Maternal Margarets and Marys

I have now added three more generations to my direct maternal line. Got stuck for a couple of years at Margaret Watson as the name was so common, but have now pinned her down. So far my maternal line is confined to Northumberland, but I expect it may cross the border to Scotland or hop over to Ireland if I can get further back. This is what I have at present, taking me back 8 generations to 6th great grandmother Margaret Brewhouse.

• Margaret Jane Webb, 1921 -1999, born Radcliffe, Northumberland
• Margaret Jane Henderson, 1899 – 1982, born Amble, Northumberland
• Margaret Jane Thornton, 1871 – 1912, born Choppington, Northumberland
• Mary Oliver, 1842 – 1911, born Netherton, Bedlington, Northumberland
• Margaret Watson, 1818 – 1895, born Ulgham, Northumberland
• Mary Hutchinson, 1791 – ?, born Felton, Northumberland
• Mary Brown, 1769 – ?, born Felton, Northumberland
• Margaret Brewhouse, bef 1747, probably somewhere around Felton, Northumberland, but could be from further North or from Scotland.

As you can see, my ancient grannies did not have much imagination in choosing Christian names for their girls. Thankful that my Mam decided to break the mould and I did not end up as the fourth in a row of Margaret Janes.

Link

Britain from above is a new site with aerial photos from the 1919-1953 era. Seems to have a lot of potential although it needs some tuning to speed up the searches :) Nothing much from my part of Northumberland on it yet, but there are some interesting views of Newcastle-upon-Tyne among its 16000 pictures. Had to resort to using it on the laptop as the click on the map is not functional on the ipad.

With a little help from my friends

I was planning to figure out where my Cullercoats ancestors might be buried before my next trip to Northumberland so I could plan a photo shoot. However,  a chance conversation with a friend who mentioned that there was a cemetery near Billy Mill roundabout that he passes on his way to his allotment triggered my curiosity and answered my question. It turns out, after he has investigated further, that  a section of Preston Cemetery has been set aside for headstones moved from Cullercoats. Does not sound very promising with respect to legibility, but there could be some little research gems hidden under the ivy. Among the names I will be looking for there are Henderson, Newton and Miller.

A late addition to this post: Forgot to mention before I hit the publish button that the post title not only reflects the topic, but was chosen because the friend who checked this out for me likes Joe Cocker.

Local books

I have added another 5 local books that have helped my genealogy research to my Publications used page. The pictures of old Northumberland help to develop a better understanding of the world my ancestors lived in. Topics include Amble, RAF Acklington, Tynemouth, Cullercoats and Alnwick.

Greatest tank battles

Discovery channel have a programme on today entitled “Greatest tank battles”. It has started with the very first use of tanks at the battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916. Fascinating to watch as that was the day my great uncle Edmund Webb was killed on the Somme.

New Winning, Shoreswood

The latest addition to my Places page is Shoreswood, Northumberland where great grandfather Leonard Cracket was born in 1847.

Razed rows in Radcliffe

Next on my list of Places is the pit village of Radcliffe in Northumberland. The rows of colliery housing were razed to the ground in 1971 when the opencast moved in. What was once a tight knit community of about 700 souls is now just a handful of houses. My Webb line lived in Radcliffe for many years and it has also been home to relatives named Crackett, Tweddle, Smith, Gair and Smailes.