Back to my family history.

[Grandad]

With the days shortening and the clocks going back next month, I thought I would buy some time on Ancestry.co.uk picking up some of the loose ends in my family history. It is probably at least 3 years since I last did anything and in that time many others have added interesting snippets to their trees, some of which relate to mine.
If you spend time looking through old newspapers (mostly now on microfiche) you may find articles that fill some gaps. I knew that two seafaring grandfathers had died quite early but did not know how. Another member found these articles that fill that gap for me and another that adds a bit of an insight into one of those grand dads.

My Great Great Grandfather George Madams drowned when his ship the brigantine Bethesda sank off Portsmouth in 1867. He was just 31 and left a, now destitute, pregnant wife and 5 children.


My Great Grandfather, also George Madams was probably a jack the lad and at 14 was caught stealing eggs. The penalty was pretty severe.


Like most of my maternal line, he also went on to become a Captain of barge. He met an unfortunate death at Greenwich in 1904. He was 48 and left a wife and three children.


I think a visit to Whitstable cemetery is called for.

My Grandmother, daughter of George Madams married a Whitstable oyster fisherman. He was drowned at sea in 1914 at the age of 28, shortly after the start of WWI. My mother was just one year old.
So you can see that my maternal line is a succession of young widows......

Anyone else do any of this Genealogy stuff?

[Horus]

Very interesting Grandad, but in your case stay away from the sea
I have done quite a bit myself and spent hours going through the microfiche records to find stuff, I did get stumped a few years back awaiting the release of the last big census 1908 I think, but may pick it back up again once I have some free time.

[Kiya]

Interesting read Grandad, sadly up & down the country many men lost at sea leaving wives children including in my own family.

My eldest brother has done our family tree for years, I think he has only gone back by about 400 years, I'm always hoping he can go back further.

[Grandad]

Interesting read Grandad, sadly up & down the country many men lost at sea leaving wives children including in my own familyMy eldest brother has done our family tree for years, I think he has only gone back by about 400 years, I'm always hoping he can go back further.

Kiya he has done well if he has got that far back. I believe that reliable records, like national census, only go back to early Victorian times. Before that you are into parish records which are more difficult to research unless they have been microfiched and more and more are now being transferred.
On my granfather on my mothers side, I keep getting to dead ends in workhouses What does that say about my ancestors? You deffinitely need parish records to go back before the workhouse...

I did get stumped a few years back awaiting the release of the last big census 1908 I think, but may pick it back up again once I have some free time.

1911 actually H and the next release will be the 1921 census in 2021. But that will have only limited value because for many it will only just be earlier than living memory or at least relatives born around that time.

But, as I said, something to pass some time in dark evenings and also time to 'steal' any reliable info collected by other members. It is quite amazing how widespread family links go...

[Horus]

1911 actually H and the next release will be the 1921 census in 2021.

Yes I think it may have been around 2008 when I did most of my research and I would have had to wait ages for the next census to be released which as you say was in 2011.

[Grandad]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is the 1911 census return for my Great Grandmother Eliza, widow of George Madams who died at Greenwich in 1904 (I am guessing he was drunk at the time of his demise)


She is now head of the house, she works as a charlady to bring in some income to the household. Her daughter and son in law (my grandparents) and their 2 children, along with her own 16 year old son and 9 year old daughter are all living in the house.
My great uncle Harry, then 16, I remember meeting during the war. He was married to a Belgium lady (Aunt Marie) who my mother said worked in the diamond trade.
I remember my great aunt Isabella (aunt Belle) when during the war she had a greengrocers shop in Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. Her daughter (my mothers much younger cousin) and I were very good friends in my late teens and that could have gone on to a serious relationship.

I could almost write a story on that one page but most significant to me is the fact that it was completed by my Great Grandmother (born in 1859) in her own very neat hand. I have never seen a picture of her and I only have a print of the document, but in a strange way it does make me feel closer to her.

Is that a bit soppy?

[Horus]

Interesting that she was the one to complete the entry Grandad, did you look to see if she did any others in the area also? The reason for asking is that in my area it always seems to have be filled in by someone of shall we say a higher educational class appointed to carry out the census in the local area maybe because they had the ability to write legibly and to carry out the duty responsibly. I also noted that one entry says 'school' to donate a childs occupation, again in my area the term 'scholar' was always put alongside children of school age which did throw me for a while as all the kids seemed to be university material with such a title to their name, however it seems to just be a generic term for a child attending school.

