Can anyone read census image please

Can anyone read image, occupation for Elizabeth Whitaker, B 1817
1861 census Wales, Abergavenny
RG9 3993 83 17
? Fire ? Vendor

Thanks

Simone x

Post reply

1112 views

This one is going to take some detective work :-)

I suspect the word "Church" is part of it, leading me to suspect the description relates to a Widow in receipt of church / parish support,.....

< and she was a recent Widow ?>

Post reply

1066 views

Thanks Slowhands.

I wondered if 'church' was in there. Makes sense about parish relief doesn't it.

Simone x

Post reply

1067 views

Working backwards:- ? ? ? Vendor = a person who sells something
? Free Stone ? = any fine-grained stone, esp. sandstone or limestone, that can be worked in any direction without breaking
Chisel [?] = a hand tool for working wood, stone or metal

Chisel & Free Stone Vendor. The Free Stone would have been used to hone (shapen) the blade of the chisel.

Paul

Post reply

1040 views

Thanks Paul.

That looks good:)

Simone x

Post reply

1042 views

It is Chuck & Free Stone vendor

Chuck \\Chuck\\ (ch[u^]k), n.
1. A small pebble; -- called also chuckstone and
chuckiestone. [Scot.]
[1913 Webster]

A freestone is a stone used in architecture for molding, tracery and other work required to be worked with the chisel. The stone must be fine-grained, uniform and soft enough to be cut easily without shattering or splitting. Some sources say that the stone has no grain, but this is incorrect. Oolitic stones are generally used, although in some countries soft sandstones are used; in some churches an indurated chalk called clunch is employed for internal lining and for carving. Some believe that freemason originally meant one who is capable of carving freestone.

Freestone is also a family name, the origins of which date back to lace makers in the middlelands in England in the 1700's

Post reply

1026 views

Thanks for that Mike:)

That looks more like it:)

Simone x

Post reply

1030 views

It may also be "Clunch and Free Stone Vendor", given the relative proximity of Abergavenny to Merthyr / Dowlais coal and iron deposits

The river Usk, flowing through Abergavenny is also known as one of the Freestone rivers by fly fishermen.

The strata of coal and iron-ore which crop out on the southern side of Brecknockshire are the lowest in the basin, and occur only in the three following places: first, from the small river Twrch across the river Tawy and the Drim mountain to the Great Forest of Brecknock; secondly, a corner of territory from Blaen-Romney, at the junction of the three counties of Brecknock, Glamorgan, and Monmouth, to the northern side of Brn Oer; and thirdly, from Rhd Ebwy and Beaufort iron-works, through Llny-Pwll, near Tavern Maid Sur, to where this district adjoins the Earl of Abergavenny's mineral property. The coal measures may be best described by taking a section of the strata in the mines of Cyvarthva and of Dowlais, near Merthyr-Tydvil, on the southern border of the county. In the former are twenty-two beds of coal, varying in thickness from sixteen inches to nine feet, making a total of fifty-eight feet eight inches; twenty-eight beds of iron mine, making a total thickness of nine feet three inches; three beds of fire-clay, being collectively seven feet four inches thick; and forty-eight beds of blue cleft, or clunch, freestone rock, bind, &c., amounting in all to 614 feet six inches. In the Dowlais section of the strata are seen thirty-six beds of coal, making a total thickness of only fifty-six feet eight inches; fifty-eight strata of iron mine, being collectively eleven feet nine inches thick; three beds of fire-clay, making together a thickness of eight feet six inches; and 108 beds of the various contiguous substances above-mentioned, which together make a thickness of 526 feet seven inches.

From: 'Bonvilston - Brecknockshire', A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1849),
pp. 92-125. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47802.
Date accessed: 28 December 2007.

Post reply

1105 views

Ooh thanks Slowhands!

Wonder, would she have had to collect it herself or did she buy it and sell it on?

Whatever, I'm glad to see she found some sort of way to try and make ends meet, her husband having literally 'gone to bed, bumped his head and couldn't get up in the morning'

On the 23 March 1861, the Monmouthshire Merlin records -

' FATAL ACCIDENT - On the 11th inst.. a labouring man names George Whitaker, a native of Gloucestershire, residing in Merthyr New Road, Abergavenny, came by his death by accidentally falling down stairs. Deceased had been out as usual following his employment, and being tired, he was about retiring to bed when going up the stairs, he accidentally fell backwards, and stiking the back part of the head, he received such injuries that he died on the Friday following. At the inquest the jury returned a verdict of '' Accidental Death.'' The unfortunate man was 42 years of age, and has left a widow and seven children.'

Do you think he had had a pint or 2, quote
Deceased had been out as usual following his employment,,

Ouch!!

Simone x

Post reply

1058 views

Do you think he had had a pint or 2 ?

Seven children - there was no TV or radio , what else was this man to do besides enjoy the odd jar of ale, and the company of fellow labourers in an Abergavenny hostelry. <tongue firmly in cheek>

Surely you are not suggesting he may have been stoned !!!!

Post reply

1090 views

Would I, Slowhands! Tee hee hee!!

Don't you know that all my ancestors were pillars of the community, god fearing, no drinking, swearing, gambling, no children out of wedlock, they all loved each other, and I know I would have loved them all and they us, and we would have all got on famously! <tongue very firmly stuck to side of cheek :) :)>

Aren't everyone's ancestors like that?

Simone x

Post reply

1020 views