Canny lass

The Smail family continued: A business is born ... Isabella’s residence address in 1871 is given as ”Grocers shop” ”Front Street” and Isabella’s occupation is given as ”Grocer & Provision Dealer”. Isabella is now a businesswoman and the family is clearly living over the shop where they even have room enough to accomodate a boarder. Even his occupation is given as ”Grocer” and he may be employed by Isabella. I notice that even the 17 year old son of the next door neighbour is working as a ”grocer’s apprentice” and could also be employed by her, in which case things seem to be going well for Isabella whose social ranking has now progressed from employee to employer. Ten years later in April 1881 only Isabella and John Robert are recorded at the address. Isabella is now 52 years old and her son John Robert is 23 and still single. He has followed his mother into the grocery and provisions business but no mention is made of his sister Dorothy Ann. I can’t find her either working- or visiting away from home in the census. However, she does reappear at the address in 1891. Prior to this however, on 10 APR 1888, Isabella dies,aged 59 years and it is her headstone on the photo which Maggie posted above. It’s quite an elegant stone, with a lot of detail in the design which is in strong contrast to that of her parents, reflecting perhaps the progress made from her humble beginnings as a nursery maid to successful Bedlington businesswoman. In 1891, following Isabella’s death, John Robert 33 yo is still living at the same adress. He is still running the grocer’s shop and is now head of the household. His sister, Dorothy Ann 30 yo, has returned but appears not to have any occupation. However, they now have a resident domestic servant, 17 year old, Bedlington born, Lily Whitfield a further sign of the family’s increasing social status. In 1901 Dorothy Ann, 40 years old and as yet unmarried, and John Robert, now 43 and still in the grocery business continue to reside above the shop. Only John Robert is working and they no longer have a servant. However, there is a new family member because John Robert has finally married. I can see from his marriage record that he married at the age of 41 to Jane Isabella Grey, 14 years his younger, in the first half of 1899 in the village of Rothbury, Northumberland. They do not appear to have any children at this time. First in 1911 can we see Dorothy Ann working. She is still living with her brother and she appears to have joined him working in the business and the family once again has a servant – 20 year old Mary Ann Elizabeth Dixon of Sleekburn. That, however, is not the only change in circumstances. John Robert and Jane Isabella now have a family of four children ranging in age from 1 to 8: Isabella Smail born abt. 1903. Died 26 SEP 1994 aged 92. Isabella died as Smail and seemingly never married. Edwin Smail born abt. 1904. Died 20 JAN 1982 aged 78 years. I can find no record of any marriage. He is buried in Bedlington together with his sister Isabella. It is their headstone we see above, posted by James. Catherine Dorothy Smail born abt- 1910. Died 1990. She also died as Smail and appears not to have married. The above three children all appear to have joined their father in the grocery business. James tells us that all three were working in the shop in the 1950s. The fourth child, George Grey Smail born 17SEP 1905 died 2 MAR 1969, was a well educated man and was admitted 1930 as graduate B.Sc. to the List of Electrical Engineers in Hebburn on Tyne. In 1939 he was living and working in Guildford as ”Assistant engineer (Technical) and the following year married Adeline Beethem in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. He appears to have later moved to Scotland, where he died, and is remembered on his grandmother’s headstone in Bedlington. With no available census records after 1911 it is impossible to say if the unmarried children of John Robert and Jane Isabell Smail continued to live together above the business started by their grandmother. The house was certainly big enough. The 1911 census describes it as having 7 rooms all, or at least most, of them would have been above the shop. Could it be possible that the Smail family now owned both parts of the building? I wonder if Isabella Smail was the first businesswomanof any rank in Bedlington? She was certainly a tough woman. I'm impressed.

