Family Matters

Remembering........

2011-11-09T12:32:00.003Z

I have very few memories of my father who died from leukaemia when I was five years old. Some of those I have I've written about on a separate page on this blog which you may have time to read. I am remembering my father this week because he was born on November 10th and also because he served his country in the second World War.

Harry Lawrence Gough

1909 - 1955

He married my mother on Boxing Day 1938 - the photo above was taken a couple of years later. There are no wedding photos, apparently they asked a friend to take them but something went wrong with the film and they were all lost.

When war broke out they lived in Leicester where my father was a baker and confectioner. As he was a little older he wasn't immediately called up for duty and so joined the home guard in Leicester. My mother had written on the back of the photo 'Harry and friends at the outset of war. Home guard 1940' I wonder who the other three are? They look a lot younger than my father.

Later he served with the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) firstly in the very north of Scotland and then in the Middle East. Apparently he was a cook; the logistics of keeping the troops fed must have been quite a responsibility.

There is nothing on the back of the photo below to say when and where it was taken or who the two men on either side of my father may be.

I call my father 'father' because I always called my step-father 'Dad'. He too did service during the war in REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) maintaining guns along the south coast in places like Portsmouth and Weymouth before being sent to the Middle East and Italy.

A Visit to Lichfield

2010-09-22T10:12:00.001Z

Still on a quest to determine if the Edward Limb born in 1793 at Shipley, Derbyshire was my 3x great grandfather (see my previous post) I booked in at the Archives office at Lichfield where they keep the Bishop's Transcripts (BTs) for Derbyshire as well as Staffordshire. They have a very comprehensive website and online catalogue (link) so I knew that I would be able to view the transcripts for St Lawrence, Heanor and hoped that they would be easier to read than the parish registers.

I checked the baptism of Edward, son of William and Anne Limb of Shipley it was indeed 29th September 1793. I also found the baptism of another Edward, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Limb of Shipley Wood on 4th August 1793 but found his burial two years later on 25th December 1795. Thus confirming I'd found the right Edward Limb born c. 1793.

At this point I searched back through the records for the birth of a William Limb in Shipley and found one baptised on 17th September 1753 - son of Ann Limb.

It was rather strange but most satisfying to be looking at the original documents, even though I was worried about opening them up and the plastic gloves we had to wear were making my hands feel uncomfortable - it reminded me of when I first started researching my family history over 20 years ago. Those were the days before many records had been filmed and the originals plus cotton gloves were presented for our research.

Another interesting find was the burial of a Bonnit (sic) Limb on January 16th 1764. I had also found the baptism and burial of a Bennet (sic) Limb to William and Ann born in 1795 and buried in 1796. Given that the spelling of names wasn't always consistent I thought that this sounded like a family name. The earliest reference to Limbs in Heanor and Shipley I found was 1755 but I didn't have time to look at any earlier records, I may go back to investigate but I think that I can now safely say that my 3x great grandfather Edward Limb was the son of William and Ann Limb of Shipley, Derbyshire.

Is it or isn't it?

2010-08-14T14:50:00.000Z

My 3x great grandfather Edward Limb was, according to the 1851 Census, born in Shipley, Derbyshire and he died there on 18th June 1857 aged 63. The names of his parents have always been a puzzle and I still haven't really found out for sure who they were.

Earlier this week we took a trip to the Local Studies Office at Matlock to look at the parish registers. Paul had his own research to do in the Hope Valley area and I looked at the parish registers for St Lawrence, Heanor which was the church used for Shipley during the 18th century. I found references to quite a few Limms and Limbs in the area and there were at least three couples producing children at the time of Edward's birth which was some time in the last ten years of the 18th century. However, many of the pages were illegible so I may have missed one or two entries as I struggled to read the micro-film; after a while I began to feel slightly queasy - much like motion sickness whilst travelling - so I had to give up and look at other records.

In the 1841 Census Edward's family name is spelt Limm but by the 1851 census it is spelt Limb. In the earlier register the name seems to be spelt Limm more often than Limb although later into the 19th century Limb becomes the most common spelling. I also found some Lyms, too.

I had always wondered about some details sent to me from New Zealand about Edward Limb's possible parents - a William and Ann Limb of Shipley. On the 1841 census it states that Edward was born in the county of Derbyshire and I found what could be his baptism in September 1793. This Edward was the son of William and Ann Limm of Shipley Wood. I found several other children born to the same couple namely twins Mary and Martha baptised 18th June 1779, Ann baptised May 25th 1783, Richard baptised 19th May 1788, William baptised 24th July 1790, another William - the first must have died in infancy - baptised 22nd May 1792 and Edward September 29th 1793.

Given that Edward Limb's age on his death certificate was 63 and also given that William and Ann seemed to have their children baptised soon after they were born - I mention this as there were instances of whole families of three. four and even more children being baptised at the same time - that this Edward could have been born in say July or August 1793 and that he could have been nearly 64 when he died thus he could have been born in 1793 and therefore could be the Edward I am looking for - my 3x great grandfather.

What a quandary! Have I found the right Edward at last or did I miss any other possibles due to the illegibility of the records? It feels right - but I'm still not sure.

Aston-on-Trent

2010-07-09T20:36:00.020Z

In the churchyard of the pretty South Derbyshire village of Aston-on-Trent, under a shady tree, is a grave stone with the following inscription

To the Memory of Keturah wife of John Webb/who died May 10th 1826 in the 78th year of her age/John Webb died April 30th 1830 aged 80 years/in peace they lived and died/ John Webb their son/ died June 5th 1839/aged 58 years.

John and Keturah Webb (nee Addams) were the parents of my 3x great grandfather Francis Webb who was born at Aston-on-Trent in 1789. As well as Francis and John, mentioned above, the couple had other children - Dorothy, Anne, Kitturah, Fransisco, Ulissa and Celia. It was when I saw the name Celia that I knew I had found the right family as this name has been carried through each generation right to the present in my cousin's second name. Here is a - link- to a post I wrote a while ago about my great grandmother Celia.

Francis Webb eventually moved to Nottingham where he married Mary Palmer on the 31st March 1816. By the time of the 1841 Census Francis and Mary are living at Park Square in the St Nicholas district of Nottingham his occupation is Lace Maker as is that of their eldest son, Robert. The also have other children Celia, Amos, Frank and Rebecca. Rebecca is my great great grandmother who married my great great grandfather Alexander Young in 1834.

Mary Webb died in 1845 and Francis was married for a second time in 1846 to Hannah Robinson. On the 1851 Census Francis and Hannah are living at Walker Street, Sneinton, Nottingham with the two younger children Frank and Rebecca - all four are working in the lace industry. Francis's second wife Hannah died in 1851 and Francis was married for a third time to Sarah Wilson. By the time of the 1861 Census, Francis, now 71 years old is still working in the lace industry as a warper. He died later that year.

I think what struck me most about John and Keturah and indeed Francis was that they lived into their 70s and 80s - quite a feat in the 19th century. I also wondered about the fact that an inscribed slate head stone existed as this implies that the family had enough money to purchase it.

Where Now?

2010-06-07T10:51:00.011Z

I've hit another of those unsolvable brick-walls that family historians tend to run headlong into! I have one or two 'knotty problems' I've been unable to solve over the last twenty years or more that I have been doing research.

After my last post about searching in Birmingham and acquiring the birth certificate of my great-grandmother Sarah Hodgetts I followed up with sending for the marriage certificate of her parents Robert Hodgetts and Mary Ann Bennett in the hope that this would give me the names of the couple's fathers. In Robert's case this information had been left blank so I am none the wiser! I guess he was illegitimate and that the fact that he is called Robert Scott Hodgetts stems from this, now would his father have been a Scott or a Hodgetts? I'm guessing that Hodgetts was probably his mother's name.

