie's photograph collection, besides family pictures,   were about 50 photographs of friends and I presume friends' children.  Very fortunately in most cases , she had written names on the reverse of the photographs. Many were taken at W. J. Gregson  & Co., W.P. Beck Proprietor, Photographers, 92 Talbot Road, Blackpool or the While-U-Wait Studio, Wellington Terrace,The Promenade, Blackpool.

Was it the custom to exchange such photographs?  Perhaps faced with a household as the only girl with seven  brothers,    the company of her female friends was an important one to Jennie. 

This photograph is simply identified  as "Billy Hopkins, Lizzie Riley  and son."  I have been unable to find anything about them.  Riley was a popular local surname and the Danson family had Riley connections,  though Lizzie was not  a Christian name I had come across. 

As soldiers went to war, this was a time when families arranged to have a photogaph taken  as important mementos. 

 

Here is one from my cousin;s family of his grandfather Edward Ingram Smith. and family with his wife and children Ella,  Edith and Arthur, with the family looking very serious. 

Leaving school, Edward jhad joined  the army as a  Gordon Highlander, but did not settle and was bought out by his parents.  IWe are so used to thinking it was just young  men who fought,  but in 1915,  as a previously serving soldier,  Edward at the age of 44 was called up to return to the army  and he joined   the Liverpool Scottish Regiment (reflecting his Scottish heritage).    He served  in France, but was gassed and injured at the Battle of the  Somme. After the Battle of Delville Wood, where he was wounded in action, he was invalided back to England and hospitalised.   His daughter Ella related how   he went to meet her  at the school gates and she did not recognize him, as his weight had dropped from 15 stone to nine stone.

 Family life proved unhappy following his discharge. One cannot  help reflect that having to return to active service at the age of 44 and face the harsh physical and mental conditions of the World War One battlefields took its toll on Edward, as on so many soldiers.   He died in 1923 aged 52.    His wife Lily survived him by a further 40 years and married for a second time. 

 

 

 Two of my favourite family photographs of my grandparents and family, taken 1916:  William Danson and Alice English and  below Alice with daughters Edith and Kathleen (my mother), young Harry and baby Billy.  Granddad was awarded the Military Medal for "gallantry in action".   

The happy Danson family 24 years on - my grandparents in the middle with daughters Edith, Peggy (born after WW1,  son Harry and my mother Kathleed. nly son Billy is missings erving in the Navy.  c.1941.

More famiies together 

 

 My cousin's Oldham family of Blackpool, Lancashire c.1900.  In the 1901 census, Joseph  Prince Oldham (in the front row) ,  son of William Oldham and Sarah Prince,  was described as a self-employed carter and coal merchant. Also in the  household were Joseph's  wife Mary Alice, his 20 year old son John William and  two  young daughters Sarah Alice, and Edith,  plus also mother-in-law Mary Ann Knowles. 

Family photograph c.1909 of John  William Oldham, with his wife Mary Jane Bailey, my grandfather's first cousin, with baby Hilda 

and older daughter Elsie. The couple  faced tragedy when their youngest daughter Hilda  died aged 6 in 1915.  Elsie has been a familiar figure on my blog, later running the family business, on the death of her father,  and working as a hairdresser under the name of "Elise". 

 

Four generation's of the Riley family of Fleetwood, Lancashire.  At the centre Jane Riley, nee Rawcliffe, sister of my great grandmotehr Maria Rawcliffe.  Here with her son George (left) grandson (Jack) and Jack's baby son,  George Rober,t  who sadly did not survive infancy. 

 

 Another Rawcliffe sister - here Alice Mason, nee Rawcliffe with her husband John Mason, youngest child Florence,  and son Harold.

 

For over 10 years I puzzled over  "Who is this striking family group?"   The photograph mounted on heavy dark card,  came to me from  my great aunt Jennie Danson,  Unlike many of Jennie's photographs, she had not written anything on the back - perhaps because of the dark mount, and there was no photographer's name and address  to indicate where it had been taken   But it  must surely be of one of of my great grandmother's sisters - Anne, Jane, Alice, or Jennet?  The composition of the family and ages of the children ruled out Anne, Jane or Jennet. So was  this Alice and John  Mason and family?   This was a mystery.

