52 Ancestors: 7 - GGG Grandfather Henry Danson (1767-1839)

Amy at No Story Too Small has come up with a new challenge for 2014 - to write a post  each week on a specific ancestor.  

One of the great banes of family history research is unravelling people with the same name and this was the case with my great great great grandfather Henry Danson (1767-1839) who can easily be confused with his son - also Henry, especially as both married an Elizabeth.  I was lucky enough to find a range of documents on Henry's life.

Henry Danson (senior) was baptised 27th January 1767, the  son of John Danson and Margaret Fayle of Carleton, near Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.   Nineteen years later in 1786  he married 20 year old Elizabeth Brown.  A marriage bond with his signature (above)  was traced at Lancashire Record Office.   

A Marriage Bond was a promise between two people, normally the groom and a friend or relative (in this case Henry's brother in law John Bryning) that if the marriage proved invalid in the eye of the law they would pay a penalty to the church of a substantial sum of money - £200.  

Marriage licences could be obtained as an alternative to having the banns read.  They enabled marriages to take place at any time and were useful  if the marriage had to take place quickly or be kept quiet for some reason.   Henry and Elizabet's first born child, daughter Margaret was born 7 months after the wedding - was this the reason for the licence?  

 


The  Family Bible had pages of what can only be described as scribbles as members of the family wrote in their name across pages. 

The fact that servant Ellie Simpson  was also included in the activity and signed her name,  somehow casts  a lovely informal light on the household - though the fact they used the Bible for these scribbles  raises other issues !

 Testimony to Henry's standing in the small community of Carleton (319 inhabitants in 1831)  was given by a listing of his property in the Title Schedule of 1838;  also that he was on the board listing sidesmen in  St. Chad's Church, Poulton. 

Henry died 21st October 1839, at the age of 71 - his wife six  months later, both buried in St. Chad's Churchyard,   Four  of their  chldren predeceased them -  John, William,  James and   Margaret. 

The Will of Henry Danson  is dated 1833, six years before his death. It was beautifully written in copperplate but very short on punctuation. The will brought first knowledge of two daughters - Ellen and Margaret and the names of Margaret's five children. It also raised interesting questions as middle son Peter, unlike his brothers John and Henry, was not named as a legatee or executor. Was he perhaps not regarded as fit or suitable in some way ? Peter never married and in the 1841 and 1851 censuses was in the household of his brother Henry until his death in 1855. 

As a follow up to the will, I traced online an index to Death Duty Records held at the National Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk), and found an entry relating to Henry Danson. I had to use someone in London to obtain copies for me and again it is so fascinating to have records relating to an ancestor of so long ago. The quality of the copies was not great, but they did confirm the names of the legatees and I am pleased to add them to my family archive collection.

It was left to son, another Henry,  (1806-1881) to continue the Danson line.

An entry in the family bible of young Henry's birth in 1806, 
with the date of January 1827 referring to his brother James' death  

 

Copyright © 2014 · Susan Donaldson.  All Rights Reserved

Sepia Saturday: Braving the Traffic Across the World

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

This week's prompt focuses on street crowds and horse drawn traffic. 

Travel from one of Europe's most famous cities,  to a Far East waterfront, and   a small country town in Lancashire to experience some  busy traffic.

 

 I can't see any horses here, but a busy scene in the Square outside Paris Opera House, May 1940 - a photograph from my father's war-time album.

 The Bund, Shanghai, China, c.1939.
By the early 20th century,  this was a major financial centre for East Asia.
Another "service" memento,  this time from my husband's uncle, Matthew Iley White 
who served in the Durham Light Infantry in China. 1937-40.  

Mattie's Service Book showing his time in China

 Waiting for the Bus at Poulton Market Square, Lancashire - early 20th century. 

Not a very good photograph, but the man on the left in the peak cap  standing by the open topped bus in the Market Square is my great uncle Bob Danson,  a postman in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire,  I don't know if I would feel all that safe on the top of this vehicle, ready to take passengers into Blackpool.

I was pleased to see  that the British Postal Service Appointment Books had been made available on www.ancestry.co.uk.    It is always fascinating to see an original record relating to an ancestor, but  to be honest they gave little information besides recording Bob's  name and appointment in  1907 in Preston as a Rural Postman,  with a further entry showing  his appointment  as postman in Blackpool in May 1925.  