Answers to last week's Halloween Special: 1.Count Wampyr (Stoker's initial plans for Dracula markedly differ from the final novel. Had Stoker completed his original plans, a German professor called Max Windshoeffel "would have confronted Count Wampyr from Styria") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula. 2. The Puritan Pilgrims 3. Wet sheets 4. Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve, The Feast of the Dead 5. Monster Mash 6. A coven 7. All Hallow’s Eve 8. Red eyes 9. Rumania 10. Mary Shelley 11. Samana or Herne the Hunter 12. Saint 13. Vines 14. Any thing from the first four lines of verse: ”Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.” 15. Long-legged beasties 16. Scream 17. The fairies might steal you away. 18. Ghost Town 19. A witch 20. Celts New quiz tomorrow.

Sounds good, but I think a picture gives so much more information about the deceased. Symbols and ornamentation, for instance, can give clues about the economic and social status of the deceased. Do you know if the Woodhorn list can be researched online?

... continuing the history of the Smail family: According to the 1871 census, Isabella Smail and her two children are now living in Bedlington but I am unable to ascertain when they returned. I can, however, see from the death register for England and Wales that her parents were still alive at the time of her husband’s death in September 1862. I can also see that Isabella’s grieving had barely begun when her father, Robert Fish, also passed away in January 1863 barely 3 months after the death of her husband. It was perhaps in connection with her father’s death that Isabella returned to Bedlington, possibly to assist her widowed mother, Dorothy Fish (born Dorothy Kirkup). It is also a possibility that, should Isabella and her husband Edwin have been living in a tied cottage in Chatton, she and the children were obliged to find other accomodation upon his death. Sadly, even Isabella’s mother died a few years later, in October 1869, and she is buried alongside her husband in St Cuthbert´s Churchyard Bedlington. Their grave is marked by the simplest of headstones. That headstone is interesting in that it is engraved on both sides. The east-facing side, shown above, records the deaths of Isabella’s parents while the west-facing side documents the deaths of ten members of the Kirkup family – Isabella’s mother’s side of the family (no photo available on Findagrave, only text, perhaps a project for one of our photo enthusiasts?). It seems, that by the time of the 1871 census, only Isabella, now 42 years old, and the two children, aged 10 and 13 years, were left in Bedlington and I find them living in the east end on the north side of Front Street. At first I thought they might be living in the former first home of her parents, three doors down from the entrance to Colliery Row, but comparing maps and census records showed that they were living further down the street towards Bedlington Bank in what appears to be a relatively new building occupying land between Bell’s Place and Hollymount – shown here as undeveloped, a few years earlier in 1866: The next most recent map with any detail, dated 1897, shows the same area developed, with left to right: A semi-detached property comprising two dwellings, the Oddfellows Arms public house and behind them the new East End School followed by a further semi-detached property of which the left hand property was occupied by the Smail family. The census of 1871 shows that this was the layout even then. It also shows that the property adjoining Isabella’s was divided into two dwellings with entrances facing Hollymount and thus named ”Hollymount” rather than Front Street. As mentioned earlier, Isabella’s mother had died just 18 months prior to the census of 1871 and that census makes no mention of Fish’s Yard. The buildings are still there, as evidenced by the census schedule numbers. But the adress is now simply ”Front Street”. Possibly Dorothy Smail, following her husband’s death, has sold the properties and moved back to the north side of the street, maybe together with her daughter living in. More probable, in view of Dorothy’s advancing years, is that Isabella may have inherited her parents, sold the properties and invested in the new development on the north side. To be continued ...

Can anybody tell me what "boxings" and "sharps" are?

Thanks for your input, Vic. I'm sure Eggy will work his usual magic!

Would that be Catherine Dorothy, daughter of John Robert Smail, born about 1911?

Thanks for confirming that, James! Nice to know that my linguistic skills haven't rusted away completely. It's a real pleasure tracing the family's roots and following Isabella's journey through life. I'm impressed by the sheer toughness the woman had in making it alone after her husband's death. Today I've started plotting her time in Bedlington after her return from Chatton. If you have any more information about the family I'd love to hear it.

