As we learn more about them, the stories of many of our ancestors stay with us. For some, the story is positive - the achievements they made, the success they celebrated. For others the story is more challenging - the obstacles they faced, the tragedies they overcame. I find it is more the tragedies that stay with me.
My great grandmother Eliza Pummeroy (nee Beseler). After
struggling for a month after her husband's sudden death, Eliza took the
step of applying to the local court for help, risking having her
children removed from her custody and placed in an orphanage, something
she was adamant she did not want. The judges hearing the case awarded
her 10 shillings from the poor box and committed the children to the
department, with the recommendation they be handed back to their mother.
My great great grandparents David and Eliza Mulholland, who had three children die as infants within a
few weeks of each other - Henry who died 29 January 1872 aged 4
years 8 months, Margaret Jane who died 2 February 1872 aged 6
years 4 months and Thomas who died 14 February 1872 aged 1
year 2 months. A stark reminder of the perils of childhood and how
disease could carry off several family members in rapid succession - all
three died of diphtheria.
Then there is the Hines branch of my family tree, who I followed through the census records. In the 1841 census parents James and Susan are
alive and children John, Samuel, Albert and Hannah are listed with
them. Eldest daughter Susannah is not home on census night and so was not
listed.
The 1851census told a very different story. Both parents had died, and the five siblings have been
split up. The two eldest children, Susannah and John, now aged 18 and
16, are living with their maternal grandparents and are listed as
house servant and farm servant respectively. Middle
child Samuel, age 14, was found a home with relatives, and is
listed as a lodger in the house of James Prentice. His maternal
grandmother Susannah's maiden name was Prentice (she is the Susannah
Woollard listed above, who took in the two eldest children), and James
Prentice is her nephew. The
two youngest children, Albert, now age 12 and Hannah, age 10, were less fortunate. Apparently there were no relatives willing and able to
take these youngest children, and they are listed in the census as
paupers in the Cosford Union Workhouse. So
not only have these children lost their parents, they have also been
split up, the ones old enough taken by relatives and put to work. The
two youngest, not yet old enough to perform sufficient useful labour,
are sent to the workhouse.
Tragic stories that stay with me.
