S - Sarah Elizabeth Laney

There are two people in my tree with this name. My great great grandmother, born in Nelson New Zealand in 1850 and her first cousin born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire in 1839.

I came across the elder Sarah from a DNA match which Dad had – third cousin twice removed. Pretty faraway, but the only one at that point possibly hinting at the next generation back. Always sceptical about some of these small matches I did a bit of research of my own. Ancestry had identified the match as being on my grandmother’s side which was correct and age, place and other family names seemed to match – or look likely too. The biggest hook for me that this was right, was that her father’s name was Leander.

It isn’t a very common name, I’m not even sure where it comes from, but it sure helped to persuade me that the tree was correct and the match was valid. Leander appears through many generations of the descendants of my great great great grandfather who emigrated to Nelson in 1842 and raised a family there. I messaged the match, way back in 2020 and I am still patiently waiting on a reply.

Sarah’s parents were married in Oxford in 1827. At the time of their marriage Leander was living in Newbury, Berkshire. By 1841 the family had moved and were living in Cleveland Street, Wolverhampton. They had six children by then and none are recorded as being born in Staffordshire on the census. On later censuses the younger ones are recorded as being born there. They went on to have thirteen children, although not all survived to adulthood.

Sarah’s father is a musician on the 1841 census and in 1851 he is a Teacher of Music, and they have moved to Merridale Street. They were still at this address in 1861 with six of their children. On this census, Sarah aged 21 is a dressmaker. She married Joseph Simpson in 1868, he was a tailor. In the 1871 census Sarah is still listed as a Dressmaker despite being married with a toddler and another baby on the way.

Joseph and Sarah had a family of seven although three of her eldest children died before their second birthdays. By 1881 Joseph had become a Hardware Merchant’s Packer but Sarah was still contributing to the family’s income as a Dressmaker. Sarah continued to work into her widowhood after Joseph died in 1899. She died in Wolverhampton in 1912.

Maybe this Sarah is your great great grandmother? Or one of her siblings is your ancestor. I would love to hear from you and reconnect the branches of the tree.

 

BluesFest

A week or so after our trip to Byron Bay it was Easter and BluesFest time.

BluesFest was 30 this year, a music festival held over Easter weekend attracting all manner of artists from all over the world. I have always thought about going, Lauren decided she was going this year and bought two tickets for one day.

We dithered about it for so long that we ran out of time to find any accommodation so we drove down for one day only. It meant that some people we would have liked to see weren’t playing on the day we would be there, but there was still a pretty impressive line-up.

We were quite unprepared for the conditions – nothing rainproof and completely unsuitable footwear. It poured, several monsoonal type downpours. Mostly we were lucky, and were undercover in marquees listening to music as the rain teemed down outside.

 I'm with Her

 Arlo Guthrie

 Norah Jones

We wandered about the market stalls in between and by the end of the evening (well not even the end) we were both reminded that festivals were not our favourite types of events. Why do people go to these events if they just want to talk to their friends and drink instead of enjoying the performance. Each to their own – and I’m not against their behaviour; I just don’t see what the point is. The jostling and disregard for the artist got to us in the end and we left part way through one act which we had been looking forward to and completely missing a headline act or two which were scheduled for later.

Walking back to the car we weren’t so lucky with the rain and got drenched, but at least we had had fun (for the most part) and could look forward to hot showers when we got home.

#52Ancestors, Week 29, Music

Music is everywhere. From the chirruping tweeting of the birds in the garden, buzzing bees and other wildlife to the cacophony of other more industrial objects, cars, planes, machinery.

I had piano lessons, learnt recorder, tried to learn guitar. I have a collection of vinyl, cassettes and cds bought over time to play favourite songs and bands. Some digitising might need to happen to still enjoy cassettes though.

Radios and record playing were part of growing up with family and friends. Concert going and live music at pubs. In the car too, on the radio, cassette or cd.

Now there are iTunes and Spotify enabling us to take our music with us – anywhere – without wires and cables.

But it is all in our heads still, stored away in our mind’s filing cabinet waiting for that little trigger to suddenly make it the only thing we can think of (and hum and sing) for DAYS !

Other people in the family played instruments in the past too; violin, saxophone, piano. Others sang and danced on stage or just at family gatherings.

It’s the rhythm of life.