Tuesday 17 February 2015

Genealogy and Family History Inform Each Other

A separate post addresses the meanings of "family history" and "genealogy" as used here ("The 'Big Picture' on Family Research").

'Bare Bones' Pedigree and Comprehensive, Family History
Family History & Genealogy Inform Each Other
The point made in this article, now that terms have been defined,  is that genealogy and family history inform each other, as stated in the headline.

There is an adage:
"There are no shortcuts in life - only those we imagine". (Frank Leahy)
There are no shortcuts in life - only those we imagine.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/shortcuts.html#SRzluB1TiwQS8JYO.99
There are no shortcuts in life - only those we imagine.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/shortcuts.html#SRzluB1TiwQS8JYOit’s “not about a single moment of inspiration or brilliance.” Instead, it’s about years and years of hard work and practice. He said that a lot of building a company or product like Facebook is just about determination and believing that you can do it. He stressed that it’s actually hard work that underlies everything that you do, and “there’s no shortcuts.”
In life, the longer way usually makes for a better conclusion. Like getting an education. There are exceptions, as I admit to my children, but generally education gives advantage for flexibility in choice of occupation over the whole length of life; coping with all the challenges of life; and enriching hobbies and interests. The educated class is usually more open to democracy and human rights, for example.

Scaffolding for Your Tree
The relevance here is that the family history you glean while doing genealogy, the use of wider investigations (along the way), helps provide the "scaffolding' for your pedigree (don't worry if you don't understand that term yet; I invented its application here, so...). It helps prove your data; and overcome any "brick-walls" encountered. If genealogy is your focus, don't be afraid to still spend some time exploring the context of your ancestor's life: the social history; economic setting; and local geography.  

"What do you mean?"
Asking Questions
Where did cranie come from; did he migrate? What was the route? What countries did he pass through? How long did they stop; and where? Did he come from an 'old' family? [think he looks a bit tired?]. There might already be a history written. In which suburbs has he lived? Which habitats does he like? What waterways do cranes generally head for? How long do they stay? Who do cranes generally "buddy up" with? Do they share that "take it easy" life style with the eagles? Have they had good and bad years? What sort of diet does he eat?

"What did he have for lunch?" Hold on! I think we will stop right there!

These factors will often explain for example, why your family moved; and where they may have gone. Identifying a theme to their movements helps separate one "candidate" from another. This makes for well-grounded-genealogy.

Themes
Did your ancestor move to NSW in the 1850s? Gold was identified 25km north-west of Bathurst, New South Wales, in early 1851. Could your ancestor have been drawn to the gold rush? "Oh no; not him. He was from the professional class". 

Sir Charles Fitzroy, the Governor of NSW at the time, commented in late 1851 that the rush was already "unhinging the minds of all classes of society" (p37; "The Gold Rush"; David Hill; William Heinemann Publishing). The Gold Rush was no respecter of social standing. Did your ancestor go missing in late 1840s (California Gold Rush) or 1850s (NSW)? Hargreaves, accredited with the official identification of the first goldfield, went first to California, but recognised the similarity between the California landscape and country he had seen north-west of Bathurst, and doubled back. 'Diggers' would shift heaven and earth to get to the gold fields.
"No words can describe the excitement occasioned in all classes of society by the announcement...In less than a week the diminution of the street population of Sydney was very visible, while Parramatta, previously half deserted, became dissipated". (op cit; p38)
Colonel Godfrey Mundy, deputy adjutant general of the colony's military establishment, observed that:
"...all classes of people joined the rush, including builders, bookbinders, tailors and veterinarians, which was to create a chronic labour shortage for several years." (op cit; p42).
An Australian journalist reported:
"Within weeks, thousands of diggers had 'poured into the diggings from all directions...majors, magistrates, emigrants and Norfolk Island expirees, all washing side by side."  (op cit; p48)
Understanding these sorts influences can guide your research and ultimately make for accurate findings. When another researcher "puts the blow torch" to your data, it will stand up.  

Care in Using Parish Registers

Blow Torch
In "Parish Registers in England and Wales", Celia Heritage comments:
"...more parish records are [being] digitised or transcribed and put online...but the danger is that researchers may erroneously identify an event in the registers believing it to relate to their ancestors when in fact the correct baptism, marriage or burial is not yet online."
"To avoid this problem, any research relating to the period before 1837 needs to be carried out with great care. Parish registers should be used with different sources, such as wills and local tax records, to build up a more complete picture of your ancestors and to ensure you trace your family tree back along the right line."
"Becoming familiar with the area--both the geography and social history -- where your ancestors lived is essential, if only by means of the internet or a good map."
"Knowing which towns and roads surrounded the parish where you family lived can play an important part in tracking them down if they moved out of the parish. Bear in mind, too, that many county boundaries have changed over the years, notably in 1974..."  ("Who Do You Think You Are?" Magazine; Issue 81, Christmas 2013; italics added).
This principle applies to research in any country. It is "scaffolding".