Mary Ann Bennett gives her birthplace as Birmingham on the 1851 census but London on the 1861 census. On the marriage certificate her father's occupation is 'traveller' so she may well have been born in London. I can't find her on the 1841 census in Birmingham so the family could have been anywhere in the country - I have come to a standstill on this one, I think!

Searching in Birmingham

2010-04-20T12:31:00.018Z

I knew from the Census returns that my great-grandmother Sarah Ann Hodgetts came from Birmingham. She married my great-grandfather Thomas Edwards on 14th February 1875 in Newhall, near Burton-on-Trent. I've always wondered why both she and her brother Robert moved from Birmingham to Newhall. I expect as with most people then it was for work; there were two other brothers John Scott and Joseph who seemed to stay in Birmingham although I've never been able to find any trace of Joseph after the 1861 census.

Sarah Ann was the daughter of Robert Scott Hodgetts and Mary Ann Bennett. I recently sent for Sarah's birth certificate so that I could confirm the maiden name of her mother. Sarah was born in the St Paul's District of Birmingham and at the time of her birth the family were living at No 13 Court, Little Charles Street. By the 1861 Census the family had moved to the St Martin's District of Birmingham and are living at House 3, Court 10, Alleston Street. I think the St Paul's district is around the Jewellery Quarter and St Martin's is the area around the Bull Ring.

I was fascinated to learn this because in October 2004 we had visited the newly opened 'Back to Backs' not far from St Martin's Church and the Bullring. This is a restored courtyard of houses each one showing how the houses would have been lived in through the 19th and 20th centuries.

One of the earlier houses showed how people lived and worked in the same house doing small jobs for the larger industries around. In 1861 the Hodgetts family were all working (except the two younger children) in different industries and I expect some of them would do this work within the home.

The elder Robert, aged 37, was a gun implement maker and Mary his wife was a brass hitcher. Eldest son John was a cork cutter whilst the younger Robert was an umbrella ferrule maker. Perhaps they lived and worked in just such a courtyard as the one above. No cycles in 1861 of course and I expect it would have been a lot shabbier and dirtier but you can get the idea from the photos. The work would have been hard and the hours long. Sanitation in these courtyards would have been minimal and diseases like Cholera and TB were rife.

By 1871 both Robert (the elder) and Mary had died and Sarah is working as a domestic servant in the house of an architect in Ladywood in Birmingham. By 1875 she had made her move to Newhall and was married to my great-grandfather.

Sarah died in February 1939 aged 84 and is buried in the churchyard of St John's Church, Newhall, Derbyshire.

At Elton

2010-03-17T13:30:00.018Z

My 3 x great grandmother Hannah Bridge was born in 1793 at Newhall and was christened at St Peter's Stapenhill as there wasn't a church then at Newhall. Her parents were Robert Bridge and Mary Shaw who married on 9th April 1787. Robert Bridge was born at Elton in 1763, the son of Robert and Hannah Bridge; he must have moved - presumably to find work further south in Derbyshire.

Above is All Saints church, Elton where I found quite a few memorial inscriptions to the Bridge family. The stones below are 19th century ones. The one on the left is to Ann (nee Holmes) and Benjamin Bridge who died in 1860 and 1864 respectively.

We found the second one really hard to read so I'm not sure who this one is for except we could make out the name Bridge.

The little stones above are a lot earlier. The one on the left is Joseph Bridge 1802 and the one on the right is inscribed with just RB 1773.

On the 1841 Census for Newhall Robert Bridge is listed as age 78 and a Blacksmith. His wife Mary is 76 and they have one son Joseph age 36 living at home, he is also a Blacksmith. There is also a servant called Sarah Porter living in the household.

By this time their daughter Hannah has married Benjamin Gough of Newhall and is living in with him and some of their children including their 20 year old son Benjamin my 2x great grandfather.

Update on Joseph Limb

2009-12-06T17:22:00.011Z

This week we needed to visit an Ikea store and it seemed like a good idea to go to the Nottingham one which is actually at Giltbrook and very close to Awsworth, Eastwood, and Ilkeston all places my ancestors have lived and worked. Toying with the idea of finding out where my great great grandfather Joseph Limb might be buried (see my previous post) I looked on the website of the Archives at Nottingham. On looking up Awsworth St Peter's I found that their records were also in the libraries at Beeston and Eastwood. As Eastwood is just a few miles from Ikea the decision was made. A quick telephone call was all that was needed to find out that a - they had the burials records from 1900 onwards and b - I could book a microfiche reader.

When we arrived we went straight upstairs to the Local Studies area and found the fiches I wanted to look at. I picked the first fiche and placed it in the machine. Imagine my shock when the first thing I saw was the address where my great great grandfather died - I had found the entry of his burial without even manipulating and searching the fiche - I was certainly meant to find the entry that day!

We left Eastwood and called at Awsworth before setting off for home. Although there isn't a memorial stone with an inscription it was nice to think that at last we had found where Joseph and Alice Limb were buried.

A Return to Awsworth

2009-11-27T13:41:00.031Z

After a few months of inactivity as far as family history research is concerned, this week, I was galvanised into action by not one but two e-mails from people about ancestors on my mother's side of the family. One of them introduced me to some fascinating on-line information, of which more in another post. The second brought about a chain of events that led to one of those eureka moments you get when researching your family tree.

My great great grandmother Alice Limb (nee Reeve) was born in Awsworth in 1835 - see my post Reeves in Awsworth for more details of her early life. She died in Shirebrook, Derbyshire on 17th April 1903 at the age of 68. According to her death certificate she died from bronchitis and heart failure. After our joint success in finding the final resting place of our great grandmother Celia - see my post Desperately Seeking Celia - my fellow detective and I had not been so lucky in finding out where Alice was buried, for, although she died at Shirebrook, she certainly wasn't buried there.

After receiving an e-mail earlier this week from said fellow detective who had still been gnawing at the bone of Alice's whereabouts I started messing around on line and, for some reason returned to the Rootsweb lists that I had been a member of several years ago but had given up on because the amount of e-mails I was receiving each day got too much to cope with. Anyway, I went to browse the 'Nottsgen' mailing list and saw some e-mails from September this year concerning burials at Awsworth St Peter's Church. One of the e-mails was headed burials at St Peter's, Awsworth 1902/3. I scanned down the list of names and there was the name Alice Limb! Could it be our Alice? I contacted the person who had put the list on the message board and she replied almost immediately - yes, it was Alice Limb of Shirebrook who had died on 17th April 1903. So now we know where she was buried and given the story of Celia Limb I don't know why we hadn't thought of it before. Or perhaps we had but for some reason discounted it, anyway - at last Alice was found. A quick visit to the church by my fellow detective hadn't revealed a headstone for Alice but it did one for her parents so she may be somewhere in the same area of the churchyard.

The next step of the research is to find out if there is a plan of the churchyard so we can find out exactly where in the churchyard Alice's grave is situated and then to find out if our great great grandfather Joseph Limb was taken there to be buried with her. He died in December 1914 in Nottingham and a friend of a friend had already very kindly done a search in the Archives of the Nottingham Cemetery databases for his burial and found nothing. I get the feeling that Joseph will be found with or near Alice at Awsworth St Peter's - so onwards to the next bit of research - I'll let you know what we find.

Where Ancestors Lived

2009-08-14T14:33:00.027Z

I'm fairly lucky in that my ancestors came mostly from the East Midlands so I am able to visit the places where they used to live. We've driven along the A6007 between Ilkeston and Heanor many times but I hadn't realised that this road was also Hassock Lane and that is where some of my ancestors lived in the mid nineteenth century.

The sign above is just beyond the Shipley Garden centre and almost opposite Pit Lane which presumably led to the colliery where my great great grandfather worked when he lived on Hassock Lane - in later years this area was the site of a theme park called The American Adventure - now closed.

