JULY IN A NUTSHELL

Well, once again I am playing catch-ups and as it’s nearly the end of July I thought I’d do the whole month in one hit! I really must be better organised for August.

6^th JULY

There are two distant ancestors to commemorate on this day; one maternal and one paternal.

In 1817 my G-G-G-Uncle George MANSELL was born to George and Mary (nee LEES) MANSELL. He was the third of their five children. Apart from his baptism in Ketley, Shropshire I have no further details. 

This day is also linked to my maternal line. In 1823 my G-G-G-G-Aunt Jean BROWN was baptised in Stewarton, Scotland; the sixth of eight children born to Matthew and Mary (nee KING) BROWN.

11^th JULY

In 1816 Jean’s elder sister Marion was baptised in Stewarton. As another Marion was baptised to this couple in 1821 it is possible that today’s Marion did not survive infancy although I have yet to confirm this.

This day is also the birthday of my paternal Great-Grandfather Peter SMALL.

 Peter was born in 1850 in Dunbarney, Perthshire to David and Margaret (nee NIVEN) SMALL. One of 11 children, Peter had 8 brothers and 2 sisters although it is unlikely that all survived childhood.

By the age of 21, Peter had already left Scotland for England and was lodging in a house on Starkey Street in Stockton-on-Tees and was working as a boilersmith. He would remain in the steel industry all his life.

Just a few years later, Peter married my Great-Grandmother Margaret STEVENSON at the parish church in Richmond, Yorkshire. Their witness, Francis Stevenson was Margaret’s elder brother. 

Peter and Margaret spent all their married life in Stockton on Tees, moving around from house to house. They had 10 children, losing only 2 in infancy.   

Peter died in 1918 and his widow survived him by nearly three decades. Margaret died in 1946.

14^th JULY

In 1782, my paternal G-G-G-G-Uncle, Richard SKELTON was born. He was the third of eight children born to John and Mary (nee PASCALL) SKELTON of Preston-on-the-Weald-Moors in Shropshire. I never get tired of that place-name!

This is also the birth date of my paternal G-G-Grandmother Margaret NIVEN. Born in Forteviot, Perthshire in 1805 she was the eighth of nine children – 6 boys and 3 girls - to William and Jean (nee EDWARD) NIVEN. 

At the age of 20, Margaret married David SMALL and they had 11 children together.

17^th JULY

My paternal Great-Great-Great-Grandfather George MANSELL was born on 17^th June 1791 in Wellington, Shropshire. I believe his parents were George and Elizabeth but I have yet to corroborate this information.

George was a labourer who spent all his life in the Ketley/Wellington area of Shropshire. He ventured into Wrockwardine in 1812 when he married Mary LEES on 29^th June that year but they soon settled back in New Town Wellington where all their five (known) children were born.

George died on 30^th October 1846 and was buried at All Saints Ketley on 4^th November. There is actually a monumental inscription on the grave which reads:

                “Sacred to the memory of George Mansell who died 31/10/1846 in the 55 year of his age.           Also James son of the above who died 6/11/1846 age 19”

Also on this day is the anniversary of the marriage of maternal Great-Great-Grandparents William Cunningham Bontine HAMILTON and Janet Cochrane SMITH. They married in Kilmalcolm, Renfrewshire in 1855 when William was 23 and Janet was only 18. Their first child, daughter Janet, was born 5 months after the wedding so it’s easy to see why she may have married so young. 

Port Glasgow where the family lived was very poor. Houses were small and crowded, sanitation was very basic and with a baby born almost every two years, times were tough for the family. William was a joiner and later a machinist at the shipyards while Janet worked as a dressmaker to help make ends meet. In total they had 11 children but almost all died in infancy and all of these died from consumption. Their sixth child, Annie Wilson, was my Great-Grandmother and she too succumbed to consumption was she was only 32. The only other children who survived into adulthood were William (born 1873) and Stuart (born 1876), both of whom moved to London as young adults.

William CB died at the age of 53 on 21 June 1885 “after 2 months illness of consumption”. His widow Janet then moved to London to live with son William and his family. She died there in 1902 and was buried at the West Ham Cemetery Newham on 12 September 1902.