The Genealogical Value of Estate Papers in Great Britain
The wealthy class in agrarian Britain were called the "landed" class. Our crane is not one of those. Not now, any way. Landed property or landed estates is a real estate term that usually refers to a property that generates income for the owner without the owner having to do the actual work of the estate. In Europe, agrarian landed property typically consisted of a manor, several tenant farms, and some privileged enterprises, such as a mill.  The TV series "Downton Abbey" reflects this phenomenon in history. 

Downton Abbey House
"How to be a Serious Genealogist in...Britain" includes research in Ireland. So let's talk about Ireland for a moment. Ian Maxwell advises that in Ireland, due to political unrest in the mid-19th century, and to tenants not being able to pay their rents during and after the Great Famine in Ireland (1845-7), owners of large estates fell into financial ruin. During the 1850s, when the gold rush was on in Australia, more than 5 million acres passed into the hands of new landlords; many of whom were wealthy speculators.
"By the middle of the nineteenth century more than three quarters of the population lived in rural areas." (Ian Maxwell; "How to Trace Your Irish Ancestors"; How To Books Ltd; Ch. 12: "Landed Estate Records"; 2009)
Where am I going with this? Estate papers can be a rich source of genealogical information for the non-landed classes as well. Maxwell says government assisted schemes in Ireland in the mid 1800s allowed tenants to buy land from the landlords. The Irish Land Act of 1903 ("Wyndam's Act") offered Landlords incentives to sell their entire estate. The purchase terms were made easier for the lucky tenant, with the repayment period being extended to 68.5 years. 

Leases from the original large estates in Ireland in their heyday were for three "lives" [tenants] which were named in the terms; or 99 years, whichever came first. "Lives" were often relatives and new "lives" could be substituted, for a fee.  A sub-tenant under the lease, however, might only be mentioned in estate correspondence. Also, this is the place to find names of tenants of less than three years.

The estate papers include muster lists; tithe lists; voter lists. A stunning item of such estate collections is the Maps of the Estate. There were surveys done for various purposes, including taxation, and they often show vanished mills, woodland, paths and houses (Ian Maxwell; op cit).

With the break up of the large estates many Estate Papers were eventually donated to  government and private archives:
"[For example] Estate records are held by repositories throughout Ireland including PRONI, the NAI, NLI, Trinity College, Dublin, the Boole Library at NUI, Cork, the Hardiman Library at NUI, Galway, and the Cork Archives Institute. Some are deposited in local libraries and museums....Most county record offices in Britain publish summary guides to their [Irish] holdings on the internet..." (Ian Maxwell, op cit)
Estate records in Ireland and the British mainland in general are a gold-mine, but particularly in Ireland because birth death and marriage records were destroyed by a fire instigated by rebels in 1922 (during the Irish Civil War); and census records were destroyed by the government, in its wisdom, to protect privacy during World War 1. Light bulb moment. FamilySearch has a collection of indexes and images: Ireland, Landed Estate Court Files, 1850-1885. Register  with FamilySearch and go to Menu>>Search>>Records".


Case Study Yorkshire Estate
My family in Australia (my father's line) descended from a British foot soldier (hereafter "Pioneer"), of the 85th Regiment of Foot ("The Kings Light Infantry"). When gold was found in NSW, he was in Yorkshire thinking about traveling on the seas. Born in a small town in South Yorkshire, he served in expeditions on Navy vessels out of Hull in 1851; then came time in Mauritius, and from there he was sent to Australia, in 1858. Along the way, he failed some conduct-while-on-leave, and respect-for-officers tests, and became a "convict". An historical factor which may have played some part in his reckless behaviour was a devastating cholera plague in Mauritius in 1854-55.

A researcher in my family tree alleged that meanwhile a younger brother back in Yorkshire married and had children. But there was no corroborating evidence. So how did this get resolved?

"The Family Village"
For 30 years the Pioneer's English family had remained sketchy in several respects; defying resolution. But during this time I became very interested in the location and nature of the family village in Yorkshire; a family history question. I became determined to find an address that we could closely associate with the family. From the 1841 census record, the Pioneer and his father were coal miners; but there were no working mines close to the accepted town-of-origin at the time, which intrigued me. So I widened the search area and in the process found that a number of coal mines in that area of South Yorkshire were owned by the Earls Fitzwilliam.

