February 1900

So many took an interest in the letter in my last post written by a young man to his Mother when he was at sea in 1901. For those wondering what happened to him, here he is below.

He maried my Grandmother in 1899 so was obviously married when he wrote the letter.  They had 9 children, one of them being my Father.

He died aged 67 having lived a fairly prosperous life but I was only a baby so never knew him. 

Below is another interesting letter written to my Grandmother by her Aunt when grieving the death of a child. Note the black border which was always used (even when I was a child) when someone was in mourning. It is actually 2 letters in one as part of it is to my Grandmother's daughter. 

I am not actually researching my family tree but putting together all the information that I already have which has previously been researched by two cousins and myself. I also have several centuries of research on Alan's family and this was done by his brother and gifted to my daughter when she married.

Green’s House Farm
Rainhill
Feb 12th, 1900


My dear Niece


I received your letter and was glad to hear from you. I wish you both much happiness in your married life; may God bless you and prosper you, which He never fails to help them that trust in Him. I was very glad to know that Lily has got a son and doing well. Poor Joe I feel awfully sorrow for him & I do hope he will come back one day safe for I am sure his mother will feel it very much, his wife must be very anxious about him be sure & let me know if you hear from him, you did not say how your father was but I suppose no news is good news. I hope sister & little May will soon be all right, I should like to see Thomas I hope he is well.


Dear May, (one of Grandmother's daughters - my Aunt) I hardly know how to express myself in the terrible blow I have received. I have been broken hearted since my darling died it is God’s mercy that I have been spared, it came so sudden upon us that it threw me prostrate with grief. I miss him everywhere & more every day. I really feel I can never see through it but if it will please the Almighty to spare me that I may worship him in health & strength that I may be prepared to meet my Angel Boy above. I do not think I shall ever be happy again in this world, I was so much attached to my love. Mr Frith was very much grieved though he is keeping up very well. Elisabeth & Martha are very well they send their love to you all. Excuse the writing for it is in tears; you might bring your husband down never mind if you have no Mourning that will no make any difference. I shall be glad to see any one of you any time, you did not give me your name so I have addressed the letter to your Mother so that all may see it. Tell little May her photo is all right, not forgetting Lily & husband, so I think I have mentioned you all.


So with love
I remain
Your Aunt in trouble
J. E. Frith

Letter sent to: -
Mrs Ledson
2 Florida Street
Strand Road
Bootle
Liverpool

December 1901

Why does one start to think about sorting Family Tree papers in the new year I wonder. Happens every time but whether I get the job done this year is anybody's guess. Did think I would do some posts on same though.

Click to enlarge for artistic detail

Having sailed the Atlantic on a ship with engines with husband Alan who was a Chief Engineer I just cannot imagine the discomfort of a sailing ship

This is a letter written by my paternal Grandfather to his Mother in December 1901  while away at sea.

He was obviously an artistic man as seen here in the original letter. I did not know him as he died when I was a baby but his artistic influence lives on in my family.

Dec 14 / 91

SS Rochdale
Lisbon


Dear Mother


I received your kind and welcome letter and was glad to hear that you were all quite well as it leaves me at the present. Well mother as we will be leaving here on Tuesday or Wednesday and we just get to St Vincent about two days before Christmas and we be about a week there and we will be going from there to New Orleans and it will be about the end of March and then the winter will be over.

Dear Mother I am going to try my best when I come home for the tug boats or some kind of a job on shore and if I don’t get a vacancy in two or 3 weeks I go on the month boats until I get a chance in them. Well mother I was very glad to hear that Rosina has gone to the Dressmaking and I hope she will like it and Lizzie is foolish if she don’t learn a trade while she is young she will be too old just now as I was when I went after a trade and I am sorry for it now.

Dear Mother I hope father is comfortable in his ship I am not as when I was here before the 2nd and 3rd engineer is not so nice as the others but the chief engineer is nice and he want me by the ship when we get home but I told him that a pound a month is not enough for me and I told him I am going to try and get in the tug boats.

Dear Mother you must write about 3 weeks time after you get this letter and don’t forget it is of no use writing to St Vincent but I will send home a letter from their. Dear mother you must tell Rosina to try and write me a letter to New Orleans. Well mother the weather here is very fine all the time and it is a very large town but I have not been ashore we are laying in the river and it is a long way from the town so I got no more to say at present hoping to find you all quite well from your son


Henry Alexander Gilland


X X X X X X X


I wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year a good plum pudding and a welcome cheer.


Yours Dear Henry

Today and all it's Diversity

I’ve been posting so much on the Cotswolds recently and also posting on my story that it felt like time to fit in a ‘today’ post.

I see so many beginning to post on Christmas so I decided today that I really should get on with the making of my Christmas cards. Alan also went up into the loft to bring down the decorations although it will be some weeks before I shall be putting any of them up.

I have just had my broadband connection upgraded to 4 mgs instead of 2 and I am finding it so much quicker for uploading photographs from my computer. Obviously it makes downloading from the net quicker too but that does depend also on how busy the server is as you know.

I want to recognise Maddy all the way down there in Australia. She has been helping me with my family tree. A brother-in-law did a great family research on Alan’s family some years ago and presented my daughter with a copy when she was married 8 years ago. The idea was that I would continue by adding my side of the family. After quite some time I began getting things together and was greatly helped by a cousin who had already put together quite a bit of my Father’s family. However, I became very frustrated when trying to get anywhere with my Mother’s family. I just could not come up with anything for my maternal Grandfather so I decided to give up and just put together what I already had. Having commented to this effect on Maddy’s blog she so kindly said she would help if I gave her some information to work on.

From my Grandparents marriage certificate Maddy was able to trace back to the early 1800’s. I am so excited to be able to fill in some of the gaps. So thank you so much Maddy – you are an angel. One of the main problems of course in trying to trace a family tree at my age is that there is no-one left alive who can answer questions. I do have some very interesting information on other branches of the tree which I may share in a future posting.

So while Maddy has been researching I have been sleeping and while she has been sleeping I have been going through the family tree. While I have been out walking bracing myself against the very cold wind, Maddy has been trying to stay cool in their very hot weather. Isn’t it amazing to be connecting these two extremes on our blogs.

The weekend has been fun. We went to a 60th birthday party on Saturday and dinner with a group of friends on Sunday and friends over to us for dinner on Tuesday. Thursday we will be spending at Janie’s house with dear little Oliver so that’s another week gone by.

Before signing off I would just like to thank everyone who has been commenting and encouraging me to continue writing my story. Without you I may have given up a long time ago. I have always wanted to put my story into print but it is proving harder than I imagined.I don't find it easy making myself just take the time to sit down and write it. I am still only up to the mid-sixties so there is still a long way to go with many more twists and turns (to quote one of my comments). My whole aim is to be able to encourage others who may be struggling and going through similar trials and to show how God can transform a life. So hang in there, it’s a worth while read.

A few photos from this weekend to finish.

Colour from my garden today

The London Skyline from my neighbourhood

silloueted on the horizon

A nice reminder