On starting my wife's family tree - I was presented with a folder containing, hand written and typed notes, written by Grace Slack in 1981.
The following are some of the notes transcribed by myself. I have done this as a tribute to Grace and all her hard work, but also because it presents a view of how Family History reasearch was done in 1981, before we adopted the internet and the computer.
Now I began to wish that I had started this project forty years ago - too late - too late. My memories of stories told to me by my Grandmother are now very sketchy indeed. Why had my Great Grandmother Rachel brought her children William and Grace from a farm in Westmorland to a Durham Colliery village - Philadelphia. The story was that her husband William was dissatisfied with the poor hill sheep farm - Low Knipe. (So I presume he came here too ) and I think he lived in 22 Wellington Row, Philadelphia. He must have thought it would be more lucrative to work as a miner. Now these two - William and Rachel were educated. They both did copper plate writing - as I earlier saw on thier marriage certificate. They bought newspapers and in Philadelphia read aloud from them to the villagers unable to read for themselves. Rachel had a little dance school - they owned the mangle- used by the vilagers for payment, and they supervised the brick oven built in the street - where the bread was baked.
I remember their daughter Grace (Mrs David Holmes) who, when she went shopping wore a peaked cap and a black shawl around her shoulders and took with her - on a lead - her favourite cat.
Grace and David lived in Wellington Row and I well remember visiting their house - 2 rooms with a large pantry downstairs, and a ladder leading to an attic bedroom upstairs - with a sky-light, closet and coalhouse in the yard. The water tap supply was in the street one for all residents. I think it must have been fed from a spring (n.b. - Spring Gardens - nearby street) because in later years - when new taps went off we could always obtain water here.
Now my Grandmother, Mary Jane Graham was born at South Hylton. How did my Grandfather meet her, I wonder? He was an engine driver, working on the North East Railway - drove a passenger train from York to Edinburgh - reaching speeds of 60 miles per hour - the fireman shovelling all the time to keep up this speed. Later he became a colliery train driver - and carried coal from the local pits - on the main line to Lampton Drops at Sunderland. He worked a lot of overtime. What do I remember of him. He was tall, well built, not fat - grey hair - a bald patch about the size of a crown. He liked peace and quiet - gardened - was an inveterate reader. As a youngster went to the Board Hill School at Shiney Row (later HQ of the Freemasons, now demolished) paid for everything he used at school, plus 2 pence and a candle each evening. I am told he was an authority on Local History. He had his portrait painted when he was 31 ( Bessies son Bill now has that) and complained because there was a flower painted in the button hole - he did not approve of that - but there it remained. I remember well that if there was any noise confusion in the living room he would pick up his book and say - I think I'll go into the front house. I wonder why I associate Castleton with his name. I don't really know anything of the financial side of his life - but they were certainly living pleasantly and comfortably to my knowledge.
My Grandmother never did housework (she always had a maid) she cooked, sewed, embroided and read. (quote here from WI history) My Grandfather owned 4 houses. He lived in one (2 Surrey Street) and rented to tenants 2 at Penshaw and bought 9 Summer Place for my parents when they were married. No one wanted the Penshaw houses - one was given to Uncle Jack who sold. He continued for many years to collect rent for the Penshaw house and then sold it, and my Auntie Grace was given the Surrey St house.
So here was plenty of food for thought - many problems to solve - how does one start.
First of all I attended Dr Gibby's course and lessons, and then set to work.I began by joining the Northumberland and Durham and Cumbria Family History Society and was amazed to find there are people, so interested in Genealogy that they even wanted to help unknown and unrelated people to follow their family histories. The liberary provided me with books on the subject.
I found an old 1/2 O.S map and located places mentioned in connection with family events. Now I could build up the beginings of a family tree.
Visit the Mormon liberary - visit the villages in Cumbria associated with the family - visit the liberary in Kendal and the Archives in County Hall, Kendal.
The results are interesting - and already I seem to be hooked.
