tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62319237683266734872024-03-13T22:17:49.026-07:00Adventures in Family HistoryCarolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-37455589654218176882011-07-03T05:16:00.000-07:002011-07-03T05:16:39.430-07:00My female ancestors - Muriel Singleton 1926 - 1997<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have always been interested in tracing my female ancestors as well as the direct line of my Green male line. I find the lives our female ancestors lived to be very interesting, and often, misleading due to the fact that we don't always know what occupation they had outside the family home; as these occupations were usually not recorded on census entries, marriage certificates etc. We know they worked hard in the home, this in the days before domestic appliances made housework easier, in the days before electricity when all work had to be done either in daylight or by candle or lamplight. We have programmes like Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm to thank for giving us an insight into the daily lives of our female ancestors and these programmes bring to life what it must have been like to work a long day in the house, up at 6am and often not getting to bed before midnight. So the next few blog entries are a homage to all my female ancestors. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Starting of course, with my wonderful Mam, Muriel Singleton born 5 September 1926 the third child and oldest daughter of my grandparents Jack and Nancy Singleton, joining Chris born 1920 and Jim born 1922, she was born on the Isle of Walney, Barrow in Furness in Lancashire. When she was 12, the family moved to Hull in East Yorkshire, moving into 120 Lomond Road, Spring Bank where they were to stay until my Nana moved out of there in the 1970s.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lfkgwMtX6kc/ThBSBrj-p_I/AAAAAAAAAEA/_E8jl0d9Pt8/s1600/Muriel+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lfkgwMtX6kc/ThBSBrj-p_I/AAAAAAAAAEA/_E8jl0d9Pt8/s320/Muriel+1.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Mam taken during towards the end of the War</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Two days before Mam's 13th birthday on 5th September 1939 war was declared as World War II got under way. By this time the family had expanded to include Jack born in 1930 and Jean born 1937, baby Evelyn the youngest child of my grandparents was born on 3 October 1939. During the war, Jean was sent to family at Keswick, but Evelyn remained with the family. Both the oldest boys joined up, Chris into the navy and Jim the army. For Muriel it must have been a hard time, helping her mam with the new baby, coping with missing her brothers and her younger sister, and a year later aged 14, starting her first job with Hull Printer's as an Assistant Compositor. She was to work here for the following six years until she left in August 1946 to marry my Dad, Derek Alexander Green.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I remember mam telling me about using gravy thinned down with water on her legs with a line drawn up the back with an eyeliner pencil to mimic the look of stockings. Of turning up to work one day during the war to find that the printers had been bombed during the night and there was just the ruins left. Hull Printers survived and moved into temporary premises for the rest of the war. At a dance in late 1944 early 1945, when she was 18, she met my Dad - she told me that it was a Ladies Ask Me dance, a chance for the women to choose who they wanted to dance with, not the other way round - Mam chose Dad and the rest as they say is history. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the summer of 1945 Mam spent some time at the Northcliffe convalescent home in Filey after an operation to remove kidney stones - she was to suffer with kidney problems for several years. That visit was to trigger a lifelong love of Filey in my Mam and we spent several happy family holidays there in later years. After she returned to Hull, she began courting Derek, his 1946 diary tells of meeting her off the bus as she came home from work, going to the pictures, dancing, into town and eventually their engagement early in 1946.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On 3 August 1946 she got married at St Martin's Church Hull</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NfnqjDinTXA/ThBXddgRN1I/AAAAAAAAAEM/d6SC9S9OkpQ/s1600/Derek+%2526+Muriel+Wedding+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="371" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NfnqjDinTXA/ThBXddgRN1I/AAAAAAAAAEM/d6SC9S9OkpQ/s640/Derek+%2526+Muriel+Wedding+3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This photo shows from left to right, my Nana Green, Ethel holding Dad's youngest brother Peter, my Granddad Green, Marcus, Uncle Ron, Dad's older brother and best man - Dad, Mam, Aunt Nancy, Dad's sister, Granddad Singleton, Jack and Nancy my Nana Singleton, with Uncle Chris in his navy uniform. At the front are my aunts Jean and Evelyn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mum and Dad honeymooned in Keswick in the Lake District and the next photo was taken on their honeymoon:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yT1Ye8bf-BI/ThBXjbQ4CKI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/QPuy2bpqjbA/s1600/Derek+%2526+Muriel+Honeymoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yT1Ye8bf-BI/ThBXjbQ4CKI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/QPuy2bpqjbA/s400/Derek+%2526+Muriel+Honeymoon.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">After her marriage, Muriel settled down to married life in rented rooms on Wistow Grove, Gipsyville - eventually they were to get a Corporation Prefab before moving into a house on Norton Grove on Gipsyville. Mam and Dad were to have five children, Christine born in 1948, Linda in 1950, Stephen in 1957, myself in 1960 and Robert in 1963. Mam returned to work when Steve, Robert and I were young - first working at Humbrol paint factory down Hedon Road in Hull and later after we'd moved to west Hull at Needler's sweet factory making boxes and finally at Zerny's Dry Cleaners; first in the canteen, then later in the sewing room.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Throught this time she worked part time, juggling bringing up a family with helping with the household income. There were hard times in the 1950s when Derek had to give up his job as a Sheet Metal Worker and retrain for office work, but they got through this time and still managed to get some family holidays at the seaside.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XvecR_zZvlY/ThBa7ezI6XI/AAAAAAAAAEc/GgYORUov0fY/s1600/Muriel+%2526+children+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XvecR_zZvlY/ThBa7ezI6XI/AAAAAAAAAEc/GgYORUov0fY/s400/Muriel+%2526+children+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This photos shows me aged about seven, Mam, Robert about three and Stephen about ten on the beach at Filey, you can just make out the brig in the background.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mam retired when she was 60 in 1986 and she and my father enjoyed coach holidays to Scotland. However, her health was not brilliant, she had been diagnosed with diabetes in the early 1980s and had high blood pressure; but it was in 1995 that she contracted bowel cancer and though an operation extended her life by nearly two years, she died on 24 March 1997. I will always remember how brave she was during her illness and I still do, and always will miss her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xmPWieB0he4/ThBdAPW90wI/AAAAAAAAAEo/Zzqdlymc8PU/s1600/img099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xmPWieB0he4/ThBdAPW90wI/AAAAAAAAAEo/Zzqdlymc8PU/s640/img099.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mum and Dad enjoying a dance on one of their holidays.</span>Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-67877475994834823582011-04-07T12:55:00.000-07:002011-04-07T12:55:37.410-07:00The importance of witnesses in family history research<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">One thing I've discovered over the years is not to ignore the names of witnesses on marriage entries, these can often lead to discovering other family members, or help to confirm you've got the right person. To give a few examples from my own research:</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I spent a long time trying to track down my 3xgreat grandfather John Green Sayers' brother Thomas after he appeared on the 1841 census with his parents and brother as a 5 week old baby living in Grimsby.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6lEt9EWi12w/TZ4HEqei08I/AAAAAAAAADk/76JQCruvF64/s1600/1841+clip.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="87" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6lEt9EWi12w/TZ4HEqei08I/AAAAAAAAADk/76JQCruvF64/s400/1841+clip.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">By 1851 their mother Harriet was dead and their father, a mariner was away in Dover. John was living with his grandmother Mary and her 3rd husband Benjamin Willman as their son John Willman and his younger brother William was listed as William Sare grandson.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2PDY1n1oMaw/TZ4IbEbdYNI/AAAAAAAAADo/aWWkt9fdCwo/s1600/1851+clip.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="60" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2PDY1n1oMaw/TZ4IbEbdYNI/AAAAAAAAADo/aWWkt9fdCwo/s400/1851+clip.