More Questions than Answers

While doing some 1881 UK Census research yesterday to write a post about the kind of work my grandparents did I found some interesting information.  In the first imagine we see my great x2 grandfather William John, his wife Elizabeth and two of their children.   I saw this census a couple of weeks ago and didn't notice anything strange.  I never thought about the other kids and where they were. 

So yesterday I went to look at the census of the same year 1881, to see what kind of work my great grandfather did.  It is easier to see the imagine of the census on line then printed out, I searched for him instead of his father.   And this is when I found the imagine below.  You also need to read the line that is crossed out.

William K, Walter T & Herbert H, were on 17 Mealcheaper St, and they all had jobs. It even said the head and the wife were away from the home right on the census record. William John & Elizabeth Jane where on 32 Broad St, with Ernest & Frederick. It looks like the same town when I Google map it, walking directions and it’s only .2 mile from each other.   That is not a very far distance.

This is just page two that list the other two brothers and Walter T is my great grandfather.

I mean I have no real idea of what life was like in 1881 and I'm sure there were very good reasons as to why they lived apart.  I just don't know the reasons and I wish I knew.  It just blew me away but then again I’m coming from my time frame and my life experiences. I can tell you when I was alone at 16 with a sick mother and three younger brothers I was scared a lot and after she died it was even worst. My Dad was a fireman and he worked 24 on and 48 off, so I was the chief cook and bottle washer when he was gone.   I didn't like it but I did what had to be done for our family just as my father did what had to be done for the family.

 He had to work he had four kids at home the oldest 16 and the youngest was 6. 

 I also believe my ancestors did what had to do but it gave me many questions. 

Why??

Where is Agnes? She should be 13. Was she sent to be a servant? I don’t find her when I search for her by name, I don’t see her on the 1871 Census either. I just found an Agnes Jane that died in the 3rd quarter 1868, on the FreeBMD Index on Ancestry. I wonder if it is my Agnes Jane?  I have a birth year of 1868. The FreeBDM Index list her as born in the 2nd quarter of 1868.  So that must be why there is no Agnes on the Census.


William John was the manager of the coffee tavern on this census, maybe he didn’t have room for all the kids, maybe they didn’t want to lose the other apartment?


Leaving 3 boys 17, 16, & 14 alone? It was a different age and I’m sure they were working too hard to survive to have energy for rough housing or other teenage boy mischief.

Sharing Memories: Mom's Work

Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy suggested a blogging topic of Parents and Grandparents Occupations.

Here is a previous story I wrote about my Mom's work as a nurse. Lots of memories of this also. We use to meet her at the bus stop in Whitestone when she came home from work. My Mom didn't learn to drive until after we moved to Florida in 1959 at the age of 40. She never needed to drive in New York but she sure needed to in Florida.

When she first became a nurse she couldn't even take Vital Signs only physicians could do that. Nursing sure has come a long way, nurses now do very complex evaluations of patients when they are in ICU.

She use to come home from work, and take her uniform off, sit in the chair and role her stockings off down to the ankles in sit in the arm chair in her slip exhausted. I know the feeling. Her nursing cap was an oval shaped upside down cupcake cup, with a black ribbon. I wish now I had taken that from home when I left home. I don't have her school pin either. I'm not sure what school of nursing she graduated from but it was in Boston.   This picture of a nursing cap is very similar to my Mom's.

Mom was also an army nurse during World War II, again I have no stories about this or pictures.  When I asked questions when I saw some of her pictures when I was 11 she told me, I will tell you about it when you are older.  Well I never heard the stories.  I had her old army footlocker for years, that I used as a coffee talbe when I first left home and had my own appartment.
The only thing I know about my Mother, Edith is she worked as a secretary.  Maybe when the 1940 census comes out I will know more, she was only 13 on the the 1930 census and she was a student at that time.

Sharing Memories: Dad's Work

Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy suggested a blogging topic of Parents and Grandparents Occupations.


My parents are easy to remember. My Dad was a NYC fireman, his station was in the Bronx. I can remember him going off to work in his fireman's uniform and coming home. I even have a picture of me in his hat when I was a toddler but I don't have a picture of him in his uniform. He use to ride the bus to work over the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge into the Bronx.

When he retired from the NYC Fire Department after 20 years we moved to Florida. Since I was the oldest at 11 and a younger brother was on the way he returned to work. For the first little while when we first lived in Florida he worked at a Farm Store a drive through dairy store. They where great, drive in buy milk, eggs, bread and/or ice cream and drive out. Never leave your car. When my kids were young I missed these stores, they are not here in Arizona.

Anyway back to my Dad's Occupation he did find a job as a Fireman again for Bar Harbor Fire Department. He later told me he lied about his age to get the job, there must have been an age limit. Of course being a fireman in NYC was a lot more dangerous and strenuous than in South Florida. Bar Harbor was almost an hour South of where we lived in Fort Lauderdale, so he drove to work. Later it became part of the Miami-Dade Metro Fire Department.

He actually drove the hook and ladder truck as a fireman.

Today is Dad's Work, tomorrow Mom's work and later this week grandparents.

My First Genealogy Society

As I learn more about genealogy one of the suggestion I have heard is to join a genealogy association or society. So here is the story of how I joined this one.