Looking around for a pleasant activity for winter days I learned with interest that Dr. Gibby of Durham University lectured on the subject - now become very popular - Tracing your Family History. One day after his history of Durham class - which I attended weekly - I asked him what the possibilities of running an afternoon class on Genealogy. Whilst he made arrangements and collected a few students I set about assembling details of the Slack Family wich were already in my possesion.
My Family Bible gave me :-
| William Slack | Born July 1814. Died March 12 1880. |
| Rachel Slack | Born Feb 12 1810.Died August 17 1891. |
| Mary Slack | Born July 17 1843. Died March 4 1871. |
| Thomas Slack | Born Aug 9 1845.Died April 18 1873. |
| William Slack | Born Nov 14 1847.Died Dec 10 1923. |
| Frances Slack | Born June 8 1851.Died May 7 1871. |
| Grace Slack | Born June 8 1851. Died May 20 1921. |
| Grace Slack | Born June 12 1888. Died March 29 1973. |
| Robert William Slack | Born Jan 14 1890. Died April 24 1975. |
| John Slack | Born June 12 1891. |
| Grace Slack | Born May 18 1914. |
| Elizabeth Slack | Born Nov 16 1918. |
| Irene Mary Slack | Born Feb 6 1924. |
| William Slack | Born April 19 1926. |
| Alan Slack | Born Nov 6 1931. |
| Mauren Ann Slack | Born Oct 7 1957. |
| Linda Karen Slack | Born Sep 27 1960. |
My Family Documents
included my Grandfathers will and copies of two (Birth) Baptism Certificates.
These are dated 1880 - I wonder whether they were needed because of
the death of William Slack in 1880 ?
My bookshelves supplied me with two small volumes :- The book of common prayer, printed 1834 with a childish inscription on the fly-leaf " Grace Slack , Philadellphia, March 20 1866.
and.
"Ramble in the Woods" with the statement " A present from the Primitive Methodist Sabbath School" to Grace Slack 14 June 1863.
I wonder whether the Church of England did not have a Sabbath School.
My Grandmother had told me that my Great Grandmother, Rachel had read the Bible aloud three times, chapter by chapter - but the copy I had did not look so well used. However my sister, Elizabeth solved the problem by telling me that her elder son, William had the Family Bible - complete with brass clasps and containing more details.
My appetite was now whetted: Questions rushed into my head: Did the farm Low Knipe exist ?
What was the countryside really like ?
When did the Slacks come to Durham ?
How did my Grandfather meet Mary Jane Graham born at South Hylton ?
Are the Slacks farming in Cumbria from the same roots as we are ?
How can I find answers to any of these questions ?
Dr. Gibby gave a series of five lectures in February 1981, which I attended. He had spent 40 years delving into his ancestry - and now spends much time helping others.
I joined the Northumberland and Durham, and the Cumbria Family History Societies.
The books I studied were :-
Beginning your Family History, by George Pelling .
In search of Ancestry, by Gerald Hamilton Edwards . Phillimore 1974.
The Family History Book, by Stella Colwell . pub by Phaidon, Oxford 1980.
Discovering your Family History, by Don Stell . pub by B.B.C. ( Gordon Honeycombe ).
Your Family Hisory, by C.M. Mathews . pub by Lutterworth press in 1976.
Telephone Directories
DURHAM - 25 entries under the name Slack - no farmers - probably not relatives.
TYNESIDE - 17 entries under the name Slack - no farmers - probably not relatives.
CUMBRIA - 26 entries - quite a number of them farmers in and around the area in which I am interested
and also with names the same as members of our family.
Two of special interest are :-
Thomas Slack now retired and living at 67 Barco Avenue, Scaws Estate,
Penrith. Phone Penrith 62246.
and his brother.
John Slack , Farmer, Towcett, Newby, near Shap. Telephone Shap 275.
This information was given to me by the Landlady of the Crown and Mitre, Bampton, on the 12th June 1981, and brings me to the information I gathered whilst on holiday at Keswick.
On the12th June 1981.
