Ancestry.co.uk

[Big Kev]

I'm looking for lunatic asylum records now, just incase my gt grandmother was committed

[Stanley]

Fascinating just standing on the sidelines watching.....

[plaques]

I'm looking for lunatic asylum records now, just incase my gt grandmother was committed

It may not be as bad as it appears. My cousin used to brag that one of her distant relations used to be a regular visitor to Marsden Hall, Nelson, it turned out that at this period of time it was the local lunatic asylum. To be honest at this time it was what we may now call a care home for impoverished people especially old widows.

[Big Kev]

That was how I looked at it Plaques. It's quite exciting to have an ancestor in an asylum

[Wendyf]

You would still find a death record, even if she was in an asylum.

[Wendyf]

Just a thought....I wonder who registered her mother's death in 1950?

[Whyperion]

The women on the maternal side have a lot of dead husbands which leads to a lot of name changes. You couldn't make it up, fascinating stuff.

They would be alive when they married them wouldn't they? Send for John Nettles, Midsomer Murders, immediately.

Same in mums family, men succumbed to assorted work diseases/incidents dont forget, and some had a large age gap , (and a couple of World Wars dont help either - one of dads relatives died during WW2 - he was a despatch rider and crashed coming back to his wife (he had been visiting his WAFF girlfriend en route from RAF base end of day duty).

For Assylm records a good few in all sides of family names, but one in particular stands out, he was night watchman at Liverpool (forget which) Workhouse and his teenage daughter was ladies maid to the wife of the overseer on site. Since he clocked off from duties he was also recorded at home with the rest of the family by his wife (or maybe she was just confused as to whom should be included on the census form). While none known in my family dont forget people counted (and sometimes name) on vessels at port on the census night, makes for interesting reading in Liverpool and presumably would be the same for bargees on the canal systems

[Big Kev]

I visited my mother yesterday and am now in possession of an album of very old family photographs. Sadly only a few have names associated with them but she did identify her grandfather in some of them. I also have pictures of the elusive Emma Jane Lovejoy. I also have 'hatch', match and dispatch' certs for my maternal grandfather and grandmother and my father's regular army service record.

[Stanley]

All solid evidence. You're getting into this aren't you!

[Big Kev]

I am rather enjoying it, the elusive gt grandmother is becoming a source of frustration though. The visit to Gravesend library, to look at any old records available, was a non starter. It required an appointment and a return on Monday, I will be travelling home then.

[Big Kev]

20220715_185544.jpg

Just for historical interest, this is a picture of my gt grandmother holding my grandfather and surrounded by family. Second in from the left on the back row is her husband (my mother identified him and I have another picture of him from the early 1950s). The other older woman is potentially my gt gt grandmother with her father stood behind her. Guess work (based on census info) has the other girls as my gt grandmother's half sister and two adopted nieces.
The picture would have been taken in 1914.

[plaques]

Enjoyed that Photo Kev. Family photos were a big thing in those days. I wonder why the two men were asked to look off camera? The two girls on the left could hardly contain their smiles. Excellent.

[Big Kev]

I have a few more I'll put on when I get home, I find them fascinating. Better still when I can identify the people in them.
I will replace the one above with a better quality scan too, it's currently a photo taken on my smartphone.

[Stanley]

Old family photos are a brilliant resource and it's amazing how, if you keep digging, they can sometimes eventually be deciphered.

[Big Kev]

We now make a point of identifying any physical photographs with names on the back. It's been very infuriating going through literally hundreds of old pictures having no idea who was in them. I picked my mother's brain when I got the old album from her, she's 84 now and the last of the Lovejoy girls left.

20220718_165604.jpg

She doesn't scrub up too bad for an old girl

[Wendyf]

She looks wonderful!

[Gloria]

She looks really well.

[Stanley]

She looks to be in better nick than you......

[Big Kev]

[Whyperion]

I am rather enjoying it, the elusive gt grandmother is becoming a source of frustration though. The visit to Gravesend library, to look at any old records available, was a non starter. It required an appointment and a return on Monday, I will be travelling home then.

Is that Gravesend in Kent ? Have a Great Grandmother from there - surname Crowhurst ( annoyingly a Kent villiage name too - other side of Maidstone), but can find nothing of substance about her or her father. A not directly related ancestorial relation also left from Gravesend as part of the British Army to India mid C19th.

[Big Kev]

It is Gravesend in Kent.

[Big Kev]

A distant relative has contacted me, through Ancestry, from my paternal line (sadly not the elusive maternal gt grandmother). There was talk of my paternal grandfather having a brother in Australia, I now have evidence that he did. Good stuff.

[Gloria]

My Nanny (maternal grandmother) was in Lancaster asylum, in the early 60s. I never remember her as being a lunatic, more a dementia patient, which I think a lot were then.

[Stanley]

Historically 'Lunatic' covered a lot of conditions that would never be associated with actual madness now. Just think of the number of wives who were committed to get them out of the way. (Mr Rochester's wife in the attic room....)
Mothers of children out of wedlock (A very telling word!) were often committed and described as lunatics.

[Big Kev]

Ancestry confirmed receipt of my DNA sample on July 15th but I've only just seen the notification. They reckon 6-8 weeks before I get any results.