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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: StanleysChesterton on Friday 25 September 15 16:47 BST (UK)
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This is a "pointless/daft"post. Please, if this annoys you, read another :)
If you could go back in time and give your great-grandmother a gift what'd it be?
It can't be something modern, but something you think she could need/use.
I did think "money" - but then that alters potential outcomes so I might not end up existing. Even a gold sovereign might have her rushing over the road to buy a new dress and get run over by a horse/cart and die before my eyes.
So what's a gift you can give your grandmother, without being discovered as "a witch from the future" causing granny to be disowned by neighbours.... but it has to be useful/lovely or something worthwhile travelling 120+ years back in time to hand it over. Not an ornament as that's a cop out :)
I think one could probably get away with a microfibre cloth to help her clean her windows better.
But what's a good gift that can't get her into trouble?
There must be some genius answers out there ....I've just not thought of them!
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I actually knew one of my gr.grandmothers. She was in her 90s and I was a small child. The trouble was she was so thin and frail that she scared me and I wouldn't go near her. I have since found out that her father died when she was small and she and her siblings spent several years in the workhouse.
So if I could go back and meet her again, I would give her a hug.
Sue
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A copy of Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book of Great Britain and Ireland!
Maybe the 1870 edition, Section 1 Kent, Sussex, Hants, Dorset, Devon, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Wight?
Or maybe the 1860 version to cover Somerset and Dorset?
My Great-Grandfather was a railway station master on the Somerset & Dorset Railway, but they came from Suffolk, by way of Essex.
Maybe it would prime her for the days to come?! ;D
She was born 1836 in Norfolk/Suffolk borders, and died at Bridport, Dorset in 1911.
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A pair of Bootlaces as she was fined 60 shillings in 1902 for stealing a pair :-\
Carol
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A family tree of her descendants in a book (including a little bio on each one, and a - colour - photo of each one!!), to show her a different perspective of the value of her life. Its a bit witchy as my great grandparents were all deceased by the 1940s so colour photos were not around. But on the other hand it would be easily hidden and give her a lift when she is feeling life is just rough and what is the point. Actually I'd include her ancestors in the tree so she could see that she and her ancestors were remembered c150 years after her birth (all my great grandmothers were born between the 1840s and 1870s). I'd also include notes about how far womens rights came along from her generation which was circa the founding generation of the suffragettes!
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The only photo I have of one of my great grandmother's is of a round, laughing woman. I think she might have had a sweet tooth and would most appreciate a big bag of special chocolates ;D
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I'd visit my great grandma Mary Wilson, and give her some advice,
have all of your 3 husbands and 1 lover cremated instead of burying them, so that they couldn't be exhumed and get her sentenced to death (she was reprieved by the way and died in prison)
just joking by the way, not condoning murder !
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Sorry ... sloped off to Lidl, came back with sweeties and forgot I'd posted :)
So if I could go back and meet her again, I would give her a hug.
Aww, that's lovely. I guess I made a HUGE assumption when I picked a great-grandmother, because mine died before I was one, so I've never had/met mine.... she's just data picked from newspapers and censuses to me.
I think yours gets "Best Answer" ..... even before I've read the rest.
A copy of Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book of Great Britain and Ireland!
Maybe the 1870 edition, Section 1 Kent, Sussex, Hants, Dorset, Devon, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Wight?
Or maybe the 1860 version to cover Somerset and Dorset?
Ah, a good practical gift, but if you took it from "now" they'd probably bin it as it'd look a bit shabby :)
A pair of Bootlaces as she was fined 60 shillings in 1902 for stealing a pair :-\
Awww... what a strange thing to steal, unless you haven't got any of course!
Mind you, being in court that day might've caused her to have a conversation on the bus with somebody that lead to her meeting her future husband... and if she'd not been to court, she'd have done different things that day - and had different conversations other days!
A family tree of her descendants in a book
Oh I think you'd definitely get arrested by the Time Travel Police for that one!!!
