FAMILY HISTORY - THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

Thanks to the power of the Internet, and also the kindness of a stranger, I have received this photograph of the headstone on the grave of my 5x great-grandparents, Timothy Lait and Elizabeth Downing.

I had placed a request on the 'Find A Grave' website to ask if someone who lived locally in the small market town of Diss, in Norfolk, could check out the cemetary of St Mary's Church and see if there was an existing headstone in place. My request was answered, and tonight I received this treasure.

Headstone - St Mary's Church, Diss (N.Battley)

The inscription, now rather faded and worn in places, reads:

In memory of Timothy Lait, 
who died July 24th 1809, 
aged 66 years, 
also Elizabeth his wife, 
who died October 28th 1787, 
aged 46 years, 
also of William their son, 
who died February 19th 1797, 
aged 29 years. 

I have visited the town previously, but I did not have sufficient time available to explore the site on that occasion. Thankfully, a kind soul called Nigel Battley has now answered my request, and posted the above photograph on the website.

St Mary's Church, Diss, Norfolk (Diocese)

Researching your family history can at times be difficult, particularly if there is the small obstacle of distance between yourself and your area of interest. But I think this goes to show that thanks to the kindness of strangers and the power of the Internet, there is always hope that you will eventually find what you're looking for.   

SCHOOLBOOKS - UPPER PARK STREET SCHOOL, TOXTETH

As part of my ongoing task to ‘sort out the garage’, I went through some papers I’d put away in storage for archiving, and found a few of my old school books buried away within them. I’d pretty much forgotten that I had documents, as they were from the very first school I attended which was Upper Park Street school in Toxteth, Liverpool.

Nestled within the neatly laid out rows of terraced housing around Devenport and Upper Park Streets in what is known locally as Liverpool 8, the original school building had been built in 1878 and then extended in 1885. My time there comes a bit later however, and I attended between 1960 and 1965 - just prior to my family moving out to the leafy suburbs of Childwall, where we have lived ever since.  

School building - (UPSSFB)

There were two sections to the school - infants and juniors - and I went to both of them when I was little. The external view of the building above brings back memories of the external metal stairways, used to access some of the classrooms. Also the gate - being taunted by my mates when my aunt insisted on giving me a kiss when she dropped me off at school. We also piled out of this regularly during the summer, all climbing aboard a fabulous green and cream double-decker bus to take us to the playing fields at Jericho Lane in Otterspool to play football.   

School classroom (UPSSFB)

The photograph above also brings memories of the school right back to me. The days were filled with a mixture of learning and play - the teacher splitting us up into groups to play board games, work on specific learning tasks or do ‘proper’ schoolwork - which is where my schoolbooks come into the story.



Outside cover - (c) G Seaman

The book above is different to the other two I also have, as the original cover of this one is intact. It has been signed on the outside by the teacher and as can be seen by the photograph below, someone has written the date of the book on the interior ‘Nov 62’. There is also a handwritten note within it from me requesting 6d to pay for a Puppet show later in the week!

Internal cover and note (c) G Seaman

School coursework (c) G Seaman

As can be seen in the photograph above, the rest of the book contains a mixture of drawings which I’ve coloured in, and also word exercises which the class completed, copying the teachers as they wrote the words up on the blackboards.

The other two books contain a seemingly random selection of stories and diary entries I have recorded into the pages over a period of time. The above photograph shows my grand-daughter Paige - now 7 years old - reading the words I wrote down 55 years ago, when I was almost the same age as she is now.

After she’d finished, Paige made a number of constructive comments about my writing skills which caused quite a lot of hilarity at the time, but can be summarised into the undermentioned points as follows:

1) “Your writing is SO BIG Grampy! If you made your letters smaller you could fit more onto the page!”

2) “What does …’ Won dey dey wend…’ mean?” (translation = One Day They Went....)

3) “I can’t understand this! It makes no sense!”

Reading the books now I know exactly what she meant, but I still love the fact that the two of us are able to discuss them in the first place! 

Memories of my very first school, now long since gone.

All I can say is thanks to my Mum and Dad for keeping them safe.

Sources:

Liverpool Schools website

Upper Park Street School Facebook Group

OCCUPATIONS IN GENEALOGY - HORSE COOK

One of the more unusual occupations I have come across while researching my family history has to be that of ‘horse cook’ (see below).