As you can see from the garden centre most of the buildings and houses along this road are fairly modern ones - the earliest dating from 1898 with just one house built in the 1860s which may have been familiar with my ancestors. There is nothing left to give any impression of what the houses in which they lived would have been like but I'm guessing they would have been little terraced cottages of some kind.

As you can see from the copy of the 1861 census for Shipley my great great grandfather Joseph Limb, born in Shipley, Derbyshire in 1837 is at the top of the page. Not long after the census was taken the Limbs moved to Staveley in Derbyshire because my great grandfather William Edward Limb was born there in 1863.

Of further interest on Hassock Lane, and living on her own, close to Joseph Limb is his mother Mary Limb.

Here is a report from the Derbyshire Times of Saturday 8th December 1860 about the use of Safety Lamps at Shipley Colliery. This incident would perhaps have taken place whilst Joseph Limb was working there.

'On Friday last, the 30th. of November, a very large outburst of gas took place in the floor of the Hard Coal seam at Shipley Colliery, which filled a large area of the working with explosive gas, for several hours, notwithstanding that a current of air of several thousand cubic feet was passing per minute. Safety lamps have been used to light this colliery upwards of four years. Had an exposed light been in use, or had there been one defective safety lamp in that part of the mine, a most appalling explosion must have occurred carrying death and destruction before it throughout the mine. When the workmen observed the indications of gas in the lamps, they cautiously withdrew from the mine. On the following day, Saturday, the gas had cleared away. It is gratifying for us to make known the above facts, which add another instance of the inestimable value of safety lamps; when Messrs. Woodhouse and Jeffcock, the mining engineers at the colliery, must feel highly satisfied with having introduced them. We have made the above remarks from having noticed that three explosions have occurred at collieries in South Wales, from an improper use of safety lamps. We repeat what we have often stated, that many valuable lives may be saved by a proper use of safety lamps.'

During the 1850s and 1860s the Shipley Colliery was owned by the Munday family who also owned the estate at Shipley Hall, now the site of Shipley Country Park.

Working Ancestors

2009-03-09T09:12:00.058Z

Most of my ancestors, like at lot of people's I expect, were either coal miners or they worked on the land. There are some exceptions down the years; my great great grandfather Alexander Young was a tailor. My great great grandfather Edward Matthews was a saddle maker. Another great great grandfather, Robert Hodgetts, worked in a brass foundry and another one, William Stubbs was a farmer of 63 acres. I always find the Census entries about people's employment fascinating as it helps to build up a background, not only of the person themselves, but of the area they lived in.

In the case of my Gough family from Newhall in Derbyshire the area they lived in was noted for both its coal and pottery industries. As you know from previous posts I have a huge 'brick wall' in my 4x great grandfather Thomas Gough. I found from a newspaper article that he came to Newhall in the 18th century, according to one of his great grandsons Jabez Gough, from the Forest of Dean ' a prospecter with a gang of men who went around with him sinking small shafts and working as far as they could go.' He also left to his family a collection of Gresley Hall pottery - see the picture below taken from an article by Joe Woodford in the Burton Mail of April 2nd 1960.

In the article Mr Gough says that his great grandfather was also 'a collector of antiquities and doubtless came across the Gresley Ware in that way.' Now I wonder about this? Thomas Gough came to the area as an 'adventurer' - his job would be to find rich coal seams and interest entrepreneurs in opening them up. The first record of him being in Newhall is his marriage at St Peter's Church, Stapenhill in 1789. About eight years later, when Thomas is settled in Newhall with a young family, Sir Nigel Gresley of Gresley Hall was opening up a small coal mine linked to a pottery kiln where he attempted, unsuccesfully, to make porcelain. Is there a connection here? Did Thomas Gough work for Sir Nigel Gresley opening up the mine and did he receive a gift of china in lieu of or as well as payment? I wonder? I doubt he would have been rich enough to buy it.

Thomas's grandson William Gough was involved in the pottery industry. Most of his brothers, including my great great grandfather were coal miners, one was a blacksmith, another a grocer and rate collector and one became a tea dealer and moved into Lancashire. The only information about William I have is from Parish Records, Census Returns and Trade Directories but these can tell us quite a lot.

William was born about 1828 the son of Benjamin and Hannah Gough of Newhall, Derbyshire. On the 1851 Census he is a coal miner but by the 1861 census he is a potter. What caused this change of direction? He is now married; has this been the cause of his career change? Perhaps his wife, Louisa came from a family of pottery workers? By 1871, still living in Newhall, he has a second wife, the first having died and he is now a Manager of a Potworks. In the household are his three young children and a lodger one John Beacall who is also listed as Manager of a Potworks. I learned from a source at The Magic Attic in Swadlincote that in the 1870s William Gough went into partnership with brothers Josiah and Herbert Till and in the Post Office Directory of Derbyshire 1876 they are listed as:-

'Till and Gough, manufacturers of ironstone cane ware, buff and Rockingham ware, Common Side Pottery.'

I'm guessing that Common Side is the address of the pottery works as there is still a Common Road in Church Gresley near Gresley Common and the factory was apparently opposite what is now the Maurice Lea Memorial Park.

Josiah and Herbert Till were the sons of Herbert and Mary Till who moved from Stoke-on-Trent to Newhall. In 1861 Mary gives her birthplace as Etruria, Staffs. Etruria was the village built by Josiah Wedgwood I for his factory workers, hence her calling one of her sons Josiah, perhaps?

By 1881 William and his wife Elizabeth, sister of Josiah Till's wife Mary, are living at Coppice Side, Church Gresley and William is now a Pot Manufacturer employing 11 men and 10 women. There are entries for Till and Gough in Kelly's directories for the years 1881, 1887 and 1891 and on the Census of 1891 William Gough is still listed as an Earthenware Manufacturer. By the time of the 1895 directory the pottery is no longer listed, this may be because William died in 1894. He was buried on Friday 9th February 1894 at Emmanuel Church, Swadlincote. In 1901 Elizabeth Gough, now a widow, is living in Swadlincote and the Till and Gough factory is no more.

A Simple Spelling Error

2009-02-13T14:11:00.009Z

I mentioned in my recent post on searching the 1911 census that on one side of my family, great grandparents were missing. Well, now they are found. I knew the family should have been on Maypole Hill, Newhall as they were there in 1901 and my great grandmother died there in 1915 but I didn't have a house number. By searching for Maypole Hill, Newhall I'd found that only odd numbered houses had been transcribed. I e-mailed the help team on the 1911 site to enquire if some houses had been missed in the transcription and I had a response and enquiry number retuned immediately along with a promise that they would look into my query and respond in a couple of days. In the meantime I decided to look again at the 1901 census on ancestry and I'm glad I did because I discovered that there was a house number after all. Number 3. I returned to the 1911 site and brought up the transcription for that household, and there they were as Gaugh instead of Gough. There is a button available on the transcript to report any errors so I gave them my findings. Not long after I received an e-mail saying that the transcription had been sorted and that they were pleased to see I had answered the query for myself. Wonderful - someone had actually, not only sorted my query out but had the gumption to put two and two together and realise both queries related to the same problem. Pretty good service I would say.

Questions, Questions

2009-01-28T16:04:00.016Z

All Saints Church, Dilhorne, Oct 2004

My great, great grandmother Rosanna Chell was born in 1824, in Newhall, Derbyshire to Mary Chell, a servant. Rosanna was illegitimate and so were her brothers Samuel and Daniel. Mary later married a man called William Street and they had a son Thomas. Rosanna married my great, great grandfather Benjamin Gough in 1841 and died, after giving birth to 6 children over the ensuing years, in 1858 at the very young age of 34. Not so uncommon for that time when childbirth was a lottery and could, quite easily end in death for either the mother or the child and often both.

