General Chat

That's interesting,Hayley that you are descended from hatters.
They were famous for it in or around Denton where my mother worked in the early 1920's,it was called the Lancashire Felt,and was very dusty,she said,with all the fluff etc coming off the process.
Maybe she knew some of your rellies?
Brenda x x

P.S don't shout at me when you see your photo on GC photos!!!

always celebrated moms birthday, on the 11/12/1910 the one we found after her death was unreadable got a new one it read 18 /12 1910 it is right check it out

Joan G

**Brief interlude whilst Hayley rushes to see her photo....lol....

Yes Brenda.....thats where they came from that area and most my female reallies were felt hat trimmers..

Hayley, have you ever heard the expression Mad as a hatter? It could explain a lot why there was the story about Red Indians.

From Wikipedia.

Mercury was used in the process of curing felt used in some hats. It was impossible for hatters to avoid inhaling the mercury fumes given off during the hat making process. Over time, the residual mercury caused neurological damage, as well as confused speech and distorted vision. As the mercury poisoning progressed to dangerously high levels, sufferers could also experience psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations. Given that anyone exhibiting an altered mental state was dubbed mad at the time, the cause of such malady, and subsequent death of such people doubtless went unexplained for a long time.

My grandfather's sister, always said her father was an only child, and they came from Scotland.
This really put me back when I was researching my paternal family.

I then found my great grandfather was one of eight children, and they came from Essex, not Scotland.

She was in her 90's when she told me this, so perhaps it was what she wanted to believe.

Thanks Lesley .....being from Stockport was explained that at school.lol...I also noted the early dealths of said hatters as well GGrandad died at just 29 yrs..old...they went mad or ...died of chest aliments....I think the red indian thing comes from my grandmother side she had very brown hair and eyes as my sister does and so did my dad..however her parents was irish so thats where I think it came from..

They probably died from chest ailments through the conditions at work!

My Father told me he was a millionaire when he was stationed in Italy during the war and had to leave it all there along with a girlfriend ......found out years later that the Italian Lira was at such a low value that you had to have millions just to have £5.....

.Hmmmm Wonder if I might have some Italian half siblings.....nah!....couldn't have!.....Could I?

I have said this before; my lot seemed to have an inherent lying gene!

Been up so many blind alleys I cannot list them all!

If I could get hold of them today.....aaaargh

Sue x

Maternal side.....

2xgreat granddad came from Poland/Denmark/Russia. He belonged to a wealth shipping family. Left home as he wanted to start at the bottom of the ladder. Went to sea, landed in Dundalk, Ireland, met a sweet colleen married her and came to the east end of London.......

No no no no...and 100 more no`s. One census
states him as coming from Germany and he was dock worker, married a girl from Poplar, who was illigitimate.

The same rellies.......She from Dundalk had an illigitimate baby by a black seaman.....but the new husband took it on and treated it like his own.....

No no no no.....how many more no`s can I type.


On the paternal side, greatgrandma`s second husband was a Mayor of Liverpool.......no no no...I have checked the records.

Was it the victorians way of "keeping up with the Jones`s" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well I have an --Artist,?

Yes I have because elderly aunts remember waving him off at the station to catch the boat/ship..where to ,America we think,? in the 20s.

what sort of Artist,?

Painter ?
Stage,?

well he could draw and he could play a violin,,,,,

Still looking,,,,,,,,,,

Hmmmmmmm was also led to believe that my Mothers family ( she is such a snob ) where sea captains.....considering they were from salford .....but we have the Salford docks and surely the Mancheser canel runs out to sea.....are canel boatman sea captains ?

Some great tall tales here....pmsl...keep them coming please...

Brenda, The Hatters in Hayleys Family used to Hold "Tea Parties" and I think they were mentioned in a Book.**M**.:o)>

To be fair Hayley, the Manchester Canal was built for ships, not barges, so they still could have been....

Two tales my Mum always said was

1. Grandad had six children by his first marriage that were put in a home when his first wife died in 1905.When grandad married Nan in 1909 .they had been married 3 weeks when the home sent them a letter,which nan opened,saying we understand you are know married please make arrangements to collect you six children .Well the eldest child aged 10 had been sent to Canada in Aug 1909 as a Home child,that was true, but I tried looking for 5 more children between 1898 -1905 and wasted money on certs to find that it wasnt six but 3!!

2. Mum always said she was born Nov 1908 and there was 13 months between her & dad. Dad was born dec 1907.
When Mum passed in 1980 I queried her age on the coffin plaque with elder sis who arranged the funeral .to be told mum was born 1909 and she lied to protect nans name cos she was pregnant when she married end Aug 1909. Mum was premature wasnt due to Jan 1909 BUT if she wanted to protect nans name she went the wrong way year wise , she should have said 1910!!
She even carried on the lie when she married in 1929 her marriage cert says she 21 when she was just 20

Ha Ha Merlin!!

Hayley, the ship canal and docks at Salford used to have ships coming in from all over the world.
My grandma,before she married,lived in Salford,near the docks,and talked of Laskers,which I think were Russian seamen(may be wrong,but must look it up)
I know a couple of her brothers worked on the ship canal.
They were certainly busy in those days,and not just for pleasure!

Correction........
Lascars were from India,and East of the Cape of Good Hope,and were coloured folk.When I said Russian,IIt didn't tie up with what my gran told me,as she said they used to go and look at them as they were different.
I suppose they were cheaper labour for them to employ.
Salford docks was very different to what it is now.even in the 40's when I was young we visited my g aunt and the houses were really Victorian terraces,2 up 2 down,and they brought up big families in them.
The ships would bring the cotton for the mills.so it is feasible that your rellies were sea captains.

I can remember the big crains still working in salford docks in the early 70's as we used to watch them from my aunts window she lived in a high rise tower just nearEccles library...My GGrandfater was killed on the docks he fell of the side and was trapped between the side and a ship..

Hayley,
Have you googled for the Accident?I did for my father's train accident in 1953,I even got a picture that I have printed off that looks like him and a report.
Just a thought!