His daughter Irene  presents a much more colourful picture of Bob's working life and recollects that:

"He went a long way on his bicycle from Poulton over Shard Bridge [where his grandfather Henry Danson had been a toll keeper] to deliver the post over Wyre.  He had a little hut at Presall where he had to wait until it was time to do the collections and then ride all the way back to Poulton.

In later years he worked from Blackpool General Post Office where his round was North Promenade and the Cliffs - very windy, but it seems the hotel people looked after him with cups of tea now and again. 

He was told at the oubreak of the First World War when his five brothers were joining the army, that he had a bad heart.   But work must have kept him fit, as he lived to be 89 years old and died in 1970."

Horse drawn traffic of a different kind: 

One of the many beautiful wall paintings you see in Austria

A carter in Newcastleton, Roxburghsire in the Scottish Borders. 

From the postcard collection at the Heritage Hub, Hawick.

How many of us have carter ancestors?  This was the occupation of my great great grandfather Robert Rawcliffe of Hambleton, near Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.  

A horse drawn charabanc for getting around Krakow in Poland, 2007

And finally  - my daughter enjoying a quiet donkey ride in the park 1974

Click HERE  to find  out how other bloggers have braved the traffic 

with this week's theme

The Book of Me - Happiness in Hobbies

This  post was prompted by Julie at Anglers Rest  and  her  series " Book of Me - Written by You", where she asks us here to describe our memories of Hobbies.   



History, music, reading, collecting, crafts and scrapbooks - all hobbies from my childhood and ones I still follow today.  You'll note that sport does not feature.  At school I enjoyed netball and tennis, and have been qn avid TV follower of Wimbledon since I was 12 years old  - but that is where my ability and activity  finished! 

 As a geneablogger, History, of course has to come top of my hobbies list.  I can remember the first library book I borrowed which had a colourful drawing of Queen Elizabeth I in all her finery - and I   became hooked.   Can anyone remember the I Spy Books - the historical themes were my favourites - castles,  churches, monuments etc.  to tick off on holidays.  I moved onto historical fiction and of course family history. Setting up my family history blog then led to a growing interest in Photography for featuring in my posts. 

An Open Book:  I have always loved reading  and took this one step further by becoming a librarian.  My tastes are not particularly " literary" - historical novels, family sagas, and relationship-based story lines and occasionally biographies. Science fiction, fantasy, crime and detection  and not for me.

The Good Reads website I came across by accident and it is now firmly "bookmarked", as it lets me to have my own page where I can keep a list of my own reading, write a review and share it with others.  I recommend it. 

http://www.fotosearch.com/illustration/squirrel.html

The Collecting Bug   "Squirreling" has been a favourite  occupation  throughout my life.  I was introduced to Stamp Collecting by my uncle  and remember my first album and stamps around the time of the  Queen's Coronation in 1953 when so many new stamps were being issued by Britain and the Commonwealth.  I later went onto concentrate on thematic collections e.g. on Music, Animals, Famous People.   I still have albums in the loft but this hobby has largely gone by the board.

I loved Dolls and had the best dressed dolls in the street thanks to my mother's skill as a dressmaker.  I later collected costume dolls - both historic e.g. the Tudor queens and in national dress, until I ran out of space in my bedroom and they did become dust gatherers. Unfortunately neither my daughter nor granddaughter have  bothered much with dolls.  


Nowadays my main collecting focuses on Postcards - this is what I spend my money on on holiday.  I have compiled postcard albums not only of places,  but also of themes, mainly cards bought in galleries & museums - art, costume,  early advertisements etc. A  great hobby - cheap to buy, easy to fit in a case, and lovely to look through.  Likewise Bookmarks. 

It is just as well I do not have more space in the home, or else it would become a veritable junkyard of bits  and pieces.   I restrict myself to Blue and White China collection. I don't quite know why is has such an appeal, but it does.  

Scrapbooks - I was an avid scrapbook creator from an early age.  The first one I remember was again in 1953 of the Queen's Coronation and I still have  ones I compiled in my teens of ballet pictures, and historic costumes.  The one I created from pictures of my favourite TV stars and actors in "The Radio Times"  bit the dust at some point. My mother also encouraged me to create holiday scrapbooks and I used to cut out pictures that appealed from  "Girl" and other magazines, ranging from cute & cuddly animals,  picturesque views, dancers, the Royal Family and then eventually actors and singers.     My latest scrapbook efforts have featured Christmas cards - see my posting Creating Christmas Scrapbooks  - and of course using computers has  had a huge impact on the look of them.