Annie kindly took Ann and me on a trip to find my ancestral home. It was a lovey day as we made our way to Askam and took the road to Bampton. In pleasant undulating countryside, permanent garssland, rich for sheep, which were there in plenty - looking large and healthy,we followed a country road and Ann's sharp eye caught the word KNIPE. We chose a dead end road because it led to one or two houses in a hollow. There it was on the gate - the name LOW KNIPE. A farmhouse in a good state of repair, built in 1771 - but empty. I went to speak to the lady who lived opposite (I think there were three houses) and this is what I learned.
LOW KNIPE is now owned by Lowther Estates, and the house is for sale. For the past two or three years it has been let as a holiday cottage, and at this time, for safety reasons the unused farm buildings had been demolished. Before that the house had been occupied by a farmer Herbert Thomson and his wife Frances ( I wonder if she had been a Slack ).
Across the fields it was just possible to see the square tower of the church at Bampton
- so off we went in that direction. In a mile and a half we came to
a burial ground - no Slack tombs - another few yards and we reached the church.
We looked around the church and I bought a few leaflets then we went to the Crown and Mitre - just
opposite for a sandwich. The landlady said that her husband's friend
was Thomas Slack who had, some years ago lived at Low Knipe.
He is now 73 years old and lives in Penrith. I wrote to him, I wonder if he will reply ? He has a brother
John Slack who is a farmer at Towsett, about two miles out of Shap..
and anyone around will tell you where to get in touch with him. We however failed to find the place.
We moved on to Shap, looked around the church, and though we found a tombstone, could not connect the name with our family.
Of course I realise now that I should have recorded what was on the tombstone.
Whilst in Keswick I borrowed books from the library and found interesting snippets about the area being researched in.
Old Lakelandby J.D. Marshall.
Cumbrian Villages by Kenneth Smith.
Greater Lakeland by Norman Nicholson.
On Monday 15th June 1981.
I went from Keswick to Kendal by bus and visited the local history section of the Public Library where they keep films of the Census returns for the area for the years 1941, 1951, 1961, 1971. One was not available for me - it was in use - and in the others I could find no reference to Low Knipe. I was limited for time because of the few buses so I quickly made my way to the archives department of County Hall.
In the book of Banns published at Bolton Church I found this entry :-
The Banns of marriage between William Slack and Rachel Goodburn both of this Chapelry in the Parish of Morland, were published on Dec 25 1842, Jan 1st 1843, Jan 8th 1843.
In the book of Marriages of Bolton Church I found on page number 17 :-
William Slack, of full age, Bachelor, Labourer resident
at Bolton, Father's name William Slack and his occupation, Farmer.
Rachel Goodburn of full age, Spinster,
resident at Bolton, Fathers name Thomas Goodburn and his occupation Carpenter.
Witnesses Mary Horn and George Wilson . 14th January 1843.
I noticed that William and Rachel were both very good writers.
To my suprise, looking at page 9,number 18, I saw:-
October 9th 1844. A marriage between :-
John Airy , full age, Bachelor, Labourer, resident at Bolton, Father, William Airey , Yeoman.
Fanny Slack, 20 years, Spinster, resident at Bolton, Father, William Slack, Farmer.
Witnesses, John Thompson , John Slack and
Sarah Gowling .
This prompted me to look up the meaning of YEOMAN.
Yeoman - an owner farmer.
Farmer - a tenant farmer.
In the same book on page 45, number 89, I read :-
November 10th 1878.
Thomas Slack , aged 40 years, bachelor, farm labourer, resident at Bolton,
(no fathers name or occupation).
Jane Goodburn , age 25 years, spinster, resident at Bolton, Father,
William Goodburn , occupation joiner.
Witnessed by William Moore and Ellen Moore .
William Slack who maried Rachel could be the brother of the above Fanny and Thomas .
Saturday 20th June 1981.
Annie, Margaret and Fred,
Ann and I returned from our holiday in
Keswick, and they very kindly consented to return by Morland and Bolton.