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">There was no trace of Thomas, no matter what search I did I couldn't find him in the 1851 census, so I checked the death indexes and burial entries for both Grimsby and Hull to see if he had died, but still no luck. Looking for John Green Sayers or John Willman in the 1861 census, I found him living at 8 Chapel Lane as John Willman with his wife Nancy and his occupation given as Sloopman. With John continuing to use both Willman and Sayers almost interchangeably, it took me a while to find his marriage in the General Register Office (GRO) indexes; but find him I did marrying Nancy Fish on 14 November 1859 at Hull Holy Trinity church, and one of the witnesses was Thomas Sayers. Could this be our missing brother?</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">If Thomas were alive and attending his brother's wedding in 1859, then he should be on the 1861 census, and a search revealed him on board The Humber in Victoria Dock, Hull as a 19 year old apprentice; and I've been able to find him on every subsequent census since then until his death in 1895. Though I still can't find him on the 1851 census, no matter what I try and the only conclusion I can come to is that he was with his grandmother and brothers but for some reason was missed on the census.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">More recently I've been trying to discover what happened to the two sons of Mary Grant and Richard Amos, Mary whose first husband was John Green had two children with John, Harriet who later married Ethelbert Peter Sayers and John; she then married Richard Amos and had two boys Richard and Charles before marrying for the third and final time to Benjamin Willman. The boys were living with Mary and Benjamin in 1841, but by 1851 they had left home, whilst checking indexes and the IGI, I found a marriage for a Charles Ameers at Holy Trinity Hull in 1859 to Martha Satchell and as I had previously seen Amos written as Amers I thought it was worth checking it out. A visit to the archives in Beverley, East Yorkshire gave me the opportunity to check out the entry in the parish register, which I found for 27th December 1859 and one of the witnesses was John Green Sayers, the other his wife of 6 weeks Nancy; giving me confirmation that this was indeed the Charles Amos, or Ameers as he seems to have preferred his name to be spelt, John's half-uncle.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jNsHP8FG8MM/TZ4RSkeq3jI/AAAAAAAAADs/AgpBjxDSYaQ/s1600/Charles+Ameers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jNsHP8FG8MM/TZ4RSkeq3jI/AAAAAAAAADs/AgpBjxDSYaQ/s400/Charles+Ameers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Charles also gives his father's name as Benjamin Ameers Sloopman, instead of Richard Amos/Ameers sailor Benjamin Willman being his step father.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">And a final example from this family. In 1883, John Green Sayers married Eliza Baker at Holy Trinity in Hull. It took me awhile to tie this Eliza Baker up to my 3xgreat aunt Eliza Green who was born in 1831 and was the younger brother to my 3xgreat grandfather JamesGreen 1820 - 1854. Eliza had married several times, inlcuding in 1868 to a James Baker. It was only when I received the marriage certificate for her wedding to John Green Sayers, did I tie it all up, not only was Eliza's father down as Thomas Green, but one of the witnesses at the wedding was Leonard Farrow Green, the grandson of James Green. This also answered one of those questions we often ask ourselves how did our grandparents etc., meet; well in Leonard's case he married Ethel Roseman Sayers daughter of John Green Sayers and Nancy Fish and step daughter to Leonard's great aunt Eliza.</div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">These are not the only examples I have found in my family and others, where the witness at a wedding has helped to confirm a relationship. Sometimes I feel family history is a great big jigsaw and we have to put the pieces together - these kind of discoveries can make all the differences in getting the right pieces to fit together.</span>Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-60413432389994478422011-03-06T12:21:00.000-08:002011-03-06T12:21:29.420-08:00Nana Green - Ethel Maud Pagan 1900 - 1973Saying “My Nana was a Pagan” usually got me a few strange looks (visions of Wicca no doubt), but it’s true. She was born Ethel Maud Pagan on the 24 May 1900 to Thomas Naismith Pagan and Edith (nee Dobney) in Hull, East Yorkshire. She was an only child, and the family lived with her grandfather Dobney who was a Ticket Collector and Guard for the N.E.R. Her father Thomas was a nautical instrument maker.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LhRW5vDYqrY/TXPrCSWHMqI/AAAAAAAAADM/ljBvbDg51qg/s1600/ETHEL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LhRW5vDYqrY/TXPrCSWHMqI/AAAAAAAAADM/ljBvbDg51qg/s320/ETHEL.JPG" width="211" /></a></div> Taken about 1902/1903<br />
<br />
She grew up before the First World War, and went to work during the War at Paragon Railway Station working for the N.E.R. in the typing pool there. In 1922, she married Marcus Alexander Green, a young Merchant Navy Officer and they set up home with their young son Ronald in Withernsea, East Yorkshire.<br />
Two more children followed, Derek born in 1924 and Nancy born in 1926. In the 1930s, the family returned to Hull where they eventually settled in a home on Boothferry Road. The Second World War loomed, and Marcus once again fought in the Royal Navy; Ronald followed his father to sea, though Derek, due to ill health, was unable to fight. In 1944, a late addition to the family, Peter was born, a year later Ronald married his sweetheart Muriel, Derek’s wedding to another Muriel took place shortly before Ron and Muriel with their toddler son Wesley set sail for a new life in Canada.<br />
<br />
Ethel remained devoted to her family, bringing little Peter up with the help of his big sister Nancy. Derek, Muriel and their young family were frequent visitors during these years. Marcus died first in 1966 after a long illness that confined him to the sofa in the front room (my only memories of him). Ethel took the opportunity offered by Ron and his second wife Verna to visit them in Canada (Muriel had sadly died in the 50s) and see her Canadian grandchildren. In 1973, Ron brought his family to England for a holiday, but sadly Ethel was very ill and despite rallying round tremendously whilst Ron was in Hull, she died on the 9th August that year just after Ron left to visit relatives down south.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dm97KgI75Is/TXPrQbfFwWI/AAAAAAAAADQ/WGF5kyhUpcA/s1600/ETHEL2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dm97KgI75Is/TXPrQbfFwWI/AAAAAAAAADQ/WGF5kyhUpcA/s1600/ETHEL2.JPG" /></a></div> Part of a larger photo taken at Ron & Muriel's wedding<br />
<br />
I’d stayed with her the previous year, a whole week during the summer holidays, I remember the Munich Olympics were on whilst I was with her. She complained of my cold feet in bed on a night and that I fidgeted too much for her, but that didn’t stop her inviting me to stay. She was a lovely Nana, and it was sad to lose her when we did.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gfMBVCpYwJQ/TXPrg4JJbNI/AAAAAAAAADU/bGlRd4wXyok/s1600/Green+family+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gfMBVCpYwJQ/TXPrg4JJbNI/AAAAAAAAADU/bGlRd4wXyok/s320/Green+family+4.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />
L-R Marcus Green with a young Peter standing in front of him, Ethel Green with Derek Green behind and Muriel his wife next to him<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Es79a5UGRi4/TXProdqvU5I/AAAAAAAAADY/3AjSxCliLUU/s1600/Green+family+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Es79a5UGRi4/TXProdqvU5I/AAAAAAAAADY/3AjSxCliLUU/s320/Green+family+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>L-R Marcus, Derek, Ethel, Nancy, Muriel, Christine - in front - Linda holding Carol with Stephen in front of his Nana - taken in 1960Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-72427693944564945072011-03-01T05:13:00.000-08:002011-03-01T05:13:32.039-08:00Nana Singleton and the names that got me interested in family historyWhen I was a child, my Nana Singleton used to come and stay with us over Christmas and often ended up sharing my bedroom - which meant I had to give up my bed to her and sleep on the Z bed borrowed from my sister. Anyone who's ever slept on a Z bed will know that they will freqently for no apparent reason dump the sleeper onto the floor in the middle of the night! But, I loved my Nana and really didn't mind giving up my bed for her - she had been born in Kilmarnock in Scotland in 1900 and though she'd lived in England (first Barrow in Furness in Lancashire and then Hull in East Yorkshire) since she was about 15 or 16, she retained her lovely Scots burr for the rest of her 94 years.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0PLUnT6njrU/TWzt_0EgO_I/AAAAAAAAAC4/cGhUPKohDeg/s1600/Nancy+Singleton+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0PLUnT6njrU/TWzt_0EgO_I/AAAAAAAAAC4/cGhUPKohDeg/s320/Nancy+Singleton+2.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><br />
Nana Singleton in the 1960s at Cowden, East Yorkshire<br />
<br />
Often during the nights she stayed before we both slept, she would tell me about when she had gone to a "big house" as a skivvy when she was about 14 and about my mother's habit of sucking the cuffs of the arms of her coats when she was a little girl. My Nana's name was Agnes Caldwell Gray, though she was always known as Nancy, probably to differentiate her from her mother another Agnes; I can remember Nana telling me that he middle name was an old family name from Scotland. She was the eldest of five, two girls and three boys - the others being - John Wilson Gray born 1905 in Scotland, Margaret Colville Gray born 1908 in Troon, Ayrshire, James Crighton Gray born 1911 in Troon, Ayrshire and lastly David Gray born 1916 in Barrow in Furnace, Lancashire, England. There had also been two other children, both girls named Jane Neil Gray, one born and died in 1899 and another born and died in 1901.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3g9Mfdo_tak/TWzuPjFVEHI/AAAAAAAAAC8/i9FszBb-_Qw/s1600/Gray+family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3g9Mfdo_tak/TWzuPjFVEHI/AAAAAAAAAC8/i9FszBb-_Qw/s320/Gray+family.jpg" width="207" /></a></div> back row - John Wilson Gray, Margaret Colville Gray, James Crichton Gray, front row - James Gray (1877 - 1955), David Gray and Agnes Caldwell Gray - photo taken in the early 1920s<br />
