Family Heirlooms

[Erato]

"Anything that keeps a dialect alive can’t be bad."

I seem to recall that you were rather dismissive of the New York dialect.

[Viktoria]

Ah but Erato, my dialect is specific to one area , given the number of immigrants who flooded into N.Y, there it will be a “ compound dialect” many different ones all together.

It is rich - especially from the Language of
of Eastern European Jews .
Still in use whereas hereabouts the local one is dying fairly quickly due to outside influences like TV etc.

Exit Viktoria chased by bear!

Viktoria.

[chiddicks]

Will add these heirlooms into a bit of a story unless anybody specifically wants me to leave their one out

[bevj]

I have my great grandfather's journal, written on board ship from Adelaide to London in May/June 1886.
His father (my great-great granddad) was transported in 1846 but unusually he made good and twenty years later he was able to return to England a fairly wealthy man.  My great grandad was 16 at the time and he wrote his journal every day during the sea trip, recording the daily routine of the passengers, the weather and the sights when they neared land.  It must have been so exciting.
At the end of the diary there are several pages of recipes.  Great grandad later became a master baker and confectioner and it's clear that even at 16 he was into cooking.

[chiddicks]

I have my great grandfather's journal, written on board ship from Adelaide to London in May/June 1886.
His father (my great-great granddad) was transported in 1846 but unusually he made good and twenty years later he was able to return to England a fairly wealthy man.  My great grandad was 16 at the time and he wrote his journal every day during the sea trip, recording the daily routine of the passengers, the weather and the sights when they neared land.  It must have been so exciting.
At the end of the diary there are several pages of recipes.  Great grandad later became a master baker and confectioner and it's clear that even at 16 he was into cooking.

They must be like gold dust to get an heirloom like this that documents a sea voyage like this. Have you transcribed the diaries? Or used any of the recipes?

[bevj]

I'm afraid I haven't tried any of the recipes.  They are more like aide-memoirs ad are not very exact.
For example:

Devonshire
1 1/2 lb butter
Sugar
3 flour
1 vienna

and no instructions.

I have in the past thought about transcribing the diary but don't know if anyone would be interested in it   There are no other passengers' names mentioned, though g-grandad talks about a blind man who played music on Sundays for the church services, and a lady whose baby died on board and was buried at sea.
The voyage lasted from 18th May till 28th June 1886 and once disembarked at the Royal Albert Docks they took the train to Watford, where g-g-grandad had been born 63 years previously.  I bet he saw a few changes.

Bev

[chiddicks]

I'm afraid I haven't tried any of the recipes.  They are more like aide-memoirs ad are not very exact.
For example:

Devonshire
1 1/2 lb butter
Sugar
3 flour
1 vienna

and no instructions.

I have in the past thought about transcribing the diary but don't know if anyone would be interested in it   There are no other passengers' names mentioned, though g-grandad talks about a blind man who played music on Sundays for the church services, and a lady whose baby died on board and was buried at sea.
The voyage lasted from 18th May till 28th June 1886 and once disembarked at the Royal Albert Docks they took the train to Watford, where g-g-grandad had been born 63 years previously.  I bet he saw a few changes.

Bev

Thanks, Bev, I am sure that there would be plenty of people absolutely fascinated to see and hear the stories from the sea voyage. Anyone with seafaring ancestors will love to hear these stories, even the mundaneness of a long voyage will still have lots of valuable information that anyone with an ancestor who has travelled a similar journey will love to hear about.

[teragram31510]

I'm very belatedly catching up on this thread; what interesting items you have.
I have two things I particularly treasure. The first is my great-grandfather's garden spade! It was probably made in the 1860s or 70s when he was newly married and doubtless followed him to his various homes till he died in 1941 - a few years before I was born. I suppose it went to his youngest son because he was farming the farm great-grandfather had managed from 1911 then bought in 1916. From there my mum inherited it and so to me. It's too heavy for me these days - I plan to give it to my eldest son in Yorkshire since he's become a gardener.

The other item is rather older: the leather bound "exercise" book of my GGG grandfather, dated 1779. He was privately tutored by a JQ (John Quant, we think) who wrote out, long-hand of course, a huge number of arithmetical problems for young Simeon, aged 13-15, to solve eg:
How many quarters of corn may be bought for 160 guineas at 4s a bushel? or
What is the rebate of a debt of £150 due 4 months hence at 4 per cent per annum? or
If a man spends 7s 6d per day, how long will 50 guineas serve him?
Then there are imaginary quotations for carpentry work or tiling a house to be calculated, and much more!
I hope at least one of my 8 grandchildren might be interested in hanging on to this one day.. 

Margaret

[chiddicks]

Thanks for sharing these with us Margaret, love the spade, I don't think that I have ever come across such an unusual heirloom when you think that today we live in such a throwaway world, it's amazing it survived so long.

The exercise book sounds amazing, would love to see a picture of you have one.