Book creation programs

[Guy Etchells]

Notwithstaning my earlier comment, about avoiding a family history being just a list of dates, people  and places, I had a go at embroidering the facts with some credible padding, if that isn't too much of a muddled metaphor.  I'd welcome any comments or criticism.

Mart since you ask I will note the points that jar with me.

"It was a cold morning in November 1882 as Annie Maria Ballard laid on her bed in Eden Street, Hartlepool, moaning and groaning with the gruelling pains of impending childbirth. Eventually a small girl came into the world, crying surprisingly lustily for her small size, soon followed by her twin brother, who was much quieter and didn't seem anywhere nearly as strong. The midwife looked sorrowfully, and turned to Elizabeth, and confided that '...that one looks as if it does not have long for this world'.

“Eventually a small girl came into the world” I have never given birth but this sounds to me as if  Annie Maria Ballard did not have much to do with the birth apart from having labour pains prior to it. Perhaps a little more emphasis the effort of delivery.

The girl was named Kate, after her mother’s favourite sister, and the boy was called John, after his father and grandfather, and took his grandmother's maiden name of Mowbray as a middle name.  Little Kate seemed to take her new surroundings in her stride, little aware that she was the future matriarch of a diverse and widely spread dynasty.  Her life would see two world wars, the invention of the hula-hoop, and men being fired into space.

The double birth was a great strain for young 20 year old Annie Maria, and sadly she would only be vaguely well enough to be aware of the death of her second-born, 6 weeks later, and never fully recovered before her own sad premature death less than a year later.  Annie Maria's husband John, a local watchmaker of some repute looked proudly on his new daughter, but felt ill at the sight of his sickly little son.

“and sadly she would only be vaguely well enough to be aware of the death of her second-born,”
Here I would suggest moving the “vaguely” to before the aware “vaguely aware”

He held his wife’s hand, although the effort of a double childbirth had left her exhausted and she slept for many hours.  As days progressed the new mother was able to pay attention to her new twins, and she was very concerned about the sad sight of the younger child, John.  Little John spent much time motionless, before finally passing on, aged only 41 days, just a week before his first Christmas.  It was a heart-breaking time in the house."

I don't know whether it is good or not that I now almost believe that that is how it was!

Martin

My final comment is about the use of “It was a heart-breaking time in the house.” I would suggest this is more of a 20th or 21st century view of the death of an infant in the 19th century such losses were common and though the parents would be saddened by such a death I very much doubt if a working class family could spare the time an effort to be heart-broken by it, I suggest they would be more driven by the struggle to survive than being able to afford the luxury of dwelling on the death.

Cheers
Guy

[Mart 'n' Al]

Thanks Guy. That's all very useful. It is sad as we all discover how many of our ancestors did died in infancy, childhood or childbirth.  But you are right, I am sure it was half accepted and they were prepared for it. And yet it is amazing how many of our ancestors had 10 or 12 siblings, often born 18 to 24 months apart.

Martin

[KGarrad]

Almost certainly due to a lack of contraception?!

Also a state of mind? If we have 12 pregnancies, surely some of them will survive childhood.

I am very wary of applying modern day standards to days past - life was very different back then.

[pharmaT]

Almost certainly due to a lack of contraception?!

Also a state of mind? If we have 12 pregnancies, surely some of them will survive childhood.

I am very wary of applying modern day standards to days past - life was very different back then.

Definitely lack of contraception and women weren't legally allowed to deny their husbands either.  Men were legally allowed to force their wives here until 1989.  I'm actually more amazed at the families who only had a couple or have larger gaps between children when we go back to earlier generations.

[mike175]

Whilst I accept that it happened often, I find it hard to believe that my g/g/grandparents were not heartbroken when they lost their 4-year old son and 2-year old daughter within days of each other from scarlatina, and they must have been very anxious when their third child (my g/grandfather) was born a few months later. Obviously he survived, and they had two more daughters as well. The mother must have been a strong woman because they had a few other problems but she died at the age of 96 from "old age and exhaustion"

Of course people generally accepted what life threw at them, they had little choice so they just got on and made the best of it in most cases, but you only have to read some of the literature of past centuries to realise they experienced the same sort of feelings that any of us do now.

Mike.

[Mart 'n' Al]

My aforementioned great-grandmother Kate had, from memory, 20 aunts and uncles, 9 related to her father and 11 to her mother.

Roll on birthdays and Christmas!

Martin

[Greensleeves]

Thanks for your reply Martin.  I think we do have a match. 

I have James Mowbray, born 1822, Hartlepool, married Mary Butcher, born 1822 Lowestoft Suffolk.  They have a large number of children including James born 1856, Elizabeth 1857, Marianna 1858, Lavinia 1862 and Mary, 1864.  Lavinia married William E James b. 1860 Great Yarmouth, and their daughter, Mary Mowbray James, married my great uncle!

Regards
GS

[Mart 'n' Al]

GS,
Elizabeth Mowbray, 1836-1902 was the grandmother of Kate Loughborough, my great grandmother.  Elizabeth and her husband George Loughborough brought up Kate as their own daughter, after Kate's mother died (and her father remarried), as you read above.  Elizabeth Mowbray, 1836-1902, is the sister of your James Mowbray, born 1822-1888.

Their parents as you may know where John Mowbray 1786-1863 and Jane Chapman.

I will check my records for the Levina possible mis-spelling.  Also, I have Elizabeth Jr as 1847, but that might well be my mistake.  I will contact you privately to discuss more, but I am busy this weekend.

James Mowbray, born 1822-1888, had a sister, who married a Thomas Pounder, and I keep meaning to dig deeper to see if he had a grandson, who, obviously, would have been...wait for it... a Quarter Pounder...!

We visited Hartlepool and many ancestral sites last year, so I have many photos that might interest you.  We must work our our exact relationship!  Mowbrays and Loughboroughs ran a shop together.

It is odd that you saw my fiction history.  You possible saw a current thread about faded newspaper articles.  I read that, think that it would be odd if the sample news article gave anyone an unexpected clue, then this happened.

Most of my heritage is Hartlepool and Bedlington, with a bit of Corton near Lowestoft(!), although I have always lived in Greater London. 

I liked my fictionalised account, and, while I am grateful for the many constructive comments, perhaps my writing style kept your attention until you made this connection.

A private message will follow. 

Martin

[ColDownUnder]

Hi, an interesting thread. Have spent 4 years since retirement researching and writing on a regular basis. Began with my parents then worked down through their parents, their parents and so on. Wrote up chapters in Word.

Beside documentation tried to include as many primary materials and their detail as possible to tell the story of family members with the hope of approaching vanished lives and their times that remain unknowable in their essence.

Now transcribing details and rewriting in a biographical potboiler format without the many references previously included by allocating a chapter to selected eras or events and intersecting lives of family.

Both writing processes - the chapters centred on parents and the potboiler - are of course ongoing as more is discovered about family. But whatever approach our writing takes we must be respectful of family because their lives were not ours although at times we feel drawn to them as moths to a flame.

Cheers,
Col