Noblehill, Dumfries

Noblehill was the area of Dumfries where the Boyd family lived in the late 1890's and early 1900's. Thanks to Ellen, the latest family member to join our group, we have a photograph of the house Robert, son of John and Mary Boyd, lived in in Noblehill. Could this be the family home which is registered as their place of residence on the 1901 census?

I hope it may be possible to find the exact location of the house as, after all, there is a possibility that it is still in existence. Before this photograph came to light I had taken a couple of general snaps of Noblehill. Without any idea of where the Boyd's actually lived it was not possible to take a photograph of the very spot the house stood on - perhaps that can be rectified soon.

Possible press articles for George Judge 1831-1893

I have no idea whether these press articles relate to 'our' George Judge who died in Hobart, Tasmania but I hope that at least some of them do.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania  Tuesday 14 March 1905 JUDGE-BEDDOME. - On February 8,1905, at St. John's Presbyterian Church, Macquarie street, by the Rev J. Heyer, Poyntz, fourth son of the late George Judge, of Russell's Town House, Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, to Ethel Allingham, third daughter of the late Lieutenant C. E. Beddome (I.N.), of Hillgrove, Brown's River-road.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania  Friday 28 October 1898 JUDGE-MCLENNAN.-On October 11,1898 at Chalmers Manse, Hobart, by the Rev. C. H. Talbot, Arthur Samuels, eldest son of the late George Judge, of Hobart, to Catherine, only daughter of the late Kenneth McLennan, Melbourne.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania  Thursday 13 October 1892 Charitable Fees.-Mrs. Elizabeth Brown was proceeded against by George Judge, collector for Charitable Institutes, for the recovery of the sum of £8 8s., her portion of the amount due under the boarding-out system for the maintenance of her five grandchildren, she being a person of sufficient means. Mr. J. W. H. WALCH appeared to prosecute, and  Mr. S. T. Allwright for the defence. Geo. Judge, the collecting officer, stated that he sued Mrs. Brown her portion of the children's maintenance fees from May 26 to August 31. Mrs Brown bore two fifths of the sum charged for the maintenance of the children, which was at the rate of 6s. per week for each child, or 39s. per week for the whole. The remaining portion was paid by some other relatives. Elizabeth Brown, the defendant, said she objected to the children being boarded out, and she had contributed towards their support in a large measure for 14 months since the death of their father. During the past 10 or 12 months the mother of the children had received from witness over £58 in cash and goods, and witness had furnished a house in addition for her. There was not any necessity for the Government taking charge of the children. The mother was quite capable of taking care of them. The Bench held that there appeared to be no doubt that the children were destitute when the father died, and only for the intervention of the relatives they would have starved. There was no question as to the liability of the defendant, and it was said that it would be unfair to call the public to pay for the children when it was shown that the defendant had sufficient means to support them. An order for the amount claimed was made, the costs being disallowed.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania Saturday 31 December 1898 (year round up of obits, I think!)

Charles Edward Beddome, retired lieutenant of the Indian navy, member of the Fisheries Board  at Hillgrove Browns River road, September 1 aged 59. SEE first article on this page

George Judge Collecting Officer of Charitable Institution, New Town, at Hobart January 21 aged 67.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania  Tuesday 6 May 1873 The Superintendent of Police reported that two new constables, George Judge and Thomas Adams, had been sworn in to fill up the vacancies in the force.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania Thursday 9 October 1890 A Waif.-A boy named John Lawson, aged 10, was sent to ths Boys Home for 4 years, on the application of George Judge, Inspecting Officer for Boarded Out Children. The father and mother of the boy are both out of the colony. There are other children of the same family in different institutions about Hobart.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania  Monday 24 December 1877

DERWENT SCHOOL

ARITHMETIC.-First class, Arthur Judge; second class, Charles Hooper ; third class B, Tasman Feather stone; fourth class, George Judge.