<br />
When my Nana was in her 80s, there was a family tree drawn up of her parents, brothers, sister, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren - it was this basic family tree that got me started years later on tracing my family history; and I started with Nana's family as I was fascinated by the middle names she and her siblings had and wished to trace them to their roots. It was then, pure luck that started me off with Scottish Genealogy, where their statutory registers for birth, marriage and death give more information than their English counterparts.<br />
<br />
It was fun searching the records, building a family tree, tracing the family in ninetheenth century censuses and discovering new surnames and families, and I did track down all the middle names of the Gray children, most of them to their origins in the family.<br />
<br />
My nana - Agnes <b>Caldwell</b> Gray - her paternal grandmother was Agnes Cathcart Slessor <b>Caldwell</b> born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire in 1858 to Robert <b>Caldwell</b> and Mary Slessor - she married John Wilson Gray in 1876 in Kilmarnock and my Nana's father James Gray was born in 1877.<br />
<br />
Uncle John - was named after his paternal grandfather John <b>Wilson</b> Gray who was born in Kilmarnock in 1853 to James Gray and Elizabeth Orr - though I'm still not sure when the Wilson came from yet.<br />
<br />
Aunty Maggie - was named after her maternal grandmother Jane's sister Margaret who married an Alexander <b>Colville</b> in Dundonald Scotland in 1860<br />
<br />
Uncle James - his middle name was <b>Crighton </b>or <b>Crichton</b> and this proved to be his maternal grandfather's name - <b>Crichton</b> Smith was born in Ballantrae, Argylle in 1820 and married Jane <b>Neil</b> in Symington Ayrshire in 1871 - thus also solving the name of the two young sisters who died in infancy who were named Jane <b>Neil</b> Gray.<br />
<br />
Uncle David - though he didn't have a middle name, he was named after his father's Uncle David Gray <br />
<br />
My Nana married John Singleton (known as Jack) on Walney Island, Barrow in Furness on 5 June 1920 and they went on to have five children, Christopher Chapman Singleton 1920 - 1974; James Singleton 1922 - 1982; my mother Muriel Singleton 1926 - 1997; Jack Singleton 1930 - 2006; Jean <b>Neil</b> Singleton 1937 and Evelyn Singleton 1939 - all barr Evelyn were born in Barrow in Furness, Eveyln been born here in Hull after the family moved here for my Grandfather to work at Shipham's a local ship building company (who now specialise in valves).<br />
<br />
Since I started tracing my family tree, I have gone on to trace my English families to Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Kent, Lancashire & Cumbria - all from becoming interested in where the names in my Nana's family came from. Like many of us I wish now I could go back and talk to my Nana on one of our Christmas evening talks more about her life and her relatives, what more could I have learnt...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-yz0QQ0LCjjs/TWzuswdI4XI/AAAAAAAAADA/IWQIPWy7QCg/s1600/Nana+Grandad+Singleton+%2526+grandchildren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-yz0QQ0LCjjs/TWzuswdI4XI/AAAAAAAAADA/IWQIPWy7QCg/s320/Nana+Grandad+Singleton+%2526+grandchildren.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Nana and Granddad Singleton with their first 7 grandchildren aboout 1951<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xWWhb-l_unw/TWzvGrsLpVI/AAAAAAAAADE/HHF9xDtLmgg/s1600/Nana+Singleton+80th+birthday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xWWhb-l_unw/TWzvGrsLpVI/AAAAAAAAADE/HHF9xDtLmgg/s320/Nana+Singleton+80th+birthday.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Nana Singleton (in the middle) at her 80th birthday party with 10 of her grandchildren and two great grandchildren - I am second from left in the middle row (with the large glasses!!) - taken 21 March 1980Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-24975363291152101272011-02-07T09:36:00.000-08:002011-04-22T05:55:02.534-07:00Ethelbet Peter Sayers 1820 - 1900<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This Case Study appeared in Your Family Tree Magazine No. 99 February 2011<b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Master of a Grimsby Fishing Boat </b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I first starting investigating my ancestor Ethelbert Sayers, it was with difficulty; I kept coming across references to an Ethelbert Sayer/s and a Peter Sayer/s, both appeared to have been born in Kent in Herne Bay (or Herring Bay as one census entry had it) between 1820 and 1825. It was only when I had accumulated several documents and certificates that I was able to say with certainty that the Ethelbert Sayer born in Herne Bay in Kent in 1820 and baptised there on the 4 August that year, was the same person as the Peter Sayers who appeared on the 1841 census with his wife Harriet and two young children, John aged 2 years and Thomas 5 weeks. Ethelbert it seems preferred to be called Peter, and one can only wonder if that’s because he didn’t like his given name, yet if that were the case, he wouldn’t have attempted to give his name to his sons.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ethelbert Sayers settled, with his wife and family, a third son William was born in 1843 and a daughter named Harriet after her mother in 1845, in Grimsby where he was a mariner probably employed in the coastal shipping business. In 1846, the younger Harriet died aged only 3 months, and tragedy was to visit the family again in 1847 when Ethelbert’s wife died of heart disease on the 22<sup>nd</sup> September on a visit to her mother and step father in Hull. Mary and Benjamin Wilman were to take on the three little boys to bring up in Hull, whilst their father continued living in Grimsby on his own. In the 1851 census, Ethelbert is enumerated as Peter Sayer, a Visitor in Dover occupation given as Mariner, and in 1861 he is living at 21 Flour Square, a 40 year old widower, occupation given as Fisherman.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Many of the original skippers of Grimsby smacks became owners, usually of no more than one, but some made big business out of it. The crew lists are kept at the North East Lincolnshire Archives in Grimsby, and it was here a couple of years ago that I first found Ethelbert or Peter Sayers mentioned as skipper on fishing vessels.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The indexes to these crew lists now appear on NE Lincs archives website, and searching these, I found that Ethelbert appears as skipper throughout the 1880s and 1890s on the John Shapley, the Emperor, the Frolic, the Kerry and the Alethia. All these smacks were owned by James Meadows, who appears to have owned about 25 fishing smacks, Ethelbert sailed exclusively for him between 1884 and 1893. In 1883, certification of skippers and mates of fishing boats were introduced, and on a visit to the National Archives in Kew, I found Ethelbert’s certificate in BT130/1, which is kept on microfilm; his certificate number is 0596 and it was issued on 13<sup>th</sup> December 1883, this also gives some details of his voyages on the John Shapley. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In 1864, Ethelbert had married again to Mary Ann Fraser, the widow of another fisherman, by this time his children from his first marriage were grown up and married themselves. Ethelbert and Mary Ann were to have nine children from 1865 to 1876, but only the last born was to live to adulthood. On a visit to the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies for a weekend workshop, I was working in their library when I first came across the sad tale of the deaths of Ethelbert’s children. Working through the microfiche of burials for the parish of Great Grimsby, I kept finding burials for young children:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;">Mary Ann Sayers buried 12 September 1866, Flower Square aged 6 weeks</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;">Ethelbert Sayers buried 15 December 1865, Flower Square, aged 6 weeks</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;">Ethelbert Sayers buried 18 May 1868, Flower Square, aged 8 weeks</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;">Frederick W Sayers, buried 10 July 1870, Flower Square, aged 3 weeks</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;">Mary Ann Sayers buried 9 August 1873, Flower Square aged 3 weeks</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;">Ethelbert Sayers, buried 21 October 1874, Flower Square, Aged 5 weeks</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;">Ethel Rosamund buried 18 December 1874, Flower Square, aged 2 years</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;">Alfred Sayers buried 27 December 1874, Flower Square, aged 5 years</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 21.3pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By the time I had finished going through the burials, there were tears in my eyes, so many young children dying in their first weeks of life, with only two, Alfred and Ethel surviving to live for a paltry few years. Between 1865 and 1874 Ethelbert & Mary Ann lost eight of their nine children, aged from three weeks to five years, all whilst living at Flower Square, surely an inappropriate name - the only child to survive to adulthood from this marriage was Isabella Ethel born in 1876, the youngest child, she wouldn't have known any of her brothers & sisters, how precious she must have been to her parents.