Tempus Fugit
#ANCESTRYHOUR
  • Home
    • Foreword from the Founder
  • About
    • Who we are >
      • Susie Douglas, Founder of #AncestryHour
      • Sylvia Valentine aka #FMV
      • Michelle Leonard
      • Fergus Soucek-Smith
      • Rachel Bellerby
      • Tara (Ra Boom di Ay)
      • Paul Chiddicks
      • Dr Sophie Kay
      • Alison MacLeod Spring
      • Richard Holt
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
    • Downloads PDF Files
  • Newsletter

From the Workhouse to Flanders Field via Canada

27/2/2017

0 Comments

 
I am presenting a talk, “Delving into Workhouse Records” at Who Do You Think You are? Live in April. I have been spending a few days in my Local Studies Library exploring the records looking for some interesting examples I can include in my talk.  Needless to say, as can often happen, I became distracted by the mention of an individual who had been Boarded Out by the Union Guardians, hence I spent some time following up on his story, has become the subject of today’s blog.
 
The source for this story was The Minutes of the Boarding Out Committee of North Bierley Poor Law Union. Here I found two specific mentions of a Leonard Cartwright. The first mention was in a minute of a meeting held on 7th March 1906:
 
Leonard Cartwright – Boarded with Dan Kellett of Wyke. Clerk to make enquiries as to whether this Boy can be taken out to Canada by Mr Kellett.
 
The second mention was dated 2nd of May, when the committee
 
Resolved that the Clerk be instructed to interview Mr Dan Kellett and ascertain whether he intends taking the above named boy [Leonard Cartwright] with him to Canada or not.
 
Sadly, I could not find any mention between the two dates, but I became curious about Leonard, particularly after I finding an albeit nameless mention of him in the Report of the Chairman of the Boarding Out Committee dated 3 April 1907.  The chairman, Mr J Hardisty, was reporting on the successes of the Boarding out system and commented that
 
I may say we have had one case at the Servant
 Girl's (sic) Home, Sheffield; a boy has been placed on the
training ship "Indefatigable", Birkenhead, and another boy 
is now in Canada.
 
 
Leonard Fielding Cartwright’s birth was registered in the first quarter of 189. Although his date of birth was given on many documents as 3rd December 1897, the year 1896 makes more sense. By 1901, he was living, along with 3 siblings, in the North Bierley Workhouse. A little digging soon identified that their parents were Henry Cartwright and Emma Dean who had married on 28 January 1889 at Bradford Parish Church. Henry was a widower and already had a family of 9 children with his first wife. His marriage to Emma resulted in 4 more children in addition to Leonard.
 
Leonard’s siblings were born in 1889,1890,1894 and 1899 respectively. So someone was missing from the workhouse, but I soon found her living in Leamington with her aunt and uncle. Why the children entered the workhouse is unclear. Emma may have died, or been unable to care for the children for some reason, and Henry was living with his daughter Martha Ellen Hart and her family, but is still described as a married man, rather than a widower. Emma’s whereabouts remains a mystery to be solved, but she most certainly did not die before 1903, when an infant of the same name did pass away.
 
It seems likely that the Clerk to the Boarding Out Committee might have been a little late in his efforts to interview Dan Kellett.  Dan, his wife Nancy, their children and a 9 year old Leonard Cartwright arrived in Montreal on 26th May 1906, having travelled from Liverpool aboard the ship Lake Erie. Then Leonard vanishes for a few years. Although the Kellett family can be found on the Canadian census shortly afterwards, Leonard is nowhere to be seen.
 
The next “sighting” of Leonard is when he enlisted on May 12th 1915. His military papers are available free of charge, to download at : 
​
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/pages/search.aspx 

He confirmed a sister, Edith Cartwright as his next of kin and gave her address in Shipley. He wrote his will on 9th June 1916 leaving his estate to his sisters Edith and Dorothy. An interesting comment amongst the papers also refers to his Next of Kin as his mother, Mrs Emma Cartwright and her address was given as being c/o Miss Edith Cartwright, so Leonard seems to have hoped or believed that his mother could still be alive. Leonard had assigned his monthly pay of $15 Canadian dollars to his sister Edith in May 1916.
 
Leonard originally enlisted in Calgary into the 56th Battalion Canadian Infantry and was transferred to the 50th Battalion Canadian Infantry after arriving in the UK on 9th April 1916. He subsequently sailed to France arriving in Le Havre on 11th August 1916. He was reported as missing in Action on 19th November and it was confirmed he had been killed in action by 16th December that year. His grave can be found in the Adnac Military Cemetery Miraumont.
 
Whilst this story has a sad ending, it is good to see that Leonard managed to maintain some contact with his siblings. However I cannot but help wonder about what happened to him between arriving in Canada with the Kellett family and his enlistment in the Canadian Infantry. 
0 Comments

Join us at Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2017

24/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Who Do You Think You Are? Live sponsored by Ancestry - is the world’s largest family history show and will be returning to the NEC in Birmingham for the third year from Thursday 6 – Saturday 8 April 2017.
 
