Fearless Females – Day 12

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Julie Goucher

March 12 — Working girl: Did your mother or grandmother work outside the home? What did she do? Describe her occupation.


The first job I can remember Mum having was a cleaning job, in the evenings at one of the building societies in Guildford. Mostly I was left at home, but occasionally I was allowed to go with her and help collect bits and pieces. I guess I was around 7 or 8 years old. Mum I think did this for a few years and then left to work at a factory that made clothes and she was in the packing department. The owner was a spineless, rude man and eventually his business closed, but this was after Mum left. Mum liked the work, it was with fabrics and she loves sewing and was able to purchase the offcuts of material for her patchwork. It was close to home and during the school holidays I was allowed, every now and again to go with her and gather the off cuts and do other quick, easy and safe jobs.

After there Mum worked in retail, which is where she started working when she initially left school. Here final job before she was made redundant and then took retirement was with Lonhro Textiles and Mum was a manager within one of the stores.
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Fearless Females – Day 9

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Julie Goucher

March 9 — Take a family document (baptismal certificate, passenger list, naturalization petition, etc.) and write a brief narrative using the information.


The document I have chosen has formed part of an earlier posting for my Ancestor of the Week theme.

I eventually found the marriage of Edith Matthews, my Grandmother’s Aunt at Holy Trinity Guildford in 1902 where Edith married a Charles Jelley. I was delighted, what a fun surname! It was not going to be too difficult to research Edith’s new family….or was it?

Edith Matthews & Charles Jelley
Marriage Certificate for Edith Matthews to Charles Jelly 8th April 1902

From the day I obtained the marriage certificate I was able to trace further the family from the 1911 Census which showed the family living in Redhill Surrey, I also located the birth of two children, which I had already knew existed by the photographic evidence I had. When the First World War military records were made available via Ancestry I did a search, not really believing that I would find anything about Charles, but I did!. It showed that he had been called for service and as part of this service record was the birth certificate for a third child, again I have a photograph which revealed two older children and a baby, which had sadly died in 1916.

I may never know anymore about Edith, although there are lots more questions about their time in London, what happened to their children, How did Charles become a restaurant manager, just to name a few. I suspect that Edith was a VAD and helped to nurse Charles back to health. They lived next door to one another, a fact gleaned from their wedding certificate and were friendly faces to each other and I would like to think that potentially a romance blossomed as they married in April 1902 and Charles was discharged in June of the same year.
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NaBloPoMo – Day 11 – Death

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Julie Goucher

We have I am sure all heard the saying “There are two certainties in life; death and taxes”

Such a sad single word, which has the ability to shatter ones life. In the past year in this household we have suffered two bereavements. One on my husband’s side of the family and one on mine. Each one different, in as much as partially expected against totally unexpected, the emotional connection we each felt to the deceased. Yet the two separate events were catalysts for a chain of events that neither of us expected. Such is life and even though the initial catalyst was dreadful, they are the positives that have resulted from a sad situation.
Look beyond though, to the practicalities. The turmoil that death leaves behind. The family divides and arguments at a time when families should pull together. The questions that there are no answers too, the questions that potentially might arise in the future.
  • Is there a will? Where is it?
  • Who are those named in the will? names and addresses?
  • Is all the answers the executors will need in the will?
  • Does even our spouse know of our wishes?
There are so many questions. Would your family know the answers, or perhaps be shocked by the answers?
Certainly in my working life it is okay of course to be ahead of the game, being prepared for a meeting or alike,to know the outcome of your labours. This is different. Being ahead of the game in this situation is the final journey. There is no way of checking everything is in place, the last conversations for clarity. In a rather callous way the curtains are down and there is no encore.
Sobering isn’t it?
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NaBloPoMo – Day 10 – Photographs

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Julie Goucher

The concept of photography is quite simply amazing. We can with the click of a button these days take a photograph and record and event in history. Is that what the developers originally thought of?

The most important camera most of us have is our eyes. Think how many snapshot images they capture over a lifetime, the data committed to memory, which in turn sparks a moment of clarity and recognition as our brain computes the data the eyes have seen previously. Fascinating!
The camera and the ability to record events is wonderful. We can record events, people and objects. Like many of us I have a collection of photographs in the study. They span back for years and each have an importance, otherwise they would not have been taken in the first place!
The snapshot of our holidays, young family members, pets to name a few, and are the historical facts of the future in much the same way of the older photos we probably all have inherited, were at one time.
The here and now will become the history of the future.
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Book Blogger Hop – In your book shopping basket….

