Halesowen SOUTHWELLS et al.
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:57 am
I'm feeling gratified to have found the footprints of my Black Country grandmother, Edith Mary SOUTHWELL (b. Bloomfield St., Hawne 1896), before she boarded the Lusitania in 1911 (aged 16) with her mother. Alice Jane Farmer Southwell (b. Halesowen 1873), brother Charles William (b. 1905) and sister Hilda (b. 1900) to join her father, Charles SOUTHWELL (b.Walsall 1873, son of Wm. Southwell b. Hawne Halesown 1852 and Jane Holloway b. Hasbury Halesowen 1852; Edith's paternal grandparents were William Southwell b. 1815 and Mary Hackett b. 1818) in the mining town of Jerome, Pennsylvania. Charles had sailed ahead of the rest in 1910 on the Mauretania. At this point, I am mainly interested in connecting with anyone who knows about or is related to any of these Halesowen SOUTHWELLS, HACKETS, FARMERS or HOLLOWAYS . Also, if anyone sees errors in the ancestry I've listed above, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
About me and my paternal grandparents: My name is Shelley Hall; I'm 51 and live in a small town about 40 miles west of Boston, Massachusetts. I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is the area to which my grandmother (Edith Southwell) and her husband, Arthur HALL (a miner she met in Jerome, PA) moved when Art retired from the mines. I believe they made the move in order to be closer to their three children: my father (William Arthur Hall) and my two aunts, Mrytle and Mary Jane, all of whom were married with children by that time. Of the three, only Myrtle is still living (in California) and she's well into her 90s. Through my father, Edith has one grandson, three grandaughters (including me), one great grandson and one great grandaughter, all living. Through Myrtle, she has one grandaughter, one grandson, one great grandaughter and two great grandsons, all living. Through Mary Jane, she has one grandaughter and one great grandson that I know of, both living (my family didn't stay as close with Mary Jane as we have with Myrtle). If anyone cares to add any or all of these US descendents to their family trees (the living without names), they should please feel free. I'd be happy to put together the documentation.
It's been fascinating reading about some of the social aspects of Black Country and connecting some of the stories my grandmother used to tell with people and places. One thing that has stayed firmly in my family is a group of verbal expressions she taught us and that we still use reguarly. For example, Birmingham was always "Brummijum" (I'm not sure how it should be spelled) a pronunciation I recognized when I read about in this site's language forum. My all-time favorite, though, is a word for which I've never found a better substitute and it is one she learned from her grandmother, Mary HACKETT, and passed along to us. The word is "brevitin' " (again, I'm not sure how it should be spelled) and it's a verb (always used by my grandmother in the continuous -in(g) form) that means rifling or rummaging in an uninvited manner through stuff that isn't yours--something like "snooping." Can anyone tell me if this is a common local expression or whether it might have been Mary Hackett's own invention (if it was listed in this board's language forum, I missed it)?
I apologize for the length of this post but I hope it will be of interest to someone.
Thanks for reading,
Shelley Hall
About me and my paternal grandparents: My name is Shelley Hall; I'm 51 and live in a small town about 40 miles west of Boston, Massachusetts. I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is the area to which my grandmother (Edith Southwell) and her husband, Arthur HALL (a miner she met in Jerome, PA) moved when Art retired from the mines. I believe they made the move in order to be closer to their three children: my father (William Arthur Hall) and my two aunts, Mrytle and Mary Jane, all of whom were married with children by that time. Of the three, only Myrtle is still living (in California) and she's well into her 90s. Through my father, Edith has one grandson, three grandaughters (including me), one great grandson and one great grandaughter, all living. Through Myrtle, she has one grandaughter, one grandson, one great grandaughter and two great grandsons, all living. Through Mary Jane, she has one grandaughter and one great grandson that I know of, both living (my family didn't stay as close with Mary Jane as we have with Myrtle). If anyone cares to add any or all of these US descendents to their family trees (the living without names), they should please feel free. I'd be happy to put together the documentation.
It's been fascinating reading about some of the social aspects of Black Country and connecting some of the stories my grandmother used to tell with people and places. One thing that has stayed firmly in my family is a group of verbal expressions she taught us and that we still use reguarly. For example, Birmingham was always "Brummijum" (I'm not sure how it should be spelled) a pronunciation I recognized when I read about in this site's language forum. My all-time favorite, though, is a word for which I've never found a better substitute and it is one she learned from her grandmother, Mary HACKETT, and passed along to us. The word is "brevitin' " (again, I'm not sure how it should be spelled) and it's a verb (always used by my grandmother in the continuous -in(g) form) that means rifling or rummaging in an uninvited manner through stuff that isn't yours--something like "snooping." Can anyone tell me if this is a common local expression or whether it might have been Mary Hackett's own invention (if it was listed in this board's language forum, I missed it)?
I apologize for the length of this post but I hope it will be of interest to someone.
Thanks for reading,
Shelley Hall
Linell.