:)
The only photo I have of one of my great grandmother's is of a round, laughing woman. I think she might have had a sweet tooth and would most appreciate a big bag of special chocolates ;D
mmm chocolate. The gift you can rarely get wrong!
... give her some advice, have all of your 3 husbands and 1 lover cremated instead of burying them, so that they couldn't be exhumed and get her sentenced to death ...
Oh dear. Burial was so "the norm" back then wasn't it. Her undoing.
I'm intrigued as to whether you knew this story/the details before you started doing family history. Whether it's always been known/in full/openly, or if it was a small rumour that you really had to look for
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She had four sons and her husband died the following year...so she could have needed them for her boots to go to work. 60 shillings fine seems a bit steep and a lot of money in those days :-\
Carol
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I'd visit my great grandma Mary Wilson, and give her some advice,
have all of your 3 husbands and 1 lover cremated instead of burying them, so that they couldn't be exhumed and get her sentenced to death (she was reprieved by the way and died in prison)
just joking by the way, not condoning murder !
She was the reason I started doing family history, I've always known about her being a serial killer, but wanted to know the full story, why a little old lady in her 60's was bumping off several old fellas,
she's been in a few books since i started, and we found lots of new info ( with help from MonicaL )and she seems to be getting more well known, just google 'the merry widow of windy nook'.
:)
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Does it have to be a gr grandmother?
I have a gr gr grandmother who I would give a great big hug to if I could.
Her's is such a sad story, she had 7 children the youngest were boy and girl twins. The little girl died aged 3 months and through her grief she took to drink!
To cut along story short, she pawned things to pay for her drink which naturally lead to arguments at home. One day she argued and stayed all night at her fathers house. Next morning she was met by her eldest daughter on her way home, she told her to go ahead home and tell them she was coming home.
Then she took a de tour and threw herself into the river and 3 days later was found drowned.
That was days before Christmas.
My gift to her would be a hug and a chance for her to talk it all out.
Poor love, she needed help.
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Does it have to be a gr grandmother?
Then she took a de tour and threw herself into the river and 3 days later was found drowned.
That was days before Christmas.
My gift to her would be a hug and a chance for her to talk it all out.
Poor love, she needed help.
Doesn't have to be a G-grandma, I needed something for a focus and G-grandmas are quite compelling :)
Awww. That is a sad story, you must've cried for weeks once you found out.
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I'd visit my great grandma Mary Wilson, and give her some advice,
have all of your 3 husbands and 1 lover cremated instead of burying them, so that they couldn't be exhumed and get her sentenced to death (she was reprieved by the way and died in prison)
just joking by the way, not condoning murder !
She was the reason I started doing family history, I've always known about her being a serial killer, but wanted to know the full story, why a little old lady in her 60's was bumping off several old fellas,
she's been in a few books since i started, and we found lots of new info ( with help from MonicaL )and she seems to be getting more well known, just google 'the merry widow of windy nook'.
:)
Brilliant! I love that it wasn't hushed up in the family and you had a great "pull" to start your quest.
I do 'envy' you that you've got so many professional people/researchers/writers digging around in dusty boxes for details though!
She had four sons and her husband died the following year...so she could have needed them for her boots to go to work. 60 shillings fine seems a bit steep and a lot of money in those days :-\
I think all their sentences seem harsh to us now. It was the attitude of "Zero Tolerance" though and, to some degree, that should be applauded, but they did live desperate lives in desperate times, without any lee-way for their hardships.
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Does it have to be a gr grandmother?
Then she took a de tour and threw herself into the river and 3 days later was found drowned.
That was days before Christmas.
My gift to her would be a hug and a chance for her to talk it all out.
Poor love, she needed help.
Doesn't have to be aG-grandma, I needed something for a focus and G-grandmas are quite compelling :)
Awww. That is a sad story, you must've cried for weeks once you found out.
Yes, it honestly did make me weep. I found her story by co-incidence, which made me feel she wanted her story told. My mother was to be called after her (as family tradition was then) but on the way to the church her aunt (maybe the one who met my gr gr grandmother on the way home?) changed my mother's intended name to something different.
