Wordless Wednesday - Newest Leaf on the Family Tree (Part 2)

 

Part 1: https://timhavenithfamilytree.blogspot.com/2015/07/wordless-wednesday-newest-leaf-on.html

Me and my sister. My son and his.

I've been on a project to crop out hundreds of photos from scans. These are from the collection of my mum. I tend to scan 2 or 3 per page, save the whole project as a PDF for accession to my Family Tree spreadsheet as well as saving each scan page as a TIF. I then crop out each photo, which remains a TIF.

I found this quite an emotional project because I was going through photos that documents events through 5 generations of my family.

While going through the photos, I came across the one below. I'm holding my sister and our auntie Veronique is sitting with us. Along this I've put a photo of my son, Noah, who is holding his day old sister. The photo of them was taken on 12 September, 2018.

I just liked that while these events capture an event that was unique, but these events happen during each generation. Each time this happens it is extremely special to the people involved, and yet is common throughout many families.

Tim Havenith holding Naomi Brown (left), Noah Havenith holding Ellie Havenith (right).

The Euro coins

My mum (Brigitte Havenith) once gave my opa (Jan Havenith) a journal to complete entitled 'This is dad's life'. In it, there was once question: What have been the biggest changes you’ve seen in your lifetime?

In answer to this question, part of his reply was: "The arrival of the Euro."

The handwriting of Jan Havenith

When the Euro did arrive, I remember opa giving me 2 coins, dated 1999, featuring Beatrix, the Queen of The Netherlands at the time. They were a 1 Euro coin and a 2 Euro coin. He made me feel like these were special, so I resolved to keep them. For a long time, the were kept together with black eletrical tape (doh!), but these days they are kept in a plastic coin bag and will be properly stored in future. Below are the front and obverse of the coins he gave me.

Newest member of my family tree: The Sequel

Jan Havenith and Ida Magermans - Marriage Plate

This beautiful plate was made by Frans van Gerwen, a cousin of Ida Magermans, who worked at a factory that made that porcelain. This factory called Mosa, is based in Maastricht and is still going.

These days the focus seems to be on tiles and since 2005 have had a turnover of 100 million. However, searching the Internet reveals a healthy market place for the old Mosa plates and ceramics.

I've always appreciated this plate as I saw it hanging on the wall everytime I visited my grandparents. It's in such amazing condition for a plate that's over 60 years old.

The company can be found here.

Tim Havenith and Lucy Newbury: Wedding Locations

Registering for the wedding

This was the register office in Trowbridge when we registered for our wedding in October 2013.

These days it's a car park!

Night before the wedding

Lucy stayed with her mum and sister the night before the wedding.

I stayed with my visiting family at our previous house at Tower Road, Melksham.

Wedding Day

We were married at Devizes Register Office at 2pm on the 30 May, 2014.

We then followed this with photographs and a meal at the Shaw Country Hotel.

Followed by cake back at Tower Road!

The Bottomley's of Ancoats

This is an incomplete story as I don't yet have all the details. I just wanted to jot down what I have at this point, so I don't lose track of where I'm at - as my daughter is now overdue, life is going to get very busy very quickly sooner rather than later!

We meet the family in 1901 on Marth 31st, the night of the census. William Bottomley is the head of this household and works as a flagger, someone who lays paving stones. He resides at 22 Marcer Street with his wife, Mary Ellen,daughter, Katie, and sons Herbert and William. William the son is my great grandfather and moved to Lincolnshire, at some point between 1901 and 1917 to marry my great grandmother, Lilian Smith - but that's another story.

17 Marcer Street in 1896, the house where my great grandfather was born.
Posted by Manchester Libraries.

The story gets complicated because I have found a William and Mary Ellen Bottomley at a nearby address in 1890, but Herbert, who would be around 5 years of age at this time is not present on the record. Perhaps he's spending the night with his biological father? Maybe that's why the couple's youngest son is called William - after his father William, and Herbert is named after his father? I have found a Herbert Kennedy born in nearby Salford - Kennedy being Mary Ellen's birth surname. My next step here is to buy the marriage certificate of William and Mary Ellen, which is around 5 years after the birth of Herbert, to find out if Mary Ellen is recorded as being a widow or previously married.

