Family history through the alphabet – A is for Amble

Family History Through the Alphabet – Picture from Genealogy and History News

I rarely jump into weekly blogging topics, but I found this one interesting and challenging so I decided to give it a try. I found this challenge on Genealogy and History News. The idea is to pick a topic each week following the alphabet. The challenge started last week, so I am going to post both A and B topics this week.

A is for Amble

Finding a topic for A was pretty much a no-brainer for me. It had to be Amble in Northumberland where it all started for me, although my arrival in the world was a couple of miles away at the local nursing home in Warkworth. I spent the first 18 years of my life in Amble and return regularly even though I no longer live in England. You can read more of my thoughts about Amble on my Places page.

Yesterday was Limerick Day

Since yesterday was Limerick Day I thought I might try my hand at a little “poetry”:

NPE is the abbreviation for Non-Paternity Event.  The NPE referred to above is the illegitimate birth of my great grandfather George Murray Turner which brings into question my Turner pedigree line.

(Since I missed two days of posting last week, this counts as a catch-up post for Wednesday 9 May.)

More useful books

Added another 5 books to my list of Publications used. These ones are specifically for people interested in Amble, Ashington, railways, mining disasters and Pitmatic.

Blavatar: Amble staiths

Coal staiths and fishing boats at Amble Harbour

My blog has existed for a year and a half with just the standard WordPress symbol identifying it. I decided not to have my own photo as a blavatar image since this is more about my past than about me. Until now I have been stuck for ideas as to what might be an appropriate picture, but tonight I had a flash of inspiration. I have a water colour of Amble harbour showing the coal staiths and fishing boats. Nothing could be more appropriate since it was coal mines and fish quays that brought my various ancestral lines together at Amble to produce me. The blavatar is a little too small to get the full effect, so here is a picture of the painting. This is one of many local Northumbrian scenes painted by my uncle.

114 years ago today

John Henderson drowned 1898 in Amble Harbour

On 29 April 1898 John Henderson, age 38, fell into Amble Harbour while trying to fix the tiller on a boat. An extensive search was carried out, but John was not found until several days later when the tide washed his body back into the harbour. The photo shows his grave in Amble East Cemetery.

John left behind his pregnant wife Mary and two children: David, age 4, who was later killed in WWI and baby Isabella. Their posthumous child, named John after his Dad, died in September 1899 age 10 months.

I have several John Hendersons in my tree. This John, who met the tragic harbour death, was my granny’s uncle, the eldest son of my 2x great grandparents John Henderson and Margaret Stavers.

107 years ago today

Harriet Rutter (née Henderson) – early 1930s at The Drift

This photo shows “Auntie Harriet”, my grandmother’s younger sister. I am dating it as early 1930s as the bottom half of the photo (cropped off here) shows two small girls who were born in 1930 and 1931. Since the caption written on the back by my granny tells me it was taken “at our Harriet’s door” I am assuming it to be taken at The Drift (Chevington Drift). Note the tin bath hanging on the outside wall – used for baths in front of the fire in pit houses.

My great-aunt Harriet Anne Henderson was born 28 Apr 1905 at Amble in Northumberland.  Her parents were Archibald (Archie) Henderson and Margaret Jane Thornton. She married twice, first to John Rutter in 1928, then to Thomas (Tommy) Lindsley in 1977. My mother was very close to her Auntie Harriet who used to visit us regularly and bring her granddaughter to play with me. We alternated between them coming to see us in Amble and us going to see them at the Drift or later in Ferneybeds.

The Christian name Harriet recurs frequently among my Henderson relatives and seems to have been passed down from my 3x great-grandmother Harriet Miller Newton, born in Cullercoats in 1814.

70 years ago today – 18th April

1942 – George Crackett & Peggy Webb

My Mam & Dad, George William Crackett & Margaret Jane Webb (George & Peggy) were married on 18 April 1942 at Amble Methodist Church. You can see from the attire that it was a wartime wedding, and the festivities were no doubt a little dampened by the loss of my Dad’s brother Syd just a couple of weeks earlier. The officiating minister at the wedding was great uncle Will (the Rev. William Robinson Turner) brother of my granny Crackett. Shortly after the wedding my Dad went off to serve in India for 3 years and my Mam returned to live with her parents in Radcliffe for the duration of the war.

Disentangling Doleman

Much of today’s effort has been devoted to trying to tie down my connection to the Doleman family. My grandfather Jonathan Doleman Webb had several Doleman “cousins” in Amble in Northumberland, but I have been unable to work out exactly where the relationship lies. I cannot find any appropriate Webb-Doleman marriages to tie the connection to his paternal line or Davis-Doleman marriages to tie it to his maternal line. I have now traced the Amble Doleman line back to Bilston in Staffordshire in the hope that this may shed some light.

Ambling through life

As promised I have started to add information on my Places page about key locations in my family story. First on the list had to be Amble, Northumberland where I was raised and which is the starting point for tracing my Crackett, Henderson and Turner lines.

Newton in my pedigree

I have now started a Newton page under My family. Tracing my Newton “granny” is one example of where the first names of descendants gave me a clue to which was the correct bride. My Newtons were seafaring folk in Cullercoats in Northumberland, who later ventured North to Amble after Harriet Miller Newton married into the Henderson family.