Family History Fun

Monday, 4 June 2012

D is for Discoveries, Disappointment, Doubts, Drama and Detail - A-Z Family HIstory Challenge

Having just finished a quick sprint through one A-Z challenge from Ros at http://genwestuk.blogspot.com/, I could not resist a further one from Aona at
http://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/05/take-the-family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge/.

I have been trying to think of a slightly different approach to this A-Z challenge and eventually, reaching D, inspiration struck. My postings will focus primarily on what we experience on our family history journey.

A - for Adventure, Anticipation and Admiration
B - Brickwalls - but never Boredom
C - Coincidences, Celebrations, and Contributions

D is for:

Discoveries - something family history is full of. For me, one highlight was receiving a birth certifcate through the post and discovering that my great grandmother Maria Rawcliffe nee Danson (left) was born in 1859 on the same day - January 15th - as my daughter 114 years later. A lovely coincidence which so appealed to me at an early stage of my research.

My grandmother
Alice Danson, nee English

Disappointment - the fact after so many years (and using a professional researcher), I still have not traced the name of the mother of my grandmother (right) Alice Danson nee English, born c.1884. I never knew her, could not trace her in early census returns and only have her marriage certifcate with her father's name given as Henry, painter (deceased). Scottish BMD records give so much more information than their English counterparts - in particular the names of both mother and father are given on marriage and death certificates - a huge asset.

Doubts - Do you often start having doubts about some of your findings? Are you really on the right track? This is where following ususual names scores points. My great great grandfather was Robert Rawliffe, but there were two of that name born around 1821 in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, so which was my ancestor and and I right in identifying my g.g.g. grandparents?

Drama - I would love to say I have a dramatic story in my family history, but sadly no. Still I admire those written by fellow bloggers.

Detail - family history is so much more than names and dates and it is the richness of the detail in our family stories that make them so fascinating, both to ourselves and others.

And I cannot let D pass by , without listing my own family names:

Danson Famiy - My mother was Kathleen Danson and I have traced the family back six generations to the baptism of John Danson in 1736, son of Peter - a family at the centre of my blogging stories.

Donaldson Family - My husband's Donaldson family has been traced back via census records and old parish records to 1759 and the marriage of Samuel Donaldson, merchant of Leith, Edinburgh's seaport. It was a family of mariners and related seafaring occupations, as the family moved to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne on the Northumberland coast and then to H.M. Dockyard at Portsmouth. The Christian names of John Robert occurred down the generations from 1769 to 1908.

Marriage entry for Samuel Donaldson in the Old Parish Records for South Leith , Midlothian, 1759

Sunday, 3 June 2012

C is for Confirmation, Cousins, Childhood, Charabancs and Cheques

Having just finished a quick sprint through one A-Z challenge from Ros at http://genwestuk.blogspot.com/, I could not resist a further one from Aona at Genealogy & History News with her Family History through the Alphabet Challenge at
http://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/05/take-the-family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge/.

Enjoy reading it!

St. Chad's, Poulton-le-Fyle Lancashire where my
Danson family were batpised, married and buried

C is for: Certificates, Censuses and Church Records - the core of all family history activity, but here are my slightly different thoughts on the challenge.

Discovering distant Cousins through the Internet, adding to the knowledge of my extended family and providing a great source of further blogging stories and photographs.

Finding out about our ancestors is so much more than names and dates and takes us down many different avenues of social history.

What was Childhood like?

An unidentified photograph in the collection of my great autn Jennie Danson.

What milestones marked their lives? Christening, Confirmation and Career.

[Right] Dorothy Chisholm on her confirmation. she was engaged to my great uncle John Dnason who sadly died in 1917 before they were married. The Danson family continued to maintain contact with her throughout her life.

How did people conduct business? Cheques

A beautiful piece of ephemera that was survived from the buisness of my third cousin's Oldham ancestors.

How did people dress? Costume.
[Below] The Danson family in 1916

How did our ancestors get around? Charabanc

Another photograph in my great aunt's collection, c.1920's

Not forgetting Copyright - protecting our own work and of others.

Saturday, 2 June 2012

B is for Black Sheep, Bastards, Birthdays and Business Cards - A-Z Challenge

James Danson is the bearded character on the left.

B is for

Black Sheep - these are our ancestors who contribute colour, interest and anecdotes to our family history, such as my great grandfather James Danson (1852-1906), who was, by all accounts, rather a "ne'er do well". Here he is sitting merry and fooling about in the old stocks in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. It is the only photograph I have of him.