So I went looking for 'the Earl'. The current Earl (in my progenitor's time) had a reputation of looking after the interests of his workers, by rejecting the employment of young women altogether; requiring young males to be of at least age 9 (instead of age 6); giving workers Sunday and Monday off; improving mine conditions and instruments; providing schools (e.g. Parkgate School) and Sunday Schools adjacent to Churches; supplying purpose built housing; providing medical support to any workers injured in a mine accident; and giving material support to widows, after their mine-worker husbands died. I decided to find out more about the unique Earls Fitzwilliam.

Wentworth Estate
The Earls Fitzwilliam had large estates in Ireland. Staggering. They also owned Wentworth-Woodhouse Mansion, the largest private house in Europe today. They inherited it when the Wentworth line ran out of heirs.  The mansion had over 200 rooms. Because of the difficulty of counting them, some argue the real count is 350 rooms. Visitors would get lost in the building!  

It was noted that it was only several kilometres from the traditionally held location of the Pioneer's 'family village'.
Wentworth House, Yorkshire; country house viewed to the right of the entrance; with stairway and entrance colonnade; showing figurative sculpture on the top balconies; © Trustees of the British Museum
In 1841 Wentworth Estate directly employed over 1000 staff in occupations ranging from carpenters, masons, joiners and labourers, to gardeners, housekeepers, and servants. The Town of Wentworth was enhanced for them. Here is the town in the background, and the mansion.

Wentworth-Woodhouse: largest private house in Europe; 1800s house of the Earls Fitzwilliams

This was an interesting, tasty morsel on its own. 

The Wentworth-Estate Papers were donated to The National Archives, London and include records of the financial affairs of coal mines; records of purchases of homes for employees in general; architectural plans for construction of groups of worker-houses in various localities; correspondence with managers of mines; pay rates of employees of the estate; and the names of mine employees who qualified for an annual St Patrick's Day bonus payment! Light bulb moment.

Search of Parish Records
The Estate was situated in Wentworth Parish. I decided to see if there were any of our family line in the records of Wentworth Parish. But all adjoining parishes should have been searched 35 years ago! Perhaps not. There was a child born in 1817, in Cortworth hamlet, to a couple sounding identical to the Pioneer's parents, except that the mother's first name was foreign; and his occupation was a "miner"; not a "coal miner". The location was in a "hamlet" (a small village or group of houses) well away from the traditionally held place of origin, but 580 metres from the Wentworth-Woodhouse mansion; which of course piqued my interest! Could there have been some relationship with the Wentworth household?

Wentworth Estate Iron Mine
Wentworth Forge, 2013
With regard to the father's occupation, it was noted that, curiously, there was no coal-field near the hamlet. But, across the road, on the Wentworth estate was an iron mine, to serve the needs of the estate. So, this person, directly or indirectly, might have been an employee of the estate; or, at least, of a contractor hired by Earl Fitzwilliam. Added to that, even closer, on the road frontage, was an estate-owned "Wentworth Forge" (blacksmith), still in existence today (see insets). 

Worker Homes in Cortworth Hamlet
My 4 x great-grandfather could have visited this building! Estate maps (those 'surveys' mentioned earlier) show that a path led from the forge to the mansion. Historical documents from the Wentworth Estate, held by The National Archives of the UK ("TNA"), reveal that before 1817 (c.1795) the Earl purchased two homes in the hamlet, for his workers. 

Indeed, the 1841 census, some years later, showed a "footman" and "game keeper" living in the hamlet of about 6 homes. So my ancestor might have negotiated rent of one of the houses from the Estate's Steward who, we know from the Estate Papers, as a manager, had an office in the Wentworth-Woodhouse house. This is a fascinating possibility, given the grand nature of the rooms in the house. My ancestor may have walked in those grand-rooms, still there today. But it is speculation. More direct evidence was needed that these were  the Pioneer's parents.

Tying the Families Together
Further investigation revealed that the conflicting mother's first name was just a "nickname", well known to be used for the formal first name we knew. Added to that, in the 1841 census, the 1817 child turned up as a "boarder" in the Pioneer's parents' household (child now married; and previously overlooked). 

This key piece of direct evidence from the census proved her connection to the Pioneer's parents; and led to a wider search of Wentworth parish records, producing the record of another child (1819); at the same hamlet location! All the supplementary details on this birth record matched the earlier one; except in this instance the mother's nickname name was replaced by the formal first name we knew ; linking both births to the Pioneer's family. So we had corroborating evidence. These children had gone undetected in an "outside" parish for over 30 years!

This was a very exciting discovery, all as a result of investigation into the location of the family village.

