Saturday, January 17, 2009
Lewes and, later - the ancestors
Eventually a decision was made about the day - after much dithering.
The alarm went at 6 o'clock and we dragged ourselves from bed.
It had been raining but seemed to have cleared, as the weather forecast suggested.
But then, as we had our cup of tea, it poured with rain again.
I felt so down - the fates had conspired to ruin my best efforts at fighting back against this seasonal depression.
We did a few things and my 8 o'clock it looked much brighter - Bill wondered if we should still go to Ford.
"No - its much too late" I barked. I was cross - not with Bill of course.
Later we decided to go out and Lewes was our destination. There are lots of antiques shops there and is an attractive town.
We made a good search of the place where some of the people we had been with in Rocking Horse ended up. It is a big centre on 4 floors and there are very many sellers.
I bought things from Sue's area and Bill bought something from Kate! So we have helped them pay their rent this week!
We spent a while in a disused chapel, now a flea market; Bill bought a model car.
Then we seemed to walk up and down the steep hill a number of times until I was exhausted.
The places that I wanted to eat in were full and people were queueing for seating.
Other places were outrageously expensive.
We ended up in an unlikely looking side street pub.
It was a wise move.
My bowl of beef stew was quite delicious. Bill opted for a big breakfast.
We looked in at another disused chapel - but by this time we were both too tired and had both over eaten in the pub and we had no interest in much except getting home.
At home I have looked a little at family history because Roger has found information which all hangs together very well about Bill's mother's ancestors.
He knows his way around things much better than I do and this evening has given me some lessons over the phone. Thank you so much for all the information and the know how.
What seems to have come up is that Bill's Nanny Brand has some "interesting" brothers and sisters.
Roger has found her older brother enrolling in the army in 1906 and being sent to Ireland. And then in 1907 being court martialled for absconding with his equipment - though he wasn't present at the hearing because nobody knew where he was.
We know that as a married man he lived in Bedford - Bill was taken to visit the family when he was a boy.
And her younger brothers and sisters and her mother seem to be together in 1911 in an "institution" in Reigate. As they were together we might assume that they were in the workhouse. But where was the father? We have found no record of his death and he doesn't appear on the 1911 census.
But there was small child, Ada Louisa, aged 3. The mother of the family, by this time was 54 and therefore probably too old to have borne Ada Louise.
So who was Ada's mother?
Could it have been Bill's Nannie - who was somewhere in service in 1911?
That is to be found out.
It is all too easy to start making assumptions and I don't want to go down that path.
So, I have had a good sort of day. I have fought back against the SAD just a bit - and I have started on St John's Wort, though one tablet is not going to change anything.
My throat is sore again this evening because of the sinus type infection.
Time for bed soon I think.
It is raining again. Shall we get out to the Dorking boot sale in the morning? It would do me good.
Good night.
The alarm went at 6 o'clock and we dragged ourselves from bed.
It had been raining but seemed to have cleared, as the weather forecast suggested.
But then, as we had our cup of tea, it poured with rain again.
I felt so down - the fates had conspired to ruin my best efforts at fighting back against this seasonal depression.
We did a few things and my 8 o'clock it looked much brighter - Bill wondered if we should still go to Ford.
"No - its much too late" I barked. I was cross - not with Bill of course.
Later we decided to go out and Lewes was our destination. There are lots of antiques shops there and is an attractive town.
We made a good search of the place where some of the people we had been with in Rocking Horse ended up. It is a big centre on 4 floors and there are very many sellers.
I bought things from Sue's area and Bill bought something from Kate! So we have helped them pay their rent this week!
We spent a while in a disused chapel, now a flea market; Bill bought a model car.
Then we seemed to walk up and down the steep hill a number of times until I was exhausted.
The places that I wanted to eat in were full and people were queueing for seating.
Other places were outrageously expensive.
We ended up in an unlikely looking side street pub.
It was a wise move.
My bowl of beef stew was quite delicious. Bill opted for a big breakfast.
We looked in at another disused chapel - but by this time we were both too tired and had both over eaten in the pub and we had no interest in much except getting home.
At home I have looked a little at family history because Roger has found information which all hangs together very well about Bill's mother's ancestors.
He knows his way around things much better than I do and this evening has given me some lessons over the phone. Thank you so much for all the information and the know how.
What seems to have come up is that Bill's Nanny Brand has some "interesting" brothers and sisters.
Roger has found her older brother enrolling in the army in 1906 and being sent to Ireland. And then in 1907 being court martialled for absconding with his equipment - though he wasn't present at the hearing because nobody knew where he was.
We know that as a married man he lived in Bedford - Bill was taken to visit the family when he was a boy.
And her younger brothers and sisters and her mother seem to be together in 1911 in an "institution" in Reigate. As they were together we might assume that they were in the workhouse. But where was the father? We have found no record of his death and he doesn't appear on the 1911 census.
But there was small child, Ada Louisa, aged 3. The mother of the family, by this time was 54 and therefore probably too old to have borne Ada Louise.
So who was Ada's mother?
Could it have been Bill's Nannie - who was somewhere in service in 1911?
That is to be found out.
It is all too easy to start making assumptions and I don't want to go down that path.
So, I have had a good sort of day. I have fought back against the SAD just a bit - and I have started on St John's Wort, though one tablet is not going to change anything.
My throat is sore again this evening because of the sinus type infection.
Time for bed soon I think.
It is raining again. Shall we get out to the Dorking boot sale in the morning? It would do me good.
Good night.