Hi Eggy! I needed a bit of time to have a play around in the gallery before replying. I had a look around the gallery to see if there was any format that was useful and I think that the format you’ve used in creating the school albums could also work well here. Using the gallery album ”Bedlingtonshire Community High School” as an example the new album name could be ’St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, headstones’. Then each photo could have a file name that is the name of the deceased, in the same way the school photos are named, or the family name, if there are several memorials on one stone. Really, when I suggested an album my main idea was to preserve the stones of Bedlington together in digital form, before the original texts are weathered away. completely They are a valuable source of information for researchers. I wasn’t thinking that we should be providing information about the meaning of symbols etc. There are plenty of sites on Internet doing that already. Of course, should any such information pop up in the discussion related to each photo then that would be a point of interest, specific to that particular photo. Your system with school photos works well when searching for a particular person. I typed in Nicola Downey and was redirected to the first photo in the album immediately. Once in the album you have created some basic information on the High School (to the left of the screen). That would also work well for the planned album butI think it might be wise to keep the album and file titles simple, Album: Name of churchyard – File:Name of person/family. It makes searching so much easier. What do other members think)

The Smail family continued ... Who was isabella Fish? Given that Edwin and Isabella were married 1851 in Hexham and their children born in Chatton during the following decade, I started my search for Isabella in the 1851 census for that area and found her, without problem, living only a few miles away from the above mentioned Sandhoe Hall. Like Edwin, Isabella is also working for the landed gentry. The 1851 census shows Isabella, 23 years old and as yet unmarried, residing at Beaufront Hall (now Beaufront Castle) near Hexham, where she is employed as one of two nursery maids to the children of Lady Mary Cuthbert, daughter-in-law to the owner of Beaufront Hall – Magistrate William Cuthbert. There is, in fact, a strong link between the two estates of Sandhoe and Beaufront, Beaufront having earlier been owned by the aforementioned Errington family. When Beaufront heiress, Dorothy Carnaby, married Gilbert Errington in the 16th century the Errington’s later built a new house - possibly Sandhoe but I havent researched it. Beaufront was then sold to the Cuthbert family in the early part of the 19th century. Coincidence it may be but the 1851 owner of Beaufront Hall, Magistrate William Cuthbert, Elizabeth’s employer, also became Sheriff of Northumberland in1860 as did Edwin’s employer in 1855. Given the close proximity of the two estates and the relationship between them it is not surprising that the couple met and married in the Hexham area. Returning attention to Isabella, we can see from the 1851 census returns, that she was not a native of Hexham. Her place of birth is clearly given as ”Durham, Bedlington”. At that time Bedlington, as we know it, belonged to the historic palatine (county) of Durham and is recorded as such, rather than Northumberland. As England’s gentry are not known for employing the hoi poloi of society in posts involving the care and uppbringing of their heirs it would seem that Isabella may not have her roots among those of the lowest social standing in the shire. So, who was she? Isabella Fish, as she was born, was the daughter of Robert and Dorothy Fish who can be found as early as 1841 – the date of the first census – resident in Bedlington at an adress given simply as ”High Street”. Very few houses then had either name or number but I can see from the enumerator’s description of his area that the adress is situated at the East end of the town; ”all that part of the township [ … ] that lies to the east of Leadgate and Half Closes, on the north and south sides of the town of Bedlington including Hirst Head, Staith, Iron Works, Millbank and Bank House”. Also, by tracing the enumerators route, I can see that the Smail family are living on the north side of what what we now call East End. Just a few doors away, towards Bedlington bank, is a public house (not named) which may be the Oddfellow’s Arms , should this be so, then the family could already be living in what became Smail’s Ironmongers shop. Robert and Dorothy are then 59 and 54 years old and Robert’s occupation is given as ”Carrier”. There are three children living at home: Robert aged 18 who, like his father, is also employed as a carrier, Dorothy 16 years without occupation, and Isabella, then 13 years old. Ten years later we know that Isabella is working and residing in Hexham and we can see from the census of 1851 that even her older brother and sister have flown the nest in Bedlington. Only their parents, Robert and Dorothy are registered at what appears to be the same adress. Robert is now 69 and his wife is 64. Robert’s occupation has changed. He is no longer recorded as ”carrier”. Instead, his occupation is recorded as ”House Proprietor” suggesting that the family do not belong to any particularly low social class. The thought occurs to me that Robert Fish may already in 1841 have been running a buisiness from the house on Front Street east which later became the ironmonger’s shop. In the1861 census, the High Street is now being referred to as ”Main Street” and Robert and Dorothy’s adress is given as ”Fish’s Yard”, presumably taking it’s name from the owner. The Yard consists of three dwellings, of which one is occupied by Robert and Dorothy Fish. Robert’s occupation is again recorded as ”Proprietor of Houses”. However, the couple would appear to have moved from the north side of the street to the south as the north side is not included in the enumerators description of his area. Fish’s Yard is situated between Mill Yard at the east end of Main Street and the Vicarage of St Cuthbert’s Church, though somewhat nearer to Mill Yard than to the vicarage. The next stage in my research leads me to believe that, at some point between Edwin’s death in 1862 and April 1871 Isabella and the children return to Bedlington possibly to live with, or to be nearer to, her parents or, perhaps, to inherit them. More about that tomorrow.