Rosanna's mother Mary is a mystery. She had 3 illegitimate children. Did these children have the same father or different ones? She was a servant - in a large household perhaps? Did something happen here? Who knows? Would she have been judged harshly in the 1820s for having these three children? I'm sure she would have been.

On the 1871 census, by now a widow, Mary gives her place of birth as Dilhorn, Staffordshire. This village is not far from where I live now and there are Chells buried in the churchyard there. Would Mary have moved to Newhall for work perhaps. Did she go alone or did the whole family move away from Staffordshire? Did she move with the father of her children? It would be interesting to see if there are any Settlement Records for the period. Or if there are any Bastardy Bonds pertaining to one or all of her children. Will there be other parish records regarding claims for parish relief, baby clothing or lying-in requirements? If I want to follow this line of enquiry any further then I have to return to the Derbyshire Records Office at Matlock to do some more searching.

Searching the 1911 Census

2009-01-19T16:50:00.011Z

The 1911 Census has been released for some parts of England, including the areas I'm interested in so, as I said in my last post that I'd have to wait for the 1911 census to find out more about my great grandmother Celia Limb, I found I didn't have as long to wait as I thought I would.

For the moment I've only been looking at the transcripts rather than the original pages because it is a lot cheaper but there is lots of information to be gleaned from these. As with previous census returns you can find out all people in the household, their ages, marital status, place of birth and occupations. A new addition is the number of years married. For instance on the entry for my great grandparents Thomas and Sarah Ann Edwards it states that they had been married for 36 years. Also, with this census, you get a clearer address for where they lived.

I found the site quick and easy to use. I was already registered on Find My Past (Link on my side panel) and I just had to purchase some credits on-line and the searching began.

Rather disconcertingly one set of my great grandparents is missing. I know they were still alive and that they were buried in Newhall, Derbyshire and had lived there all their lives but they don't appear on any searches I've done so far. I doubt they were missed out or that they had travelled very far from home so I expect that it is a spelling or handwriting issue and that they are hidden somewhere, with the computer unable to find them.

Back to Celia. Her children are living at 30 Warren Terrace, Shirebrook. The eldest is 23 and considered to be head of the household. The youngest is 9 years old. So where was Celia? Yet again she has thrown up a mystery as I eventually found her visiting a family by the name of Edwards - no relation to the Edwards I mentioned earlier as they were on my father's side of the family and Celia is on my mother's side - in Attercliffe, Sheffield. I've found on the list of mourners at my great-grandfather's funeral a Mr Edwards of Sheffield, so I'm guessing this must be the same one and that they were friends of the family rather than relatives. There are also other morners from Woodhouse, Sheffield so there must have been some connection with Sheffield somewhere.

Interestingly, Celia's future second husband is lodging with my grandparents. Also in that household was my Aunt Gladys, aged 4. The photo below shows my grandmother Florence Limb with my Aunt Gladys which looks to have been taken around 1911 or 1912.

Desperately Seeking Celia

2008-10-31T14:32:00.009Z

Celia Limb, my great grandmother, disappeared for a while. For ages I couldn' t find her or indeed find out anything about her beyond 1907. According to my mother, after my great grandfather's death in a mining accident, she met with family disapproval and 'didn't last much longer' after he died. Not a lot to go on really.

She was born Celia Palmer Young in Ilkeston, daughter of Alexander Young and Rebecca (nee Webb). She was married, in January 1884, at the tender age of 18 years old to William Edward Limb who was 21 years old. The ceremony was held at the Ebeneezer Chapel in Ilkeston. From the 1891 census we find that the family were living at No 7 Chapel Street, Ilkeston, Derbyshire with four children Alexander (my grandfather), Alfred, Francis and Arthur. By 1901 William and Celia have moved to No 30 Church Drive, Shirebrook, Derbyshire and have three more children, Celia, Florence and Clara. One more child, Percy, would be born the following year.

I have written before about my great grandfather's tragic accident but after this event I knew nothing of what had happened to Celia. For quite a few years, because of my mother's words, I had thought she must have died soon after but Shirebrook Council's cemetery records did not include the burial of a Celia Limb. Quite a few years later I met over the internet and then in person a distant cousin and we were able to share information and bounce possible ideas off each other about what may have happened to Celia. One day I found on Ancestry two marriages for a Celia Limb within a year of each other. Thinking that both marriages must have been Celia's daughter Celia or that perhaps there had been a recording mistake in the records I dismissed it at first. Then something clicked and I mentioned it to my newly found cousin. What if she hadn't died but re-married? He took the plunge and sent for what he thought might be the right certificate out of the two and bingo - Celia did marry again. The search was on.

Given that her new husband, Arthur Fawden, was quite a few years younger than her and that they married from the same address I can see why, given the times, there would have been family disapproval. I'm guessing that to bring in a bit of income to help look after her younger children she took in a lodger and ended up marrying him. We will have to wait for the 1911 census to see if we can find out more. With this new information I was able to search for a date of death of a Celia Fawden and found one in the Doncaster area so I sent for the death certificate. She had died of a stroke on 4th July 1915 at 45 Chapel Street, Thurnscoe. So, where was she buried?

Again something suddenly clicked and I telephoned Shirebrook Town Council, who had been so helpful with other family burials there and just asked the question, do you have a burial for a Celia Fawden, I wasn't holding out much hope but I was stunned when they said yes, they did. When I asked what plot number they gave me a number one along from that of my great grandfather William Edward Limb, so she had been there all along, next to her first husband. Arthur Fawden had brought her home from Thurnscoe to be buried in Shirebrook. So when we all met for the 100th anniversary of William Edward Limb's death we knew that Celia was there too. Found after all this time.

Labelling photographs

2008-09-14T12:39:00.008Z

I have a huge collection of old family photographs and I treasure them. The only problem is that some of them are unidentified others are half identified, like the one below of me. I know it is me but I have absolutely no idea where it was taken. It could have been in Leicester where we used to live or it could be Shirebrook, where we used to visit grandma. I'd love to know and I've no one to ask.

The photo below, also of me, was taken, I'm sure, in a park in London when we went to stay with my mother's friend, but which one? I do notice that I seem always to have my socks around my ankles, what a scruffy child!

The photo below I've absolutely no idea about. Where was it taken? Who are the people? Family members? Friends? Was it kept by the family of one of the injured patients or of one of the nurses? How to date it? Second world war perhaps? Are the sandbags a clue? Perhaps the style of the nurses' uniforms will help? I don't know?

The jaunty gent below? Who is he? Where was he? What date was it taken? How I'd love to know.

The moral of this short tale is always identify your photographs with date, place, names etc. or if you have old photos get them identified whilst the people you can ask are still around to help.

Edit - since I wrote this my kind brother-in-law has let me know that the first photo is indeed Shirebrook - in fact the model village which was where my grandparents lived. Thankyou! So the second moral of this tale is that sometimes it isn't too late to identify photos!

Thank You

2008-08-21T12:57:00.006Z

I've received this superb award from The Dutchess - thank you so much and bless you for thinking of me. I've been very remiss of late and not added a post on here for ages so now I am inspired to do so. As I've been doing quite a bit of research, typing up notes and updating my PAF file I have a couple of things to share with you. I'm going to struggle to pass the award on to five other bloggers who visit here as unless they have commented I don't know who they are so I may chose five from my main blog and I hope that is acceptable. I'll be back later with those but for now, dear Dutchess, thank you.