MENSURATION.-Arthur Judge.

SPELLING AND DICTATION.-First class, H. Giles, second class, Thos. Phillips; third class. Tasman Featherstone ; fourth class, Geo. Judge.

GEOORAPHY.-First class, Arthur Judge ; second class, Joseph Meredyth.

WRITING.-First class, J. O. Wilson ; second class, John Nimmo ; third class, Herbert Atkins ; fourth class, George Judge.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania 27 April 1885 HOSPITAL ITEMS. -At the hospital on Saturday George Judge (17), was treated for a wound of arm caused by shoving it through a pane of glass.

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania Thursday 23 December 1886 GLEE AND QUARTETTE CLASH.-On Mon day evening, at the Masonic Hall, Mr. Steinbach, gave for competition to the pupils in his Glee and Quartette Class a scholarship valued at £8 8s., or six months' free tuition in singing. There were three ties in attendance, and after a very careful consideration of the merits of each competitor, the scholarship was awarded to Miss Judge, daughter of Mr. George Judge,of Warwick-street Mr. Steinbach will offer a similar scholarship for  the next twelve months. 

The Mercury Hobart, Tasmania Saturday 22 August 1874 The COLONIAL TREASURER to move that the Board of Immigration be authorized to issue to Mr. George Judge a land order warrant for 90 acres of land, being the same area of land as he and his family would have been entitled to had he been able to procure a land order warrant from the agent for the Board of Immigration in England. Contingent on the above resolution being agreed to, that the Legislative Council be requested to concur therein. (Tuesday, 1st Sept.)

Launceston Examiner Tasmania Saturday 4 June 1881 Mr George B. Penny, " Clerk at the Gaol, who has been 17 years in the civil service of the colony, will take the place of Hamer as clerk, and-will be succeeded at the Gaol by Mr George Judge, of the Charitable Aid Department.

Children of William Bagnall and Mariah Smith

How exciting that we now have more members of the Bagnall/Judge family with which to share our research and findings – welcome Gabrielle and Roger.

Taking Joyce Tremblay’s Bagnall research as a starting point, I thought it may be useful to list the children and the information Joyce gathered on those children of William Bagnall and Mariah Smith/Smythe.

  1)      George Bagnall – died Ireland

  2)      Mariah Bagnall married James Short – died Massachusetts, USA

  3)      Elizabeth Bagnall married Christopher Anthistle – died Ireland

  4)      Hannah Bagnall married John Shortt on 5 June 1846 in Rahugh, Ireland – died Ireland

  5)      William Bagnall born about 1830 in Westmeath, married Marguerite Labadie at St Peter’s Church, Tilbury East Township, Kent County, Ontario, Canada in 1852 – died about 1866 in Canada

  6)      Timothy Bagnall – died Ireland

  7)    John Bagnall born about 1835 in Ireland - died 7 July 1862 in Harwich Township, Kent County, Ontario, Canada

  8)   Samuel Bagnall born 1 January 1836 Westmeath, Ireland, married Elisabeth Stephenson (died 1929) in 1857 at Blenheim Presbyterian Church, Blenheim, Ontario, Canada – died 1917 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada

  9)      Jane Bagnall married Henry M Judge – died Massachusetts, USA

  10)   Jemima Bagnall married David Brereton on 7 August 1857 in Canada. Secondly married a Mr Glazeby – died in USA

  11)   Abraham Bagnall – died Ireland

  12)   James Bagnall – died in infancy in Ireland

  13)   Charles Bagnall – died Ireland

  This list states James died in infancy although it would appear that it is incorrect unless 'our' James is from a different family?? We can now perhaps use this list to build up a true picture of the family and correct any mistakes in the list.

Sheer coincidence or something more?

