Week 8 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Heirloom

The dictionary definition of an heirloom is a valuable object that has belonged to a family for several generations.

For most this will mean a piece of jewellery or something else with considerable monetary value.

However, to many family historians, other items which may have less monetary worth may be considered to be more valuable. Items such as a family bible containing information and clues as to who their ancestors were are prized possessions. That is not to say that other items of monetary worth are not valuable or prized. If like our family, you came from a background of agricultural labourers or other labouring class, nothing of great value was owned or survived.

I would like to discuss a couple of items in this post which have a value to my husband's family and I have in my possession. These have come to me from different people and this has a bearing on their provenance. 

Hopefully, this comparison will highlight the importance of documenting provenance for both accuracy and thoroughness.

The first item was given to me by my father in law but had been originally created by his father in law.

This will be unlikely to ever have any real monetary worth but it is still going to have value for the family. The person who created this was Harold Ward who was the owner of the suitcase in this earlier post. In fact he already has 2 gt gt grandchildren who might be fascinated to see what he made.

The second item is a bible which contains within it details of my father in law's maternal grandparents and their children. This item was sent to me, by a person, with no connection to the family, who had rescued it years earlier in Stratford Upon Avon. My father in law has a brother who lives in this town, but he had no knowledge of this bible, and the family had lived in Rutland, a neighbouring county, miles away.

Useful information is contained in these pages but it is not entirely correct and I have no idea who wrote this or when it was written.

If you have inherited items of interest from older family members make sure you find out more about who, what, when, where and why. Include what you know alongside the item or somewhere other will know what you are refering to such as a blog like this with images.

Many of the items in the suitcase I wrote about, were kept for a reason, but as the generations go by the reasons for keeping them get forgotten. Items become just some tat and get thrown away along with the memories. There are a stocking, ration book and other wartime memorabilia, day to day items that have been kept because they meant something, items that came back from overseas with the soldiers. 
I think I need to find out more whilst I can still speak to his son .

Week 7 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Valentine

When I first read this prompt I thought to myself, what do I write about, we have nobody with the name Valentine in the family.

A quick look at my tree on Ancestry was to show that actually 6 people are recorded with the name Valentine. 

Of these 3 are confirmed as being born on 14 February but the remaining 3 have births at other times of the year. 
Of those with births other than Valentines day a father and son had births in July and the final quarter of the year so no connection. The third of these was born in September and as this was a third forename for a female it may have had some significance in the wider family circle.

I have used different records to clarify the exact date of birth for these individuals. If they died after 1968, in England or Wales, then the date of birth is included in the death indexes.

One of these individuals was Walter Valentine Garland (14 February 1876 - 28 April 1883). So for him I could not use the death index.

He appears on just one census record in 1881

This does not give enough information to determine his exact date of birth and the birth index will only give the quarter in which the birth was registered.

So unless I pay for a certificate or a digital copy I have no record of the exact date of birth.

Find My Past has christenings for Lincolnshire and sometimes the date of birth was also recorded in the register so I went and searched for him there.

So I didn't find a birth date in the christening record but I did find this

The National School Admission Register for Barkston, Lincolnshire, England. 

Although the Valentine is not recorded here it fits with his birth and death records.

to complete the picture his Find A Grave memorial can be found here .
This is his burial in the Barkston register including a cause of death.

So poor Walter Valentine Garland died of Diptheria at the age of 7 years. An illness which is now part of the standard vaccinations given to young babies.


I also have my own connection to Valentine's Day. I shall record it here as part of my own lifestory.
On our first Valentine's Day 37 years ago my husband and I visited the jewellers in Southampton and bought my engagement ring.

In July this year we will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary.

Here is another heart ring that my husband had made for me several years ago. It has 2 heart shaped amethysts.

Week 6 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Favourite Name

So what is the favourite name I have encountered whilst researching my family tree. There are names that are common and pass from one generation to the next. 

Names that provide clues for maiden names such as the name Heffield in my One Name Study which may have been a corruption of the surname Hayfield. Peregrine is another name which has been used by the family for my One Name Study.

But it is to my own ancestor that I look for a favourite. 

My maternal grandfather Alfred Roberts died 2 years before I was born.

This photograph was taken by my mother in the garden of their house in Totton, Hampshire, England.

His mother was Tamsey Love Savory the daughter of Thomas Savory and Tamsey Galpin.

I have researched both his mother and grandmother and with an unusual first name, you might expect to have little problem finding either of them in the records.

I first encounter the name Tamsey Love on the birth certificate of her son Alfred. I also now have a digital copy of the certificates for 2 of his brothers. All 3 certificates clearly have these recorded as her forenames.
Thanks to my uncle's interest in the family he has preserved many of the family documents and also has some family photographs.

Tamsey Love Roberts (nee Savory)

However the search for Tamsey has been hampered by poor transcriptions.

This table shows the search results from Ancestry.

