Christmas Orders Are Open! (Yes, Already)

 

It's been a strange year, and if you're anything like me, you want Christmas to come sooner rather than later!

So, to give you all a chance for some hands-free shopping, I've decided to open Christmas orders a month early this year.

It's the perfect opportunity to purchase that special present without having to pick your way through concerningly claustrophobic crowds, or meander through throngs who don't seem to get the whole 'please wear a mask and stay 2 metres apart' thing.

The last day to place your orders for completion by Christmas will be 31st October 2020.

The sooner you place your order, the more time I have to make it that little bit more special!

All of my packages are researched and produced to order, meaning that every gift is unique.

Check out familyhistorybycerys.co.uk for package details, and order information, and feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have any questions.

I hope to hear from you soon!

A Voice From the Last Pandemic

I came across this article in The Aberdare Leader, 4th January 1919, reproducing part of a letter from a Welsh woman in San Francisco to her friends back home.

Some of the cultural attitudes, e.g. to the Turkish harem, are out-dated, but much of the day-to-day experience of life in a pandemic sounds extremely familiar...

WELSH LADY'S EXPERIENCE.

-

RAVAGES OF THE "FLU" IN SAN FRANCISCO.

-

   A lady resident in Wales until a 

few years ago, and who is now in

San Francisco, writes to friends here

giving details of the terrible rav-

ages of the influenza epidemic in that

far-away city. The following extract

from her letter will be of interest: -

   "Have you got the Spanish flu very

bad? It is terrible here, funerals

going by all day and the ambulance

rushing about at all hours. All pic-

ture shows, theatres, schools and

churches are closed. Our meeting

room is closed. Doctors and nurses

are dying, and we are so short of

them because so many of them have

gone to France. I do not know what

we should do if it was not for the

Red Cross. They have had to let the

women out of prison to help nurse

the sick. We have lost more soldiers

through death in the training camps

than in France fighting. Every man,

woman and child has to wear a mask

of four-fold white muslin, which cov-

ers the mouth and nose, leaving noth-

ing but the eyes to be seen. We all

look as if we had just come out of a 

Turkish harem. If a policeman

catches anyone without a mask, or

one not properly fixed, he runs them

in for 10 days, or 100 dollars fine

(£20.) All soldiers and sailors have

to wear them. They look so funny,

hundreds of them drilling with white

masks, and at night in the street cars

we look like a lot of ghosts, and do

not know our best friends. It is hard

on the girls and men in the stores:

they have to wear them all day. The

schools have been turned into hos-

pitals. All the bodies are cremated,

and the clothes which belonged to them

also.      I think that was has

saved me up to now is my being so

much in the fresh air. I have a nice

sleeping porch in my cottage with

windows all round, of which I always

have one or two open at night. Most

of the windows have been taken out

of the street cars to give us plenty

of air. It is an awful plague. I have

got my clothes all ready in case I

have to be rushed off to the hospital."

Coming To Terms With History

Most of us will have heard, by now, of the protests around statues of contentious historical figures - mostly those involved in slavery - here in the UK, and in countries such as the US.

History is not always comfortable. Much of it is brutal and bloody. Much of it involves people taking advantage of others. Sometimes it involves abhorrent institutional acts such as the slave trade, or the Holocaust.

History exists. To erase the record of the slave trade would be erasing the thousands upon thousands of people who suffered - who were bought and sold as property, despite the fact that they were people who had hopes and dreams and loves and lives. Their existence should not be denied - the record of that existence should be preserved.

How that record should be kept is something that we can, and should, discuss - though of course I suggest this through official channels, rather than through other acts of not-strictly-legal demolition.

People can and should be placed within their historical context - but that historical context needs to be full and honest. Because each of the slaves crammed onto those boats would also have had an opinion - and it wouldn't have been the same one as that discussed over tea in London drawing-rooms.

It's important to try to face, accept the horrors of, and come to terms with, even the most uncomfortable and terrible aspects of history, because what came before us has created the world in which we live.

The affects of American slavery and segregation led directly to an official system, and more than a handful of individuals within it, which often cares very little for the lives of Black people.

