SilverVixen on Family Tree Circles

My Grand-mother lived at 25 Chancellor Street, Leeds 6(as it was then before postcodes) Yorkshire, England ; my Aunt Ivy (who was a widow) & her daughter Jeanne lived with her, the house was a two up two down with an outside toilet.

Lizzie was 72 years old when I was born, I did not see her often as we lived in the
South but I remember being scared of this old, wrinkly lady, not because she was nasty but I did not know anyone so old or wrinkly and as a child I was a bit frightened.

There was one entrance into the house, directly into the ?house? this was the term everyone used for what we today call the lounge, this room had a huge fireplace, my gran was always in her chair in front of it and as the door opened she would pick up the kettle from the side and hang it over the fire, any excuse for a cup of tea.

My Mum and I used to stay at my aunt?s house but on one occasion we stayed at my gran?s, I slept with my cousin Jeanne and it was the first time I ever came across a ?po? (chamber pot); we all had to go to the outside toilet before we went to bed so we did not fill the po. The key to the toilet hung just inside the door, I was about 4 at the time, that key in my memory was HUGE. You went out of the door, turned left walked the length of the house, then the length of the back of 4 toilets, turn left and left again and ours , of course, was the furthest away, unlock the door and there was this enormous toilet seat which I was sure I would fall down and they would never find me.

My Mum always told me my grandmother?s name was Marion Elizabeth Hastings McMillan but checking with the family no-one had heard of this they just all knew her as Lizzie, I also knew she was born in Scotland but the family moved to Leeds when she was a few weeks old. She was married and widowed twice, I knew that my grand-dad had died when my mum was young (14 as it turned out) and that he was Morton, but I also knew that her first husband was Whittaker as my Aunt?s Margaret & Lillian were Whittakers so this is where my research started.

I ordered her marriage certificate?s assuming this would give me her name, age, fathers name & occupation however on both she is listed as just Elizabeth, although I did find her father?s name James McMillan (deceased) and occupation Lead Pipe Maker. Her sister Lillian McMillian was witness at her first wedding and another sister Mary Jane (Jordan) was witness at her second.

From this I was able to trace her Birth and was so pleased to discover her full name was exactly as I had been told. This also told me her father?s name & occupation (which tied up with the marriages certificates) mother?s name, married and maiden, plus when and where they married, Glencairn, Dumfries Scotland. I then started on census working backwards from England & Wales 1911 Elizabeth married to
Charles Morton, with my mum Kate & her 2 half-sisters & brother. 1901 census Edward Whittaker & Elizabeth with three daughters live next door to her brother in law Ernest Jordan her sister Mary Jane Jordan, his wife & another sister Lillian McMillan. In the 1891 census she is a 19 year old general servant and in 1881 she is living with her mother and 3 sisters, Agnes, Margaret & Mary. She died in 1963

Ah, so difficult to choose which is my favourite, I am lucky that I have quite a choice of old photographs, mainly from the paternal side.

My paternal grandmother predeceased my grandfather and when he died, my father cleared out their house and brought home all these wonderful photographs. This one is probably one of my favourites; it is of my paternal Great Grandparents, John William Warwick 1859-1930 and Margaret Arnold 1859 -1950. It was taken on the occasion of their Silver Wedding Anniversary in 1907, they were both aged 48.

The story goes that when my mother was pregnant with me my parents could not decide on a name. My Father would come home each day, pat my mum on the stomach and say ?How?s our little Nancy today then?, this became such a thing that they decided to call me Nancy. I obviously had other plans and was born 6 weeks early on my Great Grandmother?s birthday and so they named me Margaret in the hope that she would leave her money to me (us) ???not so, but I love the story. As was usual in their time, their eldest son (my Grandfather) was named John Arnold, carrying his mother?s maiden name, this has continued through each generation, my favourite cousin is Arnold, his grandson is Arnold and so it continues.