Year	Name	Birthplace
1911	Jamsey Love Roberts	Oakford city, Dorset, England
1901	Samsey S Roberts	Oreford Fitzpaine, Dorset, England.
1891	Fanny L Roberts	Okeford Fitzpaine, Dorset, England
1881	Love Savourie	Okeford Fitzpaine, Dorset, England
1871	Luie Savory	Okeford Fitzpaine, Dorset, England

This table shows the search results from Find My Past

Year	Name	Birthplace
1911	Tamsey Love Roberts	Okeford Fitzpaine
1901	Tamsey S Roberts	Okeford Fitzpaine
1891	Fanny S Roberts	Oakeford Sity Spaine
1881	Love Savourie	Okeford Fitzpaine
1871	Line Savory	England

I think that before she left home having mother and daughter using the same first name would have been difficult which would explain the use of Love instead of Tamsey.

However once we move to the printed electoral rolls at Find My Past she is only recorded as Tamsey.

Yesterday we marked 100 years since some women first got the vote in Britain and my gt grandmother was one of those listed in the 1918 electoral register.

Each of us has a role in history however small.

So my favourite  name is Tamsey.

Week 5 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

In the Census

Why was Ann Elizabeth Grant not with her husband and children in the 1871 Census? ¹ 

The headstone clearly shows that she did not die until 1896.

She is with her family in the 1861 census. ² 

By the time we get to the 1881 census, ³  she is listed as a widow and head of the household. 

Her husband Edward had died in 1879, 4 and her occupation was now listed as a nurse.

So where was she in 1871 if not at the family home.

A search of the census records revealed that there was an Ann Eliz. Grant born in Lyndhurst, Hants. whose occupation is listed as Carrier. She is enumerated at Hants County Prison in St Faith, Winchester, Hampshire and listed as an inmate. 5  

Why was she there what was her crime and sentence?

I found this before any criminal records had been made available online and I do not live near the Hampshire Archives. However, I managed to elicit some help from another descendant of Ann who has also been researching this family.

This is what has been posted on her tree at Ancestry.

I have subsequently been able to find digital images of criminal records and newspaper reports.

This is a transcript of a report from The Hampshire Advertiser, March 1, 1871, p. 3, col. 3, entitled "Larceny by a Bailee."

Ann Elizabeth Grant, carrier, aged53, was indicted for stealing a watch, at Lyndhurst, on November 15th.

Mr. Beetham prosecuted, and called prosecutrix, Ann Hedgerton, a single woman, who intrusted her with a silver watch to take to Mr. Pegler's, at Southampton, to be cleaned. She was to bring it back in a week, but failing this, prosecutrix went, after another week's delay, to prisoner to get it. She made a variety of excuses, and eventually went with prosecutrix to Mr. Pegler's shop, where she said she had left it there, but they denied it entirely. It was found at Mr. Cotten's shop, a pawnbroker in St. Michael's square, where, on December 19th, prisoner, he believed, pledged it, and came on February 6th to take it out again. It was pawned in the name of Ann Green, of French street.

Mr. Russell, for the defence, urged that Mr. Pegler and his shopman should have been called, and also that Mr. Cotten was not sure prisoner pledged it, but only went so far as to say she took it out of pawn. He suggested to the jury that it was pledged by some other woman, and traced out by prisoner.

The Judge, in summing up, put the ingenious defence on one side, and the jury found her guilty, recommending her to mercy on account of her age and former good conduct as a carrier. She was told her character was lost by this affair, which was most clear. The sentence on her would be six weeks imprisonment with hard labour.

It is interesting what a single census record can lead one to discover. 

I will share more about this in another post.

1. "1871 England Census," database with images, Ancestry.co.uk (https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 11 January 2005), digital image, enumerators schedule, household of Edward Grant, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England; citing The National Archives (TNA), RG10, Piece 1184, Folio 17, p. 2, New Forest Registration district, Lyndhurst subdistrict, ED 1d, household 10
2. "1861 England Census" database with images, Ancestry.co.uk (https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 5 February 2007), digital image, enumerators schedule, household of Edward Grant, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England; ; citing The National Archives (TNA), RG9, Piece 670, Folio 20, p. 33, New Forest Registration district, Lyndhurst subdistrict, ED 1d, household 169.
3. "1881 England Census" database with images, Ancestry.co.uk (https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 13 ‎April ‎2005), digital image, enumerators schedule, household of Ann E. Grant, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England; citing The National Archives (TNA), RG11, Piece 1202, Folio 42, p. 41, New Forest registration district, sub district Lyndhurst, ED 2, household 235.
4. General Register Office, England, certified copy of an entry in the certified copy of a Register of Deaths, New Forest Registration District, 18 January 1879, entry for Edward Grant, died 14 January 1879, Pike Hill, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England; photocopy certificate, issued 14 April 2010, New Forest Registration district, Vol. 2b, P. 447, General Register Office, Southport, England.
5. "1871 England Census" database with images, Ancestry.co.uk (https://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 13 ‎April ‎2005), digital image, enumerators schedule, entry for Ann Eliz. Grant, Winchester, Hampshire, England; citing The National Archives (TNA), RG10, Piece 1212, Folio 99, p. 6, Winchester registration district, sub district Winchester, ED County Prison, Line 6.