Lest we forget

100 years since the break out of WW1. To acknowledge this horrific, yet defining moment in our history I'm going to find out more about my ancestors who fought in the war.

As far as I know my only direct ancestor who fought in the war was on my mom's side - my great great grandfather, Luke Mizon, who I believe was based here, actually in London. Whether he ever went abroad I'm not sure, it may have been because of his age he was posted here rather than abroad.

One query I have is why my great grandfather on my dad's side, Henry Edward Smith, wasn't called up, he would have been within the age bracket to be called up, but why he wasn't I'm not sure. His job was in the family business of Sausage Skin Makers (a German company...) can't quite see it was a reserved occupation!

I do know that my granddad's eldest brother fought, in fact my granddad, John Lovelock, was born in 1915 whilst his brother was in the army...a big age difference!

Other family members include ancestors on my Nan's side - The Johnsons.

I plan to spend a little time looking into their stories and piecing together their time in war, the difficulties they faced and overcame. I am not aware of anyone who died in battle, they all survived, luckily - but were they 'ok' after it all?

 

 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Germans

So, I am in the readers story of the Oct edition of 'Who do you think you are?' BBC magazine.

I had seen in a previous months magazine an article about German ancestors and I just sent an email to comment on it and then was asked for more detail on my ancestors. At first there wasn't any 'big break through' they thought they could use in an article so it went a bit quiet, but they got in touch again and offered me a 'readers story' spot.

I was interviews for about an hour on the phone...it suddenly made me realise how complex my ancestry is when explaining it to someone who knew nothing about them! There were lots of 'bits' of info which I guess wasn't relative to the story they wanted to print, you just cannot cover everything! Once all that was done and drafts approved I had my photos taken - in the graveyard!

It was a nice summery day...until the rain came as we tried to find my great grandparents grave (I had only been once before a few years ago). Thankfully we found them and the rain stopped. After just under an hour of photographs we were done.

I received another draft and I requested a few changes then the article was done!

Now all I hope is perhaps someone knows something and gets in touch to solve the mysteries of disappearance, suicide and swindling!!! (The magazine makes the story sound much more dramatic than it properly was, but you never know...)

Craft & Craft Space

I'm taking part in this years Blogger Party with My Desert Cottage it's the first time I have and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's blogs, getting inspiration and hopefully meeting new people from around the world.

My 'creative space' is in quite some turmoil at the moment - I was meant to move and then things fell through so I'm in limbo (I hate it) so I have photos of my stuff all over the place - and the current 'craft space' is the coffee table in the living room - which annoyingly I have to tidy up before I go out... so I will be most interested in seeing other peoples space to get ideas for WHEN I FINALLY move.


My crafts
You will notice I do a wide variety of crafts and I'm always seeing new ideas to try, my list of crafting so far extends to:
Crochet, Knitting, Jewellery Making, Scrapbooks, Glass Painting, Sewing, Painting, Cross Stitch, Paper Crafts...



Knitting & Crochet - wool: technically my sisters stash (plus inherited wool!) but we share where we can.

Wool and bits stored in wicker baskets...we also have wool under the bed, in the loft and in a drawer!

These were hidden away, but now on display - vintage bone knitting & crochet needles & a wool winder

On display too, lovely colourful vintage needles - I'd like to think I'll never need to buy knitting needles again!

Crochet bits & bobs - I think nearly every drawer on this Victorian dresser is full of crafts!

Mabel Lucie Attwell

Sewing- I use to sew a few years back, then got caught up with other crafts, just doing bits here & there, but now I would like to do more, so I have the basic sewing machine which I've just been doing small items on, but I still do hand sewing.

I'm hoping to do more when I can, it's just finding the time & space!

An old chocolate box holds various small sewing, knitting & crochet accessories

Mabel Lucie Attwell

Once I get more into sewing, I'm wondering if I'll find this machine too basic, hopefully not for what I'll start with but if I do get into it you never know...

Recycled jar with added pincushion, filled with basic sewing kit

Pincushion made with left over vintage fabric & button centre

Books- oh so many crafty books! Probably a lot of ideas never put into action - sometimes it's nice just to read and admire (and you never know when an idea might come in handy- birthdays, Christmas!)

There are of course more books than this & also not forgetting folders of patterns, we have a large collection of vintage patterns inherited from my mom - the challenge now is deciding what to keep & learning to adapt vintage patterns for modern day use, although some are just nice to look at or things you wouldn't make nowadays!

DVDs- I don't really go for craft dvds, but Kirstie's Handmade Britain and other craft shows were great, in fact even put my name on a list for next year craft competitons at a local show - it could be anything from food, drinks to cross stitch or sewing in these compeitions...we'll see what the categories are for next year, but scary going up against other fabulous crafters and having your work critiqued!!!

Items round the home - just a few items I handmade / upcycled, now living around the house.

 Hand painted glass items - I have various bottles, jars & vases I have decorated

 This little mouse is filled with various herbs to deter moths. I have lots & lots of handmade lavender, hop, rose and anti moth sachets in amongst my clothes, wool & stuffed toys! It's a great way to deter bugs & keep things smelling fresh.

 I have made a mixture of scented & unscented sachets which I'll hopefully get around to listing on my esty shop soon. It's also a great way to use any scraps of fabric you have left over, or to practise new knitting or crochet stitches.

Right: hearts made with vintage French toile fabric.





Other items I have darted about the place are photo frames, a mirror, handmade flowers, various jewellery & hair accessories. I can't post it all, but when I'm setting up in my new house I'll take on board other tips/ideas I've seen and post again.