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Julie Goucher

From the Crazy-For-Books web page “the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book blogger and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book blogger to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs to read! So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start HOPPING through the list of blogs that are posted in the Linky list below!!


The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don’t have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun! This is a weekly event! And stop back throughout the weekend to see all the new blogs that are added!“


There are a few rules!
1. Enter your blog address at the linky list on the Crazy-For-Books website
2. Post about the hop on your blog & answer the question on the Crazy-For-Books website

3. Visit other blogs in the linky list

This weeks question is:

“If I gave you £50 (or $80) and sent you into a bookshop right now, what would be in your basket when you finally staggered to the till?”

This weeks question is a great one!, I know that I will be a few pounds over, but how can I resist?


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Fearless Females – Day 11

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Julie Goucher

March 11 — Did you have any female ancestors who died young or from tragic or unexpected circumstances? Describe and how did this affect the family?


In the main, longevity plays quite a part in the family history of my family. The last remaining link with my Grandfather’s family; his second youngest sister died just after Christmas last year. She was 95. Three of her five sisters each died into their 90s and sister number four died in her mid 80s. The youngest sister died just aged 35 years in 1952.

My understanding was that she had been ill for a while, but died living a daughter aged 10 and a husband, who was a typical man of his generation and had no idea of how to relate to a young child. The child grew up with the love and support of her father and her extended family of Aunts and Grandmother and went on herself to marry and raise a family of four children.
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NaBloPoMo – Day 9 – Letters

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Julie Goucher

In times past we used to get two daily postal deliveries, nowadays I barely get one delivery. The art of writing a letter has gone, vanished, a casualty of the modern age of emails, blogs, texts, tweets and Face Book.

In my study I have a collection of letters written to me by my late Grandmother. I have also a collection of letters written by the wife of my deceased cousin. In those letters, she shared with me a host of things, snippets of her family and domestic life and asked questions about mine. I also have other letters which I have kept and treasure.
Do we though, keep emails in the same way? I print off any particular genealogical email that I want to keep, but the typed word feels completely different to that written by the pen. I don’t know why, it just does, perhaps it is a psychological thought of handwritten letters being more personal?
I read somewhere a few months ago of a lad who was aged 16. He had never written a letter. You know the sort of letter that involves and envelope and stamp and a favourite pen. I remember being amazed at this. When I was a child my task on boxing day was to sit and hand write letters of thanks for my Christmas presents. I don’t know if any of those letters survive the estates of my late relatives. So perhaps this lad simply tweets his thanks or maybe sends a text?
I have a favourite pen, well actually I have two. The first one is a silver Parker pen which has my initials and surname engraved on the side. This was a present from my Grandmother when I finished my professional training in the early 1990s. The second is my trusty fountain pen, a present from my Mum in the mid 1990s. I usually sit and use the fountain pen when I write my Christmas cards.
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Fearless Females – Day 10

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Julie Goucher

March 10 — What role did religion play in your family? How did your female ancestors practice their faith? If they did not, why didn’t they? Did you have any female ancestors who served their churches in some capacity?


Religion did not play a particularly important role. We attended church for the regular Birth, Marriages and Deaths. I was christened at St Nicholas Church at Guildford, as was my Mum and Grandmother. The same church was also used by my Grandfather’s sisters weddings. My Grandfather and his three brothers each married at Guildford Registry Office.

I wonder if the significance of less involvement with the church occurs from the family no longer living in a village community? Did my Great Grandmother born in 1844 and lived in Puttenham for most of her life attend church regularly on a Sunday? Or was she shunned if she did not?
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NaBloPoMo – Day 8 – Blog

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Julie Goucher

The word Blog is a new word. Forget the dictionary aspects of it. There are many wonderful blogs out there on the web. Each one, potentially, we can get lost in as we read, understand, develop and get to know the authors. I have taken part in a few blog hops and find it fascinating, as I click each link and see new material and information. All entered freely by others on the wonderful invention of the information highway!

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International Women’s Day – March 8th

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Julie Goucher

I shall stand and raise glass to my female ancestors.

  • Without their honesty,resilience and hardiness I would not be here.
  • I honour the sacrifices they made in order to raise their families, my ancestors.
  • I am proud of the contribution my ancestors made, in order that future generations would live in a very different world to the one they inhabited.
  • I am proud that women have gained a different place in Society, by gaining the vote, and being treated as equals, all through the hard work of other women. Women who were not frightened to stand and be counted.
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