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sending for three of the death certificates (using the online ordering system at <a href="http://www.gro.gov.uk/">www.gro.gov.uk</a>) for Ethelbert who died in 1865 aged six weeks, Ethel Roseman who died 1874 aged two years and Alfred who also died in 1874 aged 5 years, I discovered that they had all died from childhood diseases that were prevalent in the overcrowded urban areas of the mid nineteenth century. Ethelbert died of Diarrhoea, Ethel of Scarlet Fever and Alfred from Diphtheria, all treatable and preventable today in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grimsby, like most urban areas in the nineteenth century, was filled with overcrowded unsanitary houses built by speculative builders to house the workers, in this case the fishermen near to their work. Flour or Flower Square was at the end of Victoria Street near to the docks, in his book, A History of Grimsby, Edward Gillett describes some of the homes people were living in; there were ‘... houses where the basement floor was laid upon the ground, no joists put between, and water oozing up’, there were ‘three houses with an unpaved yard which ... was contaminated by leaking closet boxes’. These insanitary conditions must have been hard on the families living in them as they struggled to make a living. It is no wonder then that in the late 1870s the family moved to Humber Street in nearby Clee with Weelsby, an area of better housing and cleaner air.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ethelbert continued fishing until he was well in to his seventies, I have had sight of a memoriam card for him, that stated he was known as Old Peter and had been well known in the town and well respected. It also states that when the New Dock was opened in the 1850s, Ethelbert walked the full length of the dock under water in a heavy diving suit, that must have been a sight to be seen. I have a great admiration for Ethelbert, he moved north to find work, his first wife died young and he suffered sorrow and tragedy with the death of so many of his children from his second marriage. He died in 1900 and is buried in Scartho Road cemetery in Grimsby. He must have been a man of strong fortitude and I feel as though I know him well, and am proud to have him for an ancestor.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Childhood illness and death</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Death in childhood was all too common in the nineteenth century, families from all walks of life experienced sickness and death of their children. Childhood diseases were rampant, with diphtheria, scarlet fever and diarrhoea being killers and many young children succumbed to outbreaks of measles, cholera and small pox. Many families could not afford a doctor, and often relied on folk remedies or patent medicines, which could frequently be dangerous in themselves. Attitudes to death in the nineteenth century were often tempered by the belief that the loved one would be in a better world, many more people than today attended church and the teachings of the bible were often a comfort to families. Funerals could be expensive, but there were Friendly Societies, burial clubs and savings clubs that working class people could use to insure against the paupers burial.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Diphtheria</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A respiratory disease that is contagious and causes an inflammation of the throat which makes breathing difficult and can cause asphyxiation. Epidemics often broke out in overcrowded urban areas, tubes inserted into the throat could stop victims from suffocating, a vaccine was introduced in the early part of the twentieth century. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Burial records </b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Often overlooked, these records can help fill out the missing gaps in your family tree and help build up a picture of your ancestor’s lives. Parish register burials can often be accessed on microfiche or microfilm at the archives centres, local history libraries or specialist libraries such as the IHGS or Society of Genealogists.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Fleeting System</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This was introduced in the mid-nineteenth century to make fishing more efficient. Several smacks would sail together and offload their catch packed in ice to the carrier by rowing boat, the carrier take the fish to the home port before returning to the fleet once more. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Sources</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Gillett, Edward, A History of Grimsby, 1970 Oxford University Press</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tunstall, Jeremy, The Fishermen: The sociology of an extreme occupation, 1962 MacGibbon and Kee</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div>Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-69696408412488044622010-12-02T09:08:00.000-08:002010-12-02T09:08:23.753-08:00Will of Herbert Millington Soole 1789 - 1853<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
</style> <![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Herbert Millington Soole is one of my 4x great grandfathers - going from me b 1960, Derek Alexander Green 1924 - 1997, Ethel Maud Pagan 1900 - 1973, Thomas Naismith Pagan 1872 - 1936, Mary Ann Hobson 1842 - 1875, Mary Ann Soole 1813 to 1880. A long way back to Herbert, he was born in North Cave, lived most of his life in Hull, then moved back to North Cave shortly before he died - he is buried in the graveyard there, and somewhere I have a picture of his gravestone - will post it when I find it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">He died in 1853 and left a will naming his son John Henry Soole as his executor and main beneficiery, his other son Herbert, born in Hull in 1817 was transported to Tasmania in 1841, his crime was larceny; unfortunately he died in 1844; so John Henry was the only son left. Herbert had six daughters (another son John David had died in infancy), Nancy b 1811 died before 1861, Amelia b 1813 died 1857 (she looked after her father and is buried in North Cave with him), Jane b 1820 died 1890, Emma born 1824 died before 1901, Charlotte born 1829 died 1871 in Liverpool; and Mary Ann. Of the daughters only Nancy and Amelia never married, the other four did, and in his will Herbert leaves money to all of them, though with Nancy and Amelia he ensures they don't get control of their own money, his son is to dole it out to them until it was all gone!! The other daughters presumably were assumed to give their money into the control of her husband, since until the Married Women's Property Act in 1870, women were unable to hold onto any money they had earned in their own right or inherited, as they were deemed to be their husband's property, any income etc., was also his property; a further Married Women's Property Act came in in 1882 and clarified matters.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is a transcription of Herbert's will and codicil</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is the last Will and Testament of me Herbert Millington Soole late of the Town and County of the Town of Kingston upon Hull, but now of North Cave in the East Riding of the County of York Warehouse-keeper made and published this fourth day of April in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty three. First I direct all my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses to be fully paid and satisfied by my Executor hereinafter named as soon as conveniently may be after my decease. I give devise and bequeath the whole of my personal estate and effects household furniture goods and chattels stock in trade, lighters and all other Vessels or shares therein and all moneys and securities for money and all other my estate and effects whatsoever and wheresoever situate which i may be possessed of at the time of my decease to my Son John Henry Soole of the Town and County of the Town of Kingston upon Hull Chemist and Druggist upon trust to sell and convert into money and after the same shall have been so converted unto money Upon first to pay thereout the following legacies</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my wife Hannah Soole the legacy or sum of twenty five pounds </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my daughter Nancy Soole of Kingston upon Hull spinster the sum of ninety pounds which I direct to be paid to her by my son the said John Henry Soole by instalments of four shillings per week until the whole of the said sum of ninety pounds shall be paid and exhausted, but without any interest thereon in the meantime</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my daughter Mary Ann Hobson the wife of Christopher Hobson of Kingston upon Hull, Sawyer, the sum of ninety pounds</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my daughter Amelia Soole of Kingston upon Hull, Spinster the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds, to be paid to her by my son the said John Henry Soole by instalments of four shillings per week until the whole of the said sum of one hundred and twenty pounds shall be paid and exhausted but without any interest thereon in the meantime</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my daughter Jane Nettleton the wife of John Nettleton of Kingston upon Hull Engineer the sum of ninety pounds</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my daughter Emma Durose the wife of Frederick Durose of New Holland in the County of Lincoln Railway Clerk the sum of one