Birth certificate details - Joseph SEAMAN (1903)

When I first saw this occupation written on the birth certificate of my grandfather Joseph SEAMAN, I must say that I was a bit surprised, and at first drew the wrong conclusions as to what the job could possibly be. After all, I’m well aware that in certain countries it is perfectly acceptable for horse meat to be cooked and eaten, and I was not really surprised to find it is considered a delicacy in countries like Italy, China and Iceland. However, as far as I knew, even back in 1903 this notion had not as yet extended to these shores - the recent furore in the U.K. about unscrupulous meat processor’s adding horsemeat to burgers, being a prime example of this. With this in mind I took a breath, settled down with a mug of tea, and began to consider what the job could actually consist of.



Joseph Frederick SEAMAN

The description ‘horse cook’ was reportedly the occupation of my great-grandfather Joseph Frederick SEAMAN in Liverpool, England in 1903. He was 25 years old at the time of his son’s birth, and I had discovered evidence that he had been working previously as a carter on several occasions since the year 1900. At the time, the carting profession was one of the most important jobs in Liverpool to have.

Landing Stage, Pier Head, Liverpool

In this modern age where the car rules the roadways, it is perhaps difficult to imagine that this was a period prior to petrol driven transport being commonly available, and at its peak there were around 250,000 horses working in the city, shifting everything from freight to people around the cobbled streets. This might seem a staggering number when considered today, but in 1903 Liverpool was still acknowledged to be the second city of the British Isles next to London, and the amount of passengers and freight which passed through its many docks was huge indeed. Each of these items needed to be moved as quickly as possible either into the city, or away from it onto the ships. With this in mind it is certainly not so difficult to understand just why so much horsepower was needed to help shift these goods from site to site. 

Stables - Cains Brewery, Grafton Street, Liverpool - (c. PolkaDot Pink)

In the early twentieth century therefore, almost every neighbourhood in Liverpool would have had stable buildings situated within it. Such buildings would be used by private companies - breweries, coal merchants, and also individual horse owners - to house their animals between their periods of work. Stable-masters, and the men and women who worked with them, tended to the needs of the horses twenty-four hours a day. 
There is no doubt in my mind that it was in one of these stable blocks that my great-grandfather Joseph worked to help prepare the food for the horses, making sure that the animals received the sustenance they would need to help them through a long day’s work on the roads of this great city.

And so, after completing my research and considering all the evidence I’ve found, I think we can safely assume that Joseph was not cooking horses for a living. Indeed the occupation of ‘horse cook’ does not now seem so unusual at all!

#seamanfamilyhistory #josephfrederickseaman #familyhistory #cainsbrewery   

Text Sources:

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/look-back-memories-liverpools-carters-9167182

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/gallery/carters-9168102

http://www.scottiepress.org/sr2003/carters.htm

Cains Stable's photo: 

Donna @ PolkaDot Pink.com (http://polkadot-pink.com/2014/07/07/mark-it-liverpool-street-art-festival/)

   

FAMILY HEIRLOOM - CHILDREN'S STOOL

Handmade Heirloom in the garage...

I was tidying the garage today and came across this family heirloom on a shelf... a small children's stool/step which my aunt told me my Norwegian great-grandfather, Peder Ingebretsen, had made by hand around 1930. 

Peder was a mariner, and later on could be found working for the Blue Funnel line out of Liverpool, sailing as an able seaman on merchant ships taking goods and passengers up the Amazon to Manaus in Brazil. His occupation on his naturalisation papers gave his occupation as a ship's carpenter.

My gran used to use it to step on to reach the higher shelves in the pantry, and the children used it to sit on while they played. 

I know it's just a few battered pieces of wood, but the story behind it is worth much more to me than money could buy. I just hope that my own kids remember this tale, and how much this family treasure meant to me when I'm not here anymore and they're helping to clear out the garage! 

#familyhistory #genealogy #familyheirloom

OCCUPATIONS IN GENEALOGY - WHARFINGER

OCCUPATION - WHARFINGER

At least one of my distant relatives, a Thomas Edwards of Liverpool, was listed on his daughter’s marriage certificate as working as a wharfinger in 1891.

Today the modern term for such an occupation is harbourmaster, but the ancient profession had much the same responsibilities - to be responsible for receiving and checking off the goods received into the harbour as they were unloaded from the ships. 

