Herne, Hair and Hull: My Davidson Roots

I know I have been very quiet on this blog for some time, but life has been busy so family history has had to be put to one side for a little while, but also I have been concentrating on getting this finished, edited and printed ready for Christmas. 

 

The first edition of my family history book concentrating on the Davidson line of my family. It is a BIG achievement to finally complete this.

Big thanks goes to my father-in-law for formatting and printing it for me and to my husband for the cover design.

The Book of Me, Written by You - Week 56 - Clubs & Societies

The Book Of Me, Written By You is a 15 month project set up by Julie Goucher at Anglers Rest.

Each week there are prompts which require answering.

Week 56 - Clubs & Societies

When I was a student at the University of Bradford was a real season of belonging to clubs & societies.

As a student I was a member of:

• The Christian Union
• Trampolining
• University Orchestra

Now, I struggle to find the time to be a part of clubs & societies, but I have recently joined Raise Your Voice Community Choir as I was really missing being actively involved in community music.

My family and I are also a part of an emerging community called The Well Community which is a group of people with the same faith values who are delving into deeper relationships together and processing what being a community means in today's society.

Growing up as a child I was always involved in something or other so here is a list of clubs and societies I was a part of for some of my childhood years:

• Trampolining at school
• School Orchestra
• School Chamber Orchestra
• Church Choir - not a tradition church choir but we would sing together Christian musicals at various seasonal events, such as Christmas, Easter or anniversaries
• Youth Club - based in a church we would hang out together on a Friday evening and eat sweets, play pool, listen to music, chat and just generally socialise
• Christian Endeavour - a children's club at the church we were a part of as a family
• Vision - a monthly Christian youth event, which has grown into something much bigger now

I love the idea of joining a good genealogical society or local history society but it's having the time to do this, as I would rather spend time with investing in my family, researching my family tree alongside work and housework and those never ending tasks!

I also occasionally go to events organised by clubs and societies related to my profession, especially when they are Continuous Educational Training days which interest me and my career path.

I have some photos of my great grandfather, Walter Davidson as part of a bowling club from Hull. We suspect it was East Park Bowling Club. My grandfather once told me that it upset him that Walter, his father, spent so much time with the bowling club and not enough time with his family.

Bowling Club in Hull, East Yorkshire - my great grandfather is middle row, 3rd person from the left

Bowling Club in Hull, East Yorkshire - my great grandfather is on the back row, second from the left

Bowling Club in Hull, East Yorkshire - my great grandfather is on the back row, second from the right

Photographs Through The Generations

Ok so this blog post is an idea from Genea-Musing blog . . .

I have 7 generations of photos in my Davidson family line, so here goes . . .

1) My great, great, great grandparents

John Davidson (1832-1897) & Jane Davidson nee Redwood (1827-1894)

2) My great, great grandparents

Edward Davidson (1866-1928) & Martha Davidson nee Hair (1862-1929)

2 & 3) My great, great grandmother & her sons, the youngest being my great grandfather

Martha Davidson nee Hair (1862-1929) with her sons, Edward (1886-?) & Walter (1888-1969)

2 & 3) My great, great grandparents & their sons, the youngest being my great grandfather

Edward (1866-1928), Martha nee Hair (1862-1929), Edward (1886-?) & Walter Davidson (1888-1969)

3 & 4) My great grandfather with his sons (my great uncles)

Walter Davidson (1888-1969) with his sons, Edward (1916-1995) & Walter Leslie (1923-2003)

4) My grandparents

Ronald Davidson & Mary nee Poole

5) My dad with his younger brother

My father & uncle

6) Myself and brother

7) Mine and my brother's offspring...

We have plenty a photo of the next generation but not to share at the moment

The Book of Me, Written by You - Week 52 - Inherited Items

The Book Of Me, Written By You is a 15 month project set up by Julie Goucher at Anglers Rest.

Each week there are prompts which require answering.

Week 52 - Inherited Items

I have a number of inherited items, partly due to the fact that family members know I am interested in the family tree so pass on items for me to take care of and ensure they will be passed on. 

A jug with my great, great grandmothers name on it:

I found this jug at my mum's house when I was helping her to move. She said I could have it. It is quite a precious inherited item as I own very little and know very little of this side of my family. The jug says "Mrs Wilcock 1899 Leeds" presumably it was made for my great, great grandmother - Sarah Ann Wilcock nee Holmes as a wedding present as she was wed to Charles Wilcock in 1899. 