hundred pounds</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my daughter Charlotte Pole the Widow of George Pole late of Manchester in the County Palatine of Lancaster Draper the sum of ninety pounds</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;">And I direct (that where otherwise provided) the before mentioned<span> </span>legacies shall be paid within six calendar months after my decease and shall be for the sole and separate use and benefit of my said Daughters whose receipts along notwithstanding their or any of their being married women shall be a sufficient discharge to my executor and after payment of the before mentioned debts funeral expenses and legacies i direct that my said Son shall stand possessed of the residue to and for his own use and benefit I devise and bequeath all the estates vested in me in trust or by way of mortgage or of which I may have the disposition at the time of my decease with the appurtenances unto my said Son John Henry Soole his heirs executors and administrators according to the nature of the said premises subject to the equity of redemption subsisting in them respectively. And I do hereby appoint my Son the said John Henry Soole to be sole Executor of this my will and I declare that the receipt of the said John Henry Soole or his heirs executors or administrators or the survivor of them for any moneys payable to him or them shall be a sufficient discharge for the money therein exposed to be received And hereby revoking all former Wills by me at any time heretofore made I do declare this only to be my last Will and Testament In witness whereof I the said Herbert Millington Soole the Testator have to this my last Will and Testament contained in two sheets of paper subscribed and set my hand and seal to wit my hand to and at the bottom of the first sheet and to the second and last sheet my hand and seal the day and year first hereinbefore written.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;">The preceding sheet was signed and this Second and last sheet signed and sealed and the whole thereof duly published and declared by the said Herbert Millington Soole the Testator as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us (present at the same time) who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names at </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;">Witnesses</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;">Thomas Smith</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;">Seb Hull <i>(could be Sol Hull)</i></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;">Norman Levett</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-style: none none solid; border-width: medium medium 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;"> <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="border: medium none; margin-left: 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;">This is a Codicil to the last Will and Testament of me Herbert Millington Soole late of the Town and county of the Town of Kingston upon Hull but now of North Cave in the East Riding of the County of York Warehouse keeper bearing date the fourth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty three Whereas in and by my said Will I have bequeathed to my Daughter Nancy Soole of Kingston upon Hull Spinster the sum of ninety pounds to my Daughter Mary Ann Hobson the wife of Christopher Hobson of Kingston upon Hull Sawyer the sum of ninety pounds To my Daughter Amelia Soole of Kingston upon Hull Spinster the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds To my Daughter Jane Nettleton the Wife of John Nettleton of Kingston upon Hull Engineer the sum of ninety pounds To my Daughter Emma Durose the Wife of Frederick Durose of New Holland in the County of Lincoln Railway clerk the sum of one hundred pounds To my Daughter Charlotte Pole the Widow of George Pole late of Manchester in the County Palatine of Lancaster Draper the sum of ninety pounds Now I do hereby revoke the said legacies and in lieu thereof I give and bequeath to my </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Daughter the said Nancy Soole the sum of seventy pounds which I direct to be paid to her by my son John Henry Soole by instalments of four shillings per week until the whole of the said sum of seventy pounds shall be paid and exhausted but without any interest thereon in the meantime</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my Daughter the said Mary Ann Hobson the sum of seventy pounds</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my said Daughter Amelia Soole the sum of one hundred pounds to be paid to her by my son the said John Henry Soole by instalments of four shillings per week until the whole of the said sum of one hundred pounds shall be paid and exhausted but without any interest thereon in the meantime</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my Daughter the said Jane Nettleton the sum of seventy pounds</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my Daughter the said Emma Durose the sum of eighty pounds</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span>·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>To my Daughter the said Charlotte Pole the sum of seventy pounds</div><div class="MsoNormal">And I direct that (same where otherwise provided) the before mentioned legacies shall be paid within six calendar months after my decease and shall be for the sole and separate use and benefit of my said Daughters whose receipt alone notwithstanding their or any of their being married women shall be a sufficient discharge to my Executor named on my said will And I do hereby confirm my said Will in all other respects and do declare this to be a Codicil thereto and direct it to be taken and considered as part thereof in witness whereof I the said Herbert Millington Soole have hereunto set my hand and seal the sixteenth day of April one thousand eight hundred and fifty three.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Signed sealed published and declared by the said Herbert Millington Soole the Testator as and for a Codicil to his last Will and Testament in the presence of us, present at the same time, who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other hereunto subscribe our names as witnesses</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Edwd Dodd</div><div class="MsoNormal">John Bell</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-style: none none solid; border-width: medium medium 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; padding: 0cm;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I do herby witness that on the second day of June in the year of our Lord 1853, John Henry Soole of the borough of Kingston upon Hull in the county of the Said Town, Druggist, son and sole Executor named in this the last will and testament (with a codicil) of Herbert Millington Soole, formerly of Kingston upon Hull aforesaid but late of North Cave in the Province of York, Warehouse keeper deceased was sworn with <i>study to insert</i> and perform the same; and taht the whole of the goods chattels or estate of the said deceased within the Provice of York do<span> </span>not amount in value to the sum of three thousand pounds</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Sum under 3,000 £</div><div class="MsoNormal">Preparation</div><div class="MsoNormal">Died 25<sup>th</sup> may 1853</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Witness my hand F W Bromby – Surrogate</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Will & Codl dated 6<sup>th</sup> June 1853 under 3,000 </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">___________________________________________________________________________________</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Hannah was Herbert's second wife, his first Amelia Procter had died in 1839 and he had remarried in 1841 to Hannah Lison - he only left her £25 compared to what he left his daughters! As can be seen from the codicil, he obviously didn't do his sums right first time round and had probably estimated the proceeds of his effects too highly. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">John Henry was a chemist and druggist first in Hull, then Leeds, then he moved to London.</div>Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-16920421109345765692010-11-06T07:02:00.000-07:002010-11-06T07:02:07.542-07:00New Case Study - Ethelbert SayersAm writing a new case study on Ethelbert Sayers - more commonly known as Peter - and who can blame him :-) Deadline really close on this one - 15th November, so less than 10 days now. Thankfully I have most of the material I need for this one. Will post it here after it's been published.Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-46233422545448994702010-10-24T03:50:00.000-07:002010-10-24T03:50:59.270-07:00Christopher Chapman Singleton 1863 - 1932<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wYDCdbw1yHA/TMQPdjKU2-I/AAAAAAAAACg/sptAH8NicsU/s1600/ChristopherAndMarySingleton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wYDCdbw1yHA/TMQPdjKU2-I/AAAAAAAAACg/sptAH8NicsU/s320/ChristopherAndMarySingleton.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>An Orangeman in the family<br />
<br />
A chance find of an obituary in a newspaper led me on an exploration of my great grandfather’s political leanings and his involvement in the Orange Order.<br />
<br />
On a recent trip to London, I took the opportunity to visit the Colindale Newspaper Library for the first time. Not having any luck finding what I was looking for, I decided to see if there were any death notices for my Great Grandfather Christopher Chapman Singleton who died in 1932, I didn’t know the exact date, but knew from the GRO indexes that it was in the April to June quarter. I order the microfilm for the Barrow News for 1932 and after winding through the file for quite a while, I got lucky and found an obituary for him. This told me he died on 9 May 1932 at 144 Sutherland Street, Barrow, but I was astounded at some of the information in the piece.<br />