 

Alice and John had six children born in England, before emigrating ot the USA, where she had a further five more children, three dying in infancy,   It was through my blog that a granddaughter of daughter Florence (above)  made contact - she was my third cousin  and had the very same photograph above.  My blog success story!

 

 

The Mason family with all eight surviving children - 

Top - Robert, Jenny (Jane Elizabeth), Mother Alice, Father John, Harold

Bottom - Thomas,  Margaret Alice, Florence, George and James

Onto my immediate family

My parents on the left with my mother's sister and my father;s brother, 1938.  

 

  A typical 1950s family - Mum, Dad, myself and my brother . 

 

 

Relaxing in our garden in Edinburgh, 1960s. 

 

 

 

                                      My brother and I - 1948.  

 

 

Many years later c. 2015 

 

 

A family group taken in August 1965, before I set out for to work in the USA for a year on a library exchange scheme.  

My father with my brother and myself and our two daughters.  1998.  Mum was unfortunately in care and could not make the visit.

 

************

 

 

Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity

to share their family history through photographs.

 

Click HERE to find out what other bloggers have

spotted in this week's prompt photograph.

 

 ********

 

Horses to Horse Power: Sepia Saturday

Each week, Sepia Saturday, provides an opportunity for genealogy bloggers to share their family history through photographs.  

Sepia Saturday's latest prompt photograph features a 1920s lorry. My mind turned immediately to my cousin's Oldham family of Blackpool, Lancashire, who were carters and coalmen down three generations. The business  went from  using horses to horsepower  - and below is their first lorry purchased in 1921. 

The business was founded around 1890, by Joseph Prince Oldham (1856-1921) and steadily became prosperous.  In  1905 it moved to near North Station, Blackpool, Lancashire in a house with a large yard, hay loft, tack room. and stabling for around 7 horses.

 

A

In the 1901 census Joseph Prince Oldham (below), son of William Oldham and Sarah Prince,  was described as a self-employed carter and coal merchant. Also in the  household were Joseph's  wife Mary Alice, his 20 year old son John William and three  young daughters, Sarah Alice, Edith and Beatrice, plus also mother-in-law Mary Ann Knowles. 

 

The Oldham family c.1910 - Back: Sarah and John William 

Front:  Father Joseph,  Beatrice, Edith  and mother Mary Alice. 
 

Joseph Prince Oldham with his granddaughter Elsie 

who later took over the business.

An accident at the coal sidings in the railway station resulted in Joseph being blinded and he died in 1921, with his will, signed with his "mark".

 

 Son John William Oldham on one of the carriages

 in the family business.

 Joseph's son, John William Oldham (1880-1939)

Shortly before his death Joseph had purchased the first vehicle (at the top of this page)   which was used alongside the horses and carts until the 1930's when two new vehicles were bought. 

 

Lorry c. 1936



This vehicle  was requisitioned during the Second World War by Governmentfor use by  the Fire Service. It was never returned.

John William Oldham married Mary Jane Bailey (my grandfather's first cousin)   in 1905 at St. John's Church, Blackpool.  The photograph below shows them standing, with seated John's sister Sarah who went onto marry George Butler (front left) who also worked in the family business.   Look at those hats!!

 

 

 The couple  faced tragedy with  when their youngest daughter Hilda  died aged 6 in 1915.  

Family photograph c.1909 with baby Hilda 

and older daughter Elsie. 

On the death in 1939 of John William Oldham,  his daughter Elsie (below) took the helm with her husband Arthur Stuart Smith and saw the business through the difficult wartime years, combining it with her own hairdressing concern as "Elise"  run from the family home.  

 

 

    

Elsie Oldham (1906-1989)  - my mother's second cousin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

The coal merchant business was eventually sold around 1948 to another local firm, thus ending over 50 years of the family concern.   

