Leeds in the 1870s

Si · Post by Si » Tue 15 Jun, 2010 4:08 pm

Dakota wrote: and we haven't even talked about great Aunt Clara yet. Do tell!

Dakota · Post by **Dakota** » Tue 15 Jun, 2010 4:21 pm

Well, first remember she married into the family out in South Dakota, so there's no maleovent genetic hangover hovering about my head. She married Uncle Harold and they lived on a farm in SD and he was also the town marshal and either owned or ran the local electric company. In the early days, the electricity was turned on in the morning and turned off at night. So, he had gone into town to turn on the power and to check on how everyone was doing. It was during the time that what we called the Spanish Influenza - not certain what it was called in other parts of the world - and when he went into town he found that 6 people had died during the night from the flu. When he got back to the farm, he heard a gun shot and going into his residence, found that Clara had killed all 5 of their children and had then shot herself. She and the baby she was carrying survived. She was judged insane and committed to the state institution, released within 3 months time and had the baby and then moved to California. Would have been tough to raise a child in small town SD with that past hanging around. The child, a daughter, stayed in touch with her father but was never told about the other 5 children and what had happened. When my father was shipping out to the South Pacific, he was in southern CA for a bit and when he got leave he would go stay with Clara and her daughter. Clara was concerned about the outcome of WWI and that her children would catch the flu and so decided that this was the best way. The papers said she'd had other episodes and was considered to be high strung. When I was little and any of my Dad's aunts would be coming for a visit, they sometimes came in a group, I'd ask my mom which one of them was Clara - obviously she never came to visit, but I did worry about her. So, it's really kind of a sad story about what was probably poor nutrition, too many babies that overwhelmed her and the loneliness of living on a farm without an adequate support system.

Si · Post by Si » Tue 15 Jun, 2010 5:10 pm

What a terribly sad story. They sure had it tough out there! PS The flu of 1919 was a world-wide epidemic.

Dakota · Post by **Dakota** » Wed 16 Jun, 2010 12:49 am

I knew it was world wide, but wasn't sure if everyone called it the Spanish Influenza or the Spanish Lady or if that was just a US term. It was a very hard time on the prairie, particularly for the women. If you've ever read James Mitchner's novel Centennial, it talks about farm women driven insane by the constant winds. The novel is about Colorado, but takes place out on the prairie portion so would imagine that there were some similarities in weather up north. And there were more deadly things in the environment then than now - as I've read the old newspaper clippings children were dying from drowning in the well, to being bitten by a rattlesnake, wandering off or just getting sick and there being no medicine or knowledge to treat them. In the early years of homesteading, many had soddies - houses made out of sod that dripped when it rained and were kind of dark inside. If there were windows, they usually were made out of a waxed paper so didn't get much light in. If they made good on the homestead and a sawmill got established in the area, they would build "real" houses. So you've got to hand it to the people in those times, no matter what part of the world they lived in, they struggled every day. In some of the UK and US census' that I look at, there are 80 year old men shown as being a labourer. I would imagine that for most people, they worked until the day they died and never really had the option not to. So, my appreciation and admiration for their daily efforts has increased greatly, in part due to the information and thoughts everyone has put forward on this web-site. The movies sort of glamorize the "old West", but I think it was probably no the most pleasant or hospitable environment to live in.

dogduke · Post by **dogduke** » Sat 19 Jun, 2010 1:00 am

Hi Dakota,It'sgone a bit quiet for a couple of days,stillwallowing in all the info dredged up for you recently,certainly takes some studying.

Dakota · Post by **Dakota** » Sat 19 Jun, 2010 1:30 am

I've been getting ready to go back to SD next week, figuring out driving routes to get from town to town and also trying to make lists of who I need to be looking up in each town and/lor what events I want to find out about at the various libraries, newspapers, museums, etc. so I don't show up at a town and think - why am I here??It'll be real quiet on my side when I go to SD next week as I am staying with friends and I'm not certain that they have internet access, so if they don't, you'll all have to wait until I get back on the 29th for me to recount my adventures in Dakota Territory. I'm also trying to line up some cousins to catch up with and see what information they have handed down from their parents. I'm trying to hit them all up to shake loose any pictures, documents or stories they have. So keep your fingers crossed that people have properly filed or saved documents and that they are easy to find in the various courthouses or museums.

Dakota · Post by **Dakota** » Mon 21 Jun, 2010 8:43 pm

Where in the world is William? Barlick Girl and I have been pursuing one of Henry's brothers' William Wells, born in Tong in 1841 to William Wells and Betty Tetley Wells. He marries Martha Sagar in June (or January, the print is rather small) of 1864 and they have 3 children and then poof, no more William. Martha and the children can be found in the census and Martha is always identifed as being married. In the 1871 census she and the children are living with her parents, 1881 she is living with her brother Seth Sagar and his family (shortly before they immigrate to the US) in 1891 she is back living with her mother and in 1901 she is living with her daughter Mary and Mary's family. But never ever any William. We thought we had possibly found him in Scotland, but that's not panning out like we thought. We've been looking at immigration records and I've found a possible on a William Wells coming to the US in 1871 and Barlick Girl has suggested looking at the military records on the chance that he was at sea for every census. Any ideas on other possible places that William may have gone?? We're open to any ideas that anyone has about what has happened to the lad. It's only been 140 years and I'm worried about him.I'm going to meet up with my 92 year old cousin in SD and his 103 year old bride. They just celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary and it's the first marriage for both. I'm going to ask if he remembers hearing anything about William being a neer-do-well or a soldier or an adventurer or something.And the recommended book on the Salem Witch Trials just arrived in the mail, so I'll be reading that on the plane tomorrow.

Si · Post by Si » Mon 21 Jun, 2010 11:58 pm

Have a good trip, Dakota.I will also be "off-line" for a couple of weeks, so BFN!

Steve Jones · Post by **Steve Jones** » Tue 22 Jun, 2010 12:06 am

Take a look at this page Dakota.this seems to be your William in a relative of yours tree?:http://www.wells-genealogy.org.uk/woodlock.htm

Steve Jones · Post by **Steve Jones** » Tue 22 Jun, 2010 12:15 am

incidentally Dakota in view of your Aunt Clara story,it is ironic that one of the descendants in the tree above was an Asylum Attendant!