<br />
From the Barrow News of 13 May 1932:<br />
<br />
Late Mr C C Singleton<br />
The death took place at Barrow on Tuesday of Mr C C Singleton of 144 Sutherland Street at the age of 68 years. Deceased was the only life member of Barrow Conservative Party and was chairman of Central Ward branch. He was a prominent member of the Association for over 40 years and was also a well known and esteemed member of the Orange Order. He had been in failing health for several months. He leaves a widow and grown up family.<br />
<br />
This, for me was revelatory. My grandfather Jack Singleton (born 1901) had always been a staunch Labour member and trade unionist, to find that his father Christopher had been not only a member of the Conservative Party, but a life member and chairman of a branch, was a bit of a shock. However, the biggest surprise of all was that he had been a member of the Orange Order. At that time I was not aware of just how much Orangeism had spread into the UK in the Nineteenth Century, nor indeed, that there was not only a large Irish membership of the Orange Order in the UK, but a significant membership of English people.<br />
<br />
Christopher was born in Liverpool on the 21st September 1863 to William and Mary Singleton, he was one of 10 children and the last to be born in Liverpool. Within nine months of his birth, the family had moved to Barrow-in-Furness, into one of five cottages on Barrow Island, which were later demolished to make way for the gun shop to be built. Christopher’s father William was a Steam Crane Driver (1891 census) on the docks. On the 26th February 1877, aged 13, Christopher was indentured as a coppersmith with the Barrow Shipbuilding Company (later to become a part of Vickers and now incorporated into BAE Systems); he was to work there for the next 55 years, the rest of his life. He would have been involved in making and maintain the many parts made of copper that go into a new ship, in his spare time, he also made small copper ornaments such as kettles and pans.<br />
<br />
It was during his time at Barrow Shipbuilders that he became interested in political matters, and began his long association with the Conservative Party and the Orange Order. In 1867 the second reform act became law, it extended the franchise to every adult male householder living in a borough constituency, which meant that as Christopher and his brothers became householders, they became eligible to vote; and as such like many working class men, were wooed by both major parties of the time, the Liberals and Conservatives for their votes come election time.<br />
<br />
Christopher chose the Conservatives and he was to become a lifelong member of the Central Ward Branch in Barrow, of which he was chairman at the time of his death. He appears to have been held in high esteem by his fellow members, and many of them turned out for his funeral. The obituary in the Barrow News (21 May 1932), mentions that the mourners included “representatives of the following: The Conservative Association. Central and Salthouse Conservative Clubs, the deceased’s own lodge L.O.L 905, L.O.L.365, L.O.L.329, L.O.L. Female 62, L.O.L. Female 146, L.O.L. Male Juv. 22, L.O.L. Girl Juv. 101, R.B.P. Star of Beth., Salthouse Women Unionists, Central Women Unionists, Primrose League and other bodies.” <br />
<br />
The Orange connection shows up strongly here, with representatives from 8 lodges, including male, female and juvenile lodges. I have not been able to find out how many lodges there were in Barrow in the early 1930s, however, Donald M. MacRaild’s book Faith, fraternity and fighting, notes that in 1905 there were 13 lodges in Barrow and Askham, an increase of 9 since the 1880s. Orangeism was very strong in Barrow and the North West, and there are still lodges in the North West today.<br />
<br />
I was very surprised when I read that he had been a member of the Orange Order for over 40 years, as I was not aware that the order had spread outside of Ireland. It was, of course, brought over to England by the many Irish migrants of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries. Unfortunately, there are no records available at the Barrow Archives for these lodges, and as MacRaild points out in his book, the Orange Order itself does not have an archivist and where records do survive, they are not very extensive. Not being able to fine many primary sources for Christopher’s membership of both the Orange Order or the Conservatives, I have had to rely on secondary sources such as MacRaild’s book mentioned above and his other book Culture, Conflict and Migration: the Irish in Victorian Cumbria. I found both books, which are previewed on Google Books, to be fascinating in the information they provide on Orangeism, especially in the North West, and this has helped me to understand Christopher’s involvement and place in the order. <br />
<br />
Barrow was the most powerful Orange town in the north of England. With its direct steamer links to Belfast, both Protestant and Catholic Ulsterman arrived in the town, to work on the docks or at the shipbuilding works, on a daily basis. One of these migrants was Alexander Hazzard who was from County Down in Ireland and in 1884 married Mary Chapman Singleton, Christopher’s older sister.<br />
<br />
Christopher married Mary Alice (Polly) Fogg in 1890 (his first wife Alice Willacy had died in 1889, along with their baby daughter shortly after the birth). Christopher and Polly moved to live at 5 Glasgow Street in Barrow where the majority of their 12 children were to be born. This is likely the house in the photograph of Christopher, Polly and their first four children. A further family photograph taken outside the same house shows Christopher, Polly and their eldest seven children (including my grandfather Jack, seated on his father’s lap) taken about 1904. I had often wondered about the sashes and plaid the children are wearing and now believe that these could be Orange related, unfortunately the insignia on the older boys’ caps and the medallions on the younger children are too dark to make out. I believe the flag in the photo behind Christopher may well have Orange associations, and it looks like it has been fastened to the wall and a plaque secured on top of it. Unfortunately, there is no-one in the family I can ask questions about this photo now, the last of Christopher and Polly’s children died in 1990.<br />
<br />
One of the biggest political debates to take place during Christopher’s lifetime, and one in which he would have been involved as both a Conservative and an Orangeman, was over the question of Home Rule for Ireland, which would enable it to have more say in how it was ruled. Opposition to Home Rule was led by successive Conservative governments from 1880 onwards, their aim was to pursue a policy of conciliation, which became known as constructive Unionism. The Conservative party is still known officially to this day as the Conservative and Unionist Party.<br />
<br />
For Christopher his politics as a Conservative supporter and a member of the Orange Order went hand in hand, indeed one of his fellow Orangemen, Provincial Grand Master Harold Ledgerwood was a local Conservative councillor. It is quite likely that Christopher knew and campaigned politically for Ledgerwood and other Conservative members who were linked to the Orange Order. His obituary in the Barrow News stated that he had held the highest orders in the Order and may well have run for council himself. However, there are no available records for me to check, so this will have to remain speculative on my part. <br />
<br />
I wonder now, if my grandfather Jack’s political leanings were as an antidote to his father’s, or whether he felt his sympathies lay more naturally with the emerging and strengthening Labour party, which had its first parliament in 1924 when he was a young man of 23 and newly married with a young son. I will never know.<br />
<br />
When Christopher died in 1932, he left a wife, Polly and nine surviving sons (two children died in infancy, and the only surviving daughter, Hilda died in 1918 aged 24), attended his funeral along with workmates, friends, political colleagues and members of the various organisations he belonged to. Though a surprise to me, his political activities have enabled me to better understand the times that my great grandparents were living through.Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-78032887676652560252010-10-23T03:50:00.000-07:002010-10-23T03:50:04.799-07:00Frank White 1881 - 1909This case study is about Steve's great grandfather Frank White and how the family name became Kerry and not White.<br />
<br />
Case Study <br />
<br />
Tragic Death on the Tilford Road<br />
<br />
When I first started researching my husband’s family history, I spoke to my father-in-law about his parents and their ancestry. I was surprised to discover than when he was born he was registered under the name Frank White not Frank Kerry his name now; he said that his father had always been known by the surname Kerry which was the name of his grandmother’s second husband. He also told me that they didn’t really know what had happened to his grandfather, only that he had died when his father’s sister Nellie was a couple of years old and that he thought it had been in an accident with a horse and cart.<br />
<br />
Next time I visited the family history section of our local library, I checked the microfiche of the GRO index for a death of a Frank White sometime between 1907 and 1910; I found the entry I wanted in the March quarter of 1909 and sent for the death certificate. This told me that on the 25 February 1909, at the Cottage Hospital Farnham, Frank White had died from “Internal injuries produced by having been accidently run over by a Furniture van” and that an inquest had been held on the 27 February and the 2 March 1909. His occupation was given as a Carman of 6 Yeovil Road, Farnborough.<br />
