Four Trees -Our Great Grandmothers

[Zelley]

I only have pictures of one of my great grandmothers, Winifred Roberts Carrington.  I don't know when the younger picture was taken but the older one is from a golden wedding portrait in 1927 at age 71.

can't imagine the pain of losing one child - let alone three - she must have been a very strong lady and I'm very proud to be one of her great grandchildren.

Heather

God post, thanks!

[Rossdal3]

Heather, your GG Winifred aged beautifully!

It was amazing how they coped with the pain that life dealt in those times. It seems to be a pattern in my family that these tragic deaths were just repressed and the people never spoken about again, but surely it must have caught up with them in the long term!

Jill

[hiraeth]

Heather, your GG Winifred aged beautifully!

It was amazing how they coped with the pain that life dealt in those times. It seems to be a pattern in my family that these tragic deaths were just repressed and the people never spoken about again, but surely it must have caught up with them in the long term!

Jill

The University of Buffalo recently released a study indicating that a "stiff upper lip" may be the best way to deal with shock rather than letting your feelings spill out.   Perhaps the old ways were best after all.  I think that very strong religious beliefs also must have helped them to cope - a certain sense of "God's Will" being done etc.    Winifred's last surviving grand-daughter - my auntie - will be 88 next week and she remembers her very clearly as she was 20 when the family "matriarch" Winifred died at the age of 84 in 1940.    One of several amazing ladies I have discovered in my quest for roots!

Heather

[Rossdal3]

Hi Heather,

Do you have any further details about that studyat all, it's the first I've heard of it.  I am involved in academic research and am very interested in anything new in the area of human resilience or in more trendy terms, Emotional Intelligence.

It doesn't surprise me about the "stiff upper lip" findings, but the acceptance that belief in a high being contributes as well, is very interesting (or the fact that it is accepted by academics, that is).  Do you know who the researchers are by any chance please?

kind regards,
Jill

[hiraeth]

Hi Jill

Sorry for the confusion, but the "faith" theory is not drawn from academic study.   The "stiff upper lip" theory was published in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology according to this article.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1812204,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

Heather

[Rossdal3]

Thanks so much for the URL Heather, very interesting, I'll see if there's anything published on the University website as well.  Even more interesting was the related article on "Genes and post traumatic stress!!!

regards,
Jill

[Zelley]

With each post, we have a growing tribute to our many great grandmothers with so many interesting stories of their times and their struggles.

[mrs_tease]

My Grandma Edith May Walters(who wrote the stories I have put on another thread)seems to have been a very strong lady.
I have stories she wrote about her holidays all over Europe in the 1960's.

For a woman in her 70's then,to travel ,alot of times by herself, to different countries, seems a pretty amazing feat to me.
Not only did she raise 7 boys on her own after her husband died, she did so during the War, helped alot of others with her work in the Salvation Army and then found the courage to travel, I only hope I'm as strong as that when I hit that age!!!!

[Rossdal3]

I take my hat off to anyone raising 7 boys on their own!!! I don't know how your Grandma did it, I'm raising 1 boy alone and it's a tough and relentless job!!! 

The thing I envy about the times they lived in was the fact that they had that strong community spirit around them.  The old saying "it takes a village to raise a child" is so true and they seemed to have that 1 and 2 hundred years ago. 

My Gt Grandmother raised 12 children in a tiny terrace home in West Bowling, Bradford with an outdoor toilet.  They only had 2 bedrooms and they all slept in 2 double beds in the one tiny bedroom and their parents had the other bedroom, but the siblings all grew up close and looked after each other and their parents all their lives. No one was abandoned to the state to be cared for, and they all lived to mid 80s and 90s.

Jill