Speaking of ideas, I'll finish with a few works in progress / ideas I want to find time for!



Repainting this chest which was in the bathroom, it had a cork top which I removed, I'm planning to add a fabric cushion top so that you could sit on the chest. I'm also debating about any other decoration on the outside.

I plan to fill the chest with fabrics & wool - will have to make sure I make some more scented sachets to keep pesky moths away!

Other projects I have ongoing include making cushion covers, a skirt & I'd love to make a simple 1920s style dress. Big project I've yet to start with my sister is a patchwork quilt - if all goes well most likely be making two! There's a long list I'm sure in my craft ideas note book, as well as doing more on my family history research...if I could afford not to work full time I might just be able to get all this done!!! Wishful thinking....


I am also keen to do a craft swap or any sort of craft event  - not done one for a while, so if you have one planned let me know (although I might have to wait until I move, so anything planned for the Autumn should be ok!)

The Workhouse

Has anyone seen Secrets of the Workhouse on ITV? Well, it's been interesting to see what exactly went on (mostly quite horrifying), the treatment of people... in some ways they had a potentially good idea for a place the poor (completely destitute) people could go, but I think a lot of 'looking down' on people and social rebuking, not dealing with the root problem, but getting it 'out the way' took over and led to a great fear of being in the workhouse.

Through my family history research I have found a few members linked to the workhouse. As yet I haven't seen records as to why they were admitted, but my great x2 grandmother was born in St Luke's workhouse infirmary and my great x3 grandfather died in Shoreditch workhouse aged 80.

I have gone into more detail with tips on tracing your own relatives on my family history page.

Descriptions of the workhouses are generally dire, as well as the areas surrounding them where people lived in lodgings, however it may have appeared to those creating the workhouses that were offering a lot to the poor:

Workhouses varied enormously in size, with the smallest such as Belford in Northumberland housing fifty inmates, while the largest such as Liverpool could be home for several thousand. However, all workhouses were essentially a self-contained — and often largely self-supporting — community. Apart from the basic rooms such as a dining-hall for eating, day-rooms for the elderly, and dormitories for sleeping, workhouses often had their own bakery, laundry, tailor's and shoe-maker's, vegetable gardens and orchards, and even a piggery for rearing pigs. There would also be school-rooms, workshops, nurseries, infirmary and fever wards for the sick, a chapel, and a dead-room or mortuary. Workhouses were also highly compartmentalised to separate the various classes of inmates, with the yards between the various buildings being divided up by eight-foot-high walls.
Quoted from http://www.workhouses.org.uk/life/inside.shtml

Layout of St Luke's c1873

St Luke's Workhouse, London c1879



These large imposing & foreboding buildings went through great overhauls until it was acknowledged this was not the way to help the poor. Great injustices were committed and the stigma of the workhouse lives even to this day - we all know it's a place you want to avoid.

 

It's been a while...

Yeah times passing and it's been a while since I did anything on here. I have plans and ideas, but getting round to it is something else, and my creative block wasn't helping. It's still not completely gone, but I'm not madly crafting like I used to... that will change at some point, I'm sure stress of moving and work doesn't help.

Well I thought I could share a project I began work on a while ago. In line with my genealogy obsession I have been trying to organise my notes. I figured try and go by surnames, for women this gets confusing with maiden or married names, so I'm going by the documents- whatever their surname on that, file it.

I have realised I have quite a bit of information that I hadn't chased up and discovered some more information about some of the family...still not answered the big mysteries though!

So as part of my organisation I decided to decorate my file.

It's only partly done so far.

I drew a basic tree onto the file, then painted it. I needed it quite big as a little one wouldn't look quite right and I'd have to fill the cover with something else.

I plan to cut some leaf shapes (already started) from paper in various colours (if it looks ok) and each leaf I'm going to write a name. I was thinking just a surname, but I'm wondering now whether to have full names or a mixture of surnames and then christian names. A lot of names do repeat in the family and whilst there are a lot of surnames I have discovered there might not be enough...well I'll find out.

I'll see what it looks like layering the leaves on and then if all is well I'll glue the leaves on. Hopefully it'll look more impressive when done!



Finally another glimpse of the snow we've all been getting. It was quite picturesque Sunday, but I'd glady welcome some warm sunshine now!

If I could draw I'd love to do a wintery scene.

Weddings

I've just updated my family history page with some more information on looking at weddings through your families history.



Please take a look here

Who Do You Think You Are?

With the new series on TV I was inspired to get back and update my family history page.

Please take a look here.

Or simply click on Family History page link at the top of my blog.

I have added information regarding marriage.

Here's a few images of past weddings:

Left: Original photo of what we have deduced as my great great uncles wedding c.1921. I'll be coming back to this in a later post on 'mystery weddings' ...some mysteries over this one!
Fred Schulze - m - Marie Rieziska

 Right: My grandparents wedding copy photo.
1938 John Lovelcok - m - Florence Johnson

 Left: My great grandparents original wedding photo 1904
Henry Edward Smith - m - Emma Schulze

Right: Original photo. We had no notes as to who this was, but from deducations and little help we now believe these are my great great grandparents and this is an engagement photo, taken in Germany.

Bruno Schulze and Marie Justine Siebe c.1878




One thing I love about all these photos is looking at the fashions, the different styles over the years and any cultural influences/differences. It's also fun trying to see family resemblances or traits!

Genealogy

Just an update to say my 'Family History' page is active with various stories, tips and advice on research ,as well as photos. This week I have written about Births.

Please take a look, just click on the tab at the top of the page (I know there's some way to put little links in here without getting the full html, but I haven't figured that out yet!)