Eggy, let me have a think about that and i'll get back to you tomorrow.

I think we can forget about the bible in relation to the Smail family. What mother would spell her own - and her daughter's - surname incorrectly.

Vic, would you like to have another look at your answers. There are 20 questions and I think you' may have missed nr 15, which means that your answers 15 - 19 may be the answers to 16 - 20.

Well, if you can drag yourself away from action and sex they are good movies! The grandbairns would probably love them.

... and it's not even Tuesday!

Bonus point awarded for being bilingual!

Two questions that came to mind when I read the inscription on Isabella Smail’s headstone were, firstly, why is Edwin's name not first as he clearly died before his wife and secondly, why are there no details about him – age, date of death etc? To me, this suggested that he was not buried with Isabella and naturally I wondered why not. My search for Edwin Smail took me first to the Borders Region of Sotland and to Roxburgh where he was born about 1827 to parents John and Esther Smail. In 1841, at the age of 14, Edwin is already working and appears on the census of that year as the youngest member of the estate staff at Kippilaw - the country seat of the prestigious Scottish family Tod. No other family members are recorded at Kippilaw so Edwin is clearly living away from home. Just what Edwin’s job was, I have been unable to ascertain. His occupation is simply abbreviated ”MS”. Later research suggests he may have been apprenticed to the grounds/gardening staff as gardening seems to have been his profession for the remainder of his life. I have been unable to find any trace of Edwin in the 1951 census but he reappears in 1861. He is then years 34 years old and has left Scotland. He is working as a gardener and living in Chatton Village, part of the Sandhoe Hall estate, near Hexham, the country residence of another prestigious family, the Erringtons. I think it’s reasonable to assume – and it is only an assumption - that Edwin is working on the estate and living in a tied cottage. That being the case his master would have been Sir Thomas Errington, High Sheriff of Northumberland (from 1855) and the 11th Errington Baronet from 1863. I can also see from the 1861 census that Edwin is now married to Isabella and the couple have two young children: John Robert Smail, then 3 yo, born 1857, and Dorothy Ann Smail, then 2 months old, born 1861 both born in Chatton. The Register for Births, Deaths and Marriages reveals that Edwin and Isabella, nee Fish, had married some 10 years earlier, in the third quarter of 1851 in Hexham and that there was an earlier child, John Smail, born to the couple in July 1852, also in Chatton. It seems therefore that Edwin was already living in the Hexham area in 1851. The child, John, was destinied to have a very short life and died in September the same year less than 3 months of age. Sadly, Isabella’s grief would not end there as even Edwin, her husband of only 11 years, died 12 months later, on 2 September 1862 aged 35 years. He is buried in Holy Cross Churchyard, Chatton and his headstone, rather simple in comparison to his wife Isabella’s, bears a memorial to the child John. So, who was Isabella and what were the circumstances leading to her being buried in Bedlington? To be continued …..

