Friday 25 January 2013

Who do I think I am ? [13 ~ Part 2] ~ the family at 151 Coggins Row, Hodthorpe ...

Following on from yesterday's blog here are details of who sat on the front row in the photo below. Most of the information in italics came from a deceased uncle [and I apologise if what he says seems inappropriate. He was a straight speaking man] ...


NANCY [on the left at the front] ~ "skivvying all her life - spinster until she was 60, then she married Joe Colclough. She was always a bit slow" [I told you he could be straight speaking but what do I do for the sake of family history ? Fudge it ... or report what he told me ?] Nancy doesn't appear in the 1911 Census Return with the rest of the family.

LILY [second from the left] ~ "the domineering one ~ bright girl ~ worked at the George Inn, Whitwell, then head housekeeper at Epsom College, Epsom. Didn't marry. Lived at Whitwell ~ her and Nancy fought like mad. Wordly, intelligent, a bit of a snob ~ died 1975 [ish]" According to the 1911 Census Return Lily [or Lilian as she is called in the Census] was single, aged 26, and a Cook's assistant at a hotel in Chollerford, Northumberland. Her birthplace was given as 'Yorks. Harthill'.

HENRY [third from the left and my great grandfather] ~ "went to work on a farm at Belph Grange [part of the Welbeck Estate] when he was 10. In the 1871 census [when he was 14] he was an Indoor Domestic Servant at Belph Grange - as soon as he could get away from Belph [he was "tied" there] - he went to Wraighton Farm the other side of Worksop [where he worked for the Mellish family and others]. He subsequently became the farm bailiff at Hall Leys Farm, Hodthorpe [where my grandad was born]. [My late uncle also made some mention of Sammy Booth at Bonder Farm ~ did Henry work for him too ?] Henry was a very strong character. He was 96 when he died in 1947 [or thereabouts]. He worked into his 70s. For many years he wouldn't speak to his mother. He was brought up by David F......" There's a mystery as regards Henry ~ who were his mother and father ? In the 1861 Census Return his parents are named as David [61] and Sarah [62]. Henry was only 4 at the time so this would have meant his parents would have been in their late 50s when he was born ... Henry is named as their son. More likely their grandson I suspect.

  SARAH ANN [nee White] [fourth from the left and my great grandmother] ~ "came from Barlborough and St. Helens [or even Wigan]. Sarah was a servant girl at Springfield Farm [owned by Mellish]. Her father before working in the pit was a clogmaker. Died about 1926."  Did she have some connection with Hebden Bridge ? My grandad, Albert had two aunts there ~ one had a pie shop where the millworkers bought their pies. One of Fred's daughters lived there on an isolated farm ... back in the 1980s/1990s this was.

 ALICE [second from the right] ~ "married Bill Atkins from Whitwell She was [had been ?] in service and had four sons by Bill Atkins but left him and supported herself. Bill Atkins wouldn't work." According to my late uncle Bill Atkins wasn't very pleasant. I apologise for any descendants of Bill Atkins who read this !

Finally, RUTH [on the right] ~ "lived in Sheffield. Went to work the other side of Sheffield. Met and married Edwin Smith ~ he wouldn't work either. She had six children and was always on the breadline."  ]. According to the 1911 Census Return Ruth was Anice Ruth ...

Some of the women in the family don't seem to have fared quite as well as the men ... or was it always thus ? Or was it my uncle who had some fairly jaundiced views ?

I could have posted this a few hours ago but I kept looking up different things. Once you start ...

12 comments:

  1. It's all interesting, Charlie. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Love the history of your family Charlie,sounds an hard life.As for Sarah been Henry's mother I think that would have been a miracle.You are lucky your Uncle told you so much,I just have to try and find things out on the web.Ann

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    1. I'm glad you enjoy reading my blogs Ann ... and as you say it seems unlikely that Sarah in her late 50s was Henry's mother.

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  3. That is all just wonderfully fantastic. I am impressed with all of your ancestors and how those women coped. Men were the lords then so it must have been difficult to even leave them and raise all those children on their own. Don't you sometimes feel like flushing those men down an outhouse hole? Ooops sorry, they were your ancestors too....yikes...but I still feel the same way about men or women who feel 'entitled'. It always ends up that others have to entitle them. I will quit now as I am about to go off on a rant.

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    1. Like you I am very aware of what the women had to put up with. My great grandmother [Sarah Ann] looks like the sort of woman who could have coped with anything ... like two or three others on Mum's side of the family. It's them that really interest me in the family.

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  4. I just find it amazing you have so much info about your family going back so far. Or maybe it just seems that way to me because I have been unable to find very much of my family's history.

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    1. I'm lucky because my uncle was interested and he passed some information on to me before he died ... and it died with him.

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  5. Poor old Ruth! I wonder why she married him - was it for love or was she desperate to get away from home? Maybe she was pushed into it by the family for any number of reasons. To have been "always on the breadline" with six kids and a no-good husband who "wouldn't work" seems like a really bad choice was made! Shame, because she looks to have been a pretty little thing! Maybe she should have taken a leaf out of Alice's book and left him! Sarah Ann looks to have been a doughty woman. You wouldn't have wanted to have got on the wrong side of a wooden spoon being wielded by her! lol Funny that Nancy and Lily were at each other's throats so often - they look almost like Mother and daughter here!

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    1. If only we could meet them and ask then ... who knows what Ruth was thinking of [assuming it's true, of course]. I dare say there will be quite a few of Ruth's descendants around but I don't know who they are and they may not even know much about Ruth.

      Yes, Sarah Ann looks like a strong woman ... she rather dwarfs her husband doesn't she. She's what I would call a 'strappin' lass' !

      In the photo Nancy and Lily look quite close ... with Nancy leaning aganist her older sister. It's a shame that things weren't quite so good in time to come.

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  6. No kidding those women were courageous, for sure they didn't get many choices and opportunities, they did the best they could do with their lives.

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    1. It must have been a hard life for them all but particularly the women, I agree.

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