Crafts - I come from a family of crafters on my mother's side, so I grew up encouraged to make little gifts for relations and followed  this through with my own daughter and now my  granddaughter. It began with making Christmas cards (be prepared for glitter all over the place!)  and then went onto calendars, bookmarks and decorated felt mats.

One of my earliest memories is sitting on the kitchen drainer whilst Mum showed me how to knit - of all things  - a dishcloth out of string!  I did graduate later to pixie hoods and scarves. 
 
 I do not have my mother's talent, but she introduced me to  basket weaving, collage pictures, embroidery where I could just about manage lazy daisy stitch, but was hopeless at satin stitch;  patchwork - currently working on a bed throw (downgraded from a more ambitious quilt!),   cross-stitch which I still enjoy (see right)  and crocheting wool throws  where working with different kaleidoscope colours appeals to me so much. 


My evenings at present are spent  knitting and crocheting squares for a great charity I discovered online Knit A Square (KAS) which asks us to create 8 inch squares to be sent to Soweto, South Africa and sewn up locally into  blanket for AIDS orphans. I  am a great enthusiast of  the KAS Forum which offers monthly challenges and a place  where contributors can share photographs of their efforts, plus receive advice, and encouragement.  

Musical Notes  My mother was determined I was going to learn to play the piano.  As the middle daughter  she felt a bit hard done by  in  missing  out on the opportunity,  when both her older sister ( who went on to be a teacher)  and much younger sister learned.   I only got as far as grade 3 exams, before we moved across country and I did not resume lessons.  

I did  have a try at playing the guitar - after all it looked so easy when pop musicians  and folk singers played it on TV.  Not quite the case with me, I struggled with the tuning and the fingering and soon gave it up.  In my more mature years,  I took up the recorder - after all if 7 year olds could play, surely I could?   I also lived in the same town as  international recorder player and composer Brian Bonsor, so there was a local recorder group I could join.  Just one problem - our dog hated it when I practiced and howled all the time.   

Coppelia

My mother and aunt introduced me to ballet and opera. I loved The Gypsy Baron and wanted  a gypsy costume and  headdress with long coloured ribbons  - the nearest I got was full skirt  trimmed with rows of  ric rac.  My first ballet was Coppelia - an ideal choice for a little girl with the feisty heroine in a lovely pale blue tutu,  the handsome hero - and more gypsy dances.  

In my teens, I saw the ballet  "Sleeping Beauty" and I was mesmerized by the magic of it - from the orchestral overture,  the transforming scenery, the costumes and of course the dancing.  "La Boheme" was the first grand opera I saw and my hanky was well and truly soaked as I wept at the death of Mimi.  Ditto seeing Carmen and La Traviata. More recently  I ticked off an item on my "bucket list" by  going to  the Royal Opera House in London for a performance  of "Swan Lake" by the Royal Ballet - unforgettable!  

The love of music has stayed with me and Classic FM is my favourite radio station (on as I type)   and I am still involved with my local music society.  Likewise I have been a choir member since my school days until I recently decided to retire my "voice". One  highlight of singing was taking part in Gilbert & Sullivan Operas in my 20's.   I loved  the dressing up (the girls made their own costumes), the singing and some dancing, plus the camaraderie and friendships built up over intensive rehearsals.   We thought we were great! 

And my latest hobby that I took up recently  - something  that combines all of the above  - Pinterest of course.  where you will find my  boards on books, music, crochet, quilts, costume, travel and history. 


More mature  pastimes are part of my life now - such as Gardening and Walking (in the cause of healthy living), but  who do I have to thank for introducing me. as a child  to such  engrossing hobbies?  My mother.  Thank You.  

52 Ancestors: 6 - G. G. Grandfather Henry Danson - Tollkeeper

Amy at No Story Too Small has come up with a new challenge for 2014 - to write a post  each week on a specific ancestor.



Henry Danson, (1806-1881),  my great great grandfather - a farmer, yeoman, carter and toll keeper, father of 9, grandfather to 28 and (known) great grandfather to 31. 


The birth certificate of my great grandfather James Danson. born 1852  provided the names of his parents -  Henry Danson, yeoman farmer.   and Elizabeth Calvert of Trap Farm, Carleton, near Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a "yeoman" as "A man holding a small landed estate, a freeholder under the rank of gentleman....a coutnryman of rspectable standing, especially one who cutuivates his own land."

