In Deep with the Book of Me - February Prompt 2015 - Explore. Dream. Discover

I am going to respond to this prompt from the position of my husband's paternal Great Grandmother, Annie HINDLE, Nee RHODES and formerly WORSHIP (1869 - 1953). If you missed the Prompt you can see it HERE.

Annie RHODES was born in Bradford Yorkshire in 1869 she married Charles WORSHIP in Bradford in August of 1899 and they had three daughters:

• Emily born Bradford 1890 who married June Q 1915 to Sydney NEWBOULD in Bradford
• Lillian born Bradford 1893 (my husband’s paternal grandmother)
• Florence, born Bradford 1901.

At some point between 1901 and 1904 Annie met and had a relationship with Harry Hindle. They had a son together in 1904 who was registered under the surname of Worship and at this point Annie was still married to Charles Worship.

In 1905 Annie and the 10 month old baby boarded a ship bound for the United States. The passenger list states that Annie had been to the United States before and that she had £50 with her. She met up with Harry Hindle, took his surname and together they raised their son in Philadelphia.  Annie eventually divorced Charles Worship in 1921 and Annie and Harry marry in New York in 1922. Charles moved from Yorkshire to Scotland and married a widow there in 1922.

Harry and Annie Hindle with their son Henry Rhodes
Picture from the collection of Julie Goucher

The divorce papers cite that the petition for divorce was granted on the grounds of adultery and was typically written indicating that Annie was the instigator of the disintegration of the marriage. At this point in English Law divorce was granted usually in favour of the male.

We are researching in the period of the turn of the Century, a time that was very much focused on the values of the Victorian era and when women were still considered the property of the husband's. It would have been especially harrowing to have registered the baby with the name of the father rather than that of her husband and slurs on the character of Annie were surely inevitable.

What Annie did was incredibly brave for the time. Her leaving her children in England would have been the only real thing she could  have done, as they were also viewed as the property of their father. It is known from family records that Annie, Harry and their son made frequent visits to England, and two of Annie's children did visit them in the United States.

I am sure that Annie would have felt aggrieved at leaving her girls behind, and did she reflect back to 1905 when she left England for good? I am sure she did, I don't get a sense that she regretted at all going to the United States with Harry and their son, but I do get a sense that she regretted not having the strength to fight for her girls and stand up against the established way of life in 1904.

I have over the years researched this family quite a bit and you can read about the family HERE

Information on The Book of Me and In Deep with the Book of Me can be accessed via this link

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 25

Every now and again when researching our family history we encounter unusual surnames. Names that intrigue, us and make us wonder just where the name came from or perhaps are their others with this surname? I have at least two surnames that intrigued me.

The first is the Italian name of ORLANDO. Put that into Google and it displays thousands upon thousands of entries of where to holiday! I then tweaked the search and found that there were obviously others with the name, which in Italy is a little like Brown and Jones. I pondered and in 2002 Registered the name with the Guild of One Name Studies.

Distribution Map for Orlando in Italy & Distribution Map for Orlando in the USA

The surname does exist in other parts of the world, but these are the two distribution maps available currently.

The key thing with a One Name Study is to have a plan of action. The Guild can help you, but the study will be fairly unique to you, perhaps your research style, where you live, where the name occurs and so forth. Even two studies hosted by the same researcher can be different, mine are!

I have much data to be processed and placed on line and much more to gather.

The second name I registered with the Guild was the maiden name of my husband's Grandmother, and is the name of WORSHIP.

Again, with Google you do need to be creative in the search style, as you can be presented with thousands of references to religion and churches. I registered this name in 2005 and like the Orlando study there is much more to be collected, processed and uploaded.

One of the observations with undertaking a One Name Study is that you can look beyond the names and dates into the social history & migration studies. For example my own Italian family is complex but has the connection to the UK at the end of the 1950s. When life in Italy, especially the South and the Islands, my own family is from Sicily, was poor. Like many people before them and since many Italians migrated to make a better life for themselves. Some came to the UK, others to the US. In some cases, in the 19th Century Italian walked through Italy into France and came to the UK on their way to the US, and if they ran out of money by the time they got to the UK they stayed here. There could well be similar migration reasons for people of Polish descent or religious groups.

If you have a vague interest in undertaking a one name study I would recommend it. By registering the name you are NOT committing to completing the study within a given period, you are joining a specialised working group with access to a conference, a journal an on line message board where you can share references, learn and develop your knowledge and study.

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