silly sad old fool

[Finley 1]

I sit here going through a pile of old wills.. and I am not in control.. weeping like a baby.. 

some of the wonderful phrases,   loving and bequeathing and all that.. to my Kin men..  and to my devoted wife.. oh my..

even when talking about the chamber pot.. ..

so lovely to read

They darn well had standards and they were worth having..


Now ... well !!!

[omega 1]

Your not alone xinia

A 3x Greatgrandfather died Intestate,a Reverand & had a Farm.

I have a copy of an Inventory of the House and Farm Stock.I had a cry,imagining my  poor 3x Greatgrandmother watching everything  being counted and valued.Bless her
This happened 1796

omega

[Milliepede]

Curious now what they said about the chamber pot 

I remember my grandmother having one under the bed and this was in the 1960's but her toilet was downstairs so made sense.

[Finley 1]

Curious now what they said about the chamber pot 

I remember my grandmother having one under the bed and this was in the 1960's but her toilet was downstairs so made sense.

ha ha -- I will find the one it was in later today ..

xin

[Mike Morrell (NL)]

Wonderful Xinia! IMHO these kinds of documents really bring the past to life. One of the few I have is a seven-year 'apprenticeship agreement'  for one of my ancestors between his father and his Master, a "Perriwig-maker" in Mortlake in 1758. It brings home the conditions under which apprenticeships were served in those days.

BTW my family all had chamber pots under the bed until we got an inside loo (downstairs) in about 1966

Mike

[snowqueen]

My grandparents had chamber pots.  They were called gazunders - because they gazunder the bed!!

Lyn

[Familysearch]

My Grandparents had them - which meant that I also had the use of such things when I stayed with them as a child.  They did have an outside toilet, which I doubt was used during the night.

Up until the age of six, the house my parents owned, also had an outside toilet. (Remember it freezing up in the winter!)

Also, bear in mind that some households shared the toilet/privy or whatever. !!!

[andrewalston]

Inventories can tell us a lot about how our ancestors lived their lives. For one of my lot, a farmer who died in 1775, the entire contents of his house were valued at less than £4, but his two cows were worth £9.
A looking glass was worth 6d; the Lancashire pronunciation was written down for "four churs", worth 2 shillings.

A will from half a century later shows another direct ancestor really making efforts to look after his descendants.
The house was to be sold and the proceeds split equally between his children. The married sons just got the cash. Two daughters had already had advances on their inheritances. The relevant sums were deducted from their shares, but then promptly given back to the grandchildren.
The eldest (married) daughter was obviously favourite. She received, besides the cash share, all the farming implements and livestock, and also £4 from the Male Sick Society.
A codicil then made special provision for the two daughters who were not yet married. They were set up with looms so they could make a living, and enough furniture to set up a household. The one who had an illegitimate son had half of her cash share put into the Saving Bank in order to buy that child an apprenticeship.
Health insurance and a banking system in a sleepy agricultural village in Lancashire!
And all these people are named, so I know that the relationships I'd already worked out are right.

[Finley 1]

ok   maybe it was a case of reading it too quickly because ----- I got two lines mixed up

but it was fun.. thinking about it?


xin