Birth
Parochial Records took me further back and the birth at Carleton of Henry Danson  on 25th July 1806 - baptised a day later in St. Chad's Church, Poulton -7th child  of Henry Danson (the elder)  and Elizabeth Brown. He was born twenty years after his parent's marriage  when his mother must have been 40 years old.   This was the time of  of the Napoleonic Wars,   and nine  months after Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar

Sole entry on a page (right) in the family bible   reads “January 4 1827 Henry Danson Son of Henry Danson Born 25 of July 1806”.  This entry was dated just after the death of Henry' s 15 year old brother James, so is there a significance in this?  One of the many puzzles that family history throws up at us! 


Marriage

Henry Danson (the younger) married on 6th April 1831  at St. Chad's Church, Poulton Elizabeth Calvert of St. Michael's Over Wyre, daughter of Nathaniel and Grace Calvert. 

Family
Initially I was only aware of two sons to Henry (the younger)  and Elizabeth - my great grandfather James and his younger brother Peter who I was told had died as a child and was buried in Poulton Churchyard.

It took research in the census records to establish that the family was far more extensive, with nine children born in 20-21 years - five girls, Elizabeth, Grace, Mary, Margaret, Ellen, followed by sons John, Henry, then another daughter Jane and finally my great grandfather James.   If you are wondering about Peter this is a puzzle - to be revealed in another blog posting!

With a population in Carleton of just 378, the family was easily traced in the 1841 census to Trap Farm and a household of 10 including Henry & Elizabeth and family, Henry's brother Peter and two servants. 

It was noticeable that the children were named after family members, with the two eldest daughters taking their grandmothers' names. All the children were baptised at St. Chad's Church, apart from second daughter Grace who was born in the picturesque village of Wrea Green.   How did that come about, as I have been unable to trace a baptism?  

Dilapidated Trap Farm in c.1998
It has since been restored. 

The family were still at Trap Farm (left) 10 years later in 1851, with Henry described as a farmer of 31 acres in a household that had grown  to 13,   including two servants.  How on earth did they fit into what seems a small farmhouse?  Grace had left home, but eldest daughter Elizabeth was there with her husband,Thomas Bailey  and Peter was described as unmarried brother and annuitant.

With these details found so easily,  it was frustrating to "lose" the family from Trap Farm in 1861 (this was before census returns online).  What had happened to a seemingly prosperous farmer?  Had there been a downturn in agriculture?

Henry, Elizabeth and family were eventually traced to the parish of Layton with Warbreck, near Blackpool, where Henry was a carter.   There seemed to be a trend of married daughters returning to live at their family home with their husbands - this time living with her parents was third daughter  Mary, a laundress and her carrier husband William Henry Gaulter.

A notice in "The Fleetwood Chronicle" 24th August 1860 stated that "Tuesday 28th August a sale would tqke place at Leys Farm, in occupation of Henry Danson of 5 acres of wheat, 2 acres of oats and 6 acres of bean and hay".  

Change of occupation to toll keeper

The 1871 census revealed a complete change of occupation.  as Henry was found to be toll keeper at Shard Bridge Toll Bar, Singleton.  The Shard Bridge opened in 1864 across the River Wyre, near Fleetwood to replace the ferry.  

Preston Chronicle - Saturday 31st August 1867 - On Saturday 1st the directors
of the Shard Bridge Company appointed Mr Henry Danson of Poulton-le-Fylde toll collector, vacant by the demise of Mr Thomas Moore.

 

 Old Shard Bridge

The Shard  Bridge Act of 1862 stipulated a  list of toll charges including:   

• For EVERY HORSE, OR other BEAST, drawing any coach, stagecoach, omnibus, van, caravan, berlin, landau, chariot, barouche, phaeton, chaise, marine galash,  curricle, chairm, gig, whiskey, hearse, litter, chaise or like  carriages - THREE PENCE
   
• For every ox, cow, bull or neat cattle - ONE PENNY EACH, 1/6 PER SCORE.
   
•  For every calf, sheep, pig or lamb - ONE FARTHING EACH OR FOUR PENCE PER SCORE.
• For every foot passenger, not being the driver, of or engaged in driving or leading any cart of carriage passing over the bridge - ONE PENNY

One can picture Henry having to count each animal crossing the bridge. - and what about that first lengthy listing of vehicles?    What was a "marine galash" or "a whiskey"  and how would you identify "neat" cattle?  Family history research can take you in strange directions!  More work called for here. 

