'REPAIR SHOPPING' THE FAMILY HEIRLOOM!

 

Following on from my earlier post regarding this treasured family heirloom, I found that I had two choices when the 91-year-old stool came into my possession. Either leave it as it was-- a bit beaten, battered and careworn-- or do what they would do on the popular hit TV programme, 'The Repair Shop', and repair it so that it lives again.

The two photographs above are the result.

Now with the wood strengthened, cracks glued and filled; nails taken out and painted; the child's stool created around 1930 by my Norwegian great-grandfather, Peder Gerhard Ingebretsen, now looks pretty much like it did when he first made it for his grand-daughter, my aunt, Elizabeth Welsh.

With one exception... the footmarks of our grandchildren-- Paige, Phoebe, Charlie, Demelza and Pearla. Space has also been left on the sides of the stool, just in case any further little additions to our family come along.

The item might not get used as it previously had, but to be sure it will continue to be loved and treasured by a new generation of the family.

Original post here: FAMILY HEIRLOOM - CHILDREN'S STOOL

#familyhistory #genealogy #familyheirloom

 

FRIDAY FOTO 20 - A NEW WORLD (Leaving Norway)

My post this week is not a single family history photograph, but rather a video made up of a selection of photos which we have in our family archive.

(click above for video)

I have already written a couple of posts here on the website about my great-grandparents, Peder Ingebretsen and Elizabeth Douglas, featuring a couple of photos we have of them in our possession.

This video is an attempt to tell Peder's story in greater detail; pulling together photographic resources from our collection and also using other material freely available off the Internet.

For my 50th birthday I was taken by family members on a five-day Norwegian cruise holiday, making my first visit to the beautiful homeland of my ancestor. During this visit I saw first-hand the type of community he would have grown up in; seeing for myself the mountains and fjords, together with the types of towns, villages and farms with which he would have been familiar. I have used some of the photographic and video footage I shot during that visit to illustrate this video.

The video attempts to recount a short version of Peder's story; presenting images of what his life would have been like growing up within his Norwegian homeland, and his subsequent journey to England. 

Working as a mariner on ships which regularly sailed between Great Britain, Europe and the America's during the late 1880's, my great-grandfather found himself in Glasgow, Scotland. It was here that he first met my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Douglas, and her family who resided within the city.

The family eventually moved to Liverpool in England, and the couple were married in the city in 1890 and ended their lives here-- but not before founding the family groups from which myself and some of my cousins are descended.

The soundtrack is the beautiful ballad 'Into The West', as featured in the movie 'Lord of the Rings: Return of the King'. The music was written by Howard Shore with lyrics by Annie Lennox and Fran Walsh. I've always loved this song above all the others which appeared in the film series, and at the time I was putting this video together, I felt that the majority of the lyrics seemed to fit the story I was trying to tell.    

     

FRIDAY FOTO 12 - ELIZABETH ENGLEBRETSEN (nee DOUGLAS)

(Elizabeth Douglas b.1873 d.1928)

Elizabeth Douglas was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Douglas, 

who was my maternal great-grandmother.

She was born in Glasgow, Scotland on the 16 May 1873 and was one of three sisters who came with their father to Liverpool from Scotland.

It is believed that she had met my Norwegian great-grandfather while living in Glasgow. 

Peder Gerhard Ingebretsen, (...his Anglicised name Peter Gerard Englebretsen), worked as a mariner on ships which carried goods into and out of the ports of Britain. The exact circumstances of their meeting is not known, but it is believed that the couple met and started a relationship while Peder was on shore leave from the ship.

Elizabeth's mother passed away, and her father brought the family to Liverpool. 

On 1 November 1890 Elizabeth and Peder were married in Holy Trinity Church, Toxteth, Liverpool. The couple went on to have at least eight children. Three daughters survived - Hannah, Elizabeth and Martha. 

Elizabeth Douglas died in Sefton General Hospital, Liverpool in 1928. 

She died of mitral stenosis - a valvular defect in her heart which led to heart failure.  

FRIDAY FOTO 6 - MARTHA ERLIS (nee ENGLEBRETSEN)

Martha ENGLEBRETSEN (married name, ERLIS), and her daughter Marion.

Martha (b.1912) was the youngest daughter of my Norwegian great-grandfather, Peder Gerhard INGEBRETSEN and his wife Elizabeth DOUGLAS. 

Like her two surviving sisters, Hannah and Elizabeth (my grandmother), she was named ENGLEBRETSEN at birth, as this was the Anglicised version of the surname which her father adopted in this country.

Martha and her husband, John Frederick ERLIS (b.1913), lived in Prophet Street in Toxteth, Liverpool 8 with their family - daughters Marion and Lilian.

We only lived around the corner in Hughson Street and I remember the family fondly, our two families growing up, remaining close and sharing many happy times.