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Messages - Annied22

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1
Durham / Re: George Ridley
« on: Friday 15 September 23 10:54 BST (UK)  »
I'm still here and I'm still subscribed to this thread but somehow I missed the notification that there'd been a new post in April. I've just received the notification about maddies52 post.

I'm really sorry JenPed88, but I don't have any further information. I had to look up my old diaries to jog my memory of which friend it was as I had no recollection of even starting this thread! Unfortunately she tells me that she no longer has the book.

Usually when I start the very occasional thread like this the books are my own and add to its history for me. What a pity that this one is just about the only exception.

2
Cumberland / Re: Anne Sharp of Drigg Cross, Holmrook
« on: Wednesday 12 January 22 00:15 GMT (UK)  »
Yes, it is. It's tremendously satisfying to think that a book that might easily have been consigned to the bin may well now be around in another two or three hundred years time. It also means that I can use them as much as I like without worrying that the old leather will crack and the condition of the book will deteriorate even further.

Repairs aren't my strong point as the books I buy are usually too far gone to repair and need a complete rebind, and as a result, I don't have as much experience where they're concerned. This one is an 1808 cookery book by a lady called Mrs Raffald that I hope now looks much as it might have done when it was new.


3
Cumberland / Re: Anne Sharp of Drigg Cross, Holmrook
« on: Tuesday 11 January 22 15:59 GMT (UK)  »
As promised, here are some pics of the actual book. As usual I never thought to take any pictures of it before I began working on it, but the hinges had split and the covers had all but parted company with the book block. It now has a new spine, with the original one glued over it. The frontispiece was missing, but I found one online I could download and incorporate into the book. The dirt on the final page of text was the sign that it must have lain around unbound for some time.

Front
Endpaper incorporating Anne's signature and address
Frontispiece and Title Page
A couple of pages of text
Final page
Spine

4
Cumberland / Re: Anne Sharp of Drigg Cross, Holmrook
« on: Friday 07 January 22 00:02 GMT (UK)  »
Most of mine are pre-Victorian. I have a lot of very old cookery books, the rest is a mish mash of whatever looks like it might give an insight into life at the time it was written. What I especially like is that nothing much ever changes, people moaned about exactly the same things 300 years ago that we moan about now; it's somehow very reassuring!

5
Cumberland / Re: Anne Sharp of Drigg Cross, Holmrook
« on: Thursday 06 January 22 19:55 GMT (UK)  »
Oh me too! Social history interests me and has a lot to do with the antiquarian books I buy. It makes it all even more fascinating when I'm able to have a peep into the lives of the previous owners.

In this instance, what strikes me is the differing fortunes of some of the family members. There's poor Hannah, who for the last 10 or more years of her life ended up as a charwoman and yet her niece Ann(e) left today's equivalent of nearly £73,000 to her daughter.

Thank you again for all your help. I'm only sorry you're too far away to see the book itself. It's currently still in pieces, but if I'm happy with the end result, I will at least post a picture or two of it.

6
Cumberland / Re: Anne Sharp of Drigg Cross, Holmrook
« on: Wednesday 05 January 22 16:36 GMT (UK)  »
I worked out how to enlarge and move the maps around!

My money would definitely be on Joseph Steele the iron miner turned farmer and his wife Ann being the parents of William. It all fits, not only the Drigg connection but even down to family names being passed on.

I think you've done it! I've now made a fair copy of all the information you've turned up which I think contains all the information we have. I'll make a copy on acid free paper to put inside the book.

7
Cumberland / Re: Anne Sharp of Drigg Cross, Holmrook
« on: Tuesday 04 January 22 14:24 GMT (UK)  »
You really are very kind. Thank you.

Have you been able to turn up anything more than I could about the William Steel whose father, Joseph, born in Drigg, was an iron miner in 1851, but then subsequently a farmer living at Haggett End? He must be a different William from the one you think married Ann.

I've also been having a quick scout around today and have discovered yet another William Steel on the 1861 census, also living at Haggett End. Parents are William, another farmer and Jane.

Who would think there were so many William Steels born in the same area at the same time?! That said the evidence we have certainly makes the William you found the most likely.

8
Cumberland / Re: Anne Sharp of Drigg Cross, Holmrook
« on: Monday 03 January 22 15:15 GMT (UK)  »
Perhaps I'm missing the obvious as far as the maps are concerned, it certainly wouldn't surprise me!

I think your persistance, despite me moving the goalposts as I looked into the history of the binding itself, has won through. Unlike the others, Ann(e), daughter of Thomas, ticks every single box.

The binding with the coloured endpapers and machine made headbands certainly fits the 1860/70s very well and the location is right. As for the long s, it continued in handwriting long after it stopped being used in printing; according to Wikipedia it continued to be used in handwriting into the mid 1800s and it gives examples of it still being used in the 1880s. Schooling wasn't compulsory at that time, and if girls were being taught to write by mothers and grandmothers it's easy to see how it could have been passed on. Interestingly she hasn't used the long s for Drigg Cross.

How nice that Ann(e) seems to have ended up comfortably off. I'll make a copy of what you've discovered, that I can put inside the book.

Edited to add that I've now turned up a William Steel aged 13 on the 1861 census. Living at Hagget End, Egremont with his mother aged 35 and two sisters Jane aged 14 and Margaret 4. Occupation farmer's son. His father, Joseph, who only appears on the 1851 census is listed on that as an Iron Miner, born in Drigg.

Edited again to add that it looks as though Hannah, the sister of Thomas, may have married a John Steel, born in Scotland and a Railway Labourer. The 1851 census shows their son William aged 3 was born at Drigg, there's also a daughter Elizabeth Sharp aged 5 and Ann aged under a year.

Seems like there's more than one William Steel(e)s with a Drigg connection born around the same time! I can't find any further trace of these two beyond 1861.

9
Cumberland / Re: Anne Sharp of Drigg Cross, Holmrook
« on: Sunday 02 January 22 17:13 GMT (UK)  »
I think I need a larger screen! The writing is so tiny on those maps it's unreadable, but if I enlarge the map, the area I'm interested in disappears. I think I could just pick Crossbarrow out though.

I think we've probably come to the end of the line now. The more I research both the history of the binding andof the former owner, the more confusing it becomes. The book has machine made headbands. I've been checking when they were first used and it's from the 1850s, i.e. after the marriage you found, so you wouldn't expect her still be signing with her maiden name.

I've also found a marriage between Ann Sharp and William Ray or Reay on 23.09.1847 at Cockermouth. The record shows Ann's father was William Sharp, but again, the marriage appears to predate the signature on the book.

Many thanks for your help.

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