Deaths in the Family 

The 1871 census showed an extended family of nine at the Toll House, Singleton - Henry and Elizabeth with their two unmarried sons Henry and James,  and   rejoining the family this time was youngest daughter Jane with her daughter Ellen and husband Thomas Cardwell, a groom;  also Jane's sister Ellen with her illegitimate daughter May.   

By 1881 the Danson household was much depleted.  Mother Elizabeth had died in 1879, with widowed daughter Margaret  returning to act  as housekeeper,  to her father Henry,  her brother Henry  and niece May.

Henry Danson senior died a few months later on 27th October 1881 aged 75 years, with Poulton Monumental Inscriptions recording his burial on 1st November in St. Chad's Churchyard. Sadly the family gravestone was one of many removed in later years.



St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde
A photograph taken by my uncle Harry Danson

Copyright © 2014 · Susan Donaldson.  All Rights Reserved

Sepia Saturday: Musical Moments

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

I felt sure there was a photograph of me playing the piano, but no - it was not to be found, just this inanimate piano shot below. 

 
Take a look at interior decoration in Edinburgh  c.1968 - obviously  Christmas judging by the hanging lanterns and Christmas cards on the piano.  The picture on the wall had a recessed frame with a light above it. I remember my mother painting the walls  peach, or were they orange?  But must admit I cannot recollect the other side of the archway being green.

And the story of  the piano in family life:

Mary & Albert Weston - my grandparents

• My father in "Memories of his Broseley Boyhood" recalled:
  
  "We had a “palace” organ double keyboard, Mum was very musical and Dad, who so far as I know, had never had a music lesson, played in Coalbrookdale Brass Band, he could also play the violin.  From time to time Mum would play the organ on a Sunday night and Dad the violin - hymns from the "Ancient & Modern " hymnbook. There was one unusual feature about his, he never asked for a number but the tune e.g. Moscow, Bishopthorpe etc."
  
  The family were keen churchgoers.  Eldest son Fred sang in the choir at St. Mark's 's Church, Warwick and my father sang in the church at Broseley. Shropshire and later at St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde. Lancashire  where I was baptized. 

Broseley Church, Shropshire where my father sang in the  choir from the age of 7.  

My uncle - Fred Weston, as a choir boy.

• On my mother's part, she always wanted to play the piano and I got the impression that she was rather  aggrieved that her older sister Edith learned to play (she became a teacher), and her much younger sister Peggy did - but Mum missed out.  So she was determined that I had the chance, and the piano, complete with candlesticks, was transported  from my grandfather's house to our cold front room, which only had a fire on for special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas - not conducive to nimble fingers across the keyboard!
  
  One of my worst experiences, at the age of 12, was   to take part in a local musical festival - I hated it, but reckon the adjudicator must have felt worse having to listen to  us children playing (or murdering) the same piece of music over and over again. I vowed never to go through that again. 
  
  I didn't  progress beyond Grade 3 as we moved house across country and I never took up lessons again, but the love  of music stayed with me.  And my limited piano playing ability  (for hymns, community singing and party games) did come in useful in applying for a job as a school auxiliary. 
  
  
  My parents and aunt were the people I have to thank for making music so much a  part of my life from an early age, introducing me to musicals, operetta and ballet (my most favourite art form).  I was lucky to grow up in Blackpool, Lancashire which  had regular touring companies to the Opera House and Grand Theatre.  
  
  

  
  

  Singing in a choir (school, church, community)  has been a key activity throughout my life from primary school days onwards, whether it was folk songs from round the world, spirituals, carols, sacred music, opera and operetta choruses,   or songs from the shows - musical tastes that still mean a lot to me today. I was very happy to be a chorus girl, with no pretensions to be a soloist - I knew my limitations!
  
  It is a marvelous form of music making, whatever your age, a great creator of the "feel good factor",  and there is nothing to beat singing with the full blooded accompaniment of an an orchestra or  organ. 
  
  
  And what tiny bit of musical family history research delighted me?  Discovering  from an obituary in the local paper  that my Great Uncle George also sang in the choir at St. Chad's Church, Poulton. He was killed  on the Somme in 1916 at the age of 22, 
  
  

  

  St.Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  

Click HERE to discover other musical  delights from Sepia Sepians