(Funny thing was, we kids never believed my mother when she used to tell us what her name should have been, and that her aunt changed it to what it is, but that inquest report I found bears it out).
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Truth serum.
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Truth serum.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Don't ask me how, but, if I had not seen the name I would have hazarded a guess that it was your reply Erato, as always, straight as a die and intriguing.
Regards always
Frank. :)
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Truth serum.
That made me smile....no explanation needed...just a prescription that I would also have given one or two rellies.
Carol
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'Time' as much of mine to her as she gave to me :) she died 1987 age 90 and all I have are wonderful memories, I know she wasn't perfect and I remember one or two 'telling offs' but she was Nan... that special - special lady in my life..
xin
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Truth serum.
LOL. I think we'd all think that a great gift for us :)
Who was the father?
Where did X really go?
Why did you ....?
'Time' as much of mine to her as she gave to me :) she died 1987 age 90 and all I have are wonderful memories, I know she wasn't perfect and I remember one or two 'telling offs' but she was Nan... that special - special lady in my life..
Ah, time.... that thing we all wish we had once too much of it's passed!
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My gift would actually be for my great great grandmother! I would bring her a copy of the book "Mrs. Haliburton's Troubles, her copy of which was destroyed in the Great Flood of SHEFFIELD in 1864.
I would also give her husband, my g g grandfather, a print off copy of the PDF file that I have about the flood! Also for him I would print off a copy of this flood claim record, below, that states he was a Traveller! I have always wondered why he is stated to be a traveller?
He was a clerk, next a Troop Sergeant in the 12th Royal Lancers, then after buying himself out, held various management positions with the Lincoln, MANCHESTER and SHEFFIELD Railways. Perhaps he may be able to give me an answer! Hope so!
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Flood claim John Gibbons Mathews
Particulars of Claim
Amount of Damages Claimed
Damage to Personal Property Loss and damage to the following articles
Pair of cloth Trowsers, Dark Grey Coat, 2 Hats, pair of patent leather Boots, cleaning and washing Clothes, pair of Lady's Slippers pair of Boys Elastic Side Boots pair of leather leggings Writing pad Groceries Books, consisting of Boys School Books Mrs. Haliburtons Troubles, Work on Homepathy, 2 Prayer Books, and other Books £8 9s
Paid Mr. Sykes for Medical Attendance 12s 6d
Loss not being able to attend to business £2 2s
£11 3s 6d
Certificate Granted
3 July 1865
> SFCA Home | Search > Claim 3972 Summary > Claim 3972 Maps ◄►
£11 3s 6d
Certificate Granted
3 July 1865 Assessed by Consent at £2 9s
Note: Line 2: Homepathy [sic]
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But...... It has been a bit of a puzzle to me why he is recorded on this record as a traveller!
He was certainly in the "travel" business with the Railway, but his father was an Irish Landowner, a Gentleman, his son was an Accountant, worked for GTR in Canada, his wife the daughter of a Coaching Company - all in all quite a wealthy family!
And anyone know how much would £11.3.6d in 1865 be in today's money?
Jeanne
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My gift would actually be for my great great grandmother! I would bring her a copy of the book "Mrs. Haliburton's Troubles, her copy of which was destroyed in the Great Flood of SHEFFIELD in 1864.
I would also give her husband, my g g grandfather, a print off copy of the PDF file that I have about the flood! Also for him I would print off a copy of this flood claim record, below, that states he was a Traveller! I have always wondered why he is stated to be a traveller?
Maybe it was their little joke as he travelled by train round the offices/region every day and they'd have a bit of a laugh at how he'd come from such a good background and was now a 'traveller'.
:)
And anyone know how much would £11.3.6d in 1865 be in today's money?
Fascinating insurance claim! I wish I had something like that. I'd never heard of the Sheffield flood!
Re £11 in 1865, there are various values. You can fiddle around on http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/
But then you end up with three figures and are, really, just as confused as you're not sure which figure is meaningful to you.