Back to Marcer Street, today this house and this street no longer exist. The area was bombed around 1940-1941 with at least 1 house being demolished. Eventually the area was purchased by compulsory order and being redeveloped. These days there's a Marcer Road, but not quite on the footprint of the old Street.

The blue circle is for high explosives, the red shading for demolished buildings. This map was created by
Manchester City Council City Architect's Department (Building Surveyor's Division) in 1940-1941.

As yet, I have been unable to find the family in 1911 (apart from my great grandfather). But as I continue to research, perhaps I will rediscover them, hopefully after the war having survived and prospering.


References:
Maps Collection. 2018. - Maps Collection. [ONLINE] Available at: https://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/maps002~1~1~351132~123655?qvq=w4s%3A%2Fwho%2FManchester%2BCity%2BCouncil%2BCity%2BArchitect%252527s%2BDepartment%2B%252528Building%2BSurveyor%252527s%2BDivision%252529&mi=48&trs=49https%3A%2F%2Fluna.manchester.ac.uk%2F...%2Fmaps002~1~1~351132. [Accessed 05 September 2018].
Marcer Street Photograph: Flickr. 2018. Flickr. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/6431339079/in/photostream/. [Accessed 05 September 2018].

Tim Havenith - Birth Plate

This beautiful birth plate was made for me by my opa's (Jan Havenith) best friend, Toon van Hoof, who he had originally met in the early days of his career at DSM. Sadly I never got to meet him as he died when I was around 2 years old, but I'm very honoured to have this wonderfully crafted plate as a reminder.

Known Addresses of: Lilian Elizabeth Mary Smith (1897-1934)

These 'Known Addresses of:'posts will detail places documented (or known by living memory). They will be updated, but kept in chronological order, as additional documents/interviews reveal additional addresses.

This posts details the addresses of Lilian Elizabeth Mary Smith (1897-1934). Born in Grimsby/Caistor in 1897, she seems to have lived in Grimsby/New Clee all her life before dying in 1934.

Current known addresses are:

02/04/1911     15 Spencer Street, New Clee
26/03/1917     67 Taylor Street, New Cleethorpes (New Clee)

Spencer Street:

1911 Census

15 Spencer Street. Sadly no longer a residential street.

Taylor Street:

Lilian's marriage record, 1917.

67 Taylor Street, 'New Cleethorpes' (New Clee).

Roy Brown: Fox Street and the church incident

In the early 1990s, my dad (Roy Brown) lived in a house on Fox Street, Scunthorpe. At that time we would stay overnight sometimes at the weekend.

While a lot of the time seemed to be occupying ourselves while dad watched telly, we did often walk to the newsagent, which must have been on Froddingham Road. He would buy my the 'Discovering Nature - on the trail with Billy Bumble' magazine, which seems to have been issued in 1991/1992 - which possibly provides dates for this period of time.

On one occasion we were walking back from the newsagent's and were walking past Centenary Methodist Church and an old lady fell down the steps while leaving the church and cut a large gash in her shin. I remember dad rushing inside to get a chair for her and making sure she was ok. I was proud of my dad that day and wish I had more memories like this.

He lived at Fox Street for a while, and had a dog there for a time, he moved around a lot and this is one of the only streets I remember him living. I remember me and my sister (Naomi Brown) playing in an alleyway there, I'm not sure if this was at the back of the houses or down the side of the house.

Here's the first tape of that magazine series:

Ida Magermans: social smoking

When I visited my grandparents bac in 2017, I spent a lot of time talking to them about current events as well as past events.