Reeves in Awsworth

2008-06-20T14:07:00.029Z

My great great grandmother Alice Reeve was born in Awsworth in 1835. How do I know this? Well, as 1835 was two years before the civil registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths came into force she wouldn't have had a birth certificate so the only way of finding a birthplace is from Parish Registers and Census Returns. The census returns of 1841 don't record birthplaces; they just note if someone was born in or out of the county of their residence at the time the census was taken. From 1851 onwards birthplaces are recorded and my great great grandmother is listed as 16 years old and her birthplace recorded as Awsworth. From this it is possible to work out a year of birth, trusting that the enumerator hasn't made a mistake or indeed that the head of the household hasn't either made a mistake or told a white lie, of 1835. This can be checked with parish registers at the county archives. In 1851 Alice is living with her father William Reeve who was also born in Awsworth and her mother Amy who comes from Eastwood. They are living on The Lane, which is the main street through the village and used to be the main route through to Ilkeston. I wonder if they lived in one of the houses below?

On Christmas Day 1860 Alice Reeve married my great great grandfather Joseph Limb, probably at the church below. She left Awsworth and went to live in Joseph's birthplace of Shipley in Derbyshire. In 1861 the couple are living in Shipley next door to Joseph's widowed mother. With them in the household is Sarah Ann Reeve, Alice's daughter born two years before she married Joseph - father unknown.

The Parish Church of St Peter's, Awsworth was built in the 1740s but only the chancel remains of that time. The church was rebuilt in the early 1900s. Opposite the church is the Board School founded in 1878 but of course, this was too late for Alice to have been a pupil there.

Below you can see the girls' entrance which is separate from that of the boys. I don't think the building is still used as a school today. By 1871 Alice and Joseph have moved to Staveley in Derbyshire, I expect to find work, but by 1881 they have returned to Awsworth. Their younger girls Susanna and Mary Jane age 10 and 8 in 1881 may have gone to the board school using the girls' entrance. In 1891 the family are living on The Lane with an extended family including Alice's brother Thomas Reeve and her eldest daughter Sarah Ann Brammer and her four Brammer grandchildren.

In 1841 Awsworth was a hamlet consisting of just under 60 households; household occupations seem mainly to be colliers, agricultural labourers and cotton frame work knitters. Of the 58 households 16 are occupied by people with the name Chambers - obviously the most prolific family of the hamlet, followed 5 families with the name of Reeve. One of these families lived in Glass House Yard, which years before was famous for its glass making industries. By 1881 there are no Reeve families living in Awsworth - except Alice who has returned with her family. By 1901 the family have moved again this time to Shirebrook in Derbyshire and again moving for work. I wonder what they would all have made of the newest employer in town.

Birthday Memories

2008-04-29T07:34:00.010Z

Today, April 29th was my mother's birthday, had she still been with us she would have been 92 years old. I thought that as a sort of memorial to her today I would show you some photographs of her early life. I've been delving into the old photograph box and found some interesting ones to share with you.

The first one shows Mum as a little child. She is the one on the seat clutching the basket. With her is her elder sister, Gladys. I'm guessing she would be about three on this photo.

Below is a school photo of Mum. Again I'm not sure how old she would have been on this photograph, possibly ten or eleven. She passed a scholarship exam to go on to a higher education school but my grandparents couldn't afford to buy the uniform and equipment needed so she left school at 15 and got a job in the offices at the local Co-op but my grandmother, for some reason, didn't approve of the Co-op so my Mum had to go and work in the cotton factory - a good 4 miles a day walk (each way) from where they lived. Mum did that walk every day until she was 21 years old.

On her 21st birthday she bought herself a bicycle and used it to get to work. She used to laugh when she told the tale that one morning she went round a corner rather too quickly and ended up in a holly bush. Here she is with the cycle at the front of the family home.

I've absolutely no idea when the photo below was taken but I'm guessing late thirties early forties, perhaps a pre-wedding photograph or one for my father to take away with him when he was called up for duty during the war. Unfortunately there are no wedding photographs of my mum and dad as the person they asked to take them didn't do a good job and none of them turned out. I remember her wedding dress though and I also remember her cutting it down for me to wear in a school play; I think that must have been a hard thing to do.

The photo below is dated 1940, Mum and Dad had been married a couple of years then; he was in the home guard but was later called up into the Royal Army Medical Corps. Being a baker and confectioner he served as a cook in the army.

As you've probably gathered I didn't appear until much later, in fact 12 years after they had married. I think they had given up hope of having their own child and had looked into adoption but then I came along; here I am below with Mum and Dad at the seaside, looking very serious and itching to get down to the beach.

I'm guessing that the photo above was taken in Summer 1954, so I would be 4 years old. It couldn't have been 1955 as by then my father was very ill with leukemia and he died in the autumn of that year. Mum and I were alone for a while until she married again and we moved on to a new life.

More Old Photos

2008-04-06T15:23:00.010Z

I've been looking through the box of old photographs sent to me, at least 10 years ago, by my mother's cousin from Canada. I'm always intrigued by old photos, by what they can tell us when we study them closely. This one looks like a small farm house in a rural setting. In fact it is just the kind of house I used to draw as a child and still occasionally draw when I'm doodling. Central front door, four windows, long drive up to the front of the house, a tree or two.

The original is actually a post card. On the back is written 'with love and best wishes from J&S, Xmas, 1909. My mother's cousin has written on the back 'Mount Pleasant, Aunt Sarah's House'. Now, my mother told me that her Aunt Sarah lived at or near Claypole in Nottinghamshire and that Aunt Sarah's husband bred Rhode Island Red chickens. So I'm assuming this house was at Claypole.

I always thought that the photograph above was of the same house but on looking at it more closely I've realised that it is a totally different house. It looks similar to the first house but there are many differences. A different style of porch, a fifth window over the porch. A lean-to on the side, no tree close to the chimney and no shed at the side. How very strange. It is in the same style and print as the first one and dated 1909 but it can't be the same house after alterations. Can it? Whose house is it? A neighbour's house? Another family home? It is very similar in style to the other one so is it in the same village?

The thing is now I don't know who these people are in the second photo, which is a shame. I'm intrigued by this new realisation. I need to find out more.

The photo above is of my mother's aunt Sarah Stubbs. Apparently she was the youngest and most favourite of my grandmother's sisters. Which of those houses did she live in? I'm guessing the first house, but then did my mother's cousin make the same mistake as me when she labeled the photos and think the houses were the same one? I like to think that Sarah was happily sitting in the garden of one of the houses, anyway.

Old Postcards

2008-03-01T14:33:00.010Z

I mentioned these postcards in my post on 'Collecting Postcards' on my other blog ,so as they have family connections I thought I would show them here. They were sent to me from Canada and relate to my mother's side. the Stubbs family.

My great grandmother moved from Hose in Leicestershire to Shirebrook in Derbyshire and there are post cards of both places.

The post card above shows one of the main streets in Hose and was posted to my Great Grandmother in 1909 from the nearby village of Long Clawson. The message reads:-

'Dear Aunt, Hope you are still alive, how is Gertie getting on. Do you recognise this view. Busy here today, Love from Edie.'

The second postcard was sent to Miss G Stubbs, this would have been my grandmother's sister Gertrude Ellen (Nellie), the address is in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire and post stamped both in Long Clawson and Melton Mowbray 27th November 1905. I wonder why Gertrude was in Matlock Bath, on holiday? I doubt it as folks didn't have holidays very often back then, maybe staying with friends or more likely - in service?

The message on the back is as follows:-

'Dear G, I don't think I have sent you a view of Hose church. I think its a very good one. We are having a Band of Hope meeting at Chapel tonight. Dad is going on nicely.'

Unfortunately this one isn't signed but the writing looks very similar to the first one.

Moving on to Shirebrook and this wintry view sent to Nellie from her future husband Alf it was posted in Shirebrook in 1905 to an address in Belper. In his message he asks for her to send post to him at Hardwick Farm. Presumably this is where he was working perhaps? I wonder if the farm was in the village of Hardwick, near Hardwick Hall or if it was elsewhere?

Another Shirebrook post card, this time with no message or post mark on the back so there is no date but I expect it is contemporary with the others. This shows some of the shops where my both my great grandmothers and my grandmother would have bought their goods. The model village was built to house people coming into Shirebrook to work at the colliery which was nearby.