19^th JULY

Maternal Great-Great-Grandmother Janet (or Jessie) INNES was born on this day in Dingwall in 1833 and was baptised in the Parish Church 11 days later. 

When she was 20 years old, Janet married Ronald MACKENZIE, a farm labourer, in the Parish Church  Contin on 28^th March 1854. Ronald and Janet had five children; Margaret (1854), Donald (1856), John Ronald (1859-1945), Mary Ann (1862) and Janet (1867).

After the death of her husband in 1887 Janet when to live with her daughter Margaret where she stayed until her death on 27^th August 1895.

20^th JULY

Another wedding anniversary today. Caroline BALDOCK was the younger sister of my maternal Great-Great-Grandmother Sarah. She was born in 1835 and married William Barwick on this day in 1851 at the Parish Church Hackney.

22^nd JULY

Another maternal Great-Great Aunt was born on this day. Janet MACKENZIE was the youngest sister of my Great-Great Grandfather John Ronald MACKENZIE and she was baptised in Lochbroom, Ross-shire in 1867.

23rd JULY

Andrew SMALL was my paternal Great-Great-Uncle and he was baptised on this day in 1847 in Dunbarney, Perthshire. One of 11 children of David and Margaret (nee NIVEN) SMALL he was the older brother of my Great-Great-Grandfather Peter.

24^th JULY

My maternal G-G-G-G-Uncle Mathew BROWN was born in Stewarton, Ayreshire on this day in 1831. One of 8 children he was the youngest brother of my G-G-G-Grandmother Mary and the youngest of eight children of Mathew and Mary (nee KING) BROWN,

27^TH JULY

Stuart HAMILTON was my maternal Great-Great-Uncle who was born in 1876. He was the youngest of the 11 children to William Cunningham Buntine  and Janet Cochrane HAMILTON.

30^th JULY

My paternal Great-Great-Uncle Andrew NIVEN was baptised on this day in 1807.  The youngest of 9 children of William and Jean (nee EDWARD) NIVEN of Forteviot, Perthshire, Andrew was the youngest sibling of my Great-Great-Grandmother Margaret.

Also on this day we celebrate the birth of my paternal Great-Great-Uncle John SMALL. Born in Dunbarney Perthshire in 1839 he was the older brother to my Great-Great-Grandfather Peter SMALL.

31^st JULY

The final entry for July celebrates a wedding. On this day in 1825 in Dunning Perthshire, my paternal Great-Great-Grandfather David SMALL married Margaret NIVEN. David was an agricultural labourer who can be found on the 1841 census working on the Kilgraston Estate in Dunbarney and in 1851 the family are living in Brickhill Cottages with their six children 

David and Margaret had 11 children in total; James (1825), David (1827), William (1829), Jane (1831), Euphemia (1834), Andrew (1836), John (1839), Thomas (1841), Andrew (1847), Alexander (1849) and finally Peter in 1850.

David died in 1866 and although Margaret must have passed away prior to this, I have found no record yet of her death.

27^th JUNE

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

My maternal Great-great Uncle Alexander was born on this day in 1870. Like almost all of his siblings, poor Alexander did not live long. Alexander died of consumption on 21^st August 1875.

MARTHA MANSELL

My paternal Great-great Aunt Martha was also born on this day. Martha was the 8^th of nine children of William and Elizabeth (nee ARCHER) MANSELL and she was born in Ketley, Shropshire in 1852. Interestingly, later in life Martha married David LLEWELLYN; the elder brother of Eliza Ann who married my Great-grandfather George MANSELL – Martha’s elder brother.

29^TH JUNE - GEORGE MANSELL AND MARY LEES

Paternal Great-great-great-Grandparents George and Mary were married on this day in Wrockwardine in 1812. George was a labourer from Wellington and he and Mary spent all their married life in Ketley. They had 5 children; two girls and three boys. The eldest of these boys was my Great-great-grandfather William.

George is rare among my ancestors because not only was he given a gravestone, but I have a transcript of the monumental inscription:

“Sacred to the memory of George Mansell who died 31/10/1846 in the 55 year of his age. Also James son of the above who died 6/11/1846 age 19”