My Inherited Jug

My great grandmother's engagement ring:

In my grandmother's will she left her jewellery to her grandchildren. An item I was privileged to receive was my great grandmothers, Alice Thompson's engagement ring, which without adjustment fits me well, although I don't often wear it. It is a gorgeous ring. In the jewellery selection I received there was also a beautiful amethyst broach which is in a little old case. It was probably passed down from someone else as well, but unsure whom.

Birth, marriage, death certificates and other documents:

I have quite a good collection of my ancestors documents now, from apprenticeship records, burial records, school certificates to original birth, marriage and death certificates. Everyone passes them onto me as they know I'll be interested due to the family tree research I do. 

A school attendance certificate for my great grandfather, Walter Davidson

My great, great grandfather's notebooks:

After the death of my great grandfather, my dad acquired a box of records and documents which had belonged to my great grandfather and his father. In this collection was my great, great grandfather's notebooks and address books, my dad later passed all these intriguing items to me to aid my research.

Excerpt from Edward Davidson's notebooks

Excerpt from Edward Davidson's notebooks

A collection of photos:

Again from the box of miscellaneous items my father acquired was a large collection of old photos. We are unsure who some of the people on the photos are but I will not throw them out, who knows one day someone may know who's face it is in those photos.

My great, great grandparents, Edward and Martha, great grandfather, Walter and his brother, known as Uncle Ted

My ancestor was . . . a dock worker

A dock worker is a generic occupation for a person who worked on the docks, yet there were many different occupations and roles at the docks, in which case your ancestor may have been:

• Loading and unloading boats AKA a Stevedore, which is derived from the Spanish estibador and/or Portuguese estivador meaning a man who stuffs or loads boats.
• Lumpers - a docker who unloads fish at a dock
• Railway workers
• Carpenters - building or repairing ships
• Engineers
• Fitters - a person who assembles parts to manufacture a mechanical device
• Blacksmiths
• Wagon drivers
• Grooms
• Dockside police - I presume would have policed what came in and out of the ports and docks
• Harbour officials
• Watermen who worked on barges
• Lightermen operated lighters which are a type of flat-bottomed barge
• Roadsters
• Rope makers
• Lifting gear operators
• Crane drivers
• Chain makers
• Sack manufacturers
• Boiler makers - in the ship building industry
• Colliers - a person who produced charcoal or mined for coal
• Coal whippers - unloaded coal from transport ships

Dockers would be strong men who required great physical strength and there would be a great social atmosphere, yet dockers were prone to accidents as well as exposure to hazardous substances.

I have a few generations of dockers, mainly boiler makers in my family tree. My great grandfather, Walter Davidson was a dock labourer in the docks at Hull until World War II when he and the family relocated to north Leeds, West Yorkshire when he got a job at Kirkstall Forge. Walter's brother, Uncle Ted, father, Edward and grandfather, John were all boiler makers who worked at the docks in Hull and the East End of London. John's step-father, Michael Lester was also a boiler maker. You can read more about my Davidson ancestors at The Davidson Family.

Information from:

Your Family Tree Magazine 133
Wikipedia - Stevedore
Wikipedia - Lumper
Wikipedia - Fitter (occupation)
Wikipedia - Lighterman
Wikipedia - Collier
Family Research - Coal Whippers

2014 oh, what will you bring?

2014 has crept up me very quickly and silently this year, I had many plans for time for reflection of 2013 and for the future, but life is so busy it has been cast to one side, although I have a few hours of time for reflection now, so here goes...

2013

It has been really fun to see how the blog has developed properly over the last year. It was my New Year's Resolution in 2013 to do at least one blog post a week on this blog, which I have done and seem to have more people actively following me and reading my blog which is really exciting. I am pleased people enjoy my rambling and random research!!! I started with 2 followers at the beginning of the year (my husband and father-in-law!) and how have 18, which is amazing.

It has been nice to follow other genealogy and personal family history blogs as well to gain ideas and knowledge as well as actively see what what is happening on an everyday basis in the world of genealogy. I have started to use BLOGLOVIN' to follow other's blogs.

I had aimed to finish The Davidson Family as a blog page and as a book to give to family members for Christmas but I have failed to meet that deadline with other work and life commitments, but my aim is to sort it for 2014 Christmas!!!! The written work is finished but I realised if I wanted to make it into a proper book, then I needed to properly reference it, so I'm finishing that at the moment which is taking forever. It has been a challenging project which I will be really happy to finish but I have learnt so much by taking that challenge and writing it.

I have loved getting involved with Julie Goucher's, The Book of Me, Written by You and seeing what that brings up, alongside researching and sharing with you all some of the things within Family History which really make me tick, such as Surname Saturday's, some useful tips for beginnings to researching.