#AncestryHour is very excited to announce that we will be at the show and would love to hear from as many of our you as possible on #AncestryHour! We also have a special ticket offer for you all to join us - a chance to SAVE £20 and purchase 2 tickets for only £28 so discover more about the show below and how to redeem this fantastic offer.
 
The show is a fantastic opportunity for you to discuss your own family history with a range of genealogy experts and industry leaders. There will be all areas of family history covered so whether you’re a seasoned family historian looking to explore your ancestral past further, if you’ve hit a brick wall in your research or whether you are just about to take your first steps to uncovering your family’s history, you’re sure to find all the expert advice, tips and guidance you need at the show.
 
The Exhibitors

At the show there will be over 130 of the industry’s top exhibitors on hand to advise and help with your genealogy needs as well as providing access to billions of FREE records. As well as us you will find the big leaders in genealogy such as Ancestry, Findmypast, Family Tree DNA, TheGenealogist and the Federation of Family History Societies amongst many others on hand to help with your research and advise on their new records.
 
Workshops

The Society of Genealogists will be running their packed workshop programme which is full of over 60 fascinating workshops covering a range of topics from Tracing Women Ancestors before 1837, Genealogical Problem Solving and The Digital Revolution in Irish Genealogy. The full workshop timetable can be found here and tickets are selling out fast. The SoG will also be hosting the Ask The Experts area which will be offering FREE one-on-one 20-minute sessions to help tackle any stumbling blocks in your research with a genealogy expert.
 
Travel

The show is returning to the NEC in Birmingham from Thursday 6th to Saturday 8th April for its third year. Getting to the NEC couldn’t be easier with rail access to all major UK stations only a few steps away from the hall and hundreds of dedicated parking spaces. The show also caters for international visitors with the airport being only a few minutes away.  
 
SAVE £20
​

Don’t miss your chance to attend this event - undoubtedly the highlight of the genealogy calendar. We have a special ticket offer to SAVE £20 and buy 2 tickets for only £28 when you click here. We recommend booking your workshops in advance for only £2 each (they will be £3 on the day) – don’t forget you can always go back into your order at any time to add more tickets and pay only one transaction fee.
 
For more information and to book your tickets, please click here or to book over the phone call 0844 873 7330.
 
Terms and conditions
£20 saving based on the door price of £24 a ticket. £2.25 transaction fee applies. Calls to this number cost 7p per minute plus network extras, lines open 24 hours a day. Offer valid until Monday 3 April 2017. 

Picture
0 Comments

How to work out family relationships

14/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
How to work out family relationships

In the latest guest blog from Family Tree magazine, we take a look at how to calculate who’s when when exploring your ancestry.

As it’s Valentine’s Day, we thought now would be a great time to focus on relationships; or more specifically, relationships between different members of our family tree. Although most of us are confident in working out the cousins, aunts, great-grandparents, etc, terms such as ‘second cousin once removed’ or ‘natural child’ can prove more of a challenge.

Cousin relationships

We’ll begin with cousins, who are of course, the children of an individual’s uncle or aunt. The words ‘first’, ‘second’ or ‘third’ and so on, simply describe the number of generations between the people concerned and their common ancestor.
So – first cousins share the same grandparents; second cousins have great-grandparents in common and third cousins share the same great-great-grandparents.
​
The words ‘once removed’ when describing family members means that the first, second, etc cousins are in a different generation to each other. So, for example, a second cousin once-removed is the child or parent of a second cousin.

Base and natural child

During your family tree research, you will probably come across one or more terms used to describe an illegitimate child. Such terms can include
  • Base born
  • Natural
  • Bastard
Each of the above can mean a child born out of wedlock, ie an illegitimate child. Although such terms can vary from document to document, as a rule of thumb, a ‘base’ child is usually the child of a single mother, whereas ‘bastard’ generally means the child of an unmarried but established couple’ and ‘natural child’ refers to a blood child rather than one who is adopted, or a step-child.

Relationships at a glance
  • Second cousins: share the same great-grandparents
  • Third cousins: Share the same great-great-grandparents
  • Second cousin twice removed: second cousins with a two-generation difference

Family Tree magazine’s easy to use relationship calculator

For a quick and easy way to discover who’s who on your family tree, check out Family Tree’s handy relationship calculator.

(Image copyright Tuck DB Postcards)


0 Comments

    Author

    Articles are written by a variety of our #AncestryHour followers & cover a multitude of topics, which are of interest to researchers of #familyhistory & #genealogy. If you would like your work to feature here, please contact us!

    Archives

    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    June 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    RSS Feed

Copyright © #AncestryHour Feb 2015
Picture
Susie Douglas & Sylvia Valentine are both members of the Register of Qualified Genealogists 

Read our privacy policy  here: Privacy Policy