black faced gypsies

[joe.c]

im wondering if anyone can help me i read a book once that had a chapter on a gypsy family from the north east of england, their surname was coulson, but they were known as the black face gypsies, and they were known for collecting coal off the beaches. i tried to get hold of the book again but couldnt, does anyone have any info on this please?

[LH35]

Theres a book with the title.."Tales of the old Gypsies" its by Jennifer Davies, it as a chaptor in it called Coulsons of Craghead and it mentions the Black face Coulsons,could this be the one ?

 ISBN 0715307029

[joe.c]

Theres a book with the title.."Tales of the old Gypsies" its by Jennifer Davies, it as a chaptor in it called Coulsons of Craghead and it mentions the Black face Coulsons,could this be the one ?

 ISBN 0715307029

i really think it could be! i will see if i can get a hold of the book, do you yourself know of any copies? thats really really helpful thankyou very much.

[LH35]

Ive just had a look on Amazon  and you can buy one from there , just put the title on Amazon books .

[rob g]

hi, joe, nothing to do with the book. but a little info you  may know or like to know. black faced travellers are dark skinned romany, many of them were poorer then most gypsy folk, as they were looked down on by both gorgios, and other travellers, so only had the worst paid types of work. it may seem odd. but there was and still is, a bit of a caste system in romany folk. we still call dark skinned romanys black faced . so it might be it was not the work that gave them a black face. but it is all different now, as we have to cope with what the world has become, we seem to have banded  together. rob..g

[joe.c]

Lh; i have ordered a copy fom amazon, i saw the book about 9yrs ago and off and on iv looked for it, not very well but with no author or title to go by, i asked the same question and people didnt know what i was rattling on about. after half an hour of coming across this forum and posting my message i have a successful reply so once again thankyou. my grandad has the surname which i carry too and doesnt know much of his family, he is from the north east and while i dont pressume any relation to the particular family of the book, it still possibly may explain some characteristics of our gene pool.

rob; thankyou rob what you have mentioned is insightful and i didnt know it. there is an old photo of my grandad when he was younger, jet balck hair and tight curls. i tell him he looks like ryan giggs and he says thats funny they used to call me giggsy at school? he was continously told by a neighbour ''he had the tar brush in him'' he recalls an aunty he used to see that he was very fond of wrapped in a shawl always. a big woman who he says looked pure eskimo and very warm face. and my uncle was frequently asked if he was from mongolia they have a south eastern european look. im fascinated by history and family history is no different. i wont pretend to be gypsy but respect and agree with alot of traditional values they carry that seem to have withstood the test of time as best they could.  joe.c

[ginacoulson]

the family you are talking about is my family