Some of my favourite posts from 2013 are:

• Origins of Surnames in the UK
• Finding a Marriage, Birth and Death Certificate series
• Surname Saturday's

Towards the end of 2013, I found I was spending so much time blogging that I was not having enough time to finish writing and researching so this is where I can start to tell you about what my resolutions are for family history research and blogging into 2014...

...2014

• My main challenge is to finish The Davidson Family and to have it in a physical book format for the end of the year.
• I am not going to pressure myself to do a blog post each week, but am going to share when I discover some interesting research, whether that ends up being 3x a week or only once a month, so be it, but I will continue blogging and sharing what I discover.
• I would like to visit Kew at some point in 2014 but we shall see what becomes of that.
• I would like to visit a local Family History Fair.
• Break down lots of BRICK WALLS!
• Carry on with the Book of Me, Written by You as this is becoming a great way to explore my own personal history and to share it with others.
• For Christmas I received a beautiful hard bound book called "The Book of Me" (no link to Julie Goucher's the Book of Me, Written by You) but a similar idea which has space for me to record ME now with hints and prompts about me in a physical format which I intend on working my way through slowly. I would to love to be able to put really personal information into the book and treasuring it for my future generations.

The Book of Me - which I look forward to writing in :)

Lastly I want to thank all my regular readers and follows of Ruth's Ancestor's for continuing to read my posts and follow me. I would to hear my from you so feel free to leave comments with any ideas or anything you would like to see covered on here into the future.

Here's to 2014, may it be a great one!

Why did my Davidson ancestors move from London to Hull, East Yorkshire?

My great, great, great grandfather, John Davidson was born in Woolwich, Kent (to read more about their story see Chapter 7 & 8 of The Davidson Family) but at the age of about 35 years old, he moved to Hull, East Yorkshire with his young family. 

It has always been a mystery and a question in my mind, why? He was working as a boiler maker in Poplar. He had his wife had 6 children and had lost 2 young children, but all of his extended family lived close by. 

Well, a few days ago, I accidentally found a probate document dated 1869 for his brother-in-law, Joseph William Crout, who died in 1863. This document tells me that John's sister, Eliza Copeland (since remarried) was living at 7 Sutton Row, Hull. In the 1871 census, John and his family are living at 2 Sutton Row, Hull.

Probate Record for Joseph Crout (found at Ancestry.co.uk - accessed 30th October 2013)

It appears Eliza's time in Hull was short-lived because she was still in Canning Town, London when her son, Henry Copeland, was born in 1868. By the birth of her next son in 1872 she was back in London - Greenwich, but somewhere in between these dates she was living in Hull.

I wonder if this was the link that John had to Hull which caused him to up sticks and move with his young family? Did Eliza return with tales of a better life or jobs for John? Were there mutual friends of the family already residing in Hull? Did they move together?

One link formed opens another list of questions to ask!!

Copyright © 2013 Ruth Hogan

A few thoughts about Britain's social history and the Welfare State...

Well, I have doing some deep thinking, doesn't happen often so I thought I would share something of my thoughts. You may agree with them but at the same time you may not which is fine, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts...

I have been doing a short course to learn about the differences in cultures between the East and West of the world, to enable us better to befriend our neighbours from other countries to make our city a friendly place to live.

In the West our culture is focussed on:

• individualism, 
• often not community or family focussed, 
• time and efficiency orientated, 
• equality between sexes, 
• secular and sacred divide, 
• having companions through work or the activities we do, 
• fragmented families, 
• the expectation of the state to care for our elderly and infirm.

Whereas in the East the culture is:

• much more heavily focussed around family and wider extended families, 
• communities working and coming together to achieve something, 
• care for one another especially within the extended family,
• relationship and hospitality orientated,
• religion centred, 
• more segregated roles in society.

Having discussed these differences in cultures with some friends who're also on the course, it got me thinking about how our society works and how it has become what it is today, as only a few generations ago our society's values were probably more like the East's are today. We did not institutionalise our elderly or infirm, we cared for them within the extended family, women were expected to care for the elderly alongside the children, so how did our values change on these things?

Well, in the 1940s just after the end of World War II the Welfare System was created, it was a system set up to support those who were unable to work due to ill health, learning difficulties, disabilities etc without the fear of having to enter the dreaded "WORKHOUSE". It was especially important for the government to set up a system in which to support those who were now unable to work due to disabilities sustained through the war.  It was a revolutionary system alongside the start of the National Health Service (NHS) which went on to provide free health care to all. It offered support to those who really needed it, to reduce poverty and improve education and health in our country. Those who lived throughout the transition into a Welfare State and the NHS must have seen a truly transitional community, and even now working in the NHS I see elderly patients who are just so grateful that we have a free healthcare system in which they can be treated for they remember the fear of their parents when a family member became ill or unemployed.