It was certainly about 3 months' wages for a "run of the mill person" I'd say. But the relative value of things was different back then. e.g. it might've bought you 1/4 of a house in some areas, others not. The purchasing power gets out of whack because the prices of different things have changed so much between then and now. Then £11 might've bought you X best Sunday shirts .... now you can pop into Asda and probably get 3 for £10 in a sale.
So nailing its actual value in terms that are meaningful to you can be tricky.
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Ok, thanks. I've just checked his employment records again. I only have one that picks up his pay details.
In 1860 he was Coal Traffic Superintendant with Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway!
Weekly pay £3.16.11d. - Annual £200.00 with percentages
So, a little more than 3 weeks pay on his claim, (so long since decimal currency I've forgotten how to do the math with £ s d. ???)
Interestingly, when I first started working in 1969, 105 years later, as an insurance clerk, I was paid £2.10s per week! Which at that time equated to $5pw. The minimum wage in NZ is now just a little over $14 per hour!
If you are interested in reading about that SHEFFIELD Flood, heaps on Google, and images too. Makes very interesting reading. If you would like to read the document that I have, re the event and subsequent investigations etc, PM me you email details and happy to send you a copy!
Jeanne
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Interestingly, when I first started working in 1969, 105 years later, as an insurance clerk, I was paid £2.10s per week! Which at that time equated to $5pw. The minimum wage in NZ is now just a little over $14 per hour!
If you are interested in reading about that SHEFFIELD Flood, heaps on Google, and images too. Makes very interesting reading. If you would like to read the document that I have, re the event and subsequent investigations etc, PM me you email details and happy to send you a copy!
My first job, while still at school in 1975, was a 4-day Easter weekend job. I worked 12 hour days for a "friend of my dad", without knowing how much I'd be earning. It was an over-stocked, crowded, dusty, old-fashioned grocery store with a cellar down steep steps. My job was to stack the shelves continually and lug things up/down the cellar stairs and put out/pull in the display of vegetables at the front of the shop. I can remember having to move about lots of crates of milk continuously - and bags of onions too.
I'd wanted to buy a little plastic jacket (£5). At the end of working the Easter weekend, 48 hours, I was given £14. I never returned!! Cheeky, that wasn't very much even then. About £0.30, or 6 shillings, per hour. After that experience I went temping, as a filing clerk/typist, in the holidays for £0.84/hour, so nearly 3x as much.
I'll leave the Sheffield information offer on the table for now, I'm already snowed under with stuff to read and things I should be doing at home instead of being here online :)
It's all such an obsession, one has to learn when to say "STOP!"
:)
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No worries, just let me know when you are ready, and happy to send it!
Jeanne
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Right now I'm trawling the Sun insurance documents at the National Archives online -and- watching two re-runs of WDYTYA I've not seen before and one of them involves a regiment two newly-discovered great uncles joined/died with.... so keeping half an ear out on that in case I investigate them/their war at some future point. They're my first "war finds", so not going into war at the moment as that's a whole new raft of learning/understanding :) I'm sticking with "Regular, findable people in a tree that stayed in England, in the counties I know/understand"
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It is my understanding that my gr-grandmothers lived wealthy and comfortable lives in Central Europe.
So I could give them a moments clear insight into the politics of their day, and the strength to safeguard their circumstances. :'(
Or, more selfishly, I could give them back their (no doubt,) expensive sewing workbox and silver chatelaine in the hopes I would inherit them one day.
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Thinking about it some more, what about a beautiful journal book, with a section for recipes. It would be marvellous to pore over and treasure now.
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Thinking about it some more, what about a beautiful journal book, with a section for recipes. It would be marvellous to pore over and treasure now.
I know my G-grandma cooked chicken .... I know this because my G-granddad was arrested for stealing a chicken and G-grandma lead the policeman to the remains of it in a pot when they knocked on her door to arrest him. With a new baby in the household, he was sent to prison for Xmas.
I hope my G-granddad enjoyed that chicken, it'll have been the best meal he had for some months!