Catching Up

2008-01-24T14:12:00.000Z

I've just realised that I haven't done any posts on this blog for ages so I'm just bringing it into 2008. Since November I've done a few weeks seasonal work for Royal Mail, then been ill over Christmas and well into the new year with flu but I haven't done any family history at all.

I'm hoping to catch up with things later this year in the meantime I'll leave you with a couple of photographs relating to my Aunt Gladys who was mentioned in my last post.

I love this photograph because it is so full of interesting things. This is my aunt strolling along a busy street- so how can I discover where and what date it was taken? Where is the street? She was born and brought up in Shirebrook, so is the street in Shirebrook? It looks a little busy and wide to me and also the buildings seem large for Shirebrook but it could be. Or perhaps it is Mansfield or Nottingham? The shop on the left of the photograph behind the car is owned by 'L. S. Cartwright'. Was there an L. S . Cartwright in Shirebrook.? This is something I will have to try and find out. How can I date the photograph? From the shop perhaps? Or the car? or my Aunt's clothes? She seems to be carrying a cardboard box and sometimes gas masks were in cardboard boxes, is it a gas mask and therefore is it a wartime photograph? I'm not sure. Her clothes are quite long, more late 30s than early 40s perhaps? During the 'make do and mend times' during the second world war clothes were shorter and more fitted, so as to use less material as it was rationed. There are so many things to find out about this photo.

Above is a photograph of my cousin Brian, Gladys's only son. He was born in 1938 and was her pride and joy. He was never a well child and suffered with chest problems most of his short life. He died in 1965, age 26. My aunt never recovered from his death, she suffered badly with her nerves and was just beginning to make progress back towards health when she suffered a stroke and died, two years later in 1967. My Uncle Harold died eight years later. I have a box of their family records and photographs which came from Mum's house - there is no one else to pass them on to - just me; but who will want them when I am gone?

My Maternal Grandfather

2007-11-11T14:13:00.000Z

Below is a photograph of my grandfather, Alexander Joseph Limb. He was born in Awsworth, Nottinghamshire in 1884 the first son of William Edward and Celia Limb (nee Young).

I know very little about his early life. By 1891 his parents had moved to Ilkeston where his mother was born and were living at No 7 Chapel Street. By 1901 the family had moved again to Shirebrook in Derbyshire and were living at No 30 Church Drive, on the census my grandfather is 16 years old and a coal carter. My mother once told me that my grandfather loved animals and used to work with the pit ponies.

In May 1906 he married my grandmother Florence Mary Stubbs. In March 1907 their first child my Aunt Gladys was born just a few days before my great grandfather William Edward Limb was killed in a pit cage accident (see my earlier post). My grandfather had to identify the shattered body of his father and register his death in the same week as becoming a father for the first time and registering the birth of his daughter. The family tale is that my grandfather should have been on the same shift at the pit as his father but missed the cage down because his boot lace snapped and he had to find another one to make sure his boot was secure for his day's work.

In 1909 my grandparents had a son whom they called William Edward and he is the small child on the pony above. Unfortunately, more tragedy was to strike the family as the child - their only son - died in October 1910 of meningitis aged 16 months. This would date the photo above as being taken in the spring or summer of 1910.

My grandfather died in April 1954 of pneumoconiosis or miner's lung. I was three at the time of his death and my only memory is of him being very ill upstairs in grandma's house and my Mum and Aunts being with grandma and me playing downstairs, in front of the huge range fireplace, with the contents of my grandma's treadle sewing machine drawers, listening to the loud ticking of the wall clock and of having to be very quiet indeed.

The Workhouse

2007-10-08T13:46:00.000Z

I remember when I was small that the older folk of the village I grew up in and older relatives too always used to worry about going into hospital as they got older, especially those buildings which used to house one of the most dreaded institutions - the workhouse. I suppose I became aware of the workhouse through reading both historical novels and history books. One reference I particularly remember was in Lark Rise to Candleford. I read the book when I was a teenager but what I most remember was going to the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester to see a musical production of Lark Rise with music by the Albion Band. Imagine then my sadness to find out that one of my own ancestors ended his days in the workhouse at Horninglow, Burton-on-Trent.

Thomas Edwards my 3x great grandfather was born c.1797 at Ingleby, son of John Edwards and Ann (nee Lilley). Thomas married Elizabeth Adams at Barrow-on-Trent on 1st December 1817. From details in the 1841 census it would appear that they had quite a few children and were indeed a poor family working as labourers and living off the land. When one of their children, John, was apprenticed to John Godwin, a cordwainer in the town of Derby, the parish of Foremark which covered Ingleby, paid the premium for his apprenticeship, two suits of clothes and his transport to Derby. Thomas his brother and my 2x great grandfather moved to Castle Gresley no doubt to gain employment in either the coal or pottery industries. In fact, by the time of the 1851 census all the children have left home and just Thomas and Elizabeth are living in Ingleby.

It is my 2x great grandfather Thomas Edwards b. c. 1820 who by the time of both the 1891 and 1901 Census returns is living as an inmate at the workhouse. Whilst at Castle Gresley he married Sarah Foster at the parish church at Church Gresley in August 1848; by 1851 they are living at Newhall, by 1861 there are five children and by 1871 Sarah has died and Thomas is listed as a widower. By 1881 Thomas has married again but by 1891, at the age of 70, is living in the workhouse. He is still there in 1901. My next step is to find a record of his death. He had several children but it would seem that none of them, including my great grandfather, were able to look after him. My great grand parents had eleven children to look after, eight of whom were still at home in 1901, the eldest of whom was 19 and the youngest just 3 months old. So I can see why they couldn't take on the duty of looking after poor Thomas. My grandmother, their second eldest daughter was in service in Leicester, at the home of a carpenter.

Three years ago we visited the workhouse at Southwell which is now administered by the National Trust and this gave some idea of what living conditions would have been like for my 2x great grandfather. If you get a chance to go the place is well worth a visit.

Southwell Workhouse - taken August 2004

Baptist Chapel, Mansfield

2007-09-12T21:01:00.000Z

My grandparents Alexander Joseph Limb and Florence Mary Stubbs were married at this chapel on 21st May 1906. H. Nicholls was the Minister and W D Rawe was the registrar. Witnesses were Alfred William Limb (brother of the groom) and Emily Agnes Stubbs ( sister of the bride).

Another family wedding held here was that of my great grandmother Celia Palmer Limb (nee Young). In March 1907 she was widowed when my great grandfather William Edward Limb was killed in an accident at Shirebrook Colliery (I did a post about this earlier this year.) Celia was married again on 30th December 1911 to Arthur Fawden who, at only 25 years old, was considerably younger than her. The couple moved away from Shirebrook but she did return four years later. I will tell this detective story in another post.

Hose Baptist Chapel

2007-08-15T19:55:00.000Z

My maternal grandmother Florence Mary Stubbs was born at Long Clawson in Leicestershire. She was the daughter of William and Martha Stubbs (of whom I have written in previous posts). William was born in Long Clawson but in 1881 and 1891 the family were living in the nearby village of Hose. William was the son of Samuel Stubbs and Frances Mantle. Samuel was born in Wymeswold, Leicestershire but Frances, daughter of Samuel and Ann Mantle, was native to Hose. On the 1841 census Samuel Mantle's occupation is given as school master. Interestingly two of his other children are living at home one working as a pipe maker the other as a bonnet maker

Yesterday on our way into Lincolnshire we stopped off in Leicestershire and visited Hose. We took photographs at the Baptist chapel where several members of the Stubbs family are buried.

Below is the family grave stone for Samuel Mantle his daughter Frances and her husband Samuel Stubbs. It is just inside and to the left of the gate you can see above.