My opa (Jan Havenith) suffers from COPD from smoking when he was younger and from this he told me that oma (Ida Magermans) used to smoke in social situations. He mentioned that the height of her smoking was while they lived in the US, but that when the returned to the Netherlands, she eventually stopped.

I'm certainly glad that she did. It would be horrible if they both had to suffer this horrendous condition.

Ida Magermans: Workplace in Heerlen, Limburg

Prior to getting married, oma (Ida Magermans) worked in this building, which was a maternity hospital, opened in 1923 by Queen Wilhelmina. Oma worked in the lab doing blood work. She still has this photographed framed on the wall at their home. It must have meant a great deal to her. It was given to her by her colleagues as a leaving present.

At the time is was common for women getting married to leave their jobs and be financially supported by their husbands.

These days the building is a residential living community (Parc Imstenrade), but prior to this 80,000 babies were born here and it's now a national monument (no. 506441).  Here is a Google Streetview of the building and the address is Parc Imstenrade 3, 6418 PP Heerlen.

Friese staartklok

This clock is very important to me as it has been hanging on the wall of my grandparents houses my whole life. In fact, it has seen many generations and was bought by Johannes Saris (1873-1959) and then passed down to his eldest child, Hubertina Saris.

Surname: Bottomley

This is the birth surname of my grandmother, Rita Bottomley (1925-2002). It is a location/habitational name from a hamlet in Calderdale, Yorkshire, called Bottomley. It is derived from the Old English words of 'botm', which can mean broad valley, bottom, ground; and léah, meaning piece of ground or woodland clearing (1)(2).

Book Review: What's in a Surname by David McKie

This book starts with a look at 6 different Broughton villages in England. It looks at the common and very different surnames and how they have fared through time. It was a very interesting idea, but I nearly didn't make it past this chapter. However, I'm very glad I did.

Each chapter seemed even better than the previous, delving into ideas about surnames I'd not considered, but each enhancing the journey. From simple ideas, such as the reason for the spread of surnames (normally necessity), to learning that there weren't only warring clans - but actual warring surnames (such as the Tweedies vs, the Flemings). Eponyms provided an interesting discussion and was one aspect of surnames that I hadn't thought about - and yet is so deeply ingrained in society and the products we use; perhaps the reason it hadn't come to mind? A more sinister theme was the fad of changing your name to that of your political opponent as a way to confuse voters and perhaps increase the voting in your favour. This seemed to peak with a Hanoman and a Stansfeld becoming a Thatcher and a Regan.

The book taught me much in the way of terminology too, from daughtering out of surnames, to surgers, sliders, and stayers. Each phrase allowing me to better understand the basics of the world of onomastics - yet another new term for me.

All in all, this was a brilliant book that provided interesting and illuminating reading. The book left me with a greater sense of the importance of surnames, not just in general, but specifically. It also allowed an insight to what is actually in a surname - and that this is often not the obvious answer!

Oma and Opa, Second World War

I recently had an opportunity to speak briefly about World War II with my Opa and Oma, who live in Heerlen, Limburg, The Netherlands.

My oma, Ida Magermans, told me that the Nazi soldiers were a daily sight in the area. She mentioned that when the American soldiers arrived, there was a time when she had put orange flowers on the table to show their support, but then heard shots being fired. Oma and her family rushed down into the cellar, but then oma remembered the flowers. She had to creep upstairs to hide the flowers, which she managed to do, before retreating back into the cellar.

Opa, Jan Havenith, mentioned that the Nazi soldiers took over the school building, which meant that the kids had to continue their schooling at different houses.

Both said that they remembered those years very well, but I didn't want to ask to many questions about this period of their lives. I was glad that they didn't have to suffer the Hongerwinter that occurred in the western provinces during the Winter of 1944/45 as Limburg had been liberated during 1944, while the western provinces had to wait until the May of 1945.

Book Review: Writing Your Family History by Deborah Cass

I'm glad that I read this book because it gave me some dedicated time to contemplate about writing my won family history.

