You may remember that I am tracing the family tree. This can be very frustrating, but also quite illuminating.
It is always easy to look at a bunch of names and dates, record them in sequence and think job done. A bit like the bible lists I remember when I went to Sunday School (lapsed Methodist). You know – thingy begat dooda and he begat… etc.
But it is always the human interest that brings these names and dates alive. For example, my dad’s grandad on his mother’s side was a chap called William Heslop. He lived with his daughter (dad’s mother) in his 70s in their small terraced house (as a retired colliery blacksmith once he left the job he lost his home).
So dad still remembers him, and when dad was about 11, and William was in his 70s, William collapsed and died while out for his daily walk.
When I was talking to dad about this, he told me something that I had forgotten about. There was a family memory that in the 1890s, although we know he had 5 children, another 2 sons had died. Further, one of the sons had died tragically. It seems that Mathew, then aged about 10, had put a younger brother on his shoulders and with much laughter had ran through the house.
Unfortunately he had not thought about the stone lintel above a door. The little boys head struck the lintel, and this had killed him!
So, inspired by this story, sherlock here decided to try to trace any information about this little boy.
Dad thought he would have been aged 6 or so and was born in the early 1890s. First problem! I have the family fully listed in the 1891 and 1901 census, but this was in-between. So I then found a way, in one of the internet ancestry sites, to find lists of deaths around that period, in that area and of boys that age.
After a good hour or so, I came up with the nearest match I could. A John Heslop had died aged 6 in 1899 in the Chester le Street records. The only thing is that it does not give the parents’ details, so that you know it is the right one. All you can do is pay £7 and have a copy death certificate sent to you which does then give these details.
So, I applied, and had to wait several days for this to be delivered. Two days ago it arrived, and bingo, it was the right one!
His name was John (his granddads name), and there was William (his father) attending the death on 21st May 1899 at Cement Row, Ouston, County Durham. The cause of death was recorded as ‘Pneumonia 11 day. So it looks like the little lad succumbed to this whilst incapacitated in bed.
It seems that many more people are looking into where they came from, and television programs like ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ reflect this interest.
If any of you want any tips on tracing your family just let me know and I will help if I can.