[Grandad]

Interesting point you raised there H. I have just checked the completed census forms for the immediate neighbour's and they are all in a different hand.
It would appear the good handwriting was considered important in Victorian times when my Great Grandmother would have been at school. At that time it was quite common to start work at 12 or 13, usually 'in service'. I have a record of a Great Grandfather who at 14 years was already employed on a coaster.

[Horus]

On closer inspection I see that your census forms are a single occupancy, whereas the ones in my area were in a ledger book form with single line entries for each member of the household plus a section to write in the address. Threrefore several households were on the same page, which may explain the fact that one person was tasked with entering the details for the whole neighbourhood to keep the entries consistant.

[Ruby Slippers]

Grandad, both of my parents were at work by the time they were 14. In fact, I think my father was down the mines at the age of 12. (What a horrible thought!) My mother was employed in a gentlemen's outfitters in London. Her first job was hand sewing buttonholes on silk shirts for the nobility. She had to sew 4 to earn 1d - a farthing each. From there she graduated to embroidering the coronets onto the said shirts and used to receive 3d each. Funnily enough, my mother never voluntarily picked up a needle for the rest of her life!

[Grandad]

Funnily enough, my mother never voluntarily picked up a needle for the rest of her life!

But you did RS And I expect you have a machine to sew buttonholes and embroider emblems.

I find it fascinating uncovering little snippets of family history. At present I am focusing on my maternal grandparent lines. My grandfather was killed at sea in 1914, aged 28, leaving a wife of 26 years and 4 children. BUT it transpires that he probably fathered a son to a woman in Cambridge. Have not quite closed that off, DNA may be the answer.
My grandmother had an illegitimate daughter by an American serviceman before the end of WWI. She then married again in 1921, had one son by this marriage and died in 1928 at the age of 40. I was born in '34 so never knew her.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we start to deceive."

[Ruby Slippers]

I think there would be too many skeletons clanking their bones if I attempted a family tree! Just as a little aside - my Mother always accused me of sewing buttons on 'with a red hot needle and a burning thread'! What a cheek!

[LovelyLadyLux]

"Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we start to deceive."

I always thought that quote would be more appropriate if written:

"Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we start to conceive."

[Horus]

It is surprising all the skeletons you uncover when doing this research, I found quite a few, some quite amusing.

[Grandad]

Horus, I remember several years ago when I was last looking back in my family history, I posted this picture and you raised the question 'what was the medal for?'


As I am back picking up the threads again I now know that the medal was The Transvaal Medal, awarded to men who served in the Boer War of 1899 - 1902. This was my wifes grandfather and I now know that he served as 2913 Lance Corporal Frederick Jeffery, Royal West Kent Regiment. Next step is to follow up his service number at National Archive and the Regimental archive. Very easy to get hooked on this stuff.

[Ruby Slippers]

Grandad, did you catch the first in a series on living in Victorian times last night on BBC2? I thought it was worth watching so will make a point of doing so for the whole run. It seemed slightly more realistic and gritty than previous offerings of this genre.

[Grandad]

Grandad, did you catch the first in a series on living in Victorian times last night on BBC2? I thought it was worth watching so will make a point of doing so for the whole run. It seemed slightly more realistic and gritty than previous offerings of this genre.

No RS, I didn't see it. We do have a problem in my home in as much that my wife does not like anything 'period'. I do, so we have a conflict. Her main objection, apart from not being interested in history, is that those dramas tend to be filmed in low light with almost inaudible dialogue.
But having said that is it not the current style for all dramas to film in low light and soft or very fast dialogue. We end up with headphones and subtitles to try to get what is being said.

[Ruby Slippers]

I quite agree with Mrs G on most of the programmes, but this is a 'reality' type show, with families from 2016 being sent back to Victorian times. Obviously, there were a few things missing, e.g. rats, gin etc., but in the main it was quite realistic.

[damc134]

Hi Grandad. My 2nd g grandfather was George Madams, the captain who died at sea in 1867. A mystery for me is Isabella, born 1870. Obviously not his daughter. No record of her after the 1871 and 1881 census. Any Ideas??

[Horus]

Welcome to the forum Damc134, I am sure that Grandad will be interested in your question and no doubt he will contact you by the PM system if he wants to give you any personal details such as an email address. You will get a notification at the top of the page to say you have received a PM (Private Message) should he decide to send you one, otherwise he will probably reply on here.
Horus