<br />
Intrigued, I set out to find out more about Frank White and his family. I knew from his death certificate that he was 28 at the time of his death making him born about 1881 and I knew that in 1909 he’d been living in Farnborough, however, I didn’t know where he had been born. Fortunately the 1901 census was available on www.ancestry.co.uk; at first I was unable to find Frank in the census, but I did find his wife, Susan Ellen Gaines with her family at 5 Yeovil Road, two entries above her at 6 Yeovil Road was a Frank White a 20 year old coal carter, Frank had married the girl next door. The census also gave me his birth place of Odiham in Hampshire, not that far away from Farnborough and that he was visiting his sister Elizabeth, who was married to Susan’s cousin John.<br />
<br />
With this information and a visit to the Society of Genealogist’s library in London where I was able to examine the parish registers for Odiham, I was able to put together a family tree for Frank and the White, Watts and Gaines families who were linked by marriage in several generations. Frank was the 8th child (of 12) of James <br />
White and his wife Louisa Watts, he was born in Odiham in 1881 and moved to Farnborough, presumably for work, where he met and married Susan Ellen Gaines on the 26 December 1903, they had two children Frank born 1904 and Nellie born in 1907. In February 1909 he was sent on a job by his employers with two other men to drive furniture vans from Rowledge to Wisley Green, by way of Tilford; a journey that was to end in tragedy.<br />
<br />
His death certificate had told me that an inquest had been held and given the dates, but on enquiring I learned that the papers for the coroner’s inquests were no longer available for that date. I would have to go the route of checking the local newspaper. Not being in a position to visit Farnborough I put a request on the Rootschat forum page for lookups in Hampshire that if anyone was visiting the local library, could they check the newspapers for me. Fortunately some kind soul did just that and within a few days I had transcribed copy of the newspaper entry, which was an almost verbatim report of the inquest held within a couple of days from that of Frank’s accident, from the Farnham Haselmere and Hindhead Herald for the 6 March 1909 (page 5).<br />
<br />
Frank and two colleagues had been on the journey and Frank’s father-in-law Charles Gaines gave evidence that he had seen Frank the previous Tuesday and knew he was going on this journey, and that he had worked for Mr Ward for the last five years and had been accustomed to the work. The men had been on the road opposite the entrance to Tilford Reeds, Arthur Marks one of the other carmen told the inquest that they had had trouble with the skid pan on Frank’s van and that the chain had broken. Chas Mosdell the other carman on the journey said that he was first on to the hill where the accident had happened and that when he got to the bottom of the hill he noticed from the light on Frank’s van that he was coming down the hill pretty quickly, and when he got to the van at the bottom of the hill, he saw that only two horses were attached – the other horse had been the one Frank had been walking in the traces.<br />
<br />
Neither of the other two carmen actually witnessed the accident happening, but it appears that the horses bolted due to the excess demand on them (the furniture van weighed between four and five tons); Frank was walking beside the horses and not riding on the dickey as he had no skid pan, the chain having broken and was likely run over by the van on its descent of the hill. He was taken to Trimmers Cottage Hospital in Farnham, admitted at 11.30 pm on the Wednesday evening and died the next day at 10.15 am from internal injuries. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death but added a rider that had the van had a foot brake Frank would probably been riding not walking beside the horses and would have got down the hill successfully.<br />
<br />
Frank’s death left his wife Susan Ellen a widow at the age of 23 with two young children, Frank junior was only 4 and his sister Nellie was two. On looking them up on the 1911 census at www.findmypast.co.uk, I found the family living with Susan Ellen’s parents at Yeovil Road Farnborough. It wasn’t until 1912 that she married William Kerry, a Lance Corporal in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, he was based at the Tourney Barracks in Farnborough. William and Susan Ellen went on to have six further children as well as Frank and Nellie. From this time onwards, Frank junior became known as Frank Kerry and used the name for all purposes except that of on his marriage certificate. Frank had married Victoria Annie Lilian Tonks in 1927 and had two sons, Frank Edward born 1930 and Brian in 1937.<br />
<br />
Frank junior changed his name by deed poll by swearing a declaration that he had been known by the name Frank Kerry since the marriage of his mother to William Kerry and that he had “always been known as Frank Kerry and I have for fifty years and upwards used the name of Frank Kerry for all purposes including official documents other than my said certificate of Marriage.” Frank had changed his name to be officially that of his step father William.<br />
<br />
The tragedy that ended young Frank White’s life also changed the lives of that of his wife and two children; and led to the family name being changed. I was struck not only by the horrific accident that ended his life, but by the minutiae of details that the coroner’s inquest had covered. From the details provided by the various witnesses called to the inquest a full detail of Frank’s last moments was unveiled, including the fact that his was an abstainer and that he had had a penny on him when his father-in-law last saw him and that it was found on his person when he died. From the statement of one of the witnesses, George William Lonsdale the Headmaster at Tilford Nation School (who was called to help at the accident) I have been able to pinpoint, using maps and Google’s streetview software, almost exactly where the accident took place. From the testimony of Miss Potter the Matron at Trimmer’s Cottage hospital I know that Frank was conscious when he was admitted to the hospital though he was in a state of collapse; and that Frank had told her that one of the horses had broken its leg, but had said nothing as to how he met with his own injuries.<br />
<br />
Even though the inquest report has not survived, from the details reported in the newspaper, I almost feel as though I attended that inquest myself. The work he carried out was hard and his death must have left a lasting impression on that of his widow and young children, it is hardly surprising then, that my father-in-law said that his father never spoke of the tragedy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Carman/Carter/Carrier<br />
<br />
In the days of horse drawn transport there were plenty of jobs for men like Frank who were generally known as carters or carriers and occasionally carmen. Their job entailed not just driving the cart, but loading and unloading the goods, as well as looking after the horses. Many carriers transported goods and people between towns and villages, and details of these services are often found in old directories such as Pigots or Whites. Others worked for the railways, collecting goods at the rail yard and then taking them to their final destination. Being a carter was a physically demanding job and would have necessitated a good knowledge of the local area. The type of carts used would vary from job to job, from a two wheeled vehicle probably pulled by one horse, delivering goods in a town, to larger four wheeled vehicles pulled by teams of horses. <br />
<br />
Change of Name<br />
<br />
Finding out if an ancestor changed their name is not easy, as by English Common Law, you can call yourself whatever you wish. However, if you need to prove that you have changed your name, to apply for a passport etc., then some documentary evidence of that change will be required. Deed polls are legal documents involving only one party and are sworn in front of a solicitor. The deed is the property of the person who changed their name, and there is no obligation to have a copy lodged anywhere central for safe keeping. Some were enrolled and indexes of those that were are held at the National Archives; from 1914 the enrolled deeds had to be advertised in the London Gazette. If your ancestor changed their name during 1939-1945, names could only be changed 21 days after details of the proposed name were advertised in the Gazette.<br />
<br />
Skid Pan<br />
<br />
A skid pan was a chain like device used for attaching to the back wheel of a vehicle before going down steep hills. It operated as a brake, by applying friction to the wheel and locking it in place. See diagram....<br />
<br />
From the Dictionary of Daily Wants 1859Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-32117326580041800662010-10-19T09:34:00.000-07:002010-10-19T09:34:04.207-07:00William Singleton 1777 - 1852<b>This is the Case Study I had published in Your Family Tree magazine in March 2009 </b><br />
<br />
William Singleton – Perpetual Overseer<br />
<br />
SINGLETON Wm yeoman/perp overseer/constable Low Esk Holm Muncaster (1829)<br />
<br />
Finding an entry in the 1829 list of Principle Inhabitants of Cumberland and Westmoreland, for my ancestor William Singleton, was a journey into finding out what a yeoman, perp overseer and constable was, and was this the father of my great great grandfather, William born at Low Esk Holme in 1836. Along the way I was to find the intriguing life of my ancestor.<br />