Unfortunately for those of us who're younger and have always lived within the system, it is what we have always known and we expect to get as much as we can for "FREE" (after all we do pay into the system!) and this is what has changed and altered some of the values and cultures within our society.

• We expect the best service that can be offered.
• We expect the government to pay up when our relatives become elderly or we are unable to work for whatever reason so why should we have to help them?
• We no longer need to save money just in case we fall ill and cannot work as we will receive a benefits such as sick pay. 
• We no longer have to care for our elderly relatives as they can go into a nursing home which the state will pay some of the costs of.
• We no longer have to worry about losing our jobs as there will be money we can rely on.
• There are a few who rely on the Welfare State for their income and have become apathetic about the need to work.
• We also know we can get a basic state pension when we reach retirement age, so we do not need to work until the day we cannot.

Do we take our Welfare System and National Health Service for granted, should we be more appreciative of what we can have for "FREE"?

We have lost many of our previous responsibilities where we had to care for elderly relatives, bring them into our homes, share our finances with them when they were in need, take more care of our finances so we had something to fall on if we fell onto hard times. Would you consider bailing your brother and his family out if he was made redundant or would you expect the state to pick up the bill? Would you have cared more for your family if the only other option was the dreaded workhouse? 

Has having a state welfare system affected our "family" lives and created generations who expect to get as much as they can by paying as little as possible and not have to take responsibility for their extended families? We have become so focussed on SELF and what "I" can achieve, not having time to offer to others because we are so time and efficiency focussed.

Don't get me wrong I love the welfare system and the National Health Service and also hate paying my taxes but really I want to get you thinking about the background behind the beginnings of the Welfare State and NHS. Why it was created, for the good of our communities but also what a shift has happened in our communities and extended families since the beginnings of the Welfare State. I realise there are also many other changes which have occurred in society which have altered the way communities work.

In my great, great grandfather's diary, it lists the accounts of the financial support he had to offer his own father in his old age up to his death. Would we expect to do this today? (The story of my great, great grandfather - Edward Davidson can be found on Ruth's Ancestors blog - The Davidson Family Chapter 8 and 13 onwards especially Fig 8.15.)

Copyright © 2013 Ruth Hogan

Writing your family history

I have been researching my family history for about 11 years now and have accumulated lots and lots of information and documents about my ancestors. My family tree had grown to include nearly 1400 people, which makes it impossible to remember the facts about everyone. At family reunions I am often asked questions about "Great Uncle Albert Junior" but I rarely remember very much, so I decided I wanted to conglomerate my research to include the interesting and important information about my ancestors.

There are many ways in which this can be done:

• write a book
• write a blog
• a website
• pamphlet
• detailed poster of the family tree
• case study story on a particular family or ancestor of interest

I was overwhelmed and not really sure where to start, so I went to a seminar about Writing Your Family History at Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2012.

These are some of the tips I have learnt whilst beginning to write out my family history.

• Who are you writing for? Family, friends, yourself, or for other family historians? What is your focus? As a starter you could write a case study about an ancestor to send to a family history magazine.
• What is your goal?  To educate, inform or entertain. 
• What style do you want to write in? Factual, fictional, 1st or 3rd person, past to present, present to past...etc
• Always write from a plan. Have a beginning, middle and end.
• What do your readers need to know and what trivial facts can be left out. Cherry pick the interesting facts or anecdotes.
• Put the facts into context for the reader, for example Great Uncle Jim was a carpenter, but what did a carpenter do in 1890? Be careful not to patronise but focus on adding meat to the bones.
• Add topical or locational information to put the lives of your ancestor into context. What national or local events were happening during your ancestors lifetime? What political or social changes did your ancestors live through? What was the town like where they resided especially in comparison to today?
• Make it interesting - tell it as a story.
• Add photos, images of documents, timelines of local events alongside family events, maps and family tree diagrams.
• Start writing - you can keep researching forever so at some point you have to make a decision to stop researching and start putting what you have onto paper.
• Make it clear when it is a fact or when theorising, especially if writing a fiction.
• Include personal recollections.
• Back up all your facts with references or if you quote from another website or book cite where the quote came from, do not plagiarise.
• When you have your first draft, find a critic to read it and help you develop your story further.

By writing your family history it will become a valuable resource for future generations to look at.

I have written the story of my Davidson ancestors which is on this blog as "The Davidson Story". At present some of it is still being refined, but my aim is to also print it as a coffee table book for my elderly relatives who do not have access to the internet and for them to keep and pass down to their descendants.

Copyright © 2013 Ruth Hogan

Divorce records...

