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Echoes of the past
May. 9th, 2010 10:18 amWell, I wrote a smidgeon about my uncle's death - since I was ill during his funeral, I went to see my parents this Friday. I returned with some old boxes of memorabilia that they thought I'd like - mostly stuff that my uncle had held on to on the death of my grandmother. I went through some of it yesterday. Some of it was a little poignant; I have photographs and a letter from my great uncle William Edward Barker, along with the announcement of his death at age 20, from going over the top from the trenches in 1918. Also a photograph of my great aunt Hallie, who died aged 16 (I can't remember exactly what, but it was something that's eminently curable with modern medicine).
But the letters took me to a different time and place and gave me a different perspective on things. They are all family letters, written before the birth of my uncle in 1931. I'd not known that the family nickname for my grandmother was "Bubbles", but several of the letters are addressed to her that way. Even more interestingly, it becomes obvious throughout the letters that my great grandmother was Mom or Mommie to her children. I wasn't aware that this was a diminutive that was used as recently as Victorian times in England, although I was aware that it was an older construction that had persisted in the United States. It seems that all the family used nicknames for themselves, which has made working out who is writing a bit of a puzzle at times - it was a reasonably sizeable family, my great grandfather had been married before and had two children from his first marriage and then twelve children from the second to my great grandmother.
To my amusement, there is a wonderful sense of time to the letters, not to mention a certain amount of snobbery and passive aggressiveness. Here are some excerpts that particularly amuse me.
"My Dearest Isobel, Do you think the promised letter a long time coming? Well it is quite long enough dearie But I have every thing to look after now. I am a love with Uncle and Wilfred. Wilfred is not going to school this week. He is a better boy than when I first came, he really can be dreadful. Poor little fellow, at Dunstable, he was fed and clothed and just turned out to do as he liked, consequently he became a companion of a very wicked little boy."
I'm a little unclear as to who Wilfred was though - he certainly seems to be a relative of some sort. The letter was written by my great grandmother in 1921, so presumably Wilfred was some sort of cousin. I shall probably never know, unless I really research the family connections. My brother has put a great deal of the family tree together with the help of other family and the internet - www.ancestry.co.uk is a very useful resource in that way. I shall try to scan the photographs I have received, so that they can be associated with each member and not forgotten, although first, I need to set up the desktop properly so that I can do so.
"Yes Bubbles, it is a great idea to send your trunk on in advance. I do wish Mr Trundle would let you off by the 5 o/clock train don't you think he would. Just sound him, theres a dear. I am fairly well, should feel better if the weather was warmer. Mr Freeman is very ill, been laid up nearly 3 months. I have been down with Margaret 3 nights, helping her to look after him, while the others take a rest. He is a troublesome old man." "I told Margaret on Wednesday morning she had better tell her brother to get another woman in as I shouldn't be able to come again. I can't stand too much of it." Another letter from Mom.
"Dear Bubbles, I am writing these few lines to know if Auntie has acquainted you with Mother's last wishes about the painting she wished you to have when the time came, I thought I would write about it now as I do not know what arrangements you have made or when you are going to be married only I would like to think that you would find it a place in your new home and also to think that mothers last wishes had been carried out as far as possible, if you would like the picture now I will pack it or send it on if not I will keep it until you need it."
So much for children today not knowing their grammar - that's the longest, most disjointed sentence I've read in ages! I kept wanting to edit it :) That's from "Your Affectionate Cousin Hugh" - again another distant relative. And again, I've no idea how he fits into the jigsaw of that particular branch of the family tree. And sadly, I suspect that everyone that could tell me is long dead, although I might ask my father in the fullness of time if he has any idea (I doubt it, he has enough trouble remembering all his own cousins, what with the number of uncles and aunts he had).
I'm sure that this is all of more interest to me as they are my family, but it's nice to occasionally get a reminder of how far things have changed in the last century - the style of writing and undoubtedly speaking too have changed considerably, with words having changed meaning too; the letters are sprinkled with the words queer to mean odd or strange and gay to mean full of joy, not senses in which they are used very much at all now. Once I've finished with them, I'll pass them all to my brother and hope that he finds the same enjoyment and interest in them that I have.
But the letters took me to a different time and place and gave me a different perspective on things. They are all family letters, written before the birth of my uncle in 1931. I'd not known that the family nickname for my grandmother was "Bubbles", but several of the letters are addressed to her that way. Even more interestingly, it becomes obvious throughout the letters that my great grandmother was Mom or Mommie to her children. I wasn't aware that this was a diminutive that was used as recently as Victorian times in England, although I was aware that it was an older construction that had persisted in the United States. It seems that all the family used nicknames for themselves, which has made working out who is writing a bit of a puzzle at times - it was a reasonably sizeable family, my great grandfather had been married before and had two children from his first marriage and then twelve children from the second to my great grandmother.
To my amusement, there is a wonderful sense of time to the letters, not to mention a certain amount of snobbery and passive aggressiveness. Here are some excerpts that particularly amuse me.
"My Dearest Isobel, Do you think the promised letter a long time coming? Well it is quite long enough dearie But I have every thing to look after now. I am a love with Uncle and Wilfred. Wilfred is not going to school this week. He is a better boy than when I first came, he really can be dreadful. Poor little fellow, at Dunstable, he was fed and clothed and just turned out to do as he liked, consequently he became a companion of a very wicked little boy."
I'm a little unclear as to who Wilfred was though - he certainly seems to be a relative of some sort. The letter was written by my great grandmother in 1921, so presumably Wilfred was some sort of cousin. I shall probably never know, unless I really research the family connections. My brother has put a great deal of the family tree together with the help of other family and the internet - www.ancestry.co.uk is a very useful resource in that way. I shall try to scan the photographs I have received, so that they can be associated with each member and not forgotten, although first, I need to set up the desktop properly so that I can do so.
"Yes Bubbles, it is a great idea to send your trunk on in advance. I do wish Mr Trundle would let you off by the 5 o/clock train don't you think he would. Just sound him, theres a dear. I am fairly well, should feel better if the weather was warmer. Mr Freeman is very ill, been laid up nearly 3 months. I have been down with Margaret 3 nights, helping her to look after him, while the others take a rest. He is a troublesome old man." "I told Margaret on Wednesday morning she had better tell her brother to get another woman in as I shouldn't be able to come again. I can't stand too much of it." Another letter from Mom.
"Dear Bubbles, I am writing these few lines to know if Auntie has acquainted you with Mother's last wishes about the painting she wished you to have when the time came, I thought I would write about it now as I do not know what arrangements you have made or when you are going to be married only I would like to think that you would find it a place in your new home and also to think that mothers last wishes had been carried out as far as possible, if you would like the picture now I will pack it or send it on if not I will keep it until you need it."
So much for children today not knowing their grammar - that's the longest, most disjointed sentence I've read in ages! I kept wanting to edit it :) That's from "Your Affectionate Cousin Hugh" - again another distant relative. And again, I've no idea how he fits into the jigsaw of that particular branch of the family tree. And sadly, I suspect that everyone that could tell me is long dead, although I might ask my father in the fullness of time if he has any idea (I doubt it, he has enough trouble remembering all his own cousins, what with the number of uncles and aunts he had).
I'm sure that this is all of more interest to me as they are my family, but it's nice to occasionally get a reminder of how far things have changed in the last century - the style of writing and undoubtedly speaking too have changed considerably, with words having changed meaning too; the letters are sprinkled with the words queer to mean odd or strange and gay to mean full of joy, not senses in which they are used very much at all now. Once I've finished with them, I'll pass them all to my brother and hope that he finds the same enjoyment and interest in them that I have.