In 1906 Art Bagnall and his family took a trip to the UK, apparently to get the children baptized. They returned to the United States aboard the SS Campania which docked in New York on the 19^th of May. Art and his family were, however, originally booked to travel on the SS Caronia which arrived in New York a day earlier. The Bagnall family show up on the manifests for both ships and it is the ship which the family did not travel on that has an interesting passenger. On board the SS Caronia are three passengers who gave their last place of residence as Sunderland:

Gerald F Garbett single aged 27

George E Dixon married aged 36

Wm H Thompson single aged 27

A William Harvey Thompson was witness to the marriage of Art’s half-brother, Thomas Higginson, in 1899. Is this just a sheer coincidence?

William Boyd and the Roaring Game

To curl on the ice doth greatly please,

Being a manly Scottish exercise

It clears the brains - stirs up the native heat,

And gives - a gallant appetite for meat.

In the 19^th century one of Scotland’s national pastimes was the game of curling. Almost every parish, especially in south west Scotland, had a curling team which would challenge the surrounding parishes and villages to matches during the winter months. From November to February, when the icy conditions permitted, the many frozen lochs of the Scottish winter landscape provided the perfect setting for curling matches or bonspiels.

Reports of the curling competitions in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard during the 1850’s show that William Boyd was a keen curler.  In Lochrutton, where William lived and worked, the local loch was the venue for many curling bonspiels. In 1850 William won the single-handed medal and again a few years later as, in February 1857, the Standard reported that Wm Boyd, Boot and Shoe maker of Lochfoot won the single-handed medal in the annual curling competition.  Hopefully further information on William’s curling prowess will come to light.

Barbara Jean Haliday and William Boyd the grandparents of Mary Boyd (wife of Art Bagnall)

Barbara Jean Haliday, the daughter of Robert Haliday and Margaret Steel, was born in Sept 1809 in Mouswald, Dumfriesshire and baptized “before several witnesses” on October 16^th of the same year. 

Mouswald Church where Barbara Jean Haliday was baptized

  © Copyright Paul Marston and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

William Boyd was born in Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire about 4 miles south of Mouswald. It is impossible at the moment to say with any certainty who William’s parents were. There were  at least two William Boyd’s baptized in Ruthwell in 1811 and much more research is needed to ascertain which, if either, is the William that married Barbara Haliday/Halliday.

Until fairly recently it was a principle of Scots Law that marriage was constituted by mutual consent and thus in many cases the marriage contract was either by an exchange of promises before witnesses or by betrothal and consummation or by cohabitation and repute. These were known as 'irregular marriages'. In Barbara and William’s case the acknowledgement of their marriage was noted in the Caerlaverock parish register:

Wm Boyd and Barbara Halliday acknowledged an irregular marriage on the 21^st November 1830  

Caerlaverock Church where Barbara and William acknowledged their "irregular" marriage

Of the seven marriages recorded by the vicar that week three were irregular. It may be useful to search through the Caerlaverock Kirk sessions as it is highly likely that these couples, including Barbara and William, were brought before the Kirk minister and elders to acknowledge and accept rebuke for their irregular marriage. They would have been in good company as Robert Burns suffered the same fate 40 years earlier in Ayrshire!

William and Barbara had at least seven children most of whom were born in the parish of Lochrutton, Kirkcubrightshire.

Feeing Fairs

John Boyd described himself as a ploughman and farm servant on his children’s birth certificates and looking at the varied birthplaces of the Boyd children it is obvious that the family moved around the county from year to year. It is very possible that John Boyd, like hundreds of thousands of other agricultural labourers, gained his employment by means of the local feeing, tryst, mop or hiring fairs.
                                                                                           

For centuries in the British Isles farm workers would make their way to the nearest hiring fair in order to find employment for the following six or twelve months . In Scotland, where these fairs were known as feeing or tryst fairs, most hirings were for a six month period and were often held near to the Whitsun and Martinmas quarter days. Ploughmen and shepherds, milk maids and domestic servants, hinds and carters would all gather at the local fair in the hope of securing employment for the coming season. Those looking for work would display some form of identification which indicated their line of work, this varied from region to region; in some areas emblems were worn in the hat band whilst in other areas these symbols were worn on the smock or lapel and in yet other areas the symbols were carried e.g. a spade carried by a potato picker, a crook by a shepherd etc. Once wages and conditions had been discussed it was customary for the farmer to give a down-payment to the farm servant to secure his services, this was known as ‘arles’. Arles was given to bind and secure the agreement between worker and employer.