Lace Street

2007-07-04T10:38:00.000Z

According to his death certificate my great great grandfather Joseph Limb died at number 34 Lace Street, Nottingham. A widower, aged 77, he was living in Nottingham with his daughter and son-in-law, Alfred and Susanna Meakin. I'm guessing that the Meakins, who used to live on Warren Terrace, Shirebrook near to Joseph and other family members moved to Nottingham for work and took their father with them to look after him.

Yesterday during a visit to friends in Nottingham I was able to locate Lace Street and take photographs. I found number 34 although it may be that the street has been re-numbered since 1914, I will have to check this out.

Here is Lace Street

and here is number 34

I wonder what my great great grandfather who was born in 1837 would have thought of the wheelie bins, the for sale notice, the student accommodation signs and the traffic whizzing by on the road outside?

School Photos

2007-05-30T15:32:00.001Z

This is my class at Scarcliffe School - yes I am on the photograph - I guess I must be about 7 or 8 years old. We used to have a photographer come to the school and we had to go and sit outside on the lawn of a house at the back of the school.

The photo below is of my mother's class at the Central School, Shirebrook. I'm not sure what age she was on here but I would think a little older than I am in the one above, perhaps 11 or 12 years old.

The Young Family

2007-05-18T07:35:00.001Z

When you first start to research your family history you tend to start with the four names of your grandparents often sticking to your two grandfather's sides first unless there is a specific reason to follow up another name. This being the case with my research it took me a while to start on my maternal grandfather's mother's family. My great-grandmother was Celia Palmer Young. She was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire in 1866, the daughter of Alexander Young, a tailor, of that town.

Celia is an interesting character in her own right so I'll write about her later on - for now I'm going to take you backwards in time. Alexander Young was born in Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1834. He was the son of John Young, tailor and his wife Maria Parkinson. Alexander and his seven siblings (there were four more to come along later) were all christened on the same day 11th September, 1836 at the Dead Lane Primitive Methodist Church in Loughborough. On the 1851 census the family are living at 112 Regent Street, Loughborough but by 1861 at least some of the family have moved to the St. Mary's area of Nottingham. Both John and his son Alexander are working as tailors, the younger girls are all working in the lace industry. Alexander has married - his wife is Rebecca Webb daughter of Francis Webb and Mary Palmer and is living on Little John Street whilst John, Maria and the younger girls are living on Flewitt Street. By the 1871 Census Alexander and his family have moved to Ilkeston and are living on Extension Street. John must have died sometime between the 1861 and 1871 census. Now John is an interesting character because he wasn't an East Midlander; on the census of 1851 he gives his birthplace as Fifeshire, Scotland and hereby lies my brick wall.

Working from his age on this census John Young would have been born around 1804 and just looking at the records available on line there are many John Youngs born in Fifeshire in and around that year. I thought that this was as far as I could get back on this line. Recently, however, thanks to some free units for Scotlands People I have found a John Young born to an Alexander Young, tailor, in 1804 in Dunfermline. I have no way of knowing if this is the right John Young but the naming patterns and occupation seen to me to be quite good indications of being on the right track. I wonder?

What photographs can tell us

2007-05-02T07:36:00.001Z

I was sent the photograph below from Canada. It was in a huge padded envelope with many other wonderful photographs. My mother's cousin Violet, had sent them to me because I was interested in family history and also because she thought they should be passed on before she died as she had no one to leave them to. I was so please to receive them as you hear so many tales about photographs being destroyed when someone had died and other family members aren't interested in or even care about the past.

The photo was taken in Shirebrook, Derbyshire. Possibly c. 1912. My mother wasn't sure where but she thought maybe Swanwick Avenue or Strutt's Yard. It is in very bad condition but we've been able to scan and clean it and then crop it to reveal more of the people on it; below is a new version.

The photo shows my great-grandmother with her twin grand daughters. The two girls were called Olive and Violet and I would guess that this photo was taken on the eve of their emigration to Canada. They look to be identical twins and they are holding identical bears, gifts to take with them from a doting grandmother? Olive died in 1914 of diphtheria, my great grandmother died in 1915, Violet died in 2002. I wonder which of the children was Olive and which one was Violet? The garden looks to be in a bit of a mess, perhaps some work had been going on - digging and planting perhaps? Is there a gap in the lace curtain in the window where someone is looking through? Also I wonder who took the photograph as it isn't a 'professional' studio one.

My Great Grandfather

2007-03-26T08:35:00.000Z

William Edward Limb was the first son of Joseph and Alice Limb. He was born in Staveley, Derbyshire and baptized there on 27^th December 1863. His father, Joseph, had probably moved to Staveley from Shipley, Derbyshire for work. In 1861 Joseph and Alice were living at 116 Hassocks Lane, Shipley, near Heanor but by 1871 they are living at 135 Barrow Hill, Staveley, and in 1881 the family are living in Awsworth, Nottinghamshire – Alice’s birthplace - William Edward is aged 18 and a crane driver.

All changed for William Edward over the next ten years. On 20^th January 1884 he married Celia Palmer Young at the Ebenezer Chapel, Ilkeston, Derbyshire and on the 1891 Census they are living at 7 Chapel Street with four children, Alexander, Alfred, Francis and Arthur. More children were to follow and by 1901 the family had three daughters Celia, Florence and Clara. In 1901 they had moved again to Shirebrook in Derbyshire where William and Celia lived at 30 Church Drive and Joseph and Alice lived at 30 Warren Terrace. There was another child born in 1903 called Percy. In 1907 William Edward was killed in a pit cage accident at Shirebrook Colliery – of which more here.

Above is a photo of Shirebrook Colliery taken from an old postcard c. 1900

Never give up Searching

2007-03-19T14:11:00.003Z

Today I found a copy of a letter I wrote in May 1987. I wrote it to the author of an unpublished book, the handwritten manuscript of which I had been shown by a librarian at the Public Library in Swadlincote. I’d gone into the library to ask if they had anything on the history of Newhall where my Gough family came from. I had noticed that there were no Goughs in the parish registers before the date of 5^th November 1789 when my 4x great grandfather Thomas Gough was married. So the question was where did he come from and why? I had found a paragraph in this manuscript which may have answered my question. The author, a Mr. V. A. Shaw had included in his work notes on some of the well-known families of Newhall and this is what he said:-

‘Another well known family name of Gough, originated from the Forest of Dean coalfield. In the eighteenth century Thomas Gough came to South Derbyshire because it had come to his knowledge that there were valuable seams of coal here practically untouched. He was a prospector for coal. He settled in Newhall and there he employed a gang of men, possibly brought with him, to sink small shafts to prove various seams. Apparently it was the practice of Gough to work the coal from a shaft until they were purchased by local businessmen and others, thus allowing him to prospect further.’

So I had a possible place but I needed to know where Mr. Shaw found his information. He replied that he had found the information in an article in the Burton Chronicle he thought from about 25 years before, about some pieces of Gresley Blue Plate China which had been owned by Thomas Gough. He also enclosed a copy of his manuscript for me to keep, and I was thrilled by this. So began a long search for the article in question.

Years later, once we had a computer, I decided to gradually type up the manuscript as I thought it should be more widely available. I had been in touch with the volunteers at The Magic Attic, in Swadlincote, who after lots of searching had found the article mentioned by Mr. Shaw. The china had been inherited by a Mr. Jabez Gough, former postman, of Newhall who was the great grandson of Thomas Gough. Unfortunately he had died in 1964. I gave my copy of the ‘History of Newhall’ to the Magic Attic plus a typed copy as I thought it should return to the area. I had been told that Mr. Shaw had died only a few weeks before; his book was never published. I still have the brick wall of whereabouts in The Forest of Dean Thomas Gough came from and I don’t suppose I will ever know, but I never give up hope as, after about 15 years of searching the newspaper article was found.