And, yes, Black Lives Matter.

Understanding these situations, through understanding the history, can help to change them - to start to unpick and change the flaws that 'what came before' created. And that's the most important thing today - changing things.

Because a system in which George Floyd's murder can take place with reckless and careless ease is one in need of change.

The most important thing about history is that it's about people. It's about all the lives and stories which came before us, yes, but also the lives and stories of those with us right now.

We're writing our own chapters of history right now - let's stop using blood as ink.

Some TV For History Fans

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well, enjoying their bank holiday, and keeping safe during the Lockdown.

Just thought I'd let you all know about an interesting TV series starting on BBC2 tomorrow (May 26th 2020) at 21.00 -

Each series of 'A House Through Time' focuses on a different house, and its inhabitants, throughout the history of the building.

This series' house is located in Bristol - a City with a colourful and often controversial history!

David Olusoga usually does an excellent job at presenting a careful and compassionate view of historic events - so hopefully it'll be another great series!

Christmas Order Time! (I Know, Where Did The Year Go?)

Hi everyone!

I still have some capacity for Christmas orders, but if you want the package by Christmas, then orders absolutely have to be made by 31st October 2019!

So if you want an extra-special Christmas present, it's time to get in touch!

Need more info? Check out my website.

Don't have the info needed to start your research right now? Can't think about it until after Halloween?



Why not consider a gift certificate?

I make up gift certificates to order - since they're highly personalised - and can e-mail them or post them to you, depending on your preference.




If you want the research finished for Christmas, then time really is of the essence if you want to snag a spot - drop me an e-mail and we can get things started!

WDYTYA? - Mark Wright

Apologies for this write-up being a little late - I've been hard at work tracking down people's family histories!

The last episode of this series of Who Do You Think You Are? featured The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright.

The story of Wright's ancestors was largely one of hardship - albeit in a variety of forms.

From one interesting character - an ancestor with a Del Boy streak and a stint in the Veterinary Corps in World War One - Wright's episode moved on to another.


The lives of Sephardic Jewish ancestors were rarely easy.

Persecution of Jewish people sadly began long before the 20th Century, and Spain has an unpleasant history in this regard.

The infamous Spanish Inquisition had no ethical qualms with torturing and executing people simply because they followed another religion - in fact, they saw this is the only way to save their souls.


This meant that many Sephardic Jews or 'New Christians' as they were termed after their forcible conversion, felt they had little choice but to flee from their homes.

Mark's ancestor, a sword-master (real Zorro-style action!), left Spain for Amsterdam, and from there to London.

He himself had been tortured, and faced execution if there were a re-occurrence of the 'offence' of following his own religion. His nephew did not escape with his life.


A dramatic episode, then, to end this series of Who Do You Think You Are? And in my opinion, they did indeed save the best for last.

WDYTYA? - Paul Merton + Sharon Osbourne

Paul Merton's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was in many places veritably Dickensian.

A singer, busker, and possible pickpocket, who falls foul of the law in her teenage years, and ends up in prison.

After completing her sentence, and still a young woman, she walks into a workhouse - one if the workhouses, in fact, that Dickens uses as his inspiration for Oliver Twist. She's in labour with her baby by the time she arrives on their doorstep.

(Told you it was Dickensian.)

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

A feature of this ancestor's story was that her profession as a musician ensured she was viewed untrustworthy by the police and the courts.

Entertainers and performers enjoyed a slightly dubious social status before the mid-to-late 20th Century - on the one hand, many performers were admired and supported.

On the other, they were also often - especially women - seen as having 'loose' morals. Being a pub singer would have been seen as seedy even among performers, and people would have made assumptions about a woman or girl's character if she were employed as such.


Sharon Osbourne's family were also performers - albeit when the profession was starting to become more accepted socially.

Music halls did, however, still keep a risqué edge - as shown by dances such as the 'pony-trot' which were featured on the show.


Sharon's family story also threw up an unknown link to America.

The interesting part about this was the way it showed the downside of the 'American dream,' and the poor conditions and heartache that many 19th Century immigrants faced.


This Wednesday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, featuring Mark Wright, will be the last of the series.