Divorces are widely accepted today but in the 1800s they were relatively uncommon. The process of filing for divorce was much more difficult and complicated. 

A brief history of divorce in the UK:

• Before 1857, divorce was mostly only available to men and had to be granted by an Act of Parliament, which made the process very expensive. Technically you were not permitted to remarry neither (unless your name was King Henry VIII!).
• In 1857, the Matrimonial Causes Act meant people could divorce through the courts, which allowed ordinary people to file for divorce. You had to be able to prove that your spouse had committed adultery and a woman had to prove their husband had committed adultery plus incest, cruelty, bigamy, sodomy or desertion. It would have gone through an Open Court and only the High Court in London could grant a divorce
• In 1923, a private member's bill made it as easy for women and is was for men to file for divorce, solely on the grounds of adultery.
• In 1937, divorce was allowed on other grounds, such as drunkeness or desertion, but you could not file for divorce within the first three years of marriage.
• In 1969, the Divorce Reform Act was passed which enabled couples to divorce after being separated for two years, but fault did no longer have to be proved.
• In 1984, it was introduced that you could file for divorce after being married for one year instead of three years.
• Until 1996, men favoured better financially in a divorce. It was decided that assets should be divided more fairly and the contribution of the "homemaker" was better recognised.

(References: Guardian - Divorce Law, Law Teacher - Divorce Law, History of Divorce)

The first time I came across a divorce record whilst researching my family history was a few weeks ago when researching a distant cousin's husband, Victor Rettich. As his name did not seem English I wanted to see if I could find any migration records for him initially, so I put the details that I had about him into the Ancestry search engine and flicked through the records that it brought up. The divorce case was one of the first records to show up so I had a nosey and found out some inspiring information about their family...

...firstly the documents included their marriage certificate.

Marriage certificate of Emily Davidson & Victor Alexander Rettich (Click the image to enlarge)

Victor was a lamp manufacturer, the son of a gentleman and Emily was the daughter of an engineer Henry Davidson (he was the brother of my great x3 grandfather). They married on the 30th June 1889 at which Emily's parents and elder brother were the witnesses to her marriage with Victor, so one would presume they were happy with the match.

Nearly four years later, Emily filed for divorce and below are the details...

Details of case - page 1 (Click the image to enlarge)

...the first page tells us details about their wedding date and the children they had together, Veneta Annie Octavia Rettich born 6th April 1890 and Victor Henry Albert Rettich born 11th August 1891 who died at three months old.

Details of case - page 2 (Click the image to enlarge)

The second page goes into details about her claim for divorce...
...Victor committed adultery with Georgiana Borritt and other women
...he was violent towards her
...he left her for days without any provisions and no money for buying food.

Emily wanted a dissolution of her marriage, custody of her child and maintenance for her and the child.

A divorce was eventually granted on the 3rd December 1894.

The divorce papers

It is a very interesting but upsetting read, as it shows much detail and insight into their family life.

Her divorce was one of just 369 granted in the UK in 1894, a rare event in comparison to 2010 when there were just under 120,000 divorces granted in the UK. (Reference: Guardian - Divorce rates)

Emily would have had to bring up her daughter as a single mother with the stigma of being a divorcee, not an easy thing to do in Victorian England.

Copyright © 2013 Ruth Hogan

Help required...what is the occupation?

Old handwriting can sometimes prove hard to read and I am struggling with this census image, which means I need YOU!

Can you tell me what Martha Davidson's occupation is on this census return?

Click the image to enlarge it

Please leave a comment if you think you can figure out what it says, thanks in advance for all your help.

The Davidson story thus far....

Well, Christmas is the season to be jolly but it is also the season of holiday and relaxation. For me this means further family history research and writing has to be done!

I am still in the progress of writing the Davidson page on the blog but it is gradually getting closer to being finished. Pop along and have a good read sometime...The Davidson Story.

I was amazed last night in a matter of hours to discover another three generations of my family going right back to a chap named Mordecai Seddon from York who was born c1720!

I think this is the oldest known ancestor I now have in my family tree, its amazing what a holiday and continual research uncovers.

Another chapter to the Davidson story

Today, I have been very busy writing another chapter to the Davidson story. There are now seven and a bit chapters of interesting information to peruse at your leisure about my Davidson family.

To discover the story of my great, great, great grandparents life in Victorian London during the 1850s and 60s click the "Davidson family" link above.

Davidson page...slow progress!!

This week I have been working on the Davidson page of my blog, I keep adding bits when I get a few free minutes but I think it could take me a long while before I manage to get the full story of the family on here....

Do keep visiting and seeing what new things have been added.