Week 6 - Favourite Name

Favourite name has to be Caroline Lowther, my paternal Great Grandmother.

My eldest brother John and his wife had their second child, a daughter 40 years ago in 1978, they named her Caroline Lydia Sanderson. My dad, George Sanderson, was a "proper" northern working man who we all recall saying….."Caroline, why on earth Caroline, where has that name come from?"….  He appeared to have not thought much of the name.

Dad was the son of George Lowther Sanderson and his wife Lilian (nee Rowell).

Dad died in 1988. It was not long after this when my sister in law, Linda, started on the family history trail. Linda had ordered my Grandads (George Lowther Sanderson) birth certificate....What an interesting read that was!

 

Georges father was Thomas Sanderson and his mother was Caroline Lowther. So my dads grandmother was called Caroline! And he clearly never knew and unfortunately was not around to learn of this.

To this day, my niece still finds it a litle spooky when viewing her Great Great grandmothers, Caroline Sanderson's, (married name) death certificate, when she herself was named Caroline Sanderson.

So who was Caroline Sanderson (nee Lowther) ?

Caroline was born 1 April 1867, daughter of George Lowther and Jessie (nee Downie) in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire.

In 1871 at the age of 4 she was still living in Kirkbymoorside at Piercy End Street  with her parents and 2 older siblings, George(10) and Emily (5).

In 1881, at the age of 14, she was a domestic servant for the Muzeen family in Riccal Moor, Harome.  Mr Barugh Muzeen was a farmer of 170 acres, living with his wife and 5 children.

Sometime  between 1881 and 1886 Caroline had met her future husband Thomas Sanderson (who was also from Kirkbymoorside).  They married on 30 Mar 1866 at the Bethel  Chapel  in Kirkbymoorside. 

(for info on the Bethel religion, see www.kirkbymoorside.ryedalemethodist.org.uk/history2012.pdf).

On the marriage certificate Thomas made his mark "X" however Caroline did sign her name.

Between their marriage and the 1891 census they had moved to Middlesbrough, which was still in the county of North Yorkshire at that time.  In 1891 they were living a 42 Carter St, with their daughters Annie (2) and Florence (1m).

Caroline and Thomas had a total of 8 children.

In 1901 they were living at 13 Disraeli St, Middlesbrough with 5 children, Annie M (13), Thomas G (8), Eliza M (6), John W (4) George L (1).

 

Going back to my niece , Caroline, when she married she had 2 children one of them being named Eliza.

In 1911 Thomas and Caroline were living at 19 Fancoat St, Middlesbrough, with 6 children: Annie May (22), Thomas George (18), Eliza Maud (16), John William (14), George Lowther (11), Mary Ann Downie (4) and 1 grandson John Henry Dixon (4m)

The 1911 census tells us that Thomas and Caroline had 8 children born alive, with 6 children still living (2 children having died).  We know that Florence died within her first year and that they also had a son in 1901, Arthur Downie, who died not long after birth.

Caroline died before Thomas on the 4th April 1929, my dad would have been aged 3 at the time, so is not surprising that he did not recall or even know that his granny was called "Caroline".

Caroline's death certificate states the cause of death was Asthenia & Jaundice and probably Carcinoma of Head of Pancreas. She was aged 62 years and residing at 23 Samuelson St, Middlesbrough. Her husband survived her by 13 months.

Both are buried in Linthorpe Cemetery in Middlesbrough.

Week 2 - Favourite Photo - Lilian Rowell

This is a photo of my dad, George Sanderson, with his parents George Sanderson and Lilian (nee Rowell). I am giving an overview of Lilians life:

Lilian was born to parents Frederick William Rowell and Jane Elizabeth Bonsor, 11 Mar 1899 at 41 Derby St, Middlesbrough.  She was the 2nd born daughter of 13 children.

In 1901, at the age of 2, she was living with her parents and 2 siblings at 26 Theodore St.

10 years later In 1911 at the age of 11, she was living with her parents and 6 siblings at 46 Theodore St. She had witnessed her mother losing 2 of her children during infancy and no doubt was often left in charge of many of her other siblings at these difficult times. Anne (aka Nancy) her eldest sister was said to have been a little "slow" in the family and maybe Lilian also had to take care of her as well?

I recall in my early years, dad, taking us on trips to Bishop Aukland to visit Aunt Nance, who was living with a gentleman as his housekeeper.

Lilian married George Lowther Sanderson 23rd August 1924 at St Cuthberts Church, Middlesbrough at the age of 25. At the time of her marriage she was living at 31 Laws St, Middlesbrough. The witnesses were George William Sanderson (her next born brother) and his girlfriend Emily Iley, whom he would later marry in 1928.

Lilian's first born child was George Sanderson (my dad) born 24th July 1925.  We can therefore estimate that the photo is taken in the year 1926.

Lilian and George went on to have one more child whilst living at 23 Letitia Street, a daughter, Jean born 3rd October 1930.  Jean only survived to 22nd May 1931, aged 7 months, suffering a short life with hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain). Having come from such a large family this must have devastated Lilian and it clearly had a lasting affect on my dad, who went on to name his first born daughter Lynne Jean.

Lilian and family later moved to 32 Cunningham St and she was known to be very protective of her only son George.  Even shopping him in to the army when he lied on his enrolment about his birth year, giving it as 1924 rather than 1925!

She could not keep hold of him for long and no doubt when he went off to fight in WW2 was beside herself.

Lilian and George continued to live in Middlesbrough and enjoyed many bus trip outings with their local clubs. She died of heart failure on 10th March 1970 at North Ormesby Hospital, the day before her 71st birthday.

#52ancestors -Wk1- Home Person

Week 1 - Challenge #52ancestors - About the "home person" in my tree.

My family history begins with me... Lynne, the daughter of George SANDERSON and Edna TRATTLES. I began researching my tree shortly after the death of my father in the 1980s. Edna and George were both born in Middlesbrough in the 1920s and are both no longer with us. Mam's surname is reasonably unusual and during my genealogy years I have commenced a One Name Study for the Trattles surname, of which no doubt will be a topic to write about in another week. The Sandersons have been more difficult, I have only been able to go back 5 generations (so far...).

As part of my genealogy journey and the resources I can access, I research and compile family trees for friends (incl; friends of friends) and family, asking for donations for local small amimal charities.
I have long periods where my own family research lapses and am hoping that this 52 week challenge will inspire me to look into things I have overlooked and also to share with family, who may themselves come up with some areas for me to investigate.

My Family Tree currently has 2963 individuals recorded, with 224 of them being direct ancestors and their spouses. The earliest born being Roger BOOKER (b.1530 in Hampshire) my 12th Great Grandafther on my maternal side.