Leeds in the 1870s

[Dakota]

they must have had some idea......I'm off to see Henry and Sarah's final resting place and if I can get internet access while I'm gone, I'll be reporting in, if I can't, it won't be until next week that you all will hear from me.

[Si]

When flying back from Ibiza on Saturday, this was the exact view from the right-hand side of the plane on approach to Leeds/Bradford (posted previously on this thread.)    

[Dakota]

Outstanding photo, thanks. Well, I'm back from visiting the home country of South Dakota. Found very little on Henry and Sarah and the children that died in Clear Lake. The Registrar of Deeds at the courthouse there was strictly interpreting a new state law that resticts access to certain documents - birth, marriage and death. When I was at the courthouse in Sioux Falls, they were interpreting it as only birth certificates, and gave me the death and marriage information.They did finally tell me that Sarah had died of pneumonia, one cousin was saying she had heard that she was hit by a train, so the Registrar couldn't stand it and popped in the back and came back and told me pneumonia. She said that Sarah was probably coughing so hard she didn't see the train coming.... I do like an official with a good sense of humor.I also went and saw my 93 year old cousin Farrell. He had told me repeatedly that he had no pictues or documents, but that wasn't true. He did tell me that I'd have to come back next year to see the pictures. Doubt that is going to happen, at least not by myself. My father always told my sister and I to never let him in the house if we were there by ourselves.But Farrell kept insisting that we were descended from Henry the 8th - must have been from the Virgin Queen and that's what makes us so special. He also said that Henry and Sarah had gone back to England in 1912 or 1913 for the coming out party of the Earl of Wauncliffe. I'm from SD and even I know that Earls don't have coming out parties. Possibly we were the scullery maids or something in the place, but doubt that we would have been invited. So, I came back to a houseful of company and not all left when they were supposed to and I had other company coming in so had to put down some air mattresses and what not. I've got to go through my notes and share with Barlick Girl and you all what I did learn while I was there.It was neat to be standing at Henry and Sarah's graves, the cemetery is called Lakeview and it's on the shore of Clear Lake and very simple. I'll try and get the photos posted.

[Si]

Welcome back Dakota.I didn't take the picture! It's from Leodis. I posted it on here a few weeks ago. Looking out of the plane window was like looking at this photo, if you see what I mean!

[Dakota]

I see.

[Steve Jones]

Dakotayou spelt the earldom wrong.I suspect this is who you meant:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Wharncliffeunless you see it written down,it is hard to visualise the spelling!

[barlickgirl]

This is fantastic. There is obviously an element of truth to this family yarn, but what is the real story? Would Henry and Sarah have gone home for the Earls investiture and if so in what capacity? Would it be customary to travel all that way to take part in that sort of community event?Will we ever find out?Barlickgirl

[Dakota]

Wow, I suddenly feel so special.........I had taken the spelling from a note that I saw written by one of Sarah's daughters shortly before her (the daughter's) death in the 1960's and she had spelled it two different ways so I'm assuming she was listening with South Dakota ears to a Yorkshire accent and probably got as close as she could remember after more than 40 years since Sarah died in 1922. It's amazing that that little tid bit survived all those years. Now Barlick Girl and I shall have to do some more research and see if we can figure out if indeed Henry and Sarah traveled back there for as Aunt Annie noted, the Earl's coming out party. I'm sure that Earl would not have been pleased to have any event associated with him labeled a "coming out party", but it does make me giggle when I think about it.Aunt Annie is an interesting story in herself. Her first husband died shortly after their marriage when she was pregnant with their daughter, Sybil. Annie worked as a cook at the School for the Blind and there she met and married Edward Johnson and together they had a son, Farrell. My grandmother, Jessie - Annie's sister - was visiting us when word came that Uncle Ed had died. They lived about 30 miles away from us. My father drive Grandma Jessie over to be with Aunt Annie and the day after Uncle Ed's death, Annie had laid down for a nap and when the minister came to the house to discuss the funeral arrangments, my grandmother went in to get Annie up and discovered that Annie had also died in her sleep.

[dogduke]

Anything new to tell us Dakota ?Barlick girl has cropped up on a recent thread about family inthe Kirkstall district.

[Dakota]

Have had company all of July so haven't had the pleasure of being able to login and do anything. I definitely was going through withdrawal, but I'm back.After going to the church service in Minnesota in June, I did have a moment to follow up on a remark I heard there and found a crime report on an Olaf T. Engebretson from Allamakee County, Iowa and determined it was the same Olaf T. Engebretson that married my great aunt, Anna. Turns out Big Ole as we like to call him, was spurned by a woman in Allamakee County - her parents knew him to be a no good, shiftless, worthless fellow and convinced her to break up with him - so he showed up at the school where she taught with his shotgun and insisted on a farewell kiss and tried to bite off her nose, maiming the young lady. Then several weeks later he came back with a pistol and the young lady was saved by another man being at the school where she taught. He spent a year in the county jail and it looks like he was then shipped back to Norway and came back a year later and settled in southern Minnesota and 5 years later married Anna. After a number of children, it appears that Anna left him and went with her father and all her children to northern Minnesota and Big Ole stayed in Rose Dell and became a boarder doing odd jobs. So it's got me wondering how she got the courage to leave him or if he was perhaps incarcerated at the time and she just picked up and left since her mother had died in the fire and her father was moving north to be with other family.I did find the homestead that my great grandparents settled and took a picture of my feet standing on the corner of it. I go for the easy thrills.But I do want to get back to the mystery of the Earl and why a simple coal miner and his wife might have been invited to a ceremony involving him. Barlick Girl has found a Wells relative - John - in the descendant list that we are going to try and track down. So, I'm back in the saddle again and going to start poking and delving and posting what I find and what I've got questions about.