One night while looking around in blogland I came across Michelle Goodrum blog. She had a page of societies and organizations and I noticed one of them is here in Arizona. So I left a comment and she answered. I went to my first meeting in May and joined on the spot. This month on Wednesday evening she was one of the speakers and did a very nice Google demo and had a great looking handout for everyone. Of course we did visit after the meeting. It is always fun to meet new friends in blogland but the fun is increased as you get to meet them in person.
She has a very nice blog go check it out! Michell she is also part of GeneaBlogger. For those of who who don't know what GeneaBlogger is go to the link to check it out. Thomas is the master mind of GeneaBlogger and he follows 900 blogs about genealogy. He is the person who encouraged me to start my blog at the January Family History Expo. On one page he has the links to all the blogs and on another page he has all the blogs listed by categories, it just amazing the what he does. He is a sharing and encouraging person.

Also updated two of my pages, and the tabs are above to see my other pages.
Have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday

Another picture from my cousin in England, our Great Uncle Percy James Chaplin, World War I.
There is a little story to go with this picture. The day I received this photo and many others, I studied them for awhile. That night I had a dream, a very short dream but very distinct. I dreamt I was talking to Uncle Percy and I told him, "You know Uncle Percy there is also a Percy's on the Hartmann side of the family. Only he was really a Percival, and was just called Percy for short." Uncle Percy was listening to me very attentively. That is all I remembered. I guess as you think about your family during the day they start to get into your dreams.

Thank Cuz

The Unknown Couple

One of my new found cousins in England sent me this picture today. We do not know the couple, my cousin thinks the young man is a Chaplin. We know 3 Chaplin brothers came to the USA and lived in Brooklyn, New York. We know it was taken in Brooklyn New York. I think her dress is more 1890's in style than 1900's but I'm not a fashion whiz. In other words I have no clue what year the dress is from.

This picture evokes strong emotion in me, she almost looks like she is grieving a lost and he is comforting her. It is very tender and caring.



Here is a picture of my grandmother at about age 36, with my aunt Bea & my mother Edith. Do you think there is any resemblance? Part of me thinks there is, or is it just because I want it to be my grandmother and grandfather?

Sentimental Sunday

I haven't done this topic suggestion before but after what I received in the email yesterday I thought it was a perfect day to post this special entry. As some of you who follow me on Facebook know, I meet a second cousin this week from England on my mother's side. We have been sending emails back and forth all week. I sent her some pictures I had of Chaplins. And yesterday she sent me some pictures of Chaplins in England.

When I read the email and she told me who was who in the picture and I read that the lady front row center is my Maternal Great Grandmother, it brought tears to my eyes. Do you know what it is like to work with someone over the phone for a long time and suddenly meet them and have a face to put to a name. It's kind of fun and completes the relationship. Every time you talk to them on the phone after that, you think of how they look.

Well this is what this was like only stronger. This is family. This is the first picture I have of any great grandparents.

Her names is Mary Ann Holmes Chaplin, she raised 11 children and my hat goes off to anyone who can do that, I had my hands full with 3. She was preceded in death by her husband, my grandfather William T, another son Percy, and my mother her grand daughter Edith. Even if they were in America and she was in England, that had to hard on her. An ocean may separate you but a heart is never separated.

Now for the other people in the picture front row, Elsie a sister to my grandfather, Mary Ann, Victor a brother to my grandfather and he is holding Baby Ruth, who is Elsie's granddaughter.
Standing George Ward, Lilian the parents of Ruth and unknown. Lilian is a daughter of Elsie and George is her husband.


Here in this picture are the Chaplins in America, Back row, Great Uncle Victor, Uncle Bill my Mother's brother, Great Uncle Herbert. The lovely ladies are Bunnie Uncle Bills wife and my Mother Edith.
I'm not sure how much Victor was in America but he died in England.

A BIG Thank You to my cousin in England for sharing with me, she was very generous with her information. Plus, I hope I have a new friend.

Happy Mother's Day Pop

April 11, 1969 this article was in the Sun Sentinel News paper in Fort Lauderdale Florida. It was the front page of the Life section, if I remeber right. A reporter my Dad had know as a member of Parents Without Partners wrote this article. I did not post each section of the article that I have scanned because it would just be too much.

I thought I had an uncut copy of the article and I could have sworn I saw it in the last month or two but I can't find it now. I hate it when I do things like that. Now where did I oput it for safe keeping?



My Dad worked hard and really was overwhelmed with the lost of his two wives, my two mothers. He did the best he could and shared many important life lessons with us. He was both mother and father to the boys. I was 21 by this time and had been gone from the house but was temporally back home at this time. It shortly after this that I moved out permanently. In the article it mentions that George my brother was dating the girl across the street a year or so later he and Joyce did marry.


I missed the interview because I was working. I was interviewed by phone and was miss quoted.


In case you are wondering I wasn't in the picture because I was working the day it was taken and also I didn't play golf with the boys. I tired it once but didn't like it. It is a nice article and a nice tribute to my Dad. Who did a good job under very difficult circumstance. The organization of Parents Without Partners was a big help to my Dad.