 

Elsie's daughter Gloria atop one of the last horses.

***************

 

 

 Click HERE to  read this week's blogs 

from other Sepia Saturday blogger.

*******************************

The Pleasure of Discovering Family Photographs: Sepia Saturday

I am marking Sepia Saturday’s 750th blog challenge by looking back at photographs  that I have received over the years.  They enhanced my family history and contribute to my enjoyment of 14 years of blogging, much of it on Sepia Saturday.

Reconnecting with Relatives

My initial blog posts were based on the shoebox collection of memorabilia at my grandfather  Danson's house which we visited weekly in Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire. 

 

  My aunt Edith Danson and my mother Kathleen Danson  are the two little girls at the front of this parade c.1912.

The cards my grandfather  sent home  from his time serving in the First World War  are among my top favourites. 

**************

Funerals can be a time when families  come  together and such was the cas,   when I chatted to my mother's cousin A.  who I had not seen since I was a child. I told her of my family history hobby.  She later kindly supplied me with memories of her father - my great uncle Bob, a postman  in Blackpool,  a 1928 press cutting of another cousin's wedding, and importantly contact details for other cousins, including P. now living in the English Midlands.

I decided to phone P. - given I was not aware of any sensitive family issue, I was happy to do this and introduced myself as "A voice from the past - I'm Kathleen Danson's daughter." 

 
What a wonderful reception I got  - P. outlined the family memorabilia she had up in the loft   and wondered what to do with it, offered to come up to Scotland to visit us,  and my husband I made a return visit the next year. The result of making contact, I received:

•  Memories of my grandparents William and Alice Danson - my grandmother died when I was a baby.  It was somehow funny in the nicest possible way to hear my grandparents referred to as  Uncle Billy and Aunt Alice.

• Memories of my great grandmother Maria Danson (1859-1919), nee Rawcliffe    passed down through her daughter, Jennie to Jennie's  two daughters.  I had not seen this photograph before and have found it quite difficult to date. 
   

• The only photograph I have  of my great grandfather James Danson (1852-1906), sitting merrily  in Poulton old stocks.

• 
  
  
• Memorabilia of the youngest Dansonson  George including a two letters written by him, just weeks before he was killed on the Somme in 1916 aged just 22. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  I touched and photographed  - Maria's tea-set, bought from collecting coupons in a "Daily Mail" offer;  and her jewellery including items brought back from Malta by her son Frank, who was hospitalized there in the First  World War.
  
  
   
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
• I was given a collection of some 50 postcard photographs  of Jennie's friends and their families, with many of the men in World War One uniform, so dated from c.1916.   It must have been the practice to exchange such cards between friends,  (the Facebook of the day!) and Jennie had thoughtfully  written their names on the  reverse.  
  
  
  
  
    Gerty Roskell - a popular surname in the Fylde area of Lancashire and one with connections to my Danson family
  
  
  
• Other  encounters with my  mother's cousins were less successful.  
  
  
  With one I received a friendly  chat, a memory of me as a child in pigtails,  a request to do research into  a sideline of the family, but nothing more in terms of memorabilia. Sadly the contact with Australian relatives petered out after initial e-mails. 
   
   Nevertheless a wonderful contribution to my Family Archive!  So the message here is do not dither and delay in reconnecting with relatives - you never know what might result to enhance your collection.
   
  ************
  
   
  Other family photographs arrived on my computeras a  result of my blogging activity, with two unknown third cousins discovering it. 
   
   I found out about my first emigrant ancestor,  Alice  Mason nee Rawcliffe (1853-1930) - sister of Maria above. Alice emigrated to the USA with her husband John   and had a large family of 11 children - 3 dying in infancy.   The granddaughter of Alice's youngest child Florence got in touch  and we exchanged information and photographs. 
  