:)
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I think I'd give my great grandma - or any other relative from 19thC or earlier - a very special digital camera that didn't require re-charging, but would automatically caption all photos with the names of the people in them ( and preferably who was where in the photo, and the date and location it was taken on), a quick lesson on how to use it, and a secure time capsule and place to put it so I could pick it up now!
Like many others I suffer from a box full on anonymous strangers in photos, who may well be close relatives - if ONLY SOMEONE HAD WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF EACH PRINT WHO THEY WERE!
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I think I'd give my great grandma - or any other relative from 19thC or earlier - a very special digital camera that didn't require re-charging, but would automatically caption all photos with the names of the people in them ( and preferably who was where in the photo, and the date and location it was taken on), a quick lesson on how to use it, and a secure time capsule and place to put it so I could pick it up now!
Like many others I suffer from a box full on anonymous strangers in photos, who may well be close relatives - if ONLY SOMEONE HAD WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF EACH PRINT WHO THEY WERE!
Yes, that'd be a good one!
I often wonder what happened to old photos when houses were cleared. My nan always had her sideboard top covered in them - but where did they go when she died? Her two sons will have cleared the house (probably), my mum wasn't there ... and I wonder if they're all out there, somewhere. They might've been binned as the immediate people didn't know who they were :(
I feel confident that in 10 years' time sites like ancestry etc will have an automated photo/face recognition feature. That way, if one of the descendants of somebody in the photo had also uploaded another photo of that person it'd flag up as a possible match to be pursued and agreed/dismissed.
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What a brilliant idea! -But, oh, the hassle of uploading them all.....
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I often wonder what happened to old photos when houses were cleared.
I remember a number of years ago, an old lady over the road from us passed away and had no family, I looked out of the window one afternoon and loads of her belongings had been put out in a skip at the side of the road and there was dozens and dozens of photographs blowing down the street in the wind. It was heartbreaking, the poor woman's life long memories discarded like some kind of rubbish.
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It should be made illegal. In cases like that, I think paperwork and photos should be saved (by law) and sent to the local archives, for future generations.
There could be all sorts of important documentation/information etc there
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"It should be made illegal."
¡Yikes!
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"It should be made illegal."
¡Yikes!
Well, it's illegal to drop a toffee wrapper in the street.... but not illegal to deliberately destroy documents and papers of a socially historical nature. Seems odd when you look at it like that.
And you can get fined for some ridiculous 'offences'
Imagine if that old lady had had three sons she'd lost in WW1, there could've been a multitude of sadnesses in that family and even though it was thought "she had no family" we all know how they can randomly turn up. She might've had a sister who pre-deceased her and who'd moved abroad and whose children would start digging into the family history!
Or, there might've been the earliest photo of somebody who eventually became infamous, who'd lived next door to her for 30 years, that a researcher could discover when writing a book 50 years in the future.
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My gift would actually be for my great great grandmother! I would bring her a copy of the book "Mrs. Haliburton's Troubles, her copy of which was destroyed in the Great Flood of SHEFFIELD in 1864.
I would also give her husband, my g g grandfather, a print off copy of the PDF file that I have about the flood! Also for him I would print off a copy of this flood claim record, below, that states he was a Traveller! I have always wondered why he is stated to be a traveller?
He was a clerk, next a Troop Sergeant in the 12th Royal Lancers, then after buying himself out, held various management positions with the Lincoln, MANCHESTER and SHEFFIELD Railways. Perhaps he may be able to give me an answer! Hope so!
..........
Flood claim John Gibbons Mathews
Particulars of Claim
Amount of Damages Claimed
Damage to Personal Property Loss and damage to the following articles
Pair of cloth Trowsers, Dark Grey Coat, 2 Hats, pair of patent leather Boots, cleaning and washing Clothes, pair of Lady's Slippers pair of Boys Elastic Side Boots pair of leather leggings Writing pad Groceries Books, consisting of Boys School Books Mrs. Haliburtons Troubles, Work on Homepathy, 2 Prayer Books, and other Books £8 9s
Paid Mr. Sykes for Medical Attendance 12s 6d
Loss not being able to attend to business £2 2s
£11 3s 6d
Certificate Granted
3 July 1865
> SFCA Home | Search > Claim 3972 Summary > Claim 3972 Maps ◄►
£11 3s 6d
Certificate Granted
3 July 1865 Assessed by Consent at £2 9s
Note: Line 2: Homepathy [sic]
.............