Wharfinger House - Bradford Upon Avon, England - 2014

At the larger locations, the wharfinger often had offices located there. Run a quick image search in Google and it is surprising how many of them have now been turned into bed & breakfast accommodation… probably paying more now than the original job actually did back in the day!

Wharfinger House, New Bedford, Mass - 1936

At least one of the jobs my grandad Jack Welsh had during his life was as a freight checker on the Liverpool Docks. The rumour was that he’d worked the quays at the Albert Dock in Liverpool itself, although I’ve yet to track down any records which would prove this.

Albert Dock, Liverpool - 2013 - (c)GSeaman

Just one other research task to add to the list.

  

THE 'DEADHOUSE', PRINCES DOCK, LIVERPOOL (1872)

I was checking over a burial record at Walton Cemetary, Liverpool, regarding one of our relatives and noticed this entry on the opposite page.

Princes Dock - place of death

It seems that on 18 December 1872, a person recorded as '---- Callaghan', approx 24 years of age, was buried in Walton Cemetary in a public grave, plot 693B. The burial was recorded as entry 53 in the ledger. On the line underneath, numbered 54, the burial of 'a woman unknown' was also registered.

The fact that the identities of the individuals appeared not to have been fully established is one thing, but the fact that both of them are said to have died in 'Princes Dock' seemed really unusual! 

I wondered what the backstory of this couple was? An accident perhaps, or maybe a suicide pact between lovers? I was intrigued and wanted to look into it a bit further.

Princes Dock, around 1835 (source: Chester Walls)

I ran a quick search to see if I could find any further information online on the deaths, from a newspaper or other source of that time perhaps, and instead found references to there being a 'deadhouse' in Princes Dock. In the crypt of St Nicholas' church near the dock site, there was a 'deadhouse' - a place where the bodies of people who had died from drowning were laid out; until they were claimed either by relatives, or were simply buried by the authorities.

In the end, this is exactly what happened to our couple. Buried by the council, in a public grave in Walton Cemetary. 

So maybe there was no real connection between the couple at all? All they had in common was the river where they died and the public grave where their bodies were eventually laid out to rest....

Out of the Deadhouse... near Princes Dock, Liverpool.  

SODOMY & MURDER IN A NORFOLK MARKET TOWN - The Murder of Mary Frost (1741)

I came across this parish record while researching the baptism of one of my great-grandparents (Elizabeth DOWNING b.1742 d.1787). The records were written out manually at that time, and often had lists of burials, baptisms and births handwritten across the two pages of the register. While I was checking out the record of my relative, this entry on the opposite page caught my eye.

Register of Burials - Diss, Norfolk (1741)

The text reads: 'November 19 - Mary FROST, who was poyson'd by Robert CARLTON, tailor of Diss, for which crime for sodomy he was condemned at the assizes at Thetford, viz: 20th of March 1741. He was executed the 5th of April 1742 at Diss, and afterwards hanged in chains on a gibbet upon Diss Common.' Such a grim end indeed for a heinous crime. 

I considered the highlighted word on the graphic for some time, as the handwriting was not too easy to make out, but after consideration came to the conclusion that Carlton had 'poisoned' the unfortunate girl, and also committed sodomy somewhere along the way. The sentence he received, therefore would obviously have been suitably severe.

Digging a little further into this on the Interweb, I discovered a detailed article about this very crime. 'The Tailor of Diss: Sodomy and Murder in a Norfolk Market Town', describes the events which led up to the unfortunate girl's murder and Carlton's eventual execution by hanging. The event was reported to have drawn a considerable crowd to witness the hanging, (considered to be quite a popular public entertainment at the time), and it gives intriguing details of a series of events connected to the execution which had taken place over three days prior to the execution.

I personally have a rule I observe that whenever I search records such as these, I always try to look beyond the data connected to my own relatives, to see what else I can find. Sometimes it will lead me to discovering other relations of mine, or previously unknown details of one of our own ancestors might open up another avenue of research, or break down a brick wall. But at other times, an unexpected and entirely fascinating story such as this is revealed.

My motto for this would have to be: 'Just look sideways - sometimes it might pay off!'

#justlooksideways

The full article, published in March 1990 by David Stoker 

(Aberystwyth) can be found at the link below.

Other historic sources listed in the article itself. 

   

http://users.aber.ac.uk/das/texts/tailor_of_diss.htm