This is very pleasant countryside and richer than the Low Knipe area. In
Morland, about six miles out of Shap we found no Concrete evidence of
the Slack family.
I stopped to talk to a lady working in her garden. She knew some
Slacks . Not a very common name - but I think they are all related -
she said. She knew nobody better than John Slack of Towcett. He
comes up to the pub once a fortnight. Would I like her to give him a message from me ?
(he must be a popular fellow and quite a character this John Slack ).
He has two sons and they have just built themselves lovely houses at
Newby.
So to our last port of call. A pleasant well to do farming area - several old houses - about 1690.
We visited the Church and in the porch found an interesting list of names :-
Church Wardens of Bolton Church (two at a time).
1829 William Slack
1839 William Slack and William Thompson .
1846 Rowland Slack and John Thompson .
1847 John Slack .
1853 John Slack .
1855 Rowland Slack .
1862/1863 Thomas Slack .
A red sandstone tombstone not far from the church door proved to be very interesting. It was erected in memory of.
WILLIAM SLACK of Lathey, who died 27th November 1860 aged 83 years. (born 1777).
MARY , his wife, who died 7th October 1852, aged 68 years. (born 1784).
FANNY , their DAUGHTER, who died 18th July 1865, aged 40 years. (born 1825).
JOHN , their son, who died 1st December 1879, aged 65 years. (born 1814).
On Monday 29th June 1981,
I visited the Archives Department of County Hall, Durham
where I viewed micro films of the census records of 1861 and 1871.
I noticed that they had been filmed by the Mormon Genealogy Department.
The 1861 film was extremely difficult to read, but it did not seem to include any reference to Wellington Row, or Philadelphia.
The 1871 Census film was extremely easy to read and in Section M16/34 I quickly found the following entry :-
William Slack , age 57, Head of the family, Railway, born at Bolton. (born 1814).
Rachel Slack , age 61, wife, born at Bolton. (born 1810).
Thomas Slack , age 25, son, mine engine driver, born at Bolton. (born 1846).
Frances Slack , age 19, daughter. born at Barton Grange. (born 1852).
Grace Slack , age 19, daughter, born Barton Grange. (born 18852).
The census was taken on 2nd April 1871. (see Family History by Don Steel, p.120). The eldest of the family died on 4th March 1871 - but - where was William ? On the date of the census he would be 21 years of age.
Monday 6th July 1981.
This morning was spent searching records at County Hall, Durham without adding significantly to my knowledge of the Slack family.
1871 Census of South Hylton revealed no information regarding a family called Graham (my Grandmother), although I noted that a few pages of the records had been missed when the film was made, of North Hylton (Castletown) where I thought my Grandfather had lodged before marriage - there was no record in the census film.
The Parish Register of marriages at St Mary's Church, South Hylton, recorded nothing under the names of Slack and Graham .
The Parish Register of burials at Newbottle Church (up to 1900) recorded the following names in the Slack family :-
Mary, Frances, William, Louisa . All of Philadelphia.
Thomas and Rachel of Herrington.
This seems to indicate that my Grandparents first child, Louisa
was born and died (17 days) in Wellington Row at the home of my Great Grandparents; and that when my Grandparents
moved to 35 George Street East, New Herrington, they took with them my Great Grandmother Rachel.
and the rest of the family were born there.
The Parish Register of Baptisms at St Mary's Church, South Hylton gave no help.
The only Graham's listed were :-
| Jane | d. of James and Mary Ann 4-8-1842 |
| John | s. of James and Mary Ann 4-8-1842 |
| Elizabeth | d. of Moses and Sarah 9-9-1847 |
| Sarah Alice | d. of Moses and Sarah 4-2-1849 |
| John | s. of Robert and Luisa (sic) 28-8-1851 |
| Ann | s. of John and Mary 4-2-1852 |
| Mary | d. of John and Mary 10-7-1854 |
| Robert | s. of John and Mary 26-3-1856 # |
| William | s. of Ralph and Margret 10-12-1855 |
# Robert Graham (family bible) died 22 January 1891 (could be this man) brother of my Grandmother Mary Jane Graham .
January 1983.
