A different world - Bolton in the 1950s

My mum grew up in Bolton in the 1950s. I find it strange to imagine those early post-war years with rationed food and very tight budgets.

My grandparents did well for themselves and left Bolton to move to Blackburn - seen as a move upwards then, I believe - to run a newspaper shop. Being shop managers was quite an achievement for two people born into poverty: Grandma in a back-to-back two-up, two-down in Bolton (demolished 1934 for being a slum) and Granddad from the toughest neighbourhood of Glasgow tenements.

These evocative black and white photographs  published today by the BBC of 1950s Bolton inspire a sense of wonder  in me: 60 years on we live in such a different world of technology and plenty, mechanisation and sanitation - would any of the people in the photos even recognise their home town?

An ancestor called Denzill?

My father's only paternal cousin is a lady called Denzyl, born in 1931. We have no idea how her parents came up with such an unusual name but she is universally known as Den.

Understandably, I thought Den would be the only Denzyl in the family tree! I was proved wrong (as so often happens in family tree hunting) when I discovered an ancestor in 17th century Lincolnshire noted in the registers of Horsington (near Woodhall Spa) as Denzill Turner. He is my great x9 grandfather.

Denzill appears to be part of a Turner family that has links with the village for several generations, including at least one more Denzill.

'My' Denzill's son James was baptised at Horsington in February 1688 - just months before The Glorious Revolution; see below for William of Orange landing at Brixham on 5 November 1688 - and it was his great, great granddaughter Mary Crowston (born Hall) who died in Whaplode in 1860, the village in which my father was baptised and his cousin Denzyl spent many of her childhood years.

Denzil apparently means 'fort' in Old English.

Long lost cousins - found at last

Further to my earlier post about finding my grandmother's maternal aunt Ada, I have now received images of Ada and her husband, Edward Holgarth. Ada (1886-1943) and Bertha were two of the five children of Squire Chadwick (1857-1915) and his common law wife Sophia Haywood, or Heywood (1852-1901). Their other children were Jane (born 1881); Squire, who died aged 9 in 1899; and Martha (1884-1926), whose will named Edward Holgarth as executor.

Ada(above) and her husband, Edward (below) - my great grandmother's older sister.

And here is my great grandmother Bertha Meehan (born Chadwick), 1893-1925, at work in the weaving shed with two pals (she is on the left).

Thanks again to Ancestry and GenesReunited for helping rejoin our family after 86 years!

Faces from the old albums

Christmas is a time for being with and catching up with family, all those Round Robin newsletters, the cards from cousins you barely keep in touch with ...

And there's always the old family photo albums to flick through, bringing back memories and the annual anecdotes.

Here are a few names and faces from my old albums.

Top pic shows Charles Holder and his son Percy; middle pic is Frances M Bates; bottom pic is Marion (nee Bates) Holder. Marion and Frances were sister sof my great grandfather John P Bates, seen below.

Death on the track

My father's lifelong passion for steam railways stems from his own father's and grandfather's connection with the M&GN railway: both worked their way up from porters to become signalmen, working across East Anglia.

Today, through a contact on Genesreunited, I discovered that we have another railway connection. My great grandmother's uncle, William Crowson, was hit and killed by a steam engine at March railway station, Cambridgehsire at 12.45pm on 29 October 1908.

From an old newspaper cutting sent to me by the new contact, a distant cousin, it is clear that William died in a tragic accident when he momentarily lost concentration crossing the tracks after a nine hour shift as a goods engine driver. He had lived at March for over 26 years, and left a widow in her 50s and a large family.

A sad end to a railway career.

Great to hear today from Canadian cousins that the Bates branch over there is going strong and celebrating Christmas together this weekend.

Need to have a photo album rummage and see what gems I can post.

Long lost cousins - discovered at last?

My grandma is 90 next year and her sister turns 88 in January. Their mother, Bertha, died in 1925 and neither of them remember her face. They had no contact with their maternal family after their mother died and were raised by their father and stepmother.

My grandma has (or had) just one memory relating to her mother's family. She could recall walking along a street in Bolton, holding her father's hand and knowing she was off to see Aunt Martha.

That memory must date from when my grandma was no older than 4.5 years. Bertha died aged 31 in June 1925, leaving two daughters under the age of four, her parents were dead but she had sisters - at least one of whom, Martha, was alive. However, both Martha and her husband died in autumn 1926 - when Martha was only 43.

For years I couldn't trace Bertha and Martha's two sisters - Jane and Edith. Then I found in the 1911 census that Edith was actually called Ada. More years passed but no news of either sister.

Until today. And once more I owe it all to Probate records! I was browsing the Wills on Ancestry and found one for Martha - in the Admin note it named her son Robert and an Edward Holgarth. A new name! A neighbour, a friend - a relation of her dead husband? Or - pot of gold - a relation of one of her sisters?

A quick search for Edward Holgarth revealed he married my grandma's aunt Ada in 1916 and had one daughter - a cousin! - in the 1920s. She went on to have two daughters and died in 1943, aged 55.

So now the hunt continues for eldest sister Jane Elizabeth Chadwick...