Data on the Next Generation
Added to that, the census revealed the married name of the daughter-come-boarder; and gave the full name and age of a child who was with her. Using her married name from the census and the age of the child led to the boarder's marriage record, offering direct confirmation of her maiden name, date of birth; the full name of her husband; his age at marriage; his (calculated) birth year; the names of his parents; and from these, his birth record. 

Her status as a 'boarder' with her family also suggested that her husband had died. Because of the financial challenges for mothers with children, following such events, it was common to live with relatives. Light bulb moment. This led to finding the husband's death record.
  
Finally An Address



Former Cinderbridge Lodge
With regard to the search for a family address, research into family homes through census records finally turned up "Cinderbridge Lane, Lodge", in the 1861 census, run by the Pioneer's mother, after the death of her husband. A lodge of that name appears on maps for the very small Cinderbridge locality in the 1860s, adjoining the Wentworth Estate dam.  Today the site is acknowledged as part of the Wentworth Estate; and is used by Wentworth Fisheries (see inset and Estate sign outside house). 

Vital Data for The Pioneer's Brother
My 4 x great-grandmother passed on while at the Lodge  (in 1869). Mention of the Pioneer's younger brother, described earlier, became sparse after that. The 1841 census had said he was working as a "labourer in an "iron works". The 1851 census said he  was "blind". Many searches of the 1861 & 1871 census did not bring up a listing. 

,
"Mining" of a Census District
Use of a Cluster Search
With my knowledge of former neighbours' names, a "cluster search", or "mining" of the census district was done in the 1871 census (a geographically-based search for relatives; neighboring homes and localities...a 'trial and error' approach; see inset). It revealed the younger, blind brother was living as a "boarder" in a nearby locality, with a former neighbour from the Lodge precinct! 

He was blind, unmarried, with no children. After the death of his mother's friend (the neighbour from Cinderbridge Lodge), he was no longer found in that household (source: 1881 Census).

Rotherham Workhouse
With the evidence that he was in this location in 1871, it was possible to identify his death in 1876 in a Poor Union hostel; at the age of 42. Without family or carers he had been living in a Diocese based "Workhouse", serving the whole area but located in Rotherham (see inset). Here the 'able' could work outdoors for their sustenance; but there was also support for the 'poor and infirm'. 

Fortunately, the Workhouse was not situated in a coal mining town, but on a stately site in a semi-rural setting:
"...in one of the most healthiest and picturesque areas of the town".(from Moorgate Cemetery History)
His mother would have been somewhat content he lived his final years with some dignity.

Story About the Pioneer's Family in England
This was a very moving story: the mother's courage after the death of her husband; being self-employed, running a business; her devotion to her son Joseph; her friend's subsequent care of him; and the challenges he personally would have faced, being blind. This drew me closer to the family.

Parish records revealed that there was a very happy day in the life of this ancestor's family. Joseph's married sister (noted in the 1841 census as a "boarder" with a young child; see above) and his mother each gave birth to a child on the same day; the sister a daughter, and the mother a son! The boy was the parents' last child, sadly born just 4 years before his father's death. And Joseph's sister's husband also died within a few years. But what a happy day that would have been!

Fresh Data
With regard to the genealogy of the Pioneer's family, the vital data for the Pioneer's brother had been discovered; two other siblings found; and the second-generation family of one of those children discovered. 

Economic and Social History Informing Genealogy
Learning about the Earl Fitzwilliam's coal mines provided the reason why the family would have moved to another area between 1819 and 1841. Remember the question about crainie's migration pattern?  The Earl Fitzwilliam developed a new coal mine in the early 1820s situated several miles east of the traditional ancestral village, at Rawmarsh ("New Park Way, Deep Pit" mine);  situated along the road linking Cortworth hamlet to Rawmarsh. This mine was thankfully documented in the "1842 Royal Commission into Children's Employment". The report also contains a verbatim report of an interview with the Pioneer's brother, George (aged 12; born "before Christmas" -- i.e.30 Nov)!

This locality is where the Pioneer's father registered his occupation as "coal miner" in the 1841 census, and which gives credibility to the Pioneer, upon reaching Australia, reporting his father as a mine "steward" (manager). The Pioneer's father subsequently died in 1842. 

The support which the Pioneer's mother subsequently received from a kind employer of thousands of people, by being allowed to run a Lodge on Earl Fitzwilliam's personal Wentworth Estate until her death, and employ family members (daughter; "servant"; 1861 Census), confirms that the father must have been a man of some special status in the Earl's workforce. Also, a fitting end to a 24 year long association with the Earl's enterprises, from 1817 to 1841.

Family history informs genealogy, and vice versa. 

Footnote:
Other Posts in this series are:
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