I came across a hitherto unopened envelope - bearing
the words Miss G. Slack , 2 Surrey Street, Birth Certificate.
Inside it I found the documents I had searched for all last year:-
Grandmothers birth certificate, Grandparents marriage
certificate and Grandfathers death certificate.
MARY JANE GRAHAM born 9.40 a.m. on the 18th December 1848.
I knew that one of her parents had been married twice - but thought that she belonged to the first marriage because she was not brought up by her parents. Did they seperate ? She and her two sisters Charlotte and Elizabeth were very much like each other in appearance, but my grandmother was educated and they were not. She had a brother Robert but I think he died as a young man. The word Patterson was never heard by me, but the Cordeners were very familiar. Miss Phoebe Cordner was a music teacher. She came to my Grandmothers home giving piano lessons to Auntie Grace (Tattie), my father and Uncle Jack . In July 1882, three months after Grandmothers wedding, Mr J. J. Cordner gave her a vey smart photograph album. It contains many photos but the only named one shows Mr G.W.Cordner - a business man sitting at his desk. Interesting and posing many problems. I wonder whether Granny ever lived with them ? They lived in Sunderland. Granny lived some part of her life at Penshaw, in a large house, now demolished to make way for houses for handicapped people, called Bonaventure - supposedly after the old house. The master of the house - was he her uncle ? - had something to do with Penshaw Quarry - from which it is said the freestone came to build Penshaw Monument. Perhaps she was a sewing maid. She never did any menial tasks in the house - but told me how she spent many hours sewing, knitting etc by the light of one candle in her room.
Marriage of William Slack and Mary Jane Graham.
On 2nd April 1882 at Monkwearmouth, my Grandfather's parents and the
rest of the family were living in Philadelphia in 1871 but his name
does not appear on the census list, so maybe he had already left
home to work for the North Eastern Railway. He became a driver of
the passenger train running between York and Edinburgh. He said that
when he was travelling at sixty miles per hour th fireman was
putting coal to the boiler continuously. The engines were changed at
Gateshead. I noticed in The Locos of the N.E. Railway 1841 to
1922 Sunderland Library that the furst engine to cover the distance
betweem York and Edinburgh with six minutes stop at Newcastle - 204
1/2 miles - was 17 October 1906 and the next was 16 September 1907.
Grandfathers parents, William and
Rachel lived at Philadelphia, and
my Granfahers first child, Louisa
b. 27-8-84 died 13-9-84 was buried from Philadelphia. Their second child,
Thomas , also short lived,
born 13-5-87, died 19-8-87 was buried at Newbottle from Herrington.
It could be that at this time Grandfather left the N.E.R. and
worked, still as an engine driver on the Main Line, and thereby was
given a colliery house - 37, George Street East, New Herrington. I
think I remember it being said that he was found to be colour
blind. Old great grandmother, Rachel
must have come to live with them because when she died on 17-8-1891, she was buried at Newbottle
from Herrington. The only other member of the family still alive was
Grace now Mrs
David Holmes , who had no family; died 20-5-1921 and
was buried at Newbottle from Wellington Row. I wonder whether she
was the original Auntie Grace ?
On the marriage certificate my Grandmother made her mark I wonder why ?
She could read and write.
Reading Lark Rise by Flora Thompson , page 60; many who could read and write would modestly disclaim any pretensions to being what they call scholards. Some would make a cross out of nervousness or modesty.
As I remember Granny , none of these descriptions applied to her ! She was supposed to have a weak heart after having rhumatic fever, and never did srenuous work. She lived to a ripe old age of 85 and I never knew her ill. Granny was avery capable woman, well versed in the arts of knitting, sewing, embroidery, jam-making, first aid and much sought after as a mid-wife and layer-out of the dead - the sort of person well valued by the country doctor - and interestingly described in Lark Rise pages 134,135,136.