But...... It has been a bit of a puzzle to me why he is recorded on this record as a traveller!
He was certainly in the "travel" business with the Railway, but his father was an Irish Landowner, a Gentleman, his son was an Accountant, worked for GTR in Canada, his wife the daughter of a Coaching Company - all in all quite a wealthy family!
And anyone know how much would £11.3.6d in 1865 be in today's money?
Jeanne
I love it when details of their clothes/possessions are listed, as above and in Wills, you start to get a real picture of them
Regarding your puzzlement over 'Traveller', my g,grandfather was a railway detective, but gave his occupation as Clerk or Commercial Traveller. Maybe he had to keep his actual job 'undercover', but it could just be railway parlance that any employee who travelled the railways in their work was given
these designations. I would imagine that, as a manager, your ancestor would have had to do a fair bit of travelling.
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Yes Susie, finding that claim was quite an insight into their family life at that time. I'm inclined to agree that the term "Traveller" was used lightly in this case, due to the generational family profile I had worked up prior to finding this particular record! ;) .
In later years, he and his wife were living with one of their sons, (my gggfather) his son's wife and their children in what is now a listed house in The Conservation Area of Stockwell in London!
So thank you for your thoughts! Much appreciated.
Jeanne
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Do you know, I never thought of a traveller as a roaming person, when I found one in a linked line? I sort of assumed he was a salesman who went round getting orders .... as indeed he was ... for wines and spirits! It shows how blinkered I could be that I never even thought of the other sort! Memo to self: ALWAYS think around an idea.
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I can remember my mother, more than 50 years ago, washing at the deep sink in our wash-house. She would often have chilblains and hacks (cracked skin) on her hands. As her granny (my great-granny) would tell her she 'might have been born a lady, but was never needed', I know that mum, my grannies, my great-grannies and generations back from them were hard-working women - so handlotion and ointment for chilblains and cracked skin would be my gift to all of them. Of course, if it was allowed, a wonderful automatic washing machine would be even better. I often think how lucky I am to have such an invention - what a boon!
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Do you know, I never thought of a traveller as a roaming person, when I found one in a linked line? I sort of assumed he was a salesman who went round getting orders .... as indeed he was ... for wines and spirits! It shows how blinkered I could be that I never even thought of the other sort! Memo to self: ALWAYS think around an idea.
:) I had one like that too, shows up in a marriage record in another family line as "Boot and Shoe Traveller"! I thought maybe he might be a traveller - cobbler, but he actually worked for Clark's Shoes!
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I have to consider myself very lucky in regards to one of my g g/m's.
Her daughter was my father's mother. My g g/mother had my grandmother in the same Croft house she died in (g g/m)
My g/mother was away for a spell to the mainland but returned to the family home & looked after my g g/m until her death.
I have been there many times & actually lived in that house with my g/m for 1 yr although holidayed there annually (prior to her death) so I have a good knowledge & feel of the life & times.
I am assuming my g g/m did her washing & drying of clothes in a similar manner as my g/mother who used a wood/glass" scrubbing/wash board" & dried items over large rocks, pinned down with smaller ones so the washing didn't escape ;D
I would imagine my g g/m didn't have a wash board but used a tin basin/bath & stones (in the same manner as a wash board)?
My gift to my g g/m would be a Wash Board, a Hand Wringer & an "inside" tap as the only tap was located outside & water had to be heated on a peat fire.
I have those memories although my g g/m was gone before I was born but passed on to my g/m & those memories are cherished ;)
Annie
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I also met my Gt Gran, a formidable woman, who scared me. My sister went to her house with my grandfather who was her son-in-law, she loved him and scared my sister. She had a big family, I wondered if there was any joy there!