Unpleasant family truths .......

[Gadget]

Hi Gadget,
 I read the other thread but I couldn't  work out what it was exactly that you objected to; is it the fact they had a child out of wedlock, or that he wasn't there to bring up the daughter?

Erin 

It was the fact that it said for the mother 'his mother's maid servant'. No name , nothing! This poor woman had probably been seduced or worse and not even given a name 

Gadget

[MrsLizzy]

Exactly.  As if she were something less than human.   

[MarieC]

I apologise to my Great-Grandma if my concerns are unfounded, but does anyone else think it sounds a bit odd?

Erin 

Hi Erin

If I were you I would definitely be suspicious about what Great-Grandma was up to!   Unfortunately I don't think there is any way of proving it one way or the other.

MarieC

[mahees]

I see, Gadget, I didn't realise that's all that was put, I thought it was just your explanation of what happened. 
That is pretty unfair. It's a shame there were no censuses then so you could work out who she was.

Marie, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's dodgy! It's the way she didn't put people up, she put MEN up. My poor Grandma and Mum, have never suspected a thing, and I don't think the family will ever join me in wondering about it. 

Erin 

[Gadget]

It all  sounds a bit iffy to me too, Erin.

Why would she have a cigarette machine in her living room 

Gadget

[mahees]

I'm trying to be balanced and fair, so I will reiterate that the info is second hand, and I can't confirm how accurate it is. I don't know exactly what was meant by a cigarette machine, or what that would look like in the 1930s.
I have a funny feeling about it though, and I can't think of any other reason why she would put men up. My Mum reckons she was a good samaritan, but I don't really buy that.

I don't think there is any reason to be ashamed or to apologise for our ancestors actions; we had no control over them.
Slavery was a horrible thing and it's sad that it has happened, but we all have to move on. The Archbishop of York's claim that Britain should 'apologise' is ridiculous. I'm not asking for an apology from the descendants of the factory owners who abused my ancestors as children. I know the scale and brutality of slavery was a different thing entirely, but today's Britain has nothing to apologise for.

Erin

[lambster134]

Hi Erin,
  Don't be too harsh on your great-grandmother! We are talking about a time before Government handouts and if she had space to take in lodgers which helped her bring up her family, that would make perfect sense. The 20s and 30s were very depressed times (economically) and men left their families at home and travelled long distances to find work. They couldn't have afforded hotels or flats - but a nice homely lodging with breakfast and an evening meal thrown in? The landlady could easily have had a private drawing room!
  Regarding the cigarette machines. if she was renting out rooms to labourers, then it is possible a canny salesman persuaded her to have a machine for them in exchange for a small commission..
  An alternative view!
J

[mahees]

I hope you're right, J!

As MarieC said, we'll never know, but I'm sure my family would be much happier with your theory than with mine!

Erin 

[Elizabeth Revel]

This thread and the references to lodgers and a cigarette machine are making me feel very old.

In the years of my youth, housing was at a premium. Many couples lived for years with their families because there were very few alternatives. Men who had to work away from home shared domestic accommodation where they could find it and spare bedrooms were often used for lodgers or boarders who needed housing. One has only to look at the census to see that very modest houses often accommodated extra people.

As for the cigarette machine--it was probably just the gadget which was used to make cigarettes from loose tobacco and papers and many people had those in their homes. It was a belt on rollers upon which one laid a piece of cigarette paper, put tobacco along it and then rolled the result to compress the tobacco with some uniformity before licking the glue on the paper and sealing it. Some of them were quite long and the result was then cut into cigarette lengths. In these days of healthy living and non smoking it is hard to imagine that smoking was not considered the vice it is today but it was always a place from which the government could extract taxes and smokers preferred to find the best way to afford their habit. Loose tobacco and papers were cheaper than "tailor mades."

Erin, you may be seeing ghosts which simply do not exist.

Beth