RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: *sparkle* on Monday 03 November 08 13:08 GMT (UK)
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This isn’t so much of a brick wall. I know who came before and after and who married who. And I have even asked questions on here previously and had some help piecing the relationships together. But I would like some feedback or the thoughts of others as I just can’t let this rest.
I cant for the life of me figure out why my ancestor Frederick Rammell moved from Worcester with a job as a hairdresser with an apprentice to not so sunny south west Scotland to work in a lunatic asylum. He could have moved at any time between 1861 and 1871 and he moved with his wife Ann who was almost 20 years older. Ann died childless in 1873.
The institution he worked at would have employed him as he was not from the area, so that rules out him moving specifically for work.
His brother and sister both moved from the area also around the same time. I have just made contact with one of his brother Edwin’s descendants which has re-provoked my curiosity!
His father committed suicide in 1870. Being of ‘unsound mind’. I have found nothing so far in the newspapers or anything that may be remotely scandalous.
So why on earth did he move???
I keep getting asked by relatives when I’m telling them about our family tree.
Why didn’t he escape abroad like two of his uncles?
Was a suicide scandal enough to make the family split up and move to different corners of Britain?
And importantly can anyone think of where I can look to get closer to an answer?
Tx
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Sounds on the face of it that they were just a close family. If the dad commited suicide in 1870 then he could well have been in that asylum at the time Frederick moved - so he simply may have moved to be near his ailing father. Maybe his siblings had moved - with work to go to - and he moved too to be near all his family even if he did not immediately have work.
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It sounds as though they all moved away from one another rather than towards each other (?).
Perhaps there was indeed more to the suicide than met the eye - and surviving family members became persona non grata in their home town. But if it wasn't something recorded in the newspapers (e.g. bankruptcy or criminal proceedings) it may be hard ever to know.
Did the deceased father leave a will?
Anna
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No wills (that I have found).
Frederick moved to Dumfries and found work in an asylum. His father died in Worcestershire, never moved. So he definitely didnt attend him. In fact asylums went to great lengths to make sure those who worked there bore no relation or recognisance of the people they were attending. (Information thanks to the archivist at the Crichton Royal in Dumfries)
And maybe I wasnt clear. For generations the family hailed from worcestershire. Frederick snr comits suicide and his three children inc spouses (Frederick jnr, Eliza and Edwin) moved away from the area and away from each other.
Tx
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At that time Suicide was not only a criminal act in itself but socially it bore a considerable stigma which would be felt on the whole family.
As has been said the circumstances themselves leading up to the suicide may also have had a detrimental social effect on the family and therefore on their businesses/trades.
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Thank you to everyone who has replied so far :)
In my ignorance I had not realised just what a stigma suicide had, nor that it was a criminal act :(
I've just read this which I found on a google search:
http://www.victorianweb.org/books/suicide/08.html
I think the scariest thing is that bodies were not buried in the usual way, with talk of dissection for medical puposes and being buried at night. No wonder I couldn't find a grave stone :(
I think I have found my answer. It was the shame of having a father who committed suicide that drove the three children away from their mother (who died a year later) and to different corners of Britain. :( Very sad :(
Thank you again, I might go off and contemplate this now and do a bit more reading :(
Tx
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I do not understand the third paragraph in your original posting.
May he not have moved there answering an advert FOR a hairdresser based in the Hospital?
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The institution he worked at would have employed him as he was not from the area, so that rules out him moving specifically for work.
Sorry this is badly worded. The hospital in most instances employed people who were born outside the area.
Maybe he did reply to an advert, but is seems a very long journey to work as a hairdresser at an asylum. He is just listed as 'attendant' on the census and on marriage (2nd wife) and birth records. I did ask the archivist if it was likely that he moved for the job, but it was her opinion that he would have been employed locally and not recruited from far afield.
Maybe I will look in national papers of the time for job adverts so I can rule this out...
Tx