RootsChat.Com

My mother died last year. She was the last of her generation and even she was barely 2 years old when her Uncle Ernest died and 7 when her grandfather George died. I had already extracted everything she had - both documentation and memory.

I really think think this well is dry, having delivered far more than I ever thought available.


Thanks to all.

Seems I need to find a new puzzle to set you! Such as following an obscure set of in laws I found at 40 1/2 Castle Terrace Ashington in 1939.

In 1953 my father bought his first property - a flat at 40 1/2 Castle Terrace!

Hmm. Interesting!

That is indeed my great grandfather George Hall of 18 Coronation Terrace who died 15 May 1935 aged 67.

But he was a Coal Miner, not a shoe repairer. Unless he took over the running of Ernest's shop on his death. Maybe the young 'Dennis' was doing the actual cobbler's work and George just did the administrative side? Who knows? That is news to me.  My great grandmother Mary Ann Saul 1870-1953 has 'Unpaid Domestic Duties' in the 1939 Census so presumably the cobbler's shop at 64 Newgate closed on George's death or maybe the business passed on to 'Dennis'? It now intrigues me the number of times we drove by there but my Mother never mentioned its significance. Maybe she never bothered to find out. I am surprised my grandmother didn't point  out her late brother's shop though.


I attach his George's photograph at 18 Coronation Terrace.

https://mediasvc.ancestry.co.uk/v2/image/namespaces/1093/media/b2b6bbd1-a379-40c3-b650-9876d416c3f6.jpg?client=TreeService&maxside=280


Looking again at the photograph of Ernest's shop there appears to be a number 6 on the very right hand edge.

https://mediasvc.ancestry.co.uk/v2/image/namespaces/1093/media/f7a4ae56-aff9-47f4-91e6-406f41f642cd.jpg?client=Trees&imageQuality=hq&maxWidth=1903&maxHeight=1036

This would correspond with its address being 64 Newgate Street.

Looking at today's Google Streetview this would appear to be one shop westward of the corner of Newgate and Manchester. The photograph is consistent with the simple 2 story structure that still exists. Today this seems to be Nacho Nacho and 62 and 64 combined into one shop and looks a lot poorer for it. The passageway to the left of Ernest's photograph seems to have acquired a red painted door today.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.1694256,-1.6914939,3a,48.8y,42.79h,86.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swGmYDEBUYU1f9gXiyLJOoQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

So I suspect you have gleaned more than you first realised! The actual address gives me something I might be able to expand upon. But there cannot be much meat left on those bones. Unless some-one knows the make and model of his motorcycle!

Many many thanks once again and have a Christmas thingy. It is still Christmas for us as I keep my late father's Orthodox tradition of following the Julian calendar - so 2 Christmases for our family. Roast pork tonight.


Bob

I can check the local newspapers you mention and perhaps a couple of others which might show a report.  However, this may take up to a few weeks depending on when work/commitments will fit in with library opening hours.  I will do the checking if you don't mind a little wait?

I have been pottering about with my family tree for years, so another month or three will make no difference.

After all this time the only thing that seems to ever change is that more information becomes more accessible.

Above all you are doing me an immense favour - who and what would I be trying to put deadlines on that!

I'm an Ashington lad lost in Pembrokeshire for the last 40 years.

I would appreciate anyone using the library to lookup any information in the Evening Chronicle, or the Journal or any more local papers of the era, about my Great Uncle Ernest.

Any information about him, his shop, the accident from whatever source would be appreciated.

Grandmother told me he died in a "Collision between his motorcycle and a bus, on his way to his cobbler's shop in Morpeth”

National Probate Calendar  states “died 8 April 1930  On the highway between Guidepost and High Pit Choppington both in Northumberland”

I recall regularly visiting his grave at Seaton Hirst with my grandmother. I have a photograph of the headstone, with his mother.

I have a photograph of him in his shop doorway with a young assistant.
The photograph is annotated with the name Dennis, presumably this young assistant.
The permanent sign is “Electric Shop” with a printed paper sign E W Hall in the window.

My Grandmother referred to him him often. Because of this bit of family history I did not get a motorcycle until after my grandmother's death.


I can add the photographs if they are of any interest - and once I have mastered the restrictions of this particular site!

https://mediasvc.ancestry.co.uk/v2/image/namespaces/1093/media/f7a4ae56-aff9-47f4-91e6-406f41f642cd.jpg?client=Trees&imageQuality=hq&maxWidth=1903&maxHeight=1036

Is there any chance that they were Presbyterian?

"As at least two were baptised at a Presbyterian chapel the CoE 'baptisms' may just be registrations of baptisms elsewhere, so their marriage may be Presbyterian as well?"

There is a high probability of that. I have no experience of tracking these border marriages and that is an area I was seeking help and advice.