Reading Turpinus pharaohnic blog contribution I was struck by the similarities between the Baty and Bates history and the Turpin and Sam[m]s story.
I have been able to go back to the birth of John Beattie, my triple great grandfather in Cumberland in 1791 but have reached cul-de-sacs earlier in my searches through other bloodlines. This character moved to an obscure part of Northumberland, perhaps in search of a job or a wife, and stayed there until he died of "exhaustion 7 days" when he was 92 and still an agricultural labourer. His children and grandchildren appear to have lived out their lives on the land nearby, with the women taking jobs "in service" before getting married.
Curiously my 5 known great grandparents - not 6 because my paternal grandfather was illegitimate - were all born during the window of 1851 to 1861 and each had 7 children by the time of the 1901 Census. Was this down to following the fashion of large families set by Queen Victoria or due to a combination of poor contraception and lower infant mortality?
Having seen the recent programmes on BBC2 about some celebs' family histories I wonder too about the poverty these families must have endured with low income, small dwellings, outside loos, no central heating, etc.
We too had blacksmiths in my maternal grandfather and his father, and this is understandable as they must have been as necessary in their time as commercial garages became for cars.
My father's generation was one that broke out from their rural fastness getting jobs in the public services i.e health, fire and police services and moving to cities, mostly in other counties. The attraction was probably stability of employment for a generation with recent experience of the 1930s depression. To my knowledge Horace and Albert Minster took the same route and others in the Turpin and Sams lines may have done too for opportunities that do not exist in farm work.
What a far cry from the lives and prospects of our children with their creature comforts, job mobility, electronic "necessities", stressful work, etc etc.
2 comments:
Ah - So you also didn't find any millionaire cousins with unclaimed inheritances. Oh well, we'll just have to remain in poverty like our predecessors. Given the stresses of modern life, they probably never realised how lucky they were. (Discuss!)
Doing family history and watching the recent TV series has brought home to me how far life for the ordinary folks(like me)has improved. We are more affluent, better educated, more comfortable, more stimulated by books, films, TV etc, can travel a lor further, etc etc.
Against that the media and politicians - often for their own motives - assail us with mega-threats like avian 'flu, climate change, natural disaster, strife in Iraq, adverse social changes, etc etc.
We may not live as well as rich people in the past but I have no doubt that on balnce life for the vast majority of us in the UK is better than it ever was.
(Discuss!)
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