<br />
When I first started researching my mother’s Singleton family, I knew they were from Barrow in Lancashire and I duly found my great great grandfather William in the free online transcription of the 1881 census (www.familysearch.org), he was described as a 44 year old steam crane driver, living in Barrow, but born at Low Estham, Cumberland. Subsequent searches found him in other censuses, all showing a different place of birth, Ravenglass in 1891 and Muncaster in 1901, it was only whilst looking these up on a map, I realised they were three different descriptions of the same place, Low Estham was Low Eskholme, Ravenglass the nearest village and Muncaster was the parish.<br />
<br />
On a visit to the Family Records Centre in 2004, I found William on the 1841 census aged 4 living at Low Eskholme with William, 60, Hannah 60, Hannah 15, William 40, Ann 35, and Elizabeth 10. I then made one of the classic mistakes of interpreting the 1841 census – the census gives no relationships, and family groups aren’t always what they seem. I assumed that William and Hannah were husband and wife and living with them was their son William, his wife Ann and their three children, I was to be proved wrong further down the track, but at the time, I went searching for more information on the three William Singletons. To further complicate matters, I looked up Low Eskholme in the 1851 census to find confusingly, a William Singleton aged 24 a farmer of 16 acres, born Muncaster and his wife Sarah aged 25 born Eskdale, who were they, they didn’t fit with any of the Singletons from 1841. This was the beginning of my journey into the life of William Singleton yeoman farmer.<br />
<br />
I started out by doing a web search for William Singleton and Low Eskholme and found a fascinating web site Past Presented (http://homepages.tesco.net/~trochos/eskdale/) and the Eskdale project; this was to prove a fascinating glimpse into the world of 19th century Lakeland. From this I found out about Low Eskholme and its environs, there are extracts from the land tax and probate records for Eskdale, including the Muncaster Poor Rate for 1810, this stated that the overseers for this year were William Singleton and Isaac Jackson, included in the list of rate payers is Lord Muncaster, the owner of Muncaster Castle, who paid the staggering amount of £18 15s 0d, further down the list is William Singleton paying £0 9s 9d. <br />
<br />
So far I’d found references to four William Singletons in the various records I’d looked at. I did further searches on familysearch.org and found William Singleton baptised in 1777 at Muncaster, his parents were William and Elizabeth, but much as I looked I could find no reference to William marrying and having a son about 1801. Frustrated I once more turned to the internet, to the Access to Archives website (www.a2a.org.uk), searching here I found references to both William and Low Eskholme in Muncaster parish in Cumberland, the records were held at the Cumbria Archives in Whitehaven. Cumbria Archives Service offers a research service, where you can pay for a one hour search of their records, taking advantage of this, I requested a search, and it was the results of this that sorted out the intricacies of this family and led to the discovery of more details about William’s life.<br />
<br />
Cumbria Archives confirmed William’s baptism in 1777 and also his siblings, including a Hannah in 1779, it also provided a copy of William’s will dated February 1852 which noted that his heir and only child was Elizabeth a minor at the date of the will. Also included was a copy of an article of exchange dated 1783 relating to the property ownership of various stints in low marsh near Nether Hestholme (an alternate name for Low Eskholme), and a mortgage indenture dated 1827 where William Singleton had borrowed £120 from Benjamin Bibby for a period of 1000 years! I was staggered by the time period, but £120 then was a lot of money, William had inherited Low Eskholme from his father in 1823, and he obviously needed money, perhaps to do improvements to the farm, earning a living in the Lakeland Dales from farming was a perilous business.<br />
<br />
The situation was starting to come clear, William Singleton born 1777 had no wife in 1841, no marriage having been found for him to a Hannah, but he did have a sister Hannah who in 1801 whilst a servant in Kirkby Ireleth in nearby Lancashire had an illegitimate son William, who married Ann in Kirkby in 1822. The family moved to Low Eskholme where this William became a labourer on his uncle’s farm, and where presumably his mother and wife attended to the domestic duties. William continued with his duties as overseer and constable for the parish of Muncaster. As so often in my researches, I turned again to the internet and this time a search for William Singleton Overseer returned an entry from the roots web Cumberland mailing list which reprinted an article that had originally appeared in the Cumbria magazine in 1981, by Barbara Newton. It was about the poor of Ravenglass and named William as the perpetual overseer. He was in office from 1815 until 1838 when the new poor laws took effect, and his salary was £3. 9s. 0d per annum, and the quote I love “he was a very busy man, but in addition to this he claimed expenses which were considerable, for self and horse.” I felt this gave an immediate impression of William riding off on his horse on one of his journeys to apprehend the father of an illegitimate child in his parish, or to see a vagrant to the extent of the parish.<br />
<br />
This article gives a fascinating insight into life for the poor , they were required to wear a patch on their sleeves with a P for Pauper on it and the initial of their parish to identify them. This was usually restricted to inmates of the poor house in Ravenglass, its master being William Mossop. William Singleton was responsible for collecting the poor rate and distributing it, some of those payments are noted in Newton’s article, "paid to Dr. Patricks for takeing off Thos. Tyson`s legg £2.2s.Od." On November 6, 1816, is an item "paid for Thos. Tyson Wood Legg 5s Od." Other items include expenses for Wm. Gunson and Wm. Singleton, each 2Days to Hawkshead to take Isaac Saterthwaite for a Bastard Child £3. 1s. 0½d. I felt I was getting to know William, but I had one more surprise from him before I finished my research.<br />
<br />
Having received a copy of William’s will, I found out that he had left everything to his daughter Elizabeth, as well as providing for his wife Sarah when Elizabeth came of age and inherited so long as Sarah was still “unmarried and remaining my lawful Widow”, in the event of Elizabeth’s death it was to revert to Sarah, unless she married when it would revert to other relatives (though interestingly not his sister Hannah and her family though his other sisters Elizabeth and Ann are mentioned). The name Sarah rang a bell with me and I remembered the entry from the 1851 census, revisiting the page (now available on www.ancestry.co.uk), I found it to actually read William Singleton, 74, Sarah his wife was aged 25 – a large discrepancy in their ages, what had induced William to marry at such a late age and to someone nearly 50 years younger than him. I suppose I will never know for sure, perhaps he wished to ensure the farm stayed in his immediate line, perhaps he fell out with Hannah’s family (she had died in 1849 and her son William in 1841, by 1851 Ann and her children were living Liverpool).<br />
<br />
William and Sarah’s marriage certificate shows they were married by license at Muncaster parish church on the 29th March, their ages only given as full age; daughter Elizabeth was born in July 1851, giving perhaps one reason for William’s marriage so late in life. William didn’t live long to enjoy his new family, he died of influenza aged 74 on the 13th March 1852, leaving his daughter Elizabeth a considerable heiress.<br />
<br />
On a visit to the Lake District in 2006 I visited the Muncaster parish church in the grounds of Muncaster Castle and found William’s grave. The inscription reads<br />
<br />
Erected to the Memory of William Singleton of Low Eskholme in this parish who died March 15th 1852 in the 75th year of his age.<br />
<br />
Also Sarah his wife, who died November the 6th 1862 Aged 37 Years.<br />
<br />
Farewell my wife and child so dear<br />
I am not dead but sleeping here<br />
With patience wait, prepare to die<br />
And before long we'll meet on high.<br />
<br />
Sorting out the various William Singletons has been a challenge, but along the way I’ve discovered more about one of my ancestors who lived at a time of considerable change, poverty and hardship, but who lived until the grand age of 74, having had a positive effect on many peoples’ lives; and have learnt a lot in the process, not just about how to trace my family tree, but how our ancestors lived in an age before the Welfare State.Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231923768326673487.post-67937647420229403732010-10-18T08:37:00.000-07:002010-10-18T08:37:15.072-07:00First Post<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My first post on my new blog! Today I decided to set up a blog after reading an article about family history blogs in the Your Family History magazine (http://www.your-familyhistory.com/), so here we are.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've had fun finding and setting up a blog page and looking at design etc. I'm sure I'll be playing around with it a bit more over the next few weeks.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm currently putting together an idea for a new case study about Ethelbert Peter Sayers in Great Grimsby, my three times great grandfather, so I'll post progress on that here.</span>Carolannkghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515535168055444836noreply@blogger.com0