   

   

   

  John Mason (Alice's husband)  

  with his youngest daughter, Florence

  
  It was special to receive a later photograph of the Mason family (below)  with all eight surviving children. A number of descendants are listed as my DNA matches, /
  
  

   

   

  ******
  
   
  My other big success was much nearer to home. Like me   Stuart was born in Blackpool, Lancashire and in fact we went to the  same junior school,   though not knowing one another.  We shared the same great great grandparents - Henry Danson and Elizabeth Calvert - Stuart from their eldest daughter Elizabeth (1831-1885) - me from their youngest son James (1852-1906) .
  

   

   Even better Stuart lived only 50 miles away  so we could  easily meet and spent afternoons,  sharing research, old photographs and memorabilia.  As a result I was given  a wonderful boost to my blogging activities in terms of family stories and images, just when I felt I was coming to a halt with my own material.  
   
  Stuart had done considerable research on many branches of his family.    His father's Smith family cane frin  the Scottish island of Unst  - the most northerly spot in the British Isles, 120 miles north of the Scottish mainland.  His grandmother married into the Oldham family  of Blackpool carters and coal merchants in Blackpool in a house with a large yard, hay loft, tack room. and stabling for around 7 horses.;   and his great grandfather was William Dower, a minister in the Presbytrian Church who became a missionary in South Africa. So rich material for blog posts. 
   
  
  
  

   Stuart's father  Arthur  Smith not looking too happy, as he perches on the chair, clad in a dress, as was the custom  for very young boys.  The tartan reflects the family's pride  in their Scottish links.    
  
   
  
  
   
   Stuart's Grandfather  - Edward Stewart Ingram Smith.  His early life was full of promise, but the impact of serving in the First World War at the age of 44 took its toll on him.  

   t

   

  Edward with his young family c.1916,  with son Arthur shorn of his curly locks.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  An elegant portrait of Sarah Alice Oldham on her wedding to George Butler in Blackpool, Lancashire  and what a showy outfit, magnificently decorated large hat, and a large posy set off by  long broad ribbons.  She was one of three daughters in the Oldham family of carters and coal merchants,
  

   

  Oldham grandaughter ~Elsie  Oldham   was my mother's second cousin. On the death of her  father in 1939  Elsie (left) took the helm with her husband Arthur Stuart Smith. She also ran her hairdressing concern her  as "Bobbing,   Shingling and Marcel Waves." This lovely evocative advertising blotter below is in the family memorabilia.

 ***********

Family history can take us in all kinds of directions and Stuart's family connections, although not my direct ancestors,  added a new dimension to my blog posts.  

•  How many people can claim to have a published poet amongst their ancestors? That was the case of my third cousin Stuart whose great great uncle was John Critchley Prince (1808-1866).  He became well known in his time as a writer of poetry in the Lancashire dialect. 
  
  
  
  
• A pioneering South African Missionary, a politician, a  test cricketer   - and one of the leading scientists of the  20th century - you can stumble across some amazing stories when you start to delve into sidelines of your family history. 
  
  
  Such was the experience of my cousin, Stuart who was researching the family of his Scottish great grandmother Isabel Edward from Banchory, Aberdeenshire. Isabel's  sister Jessie married William Dower  and in 1865 they set sail to South Africa  for William to take up an appointment as a Wesleyan  missionary.

 William and Jesse Dower

 

Their  children  and grandchildren made their mark in the world in a variety of key positions, amongst them

• Alan  Blumlein (1902-1942)  has been described as "the greatest electronic engineer of the 20th century", notable for his many inventions in  telecommunications, sound recordings, television and radar.  He died at the young age of 38 during a secret trial of an airborne radar system.
  
  

  

The commorative plaque in London.

 

Stuart's contact with me was my lucky day  - and I haven't even mentioned the war-time tales, the business bankruptcies,   the wealth of wedding photographs down the decades or the charming children's photographs that have found their way into my blog posts.  

 

So to finish - thank you to Sepia Saturday  for your 750 weeks of blogging challenges and the opportunity to feature so many photographs that have come my way from family connections.   

 

 ****************

 

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

 

 

 

  Click HERE to see posts  from other Sepia Saturday bloggers