Halloween is upon us so I thought we'd see how much we can about ghoulies and ghosties and the likes thereof. In the interests of getting into the spirit, I suggest you wait until it's dark, light a solitary candle and open a window to get an icey draught and a flickering flame. Spirits of the 'fortifying' variety you'll have to provide yourself I'm afraid: What was Count Dracula’s original name in the Bram Stoker classic?? Who started the black cat superstition? What did Scottish girls hang in front of a Halloween fire to see images of their future husband? Halloween has several different names around the world. Name two? Which song was a 1973 hit for Bobby ‘Boris’ Picket and the Crypt-Kickers? What is a group of witches called? The word Halloween is an abbreviation of what? Which of the following is NOT a sign that you might be a werewolf: Hairy palms, eyebrows that meet in the middle, a long middle finger, red eyes? Count Dracula is based on a real person – Vlad Dracula (Vlad the Impaler). Name the country over which he ruled? Who wrote the novel Frankenstein? The Celts believed that the lord of the dead travelled the earth on Halloween. What was his name? What does the Old English word ‘Hallow’ mean? What do pumpkins grow on: Stalks, trees, vines or bushes? In Shakespeare’s Macbeth the three witches add many things to their bubbling cauldron, starting with “Fillet of a fenny snake”. Name three other additions to the pot? Ghoulies and ghosties and … what … go bump in the night? Is a banshee likely to sing, scream, hum or whistle? Why is it dangerous to step into a fairy-ring formed of mushrooms? Which film from 2008 stars Ricky Gervais as a dentist who can see and talk to ghosts? According to the contemporary witchcraft religion of Wicca, is a male witch known as a wizard, a sorcerer, a witch or a spell-caster? From which ethnic group did Halloween originate? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. A game of Quidditch uses four balls in total: 1 Quaffle, 2 Bludgers and 1 Golden Snitch. Answers on Thursday next week.

Neither did I. This site is an absolute mine of information.

Separate albums sounds good too - a bit like you do with the various schools.

Headstones sounds good to me. Maybe we could have subdivisions starting with: Headstones, St Cuthbert's Churchyard. There are maybe other churchyards in the shire which could have their own subdivision?

Eggy, can we have a gallery album for these photos and any others from the churchyard that may be posted? They are a very valuable source of information, well worth preserving in photo form as the real thing is now disappearing fast. If you could work your magic with naming the files so they would be easily accessible to the researcher, it would be wonderful. BTW, I think John Hedley may be my relative. Huge thanks for posting these, Maggie, and can I urge other photo enthusiasts to leg it down to the churchyard and capture more memorials, pleaeaeaeaease!

Given the role of the Valkyrie, I hope she only played it at funerals! I believe that Vic's organist was one of - possibly both of - John Robert Smail's daughters.

Amendment to the above: I asked a former colleague to look at mt text analysis and I just received his reply. He agrees with my analysis and conclusion. However, he points out that there is an omission in my argumentation that is important to its understanding. Paragraph 7 "Of course, the two elements of name and epithet do not always occur in that order. It is equally common with the epithet preceding the name: Dr Fred Bloggs/NUFC footballer, Jackie Milburn/beloved aunt, Mary Smith, organist of Bedlington Parish Church is also a possibility - hence the ambiguity. " should read: Of course, the two elements of name and epithet do not always occur in that order. It is equally common with the epithet preceding the name: Dr Fred Bloggs/NUFC footballer, Jackie Milburn/beloved aunt, Mary Smith, so organist of Bedlington Parish Church, Jane Isabella Smail is also a possibility - hence the ambiguity. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better!

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. W 2. Congratulations 3. A mollusc 4. The Anglo-Zulu War, 1879 5. A wild ass 6. Metre (A metre is but 3 foot three, It’s longer than a yard you see). 7. Nurse 8. Spiders 9. E 10. Troy 11. Dogger 12. Cornwall Halloween Special tomorrow! PS. Just noticed that I didn't post a 'bet you didn't kmow' lastweek! Here it is: I'll bet you didn't know George VI, Mozart and Casanova were all Freemasons