General Chat

It is one thing to know the name, DOB, address and so on of a relative, but what about how they lived, what money they had, games they played... what was their house like.

One home was occupied by members of the family for 60 years... was this rented or bought, how could I find out.
The father worked at Cradley Iron works, what sort of a life would that have brought... Later, a puddle, apparently a skilled job.
any thoughts much appreciated.

Best wishes

If property was owned, it would be mentioned in a Will probably.

Gwyn

Great, how do I get hold of 150 year old Wills?

HIi Andrew, The local records office may have a copy, or you could try this:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/wills/step2.htm

maggie

Sorry to pour cold water, but it would be most likely he lived in rental accommodation. Very few people at that time owned their own property.

House ownership started slowly after WWI but did not become normal till well into the 1960's

A Puddler worked in the iron smelting works and stirred the molten iron in large vats before it was poured out to set. It was hard and dangerous work. Pay was poor, but probably compared with that of a coal miner and was much more than that of an agricultural labourer.

Have you traced the family through the censuses?

Thanks,
It isn't cold water to know, its nice to know more than names and dates, to imageine the life and work in all aspects, their diet, entertainment, controceptive methods.... what ever.

I'm a scientist, not a historian, I'm more interested in the methods of solving the daily problems, than what was happening ect.

I have traced the family in the records, and know quite a bit about them. They worshiped at Cradley Heath Baptist church for example (Non-conformism accepted in 1860s?) where one was a sunday school teacher, by all accounts, great at needle work.
They lived in a House on 13 King Street, Cradley Heath - no longer there.
Father and sons all worked at Cradley Heath Iron works in a variety of rolls, from rollers to Clerks.

Were all young boys and girls scholars, or was that a privilege afforded to the wealthy - or those willing to pay atleast?

I am just trying to engage more... whats the worth of 10,000 objects on a tree, that's not the game.

If you google Ironworkers and puddlers in 1860, there are several sites to look at that might give more insight into their lives.

I loved watching Lark Rise to Candleford as it was set around the area my paternal ancestors lived and my gt. grandfather and gt. uncle were stone masons, like the character of Robert Timmins. I could imagine my family in the village I know they lived most of the time, living in the same way as those on the drama. Later when someone showed a link to the family tree of the family this series was based on, I found the authoress had worked in a post office in a village I had visited as near my rellies, and the stonemason was only 8 yrs younger than my gt grandfather and lived 3 miles away so it is very possible they worked at some time on the same buildings. It was fascinating and brought everything to life for me.

I also read a novel which talked about the women of the family making lace outside their houses to bring in extra money while their menfolk worked in fields or whatever. It said that if they were really hard up they also did the lace at night by candle light which would have been very bad for the eyesight but they kept it hidden from neighbours so they wouldn't know they needed the money badly. As some of my relatives including the young girls aged 10 or so were listed on census forms as lacemakers I could relate to the story about them more.

Lizx