However, the book is very basic, relies heavily on examples and extracts, and feels like a first draft due to the many spelling mistakes.

The book considers primary sources, further sources, personal sources, making the most of limited materials, constructing and writing family history, and producing your story. As you can see the chapter headings are really great, but unfortunately all of this material is basic and a quick search online would reveal deeper information on each topic.

Including the index, the book is 121 pages in length, so this contributes to the brief nature of the book. I'd say that it's ideal for people just coming into family history research as it will give them a good idea of what sources are available and what information they may contain. However, if you've been researching for a while, then this book might not be the book to help you write down the lives of your loved ones and ancestors.

Book Review: Devizes by Lorna Haycock

Devizes is a history and guide book that provides a good grounding in the buildings, people and events from prehistory to around 1952.

The second edition is much improved (although the first edition was also good) and includes more instructive maps as well as a collection of colour plates in the middle of the book. The majority of the text remains the same, which is great because the book is highly readable. The book covers a wide history of the town and its development from being a satellite of the castle (which is where it got its name from: castle at the boundaries - castrum ad divisa) to being a popular market, and at times, industrial town. There are excellent photographs throughout, including an aerial view of Devizes on page 20.

Devizes is a town that I've always enjoyed visiting, so much so that I got married there in 2014 at the registry office located in Snuff Street. But, I've never really taken the time to learn about all the wonderful buildings there. The guide really came up trumps for this. Not being very mobile due to illness meant that I followed the guide via Google Street View with only a slight detour. The walking instructions are clear and the mix of text and photographs really help to appreciate this wonderful town.

This is a fantastic book to read and at 128 pages won't bog you down if you just want a primer (as I did). The guide is a great way to make the history of the town much more interactive. Definitely one to read whether you live in Wiltshire or are planning to visit.

Book Review: Wiltshire Through Time by Steve Wallis

The idea of this 'Through Time' series of books is to have an old photo that is the compared to a new photo of the same subject. Often the time between photos is at least 100 years.

The author has tried to take an identical photo as the historical image, but of course, this isn't always possible - but he's done a great job.

The book first looks at Wiltshire's only city, Salisbury, before heading North through towns and then back down South visiting the villages. These chapters are followed by photographs displaying Life in Wiltshire and finally Countryside and Historic Features. In between each set of photos there is a brief description of where in the county the place is, as well as anything of historical interest.

I really enjoyed this book, but it made me realise three things, firstly the format of the book is too small - meaning descriptions and photograph size are limited. Secondly, there are some places in Wiltshire that have barely changed in over a hundred years (which I find amazing). Thirdly, I want more! With the book being 93 pages, there may only be 1 historic photo of each place, although sometimes 2-3 for major settlements. So, the next in the series I'll be reading is Devizes. I hope it's just as good as this one.

Getting back into it!

I don't think I've done any really family history research since last year. It's been on my mind a lot, but many things have kept me away from research. Things like:

• The birth of my son!
• The stupid illness (ME)
• Having my wife and son at home for the first 12 months
• Getting ready to move house
• Moving house!
• Other interests, such as photography (which has taken up a lot of my free time)

However, my son has started nursery and my wife has gone back to work. We finally moved home  11 days ago and things in general are starting to settle down.

I have so much scanning to do, it's unbelievable. This is because I found a big collection of photographs and newspaper clippings at my mum's house, which I've had for about a year now and not even looked at since I first found it. Also, my father-in-law gave my wife a suitcase full of photographs and various records. So, I think the scanning will be a big priority - and the cropping that comes after it.

I was lucky that someone in my extended family has access to the 1939 register. But unlucky that I only had 2 grandparents that lived in England and only 1 was on the register! I need to add the information to my family tree as it provides data not just on my grandmother, but some of her siblings, her father, and his second wife.

So, I have 2 main tasks. I know what I need to do. Now all I need is the motivation to do it!