DavidAtStakeford

My second day on this forum and I came across Grundy Yarrow's name. It sounded familiar so I checked my family tree and there was his name. His mother Martha Hodgetts and my grandfather Enos Hodgetts were brother and sister. Small world. David

I've been around the libraries this morning - Bergen's book is missing from Morpeth library, P1-6 are missing from the Bedlington Library copy. It looks as though the photo may not have been included when the book was printed in the first place. Thanks for your help. David.

This is a follow up to my previous post. I might have wrongly attributed the above quotes to the Christopher Bergen book, The quotes may have been taken from Evan Martin's history of Bedlington Iron works . I have Evan Martins' book somewhere in the house (thanks to a Ashington library sale years ago) but I can't find it at the moment. I know Joshua Miller's photo is not in it. Does anyone know if this photo is in the Bergen book? Thanks, David

Hi. This is my first post in this forum so bear with me. In Christopher Bergen's book about the Bedlington Ironworks, there is a description of Joshua Miller, who was my wife's 3rd great grandfather. 'Another man who can scarcely be passed over was Joshua Miller the old keelman who for so many years was a familiar figure on the River Blyth, making countless journeys between the ironworks and the harbour. He was born at Wickham on 25th October 1761 and lived to the great age of 110 years and 8 months, dying at Morpeth, 24th April 1872. In his 100th year he was still in harness and was gatekeeper when Mounsey and Dixon took over.' After his death, a collection was made for a headstone which was erected in St Mary's church yard. One year later it was revealed that he was only 90. see 'Human Longevity Its Facts and Its Fictions, Including an Inquiry Into Some of the More Remarkable Instances, and Suggestions for Testing Reputed Cases by Will. J. Thoms' 1873, p119-129. [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QPm3i8UficwC/page/n141/mode/2up?q=joshua+miller]. Thoms was (or had been) the Speaker of the House of Commons. I have keelman on both sides of my family and they seemed to love induging in tall tales like those described in Bergen's book - but the family story of him walking from Bedlington to Morpeth workhouse barefoot is not so far fetched after reading Bergen's book. Bergen goes on to say; "In the photograph he is shown with the bust of Napoleon, his erstwhile enemy". But there is no such photograph in the book. Does anyone know of this photograph? Thanks, David