Thomas Hardy mentions the hiring fairs in many of his novels and essays – Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd , The Mayor of Casterbridge and The Dorsetshire Labourer to name a few – he gives this description in Far from the Madding Crowd:

Two months passed away. We are brought on to a day in February, on which was held the yearly statute or hiring fair in the county-town of Casterbridge.

At one end of the street stood from two to three hundred blithe and hearty labourers waiting upon Chance- all men of the stamp to whom labour suggests nothing worse than a wrestle with gravitation, and pleasure nothing better than a renunciation of the same. Among these, carters and waggoners were distinguished by having a piece of whip-cord twisted round their hats; thatchers wore a fragment of woven straw; shepherds held their sheep-crooks in their hands; and thus the situation required was known to the hirers at a glance.

In The Kingdom of Kippen: Its History and Traditions by William Chrystal published in 1903, Chrystal describes how the feeing fairs “are looked upon as the great half-yearly holidays of the farm” consequently they were the place where the farm servants let their hair down. Numerous newspaper reports of the time described the brawls and drunken behaviour which appeared synonymous with feeing fairs. Chrystal states:

Many of both sexes visit these fairs purposely for an engagement, but the majority, having been previously hired, go merely on pleasure bent, and join in forming a merry, spirit-stirring spectacle in which there is the very extreme of gaiety. Everywhere along the public street the swarming, streaming mass shout and jostle each other in riotous merriment and during the day "shows" and merry-go-rounds, if available, receive generous support.

The Dumfries and Galloway Standard on Wednesday 25 March 1857 reported that at the Castle Douglas Hiring Fair

 the town was more than usually crowded, principally by farm–servants desirous of changing place – male servants taking new engagements readily received fees varying from £9 to £10 for the half year

although the newspaper was

sorry to observe that a considerable number of the lads and lasses had imbibed too freely of strong drinks, but there was fortunately no attempt at disturbance, and the market closed in perfect quiet and order.

All that remains of this traditional method of employment are the annual fairs with their sideshows which are now solely for the purpose of profit and family entertainment.

**************

Once the farm workers had found themselves employment for the following year all that remained was for the family to move in to their latest tied cottage. In his essay The Dorsetshire Labourer, Hardy describes the sight seen in every rural community in the country on quarter days:  

The goods are built up on the waggon to a well-nigh unvarying pattern, which is probably as peculiar to the country labourer as the hexagon to the bee. The dresser, with its finger-marks and domestic evidences thick upon it, stands importantly in front, over the backs of the shaft horses, in its erect and natural position, like some Ark of the Covenant, which must not be handled slightingly or overturned. The hive of bees is slung up to the axle of the waggon, and alongside it the cooking pot or crock, within which are stowed the roots of garden flowers. Barrels are largely used for crockery, and budding gooseberry bushes are suspended by the roots; while on the top of the furniture a circular nest is made of the bed and bedding for the matron and children, who sit there through the journey.

Broadside ballads were published portraying the lot of the farm workers and the method of hiring in rural areas, this extract from “Country Hirings” was written at the end of the 19^th century:

The farmer and the servants together used to dine,

But now they're in the parlour, with their pudding,

beef, and wine,

The masters and the mistress, their sons and daugh-

ters are alone,

And they will eat the beef, & you may eat the bone.

Servant men, stand up for wages,

When to the hirings you do go,

For you must work all sorts of weather,

Both cold, wet and snow.