When I first visited the Magic Attic it was housed on the top floor of a smoky, dimly lit Snooker Hall in the town centre. It is now inside the Sharpe’s Pottery complex and is well worth a visit. We returned a few weeks ago to see how they were getting on. Here are a couple of photos.

Old Photographs

2007-03-06T12:49:00.000Z

I've been looking through boxes of old photographs. Some came from my mother, some from my Aunt Gladys and some from their cousins Joyce and Violet. I've found some amazing things but I thought for now, I'd just show your this one:-

This is, of course, me with my Mum in Abbey Park, Leicester. At some point in time I'd written on the back, in very childish capitals - Rosalyn, Mum, teddy and golly.

Here I am at the seaside, I guess I'm about 4 or 5. I'm think we are at Blackpool but I don't really know.

St Peter's Church, Stapenhill

2007-02-25T18:21:00.000Z

Below is a photo of St Peters Church, Stapenhill, Nr Burton-on-Trent

It didn't look like this when my 4x great grandfather Thomas Gough married Sarah Boddis here on 5th November 1789 or when Sarah was buried here on 3rd March 1802 or when he was married again to Margaret Brierley on 3rd October 1803 or even when he was buried here on 28th April 1812. It looked more like this:

The mediaeval church was demolished c.1780 and replaced by a new nave and a bell turret the chancel was left as it was. You can see this from the early 19th century drawing above. The whole church was rebuilt in 188l.

I don't think the approach to the church would have looked like this either.

Mum and Dad

2007-02-19T12:18:00.000Z

When you start researching your family history you begin with yourself and work backwards. Next in line are your father and mother. So here are mine -

I lost my father when I was just five years old and have only vague memories of him but they are lovely ones. I remember I used to hide under the table when he was due home from work and he would come in and ask where I was and Mum would say she didn't know and then I would jump out shouting 'Boo' and he would laugh and dance me around the room. Sometimes he would put a record on the gramophone and I would stand on his feet and he would dance with me, usually to the strains of the Cuckoo Waltz. I used to have a toy sweet shop with little bottles, jars and packets and he would sit me on his knee and play shop with me. He took me to watch football - the ground was just around the corner on Filbert Street, I remember sitting on his shoulders. Sometimes Mum would take me to the centre of Leicester to the council house where Dad worked as a patisserie chef, we would stand on the street opposite and he would appear at an upstairs window and wave and smile at us down below. On the day of his funeral I was taken to the Museum on New Walk by a neighbour's children to see the giraffe and all the other stuffed animals. When I came back home the house was full of my relatives and I remember them all holding out their arms to me and smiling and saying my name. Mum was sitting in the corner by the fire with a blanket around her shoulders. Eventually she married again and we moved from Leicester to a small village in Derbyshire. A few years ago I went back to find that long street of terraced houses, with the Granby Halls at the top and the methodist chapel at the other end. It had gone - pulled down to make way for the hospital car park.

Great, grandmother Martha

2007-02-11T17:41:00.000Z

The photograph below is of my great grandmother on my mum's mother's side of the family. Martha Elizabeth Matthews was born in 1854 in Welby, Lincolnshire and was the daughter of Edward Matthews and his wife Elizabeth. Edward was a saddler and harness maker in Welby. Martha married twice. Her first marriage, in 1874, was to my great grandfather William Stubbs a farmer of 63 acres in Hose, Leicestershire. I will write more about the Stubbs family of Hose and Long Clawson in another post.

William Stubbs died in 1893 and eventually Martha married again. Her second husband was James Roberts and I eventually found her, after much searching, on the 1901 census, living in Heanor in Derbyshire. A few years later the family moved to Shirebrook in Derbyshire and Martha died there in July 1915.

Martha is the only great grandmother I have a photograph of, so I'm quite fond of it, but she does look a bit formidable, doesn't she?

Where to Start?

2007-02-07T12:42:00.000Z

When you first start to delve into your family history you either know quite clearly which line to follow or you tend to dabble in each line using the facts you have at hand. If you have elderly relatives you can ask questions, if they are willing to talk – sometimes they aren’t. You can search for old photographs both of the family and the places they lived and you can visit those places and take new photographs. You can visit libraries and museums to find out about the local and social history of an area. All these things give you background information and a sense of how your ancestors lived and worked. After that you come to the actual research using things like Census returns, parish records and public records. When I first started this entailed visiting local archives and record offices but today lots of this information can be found on the internet. There are many helpful sites and this is great if you have internet access at home or can visit your local library to use their facilities.

When I started to research, in the late 1980s, I chose my father’s family first. My father died at the age of 45 when I was only 5 and for some reason I felt drawn to finding out more. Even though the family had lived for many years at Langwith Junction in Nottinghamshire they had moved there early in the 20^th century from South Derbyshire. My father was born in Newhall, Derbyshire so that was the place to start. I visited the Derbyshire records office and scoured the parish registers extracting all the Goughs I could find, intending to sort them out at home. The next thing was to visit the area and take photographs of the churches at Stapenhill and Newhall and look for any MIs (memorial inscriptions). Unfortunately most of the head stones had been removed from St. Peter's, Stapenhill churchyard but there were many still standing in Newhall churchyard and there I found the graves of my 3x great grandfather Benjamin Gough and his wife Hannah and also that of my 2x great grandfather Benjamin Gough and his 3^rd wife Elizabeth. There were several other Gough inscriptions too. This was a great start.

Newhall St John Church

The gravestone of Benjamin and Elizabeth Gough

My Oldest Photograph

2007-02-01T15:31:00.000Z

The photograph below was sent to me by by a distant relative who contacted me via one of the genealogy lists on the internet. We have been corresponding by e-mail and snail mail for several years now. We share a mutual great, great grandmother Alice Reeve, and we are sure that the lady in this photo is her. Alice already had a two year old daughter, Sarah, when she married my great, great grandfather Joseph Limb. My friend in the US is descended from that daughter, I am descended from the first son of the marriage. The three children in the photograph are Sarah's three children taken, we think, before Sarah and her family emigrated to America, probably as a souvenir to take with them.

Joseph and Alice stayed in England, as did their other children including my great grandfather, William Edward. Joseph was born in Shipley, Derbyshire in 1837. He married Alice at Awsworth, Nottinghamshire in 1858 and the couple lived first in Shipley, then Staveley, (where William Edward was born) then Awsworth and then Shirebrook, where Alice died in 1903. Joseph lived on until 1914. He died at no 34 Lace Street, Nottingham whilst living with his daughter and son-in-law, after a long life of hard work in the collieries and a considerable amount of family tragedy.

This family are my mother's ancestors and they seemed to move backwards and forwards over the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire borders seeking employment. It must have been a hard life.

Welcome

2007-01-31T15:18:00.000Z

I decided to start a new blog to write bits and pieces about my family history, as it seemed rather different to what I was writing about on Corners of my Mind.

I first started to research my family tree in the early 1980s long before archive offices were fully equipped with micro film readers, micro fiche readers and computers with access to the internet. I remember my first visit to the Derbyshire Records Office at Matlock to look at the parish registers for Stapenhill. The white vellum bound register was placed on a large cushion and as I gently turned the old, browning pages with hands bound in white cotton gloves I felt a growing excitement. When I found entries for the marriage and death of my 4x great grandfather in 1789 and 1812 respectively I knew I was well and truly hooked.

I'm not quite sure what sparked off my interest, maybe it was old family photos, a visit to a churchyard full of family graves or maybe it was finally being old enough to listen to my mum's stories of her past without getting bored as I had done when I was a teenager. I wish now that I had asked more questions before she died but at the time I felt it was better to let her talk as I didn't want to rake up anything that was upsetting in any way.

I've always been interested in history, my degree is history based and I'd worked in Museums for a number of years so I was used to research in libraries and archives. So my interest, no - obsession - began.