Bastards: someone who could also be called a "Black Sheep" was John Danson, the brother of my great great grandfather, who fathered a bastard child in 1810 and became the subject of an affiliation order, which I came across at Lancashire Record Office - a great find! It ordered John to contribute to the upkeep of his “said bastard child” - a daughter by Ann Butler of Marton. The poor child was repeatedly given this tag in the document below which is fascinating in its choice of language:

“Ann Butler, single woman, was upon the 27^th day of August last, delivered of a female bastard child in the said township of Marton…and that John Danson, husbandman of Carleton did begot the said bastard on her body and is the father of the same.

Thereupon, we order… for the better relief of the said township…and the sustenance and relief of the said bastard child…John Danson pay unto the churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor…the sum of One Pound Eighteen Shillings for and towards the charges and expenses incident to the birth…further sum of four shillings towards the cost of apprehending and securing the said John Danson….the sum of Two Shillings weekly…towards the keeping, sustenance and maintenance of the said bastard child”.

Unfortunately I have been unable to trace anything further on this story. John Danson died in 1836, aged 46, as far as I know unmarried and predeceased his father Henry by 3 years.

Birthday Cards - surely many of us keep birthday cards as precious memories of our families. Here is one sent by my grandfather in Flanders to my mother Kathleen Danson on her 9th birthday on 8th September 1917.

Business Cards: perhaps, like birthday cards, these are a piece of ephemera that often gets thrown away. I was so pleased to find, after her death, this memento of my mother's early working life.

Where to stop with B's?
I could go on to
Babies, Bibles, Baptisms, Brides, Burghs and Burgesses

and at the core of all this activity - Blogging

Thursday, 31 May 2012

A is for Adventure, Alice and Archives - Family History through the Alphabet

Having enjoyed a quick sprint through one A-Z challenge from Ros at http://genwestuk.blogspot.com/, I could not resist joining in a further one from Aona at Genealogy & History News with her Family History through the Alphabet Challenge at
http://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/05/take-the-family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge/.

Enjoy reading!.

A is for:

My great grandmother Maria Danson, nee
Rawcliffe with her grandaughter Annie Maria

Adventure - when I started toying with the idea of tracing my family history, how little did I know on what a journey of adventure it would be - finding my way through the resources; alighting on surprising coincidences such as my great grandmother Maria Rawcliffe (born the same day as my daughter 114 years later; discovering I had American connections, hitting obstacles, with the birth of my grandmother and the name of her mother remaining my major brickwall; being at times astonished, puzzled and moved by what I am finding. The Adventure continues...

Alice Mason nee Rawcliffe
with husband James
and 3 of their large family

Alice is the sister of my great grandmother Maria (above) and her story of Adventure particularly fascinates me as she emigrated from rural Lancashire with six children under 11 (plus 2 pieces of baggage) to join her husband, John Mason in the teeming tenments of Brooklyn, New York in 1887. They had a further five children including Arthur Valentine, born appropriately 14th February 1888. To add to the story, after many many years, I have recently had contact from Alice's descendants in America (thanks to this blog) and am looking forward to discovering more about my American connections.

Archives - I had to include this under A, as I used to work in the Heritage Hub, Hawick, home of the Scottish Borders Archive Service. Again it is a story of Adventure exploring the unique records and touching pages that record details of our ancestor in their own lifetime, whether it be a poor law entry, a school record, or a will.

Reproduced with kind permission of the Hreitage Hub - www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub

Copyright © 2012 · Susan Donaldson. All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, 30 May 2012

A Pigeon Sent the News - Sports Centre Saturday

My father John Weston (1912-2003) always had an interest in journalism and I persuaded him to write down memories of his early life in Brosely, near Ironbridge, Shropshire and of his war-time experiences.

I love this childhood anecdote.

"I was mad keen on soccer, so much so that I had a trial at Birmingham with the English schoolboys. My teacher took me in his car to that and to a second trial at Shrewsbury.

One Saturday when I was working as an errand boy, two directors from Birmingham Football Club came to see Dad and Mum to sign me on - they refused, saying I was too young to be away from home. I was not told about this until later and sulked for a month!

But a bit of glory followed, when my school team entered a cup competition. I was vice-captain and we got to the final - and won the cup, the first ever for Brosely.