It is, of course, impossible to state categorically that John Boyd was employed using the feeing fair system but his yearly movements from one hamlet to another do suggest he used that method of gaining employment.

More on the Boyd family in North America

Following on from the posting - Did Mary Boyd have other family in the USA? – posted on Sunday March the 18^th I can now report beyond any doubt that she did. I still do not know whether her parents or all of her siblings moved to North America but no doubt more will come to light with time. With the help of records found on the familysearch.org website and a posting from a descendant of one of Mary’s brothers along with other bits and pieces we now have a little more information on the family.

John Boyd and Mary Smith were married in the small village of New Abbey which is situated close to the Solway Firth a few miles from Dumfries in Scotland. I think there were at least 10 children born in various places throughout what is now Dumfries and Galloway in South West Scotland.

I have a copy of two of Mary’s siblings’ birth certificates - one for James Grierson Boyd born on December the 31^st in 1871 at Heughyard which is in the parish of Kilton - the second for Helen Boyd born on the 4^th of July (so she was destined to end up in the States!) in 1869 at Laneside Cottage, Colvend. Her father had given his occupation as a Ploughman.

It would appear that the family did not all emigrate at the same time as on 12 Mar 1894 Mary Boyd’s brother Robert married Eliza Wood Conacher in Milwaukee, Wisconsin whereas his brother James Grierson did not arrive in the U.S. until a couple of decades in to the following century. 

Robert Boyd and his wife Eliza had at least one daughter, Lillian, born  in Chicago, Illinois, in 1897. Lillian married Ralph Edgar Hepker in Cedar Rapids, Linn, Iowa and they had at least  one son, Ralph "Bud" Wilbur Hepker, who was born on February the 9^th 1925 in Cedar Rapids and who died in 2009.

The next member of the family I found was Elizabeth Grierson (transcribed as Greerson) Boyd who died in Toronto, Canada on December the 10^th 1920. She was 58 and unmarried. 

Twenty six years later, in 1946, Mary’s brother James Grierson Boyd died in Ohio at the age of 74. He had been living in Akron, Ohio for 22 years which corresponded with the amount of time he had been in the U.S. He worked as a watchman for the American Hard Rubber Company and was married to someone called Margaret.

An internet posting looking for information on the family suggests that Mary’s sisters Margaret and Helen were also in North America, Helen (Nellie) married someone with the surname Campbell  and Margaret married someone called Ross.

As to the rest of the family I have no information as yet. I am well aware that none of this information is verified by impeachable sources as yet but it's a start!

A Couple of Questions...

Why was Helen Bagnall, daughter of Art and Mary, given the middle name Foster?


Can anyone identify the man nearest the camera in this photograph? All I know about the photo, which was given to me a few years ago, is that the unknown man walking with my great uncle and grandfather was American. None of my grandfather's side of the family went to the States so could this visitor be from my grandmother Higginson's side of the family? Could it be a Bagnall? It certainly looks as though he is finding the north sea air rather bracing! The picture will have been taken at either Roker or Seaburn, the two beaches in Sunderland. Not much to see here at the time of writing. Can any fashionista out there put a rough date to the photograph please?

Thomas Higginson 1871-1942

This is Thomas Higginson, the 'Dear Brother' that Art Bagnall was writing to in the letter which started this blog.  Thomas was born on the 12th January 1871 in Rahugh, Westmeath, Ireland. He was the first son of Susan Judge's second marriage.
With many thanks to David for the photo.

Latest Bagnall photos

Many thanks to Pat and Marian for these:

Mary Boyd Bagnall and three of her children, George, Mary and Elizabeth (Libby). Photograph taken at their home on E, 111th St., Cleveland

George Bagnall and Ann (Brueggeman) Bagnall, Easter 1946

Life in a County Durham Pit Village in the early Twentieth Century

For those of you not familiar with the pit villages of County Durham in which the Bagnalls and Higginsons lived and worked, here is a video from Beamish Museum showing a typical pit cottage and explaining what life was like for those who worked at the local colliery. The actual cottage shown in the video is from a row which was moved from Hetton-le-Hole (where many of the family lived at one time) and re-erected at the Beamish Open Air Museum.

