SHIELLS family of Black Callerton, then Whitley Bay (ignore the Kansas ones)

[River Tyne Lass]

Sorry about the delay - several of the machines at the library are out of order today and the first machine I went on suddenly conked so I had to move to another one.

However, the good news is I have found it!

Evening Chronicle - Friday, October 11, 1901
'SHIELLS.-Whitley, Dairy Farm, died on the 9th inst., Isabella Shiells, widow of the late Andrew Shiells, late of Black Callerton.  Interment at St Nicholas's Cemetery on Saturday, Oct.12th, 1901, at 3.0 o'clock; cortege to leave Whitley at 12.30.  Friends kindly accept this, the only intimation.'

Best Wishes

[River Tyne Lass]

I have just googled this cemetery name and came across a site which says this is also sometimes known as Fenham Cemetery.

[River Tyne Lass]

Just to let you know, I have had a quick check of the burials at St Nicholas, Cemetery in Fenham, Newcastle and can't find Isabella's name on the date the newspaper reports she was buried.  Perhaps, I am not finding the correct reel or could there may be another St Nicholas Cemetery?  This is a puzzle

I had hoped to be able to let you know the plot (while I am at the library) but I have not been able to find it unfortunately. 

[Gen List Lass]

River Tyne Lass

Many thanks for all your patient research today!

It could be St Nicholas Gosforth, they were burying until 1983. Judging that the cortege was leaving the farm at 1:30pm and the burial was at 3pm, it seems likely. Maybe that's where her husband is!!!!

The only other two are St Nicks Cathedral but there were no burials there after 1858, then they moved up to the one in Fenham which opened then. But you have checked that one already...so it's looking more likely it will be at Gosforth....I can check that one:-) There is another St Nicks at Hetton le Hole but that is REALLY unlikely..... Edit: And I've just remembered the church at Cramlington is St Nicks too.....I thought I'd checked that one already but will recheck.

I wonder how many people turned up at the wrong burial that day:-)

Thanks again and if you ever need a lookup at the NBL archives at Woodhorn, just send me an E.

Gen in NBL England

[River Tyne Lass]

You are welcome!  I was glad to be able to help - at least with the notice.

I still wouldn't rule out the Newcastle cemetery just because I couldn't find it.  Perhaps, there might be another reel at the archives.  The ones at the library can be a bit jumbled and I can't rule out that I may have missed the correct section on a reel.  I do hope that you get to the bottom of this mystery.  I suppose at least you know that she is likely to be discovered at St Nicholas Cemetery or perhaps a Church and that this took place
Two and a half hours after leaving the residence. (12.30-3.00)

[River Tyne Lass]

Just out of interest did you know that Isabella is listed in the 1901 Ward's Directory which is held at North Shields local studies?  The entry which is under Villages Near North Shields  Whitley  reads:

Shiells Isabell  Mrs dairyman  Park Avenue.

By the way, Gen List Lass, after thinking about it, I think you may be on the right track by trying to find Isabella at the Gosforth Parish Churchyard of St Nicholas.  When I was on the way out of the library eventually (after getting carried away and looking up several more entries in the EC for people who seem to have previously not had a response)  I came across an excellent little four fold leaflet in their leaflet stand relating to the Great War called Gosforth and the Great War History Trail  This is packed with loads of interesting information and inside is a picture of the Church of St Nicholas and the parish church yard.  I have passed this place over the years but did not realize that this church was called St Nicholas.  By the way if anyone wants any more information about Gosforth people in the Great War the leaflet I mention says to contact Gosforth Community History Group via Trinity Centre (which I presume will be at Trinity Church?)

I can imagine the route that Isabella's cortege would have taken via Whitley Bay.  Most likely passing where the now Benton ASDA is and straight on.  Perhaps burial services were quite lengthy in those days and that may be why the whole event was expected to take two and a half hours?  Yes, I do wonder how many people may have turned up at the wrong church that day?  If only the notice had mentioned a placename after 'St Nicholas's Cemetery' alas!

I have tried to check the Whitley Seaside Chronicle and Vistors' Gazette  which is at the North Shields local studies to see if there was also any entry about Isabella's death in there.  Unfortunately, although the local studies has decades of this newspaper 1901 appears to be missing.

Good luck with this search I do hope you find Isabella and hopefully her husband there too.  Let us know if you have success.

Best Wishes

[Gen List Lass]

R T Lass

Thanks for your continued interest. Yes I found her as a farmer in a few directories and the address said Dairy Farm. i expect it was easier for a farmers widow to keep a dairy farm rather than an arable or stock farm. She would have been used to the dairy duties at Black Callerton. 

I would have thought it a nice little business in those days as the Whitley Bay area was expanding. When she died and the lease was up, the children didn't carry it on. Maybe it wasn't as lucrative as they thought it would be.

Gen in NBL England

[Gen List Lass]

River Tyne Lass

I've just checked St Nicholas at Cramlington AND Gosforth and Isabella SHEILLS in not buried at either of them.

So....looks like it IS at St Nicholas civil cemetery at Fenham.  Back to square one:-)

Gen in  NBL England

[River Tyne Lass]

Hi Gen List Lass,

I am so sorry you have not been able to find her yet.  I was so hoping she would be at the Gosforth Church yard.  I will try to get to the archives for you in the next two weeks and see if I can find her at the cemetery at Fenham.  As I say, perhaps she may be on another reel in a different part of the cemetery.  She definitely wasn't on the reel with that date that I looked at at the library.

I am really sorry that you are having such a run around with this.  Oh dear!! If only a place name had been added to the words  'Nicholas's Cemetery'!!😕

I wish I could get to the archives for you sooner but can't just yet because of work and other commitments.  I definitely will try to help get you closure with this as soon as I am able.  Or perhaps another RootsChatter may be able to help out this week by looking this up at the archives?  Isabella will surely be somewhere local.

Hopefully, the answer will be discovered at some point in next few weeks.