One of the supporters took a carrier pigeon along with us and set it loose at the end to let Brosely know the result and to prepare a welcome, as we were bringng home the cup! "

Postscript - apparently a photograph was taken of the team's success, but no pictures of my father's early life passed down the family. I have very few photographs prior to his meeting my mother. Family memorabilia (including Dad's church choir and football team photographs) were thrown out by his widowed sister-in-law. How sad!

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The earliest photograph I have of my father (on left) with his brother Charles, c.1930's

Sports Center Saturday is one of many daily blog prompts from www.geneabloggers.com,
encouraging writers to record their family history and family memories.

Friday, 25 May 2012

My Home Town - Sharing Memories

Lorine McGinnis Schulze at http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/p/sharing-memories.html is leading a series on Sharing Memories. Here the topic is "My Home Town".

Blackpool Tower

The first decision on this posting - which is my home town?

I was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, and have fond memories of my early childhood there in this seaside resort, famous for its Tower, completed in 1894.

But the place I call my ancestral home is the nearby small historic town of Poulton-le-Fylde, where my mother's Danson family livd for at least eight generations - the subject of many a blog posting.

I left Poulton when I was 13 as my father's job took us to York and then Edinburgh where I finished my formal education.

Marriage took me to Hawick, Roxburghshire, the largest town in the Scottish Borders, famed for its quality knotwear, rugby teams and heritage. It became my home for forty-one years, the longest I have lived anywhere.

Then just four weeks ago, we moved 25 miles north to Earlston in Berwickshire in a house that ticks all our boxes and is only 15 minutes walk from our daughter and family

Earlston Woodland Walk

Earlston is somewhere between a large village and a small town, with gardens and war memorial in the Market Square, two grocers' shops, baker, butcher, craft shop, hairdresser, church, primary school and High School, cafe, chippy and Chinese take away, and, if you fancy a drink, a choice of the Black Bull, White Swan or Red Lion - plus good bus links to other Border towns and Edinburgh.

It is friendly buzzing community serving the surrounding agricultural area.

The big event next week is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Street Party (just hope this good weather continues), with a picnic and barbecue, stalls, entertainment, and, in the evening a ceilidh (concert) with a final fireworks flourish.

And 10 days later, the Olympic torch passes through Earlston.

It promises to be a great introduction to life in our new home town.

Leader Water at Earlston

Countryside around Earlston

Monday, 21 May 2012

A to Z Challenge Catch Up Time - Final Sprint Q to Z

I had been following Ros's series at http://genwestuk.blogspot.com/ on an A to Z Genealogy Challenge - interrupted by a hectic house move plus computer problems. So here is my final belated quick dash through Q to Z.

Q is for Queries, Quandries and Questions. Family historians are always searching for answers. We can often trace the "What, When, Who", but the "Why" is far more difficult and we can only hazard a guess at motives for actions.

R is for Research, References, Registrars, Railways, Regional Names and Receipts - a small piece of ephemera that yet adds to an ancestor's story.

Receipt for my graandmother's wedding dress material, 1907

S is for Sources (the bedrock of family history research), Sisters, Signatures, School Records, Sasines (Scottish property records), and Statistical Accounts (an invaluable contemporary picture of Scottish parishes, with the first edition published 1791-1799.

The 9 MacFarlane sisters (Bridget, Kate, Mary, Annie, Ellen, Sarah, Jane, Maggie and Jemima).

with their brother Patrick and mother Annie, 1912.

T is for Timelines to put our ancestors' lives in the wider context of local, national and internatonal events of the time; Taxation Records, Telegrams, Travel and Toys.

U is for Unmarried and Umquhile - often found in old Scottish documents, meaning "the late, departed, deceased".

V is for Valuation Rolls of property

W is for War Memorials, War Records, Work, Weddings, Writing, WDYTYA and of course the World Wide Web - where would we be without it?

X is for the sidelines of family history EXcitement, EXhaustion, EXamining Sources, EXchanging Information, EXcursions into social, military, house history, EXpertise and EXceeding EXpectations.

Y is for Yeoman - an English term meaning a man owning his own farm, such as my great great grandfather Heny Danson of Trap Farm, Carleton, Lancashire. I can do no better that quote Ros's definitition -

A yeoman differed from landed gentry in one major way. They both owned land (lthough the yeoman often much less), but the yeoman would his had to till the earth, whereas the landed gentry usually employed servants to do this.

Z is for being a Zealot and reaching the Zenith of family history research - do we ever get there?

I have had fun writing this series - Thank you, Ros, for the prompts.