Update on William Bagnall born c. 1862 posted on November 5, 2011

Just a quick update to the earlier post on William Bagnall. Having accessed the 1911 census we now know that William had at least eight children but only six were still alive by 1911. Despite William stating that he had six children alive in 1911, I can only find five of them and only four living at the family home!


The children I have found are:
Elizabeth Bagnall born 1890 in Hetton, County Durham, possibly married Benjamin Meadows in 1910.
Jane Bagnall born 1893 in Hetton, County Durham
William Bagnall born 1896  in Hetton, County Durham and by 1911, at the age of 14, was working as a pony driver at the local colliery.
Margaret Ann Bagnall born 1905 in Hetton, County Durham
Samuel Bagnall born 1908 in Hetton, County Durham


The family lived at 1 Dean street, Hetton Downs in 1891 with their daughter Elizabeth and William's mother-in-law Elizabeth Burrows and brother-in-law CE Burrows. By 1911 they had moved to 3 rooms in Quarry Row, Hetton Downs.


Update
On the 1901 census Thomas And Susan (Judge) Higginson have a Susannah Bagnall staying with them. Susannah is their 9 year old granddaughter and was born in Hetton-le-Hole. Is it possible that Susannah is the missing sixth child of William?


On the FreeBMD website are the following registrations for the area covering Hetton-le-Hole:
Birth 1889 Arthur George Bagnall - Death 1889 Arthur George Bagnall Age 0
Birth 1898 Thomas Bagnall - Death 1899 Thomas Bagnall Age 1
Are these William's two children who died early?


Original Post

William Bagnall born c. 1862

William Bagnall was born in Ireland ( probably Rahugh, Westmeath) in about 1862 and was the oldest of James Bagnall and Susan Judge’s children.
William married Mary Ann Burrows in 1887 and the couple settled in Hetton Downs where William was employed as a hewer at the local pit.
By 1901 they had three children; Elizabeth 11, Jane 8 and William aged 5. Living with them at 297 Quarry Row, Hetton Downs was William’s unmarried brother Samuel Bagnall who was also employed as a coalminer.
William's son, William, enlisted in the British Army in December 1915 but was not sent to France until 1918. The Army papers are rather difficult to interpret but it appears he spent the second half of 1918 in France and was then posted to Mullingar in Ireland in March 1919 before being demobbed in October of that year. He gave his father's address as 10 Quarry Row, Hetton Downs. William served as a private (Pte. 51592) in the 1st battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment.

Arthur George Bagnall 1863 - 1941

Arthur George Bagnall was born in Rahugh, Westmeath, Ireland in 1863. He died in the United States in 1941. 

Mary 'Doll' Bagnall with sister Sue standing behind

George Bagnall with sisters Sue (left) and Mary 'Doll'

Susan Higginson born 1900 granddaughter of Susan Judge and Thomas Higginson sen.

Susan Higginson, one of 'the girls' mentioned in Anna Mack's letter of 6 April, 1921, the other girl being her sister Hannah.

Mary (Doll) Bagnall and son Robert Charles Baisch approx 1950

For some reason this photograph shouts America - it's a marvellous picture.

Time to spare? Try this!

Arthur George Bagnall and Mary Boyd puzzle on TheJigsawPuzzles.com

George Mathew Bagnall (Army Serial No.1533412) 1896 - 1957

A wonderful portrait of George  in his WW1 uniform. George enlisted in the Ohio National Guard on the 9th May 1917 aged 21 and was assigned to Headquarters Company 1 Cavalry ONG then served with Headquarters Company 2 Field Artillery ONG and was given an honorable (as it was the US Army I have used US spelling!) discharge as Private first class on 11 April 1919.