Rabbit George and Me

Veronica Hague

Description

Your ancestors come back to life when family history becomes a novel! Do you have mountains of genealogical information which, for all your time and energy, are little more than lists of names, dates and indecipherable family trees? Read Rabbit George and Me and find a blueprint of how to turn your history into an absorbing and compelling tale. A tale which will be sure to be read by present and future generations of your family. Your ancestry research will not have been in vain!Opening in the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire of the mid 1800's, and deftly weaving through to the present day, the story of "Rabbit George', his three wives and twelve children is guaranteed to be devoured by the Smith family's descendants. But the general reader will find much that is of interest, whether it's journeying to Utah to learn about distant Mormon relatives, or to the far flung places so many descendants have settled. Rabbit George and Me will take you on a trip through time, and around the world, and will deliver you back home eager to craft your own family's tale.Bring your ancestors back to life! Read Rabbit George and Me and discover a new way to ensure your family history is not only passed down, but is enthusiastically embraced by the generations to follow.

Sujets

• Condado de Yorkshire (Reino Unido)
• Family history
• Lincolnshire
• Yorkshire

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 mars 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789010572
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Rabbit George and Me
A story based on the life of
Mary Stennett Smith
(January 2, 1846-May 15, 1932)
by the same author
Siege at Sorrel Rift by Veronica Paulina (2007)
Potluck and Pistols by Veronica Paulina (2012)

Rabbit George and Me
Veronica Hague
Copyright © 2018 Veronica Hague

The moral right of the author has been asserted.


Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.


Matador
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Wistow Road, Kibworth Beauchamp,
Leicestershire. LE8 0RX
Tel: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
Twitter: @matadorbooks


ISBN 978 1789010 572

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.


Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
This book is dedicated to the descendants of “Rabbit George” George Smith (February 4, 1827-July 9, 1907)
Contents
From the Author

I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
XXVI
XXVII
XXVIII
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
XXXII
XXXIII
XXXIV
XXXV
XXXVI
XXXVII
XXXVIII
XXXIX
XL

THE DESCENDANTS
Appendix I
Mary Stennett’s Family: Descendants Of John Stennett (1813-1882) And Elizabeth Stennett (1814-1898)
Appendix II
George Smith’s Family: Descendants Of William Smith (1796-1864) And Elizabeth Foulston Smith (1801-1872)
Appendix III
George Smith (1827-1907) And Mary Crawshaw (1831-1877): Descendants Of “Rabbit George” And Mary Crawshaw Smith
Appendix IV
George Smith (1827-1907) And Mary Stennett (1846-1932): Descendants Of “Rabbit George” And Mary Stennett Smith
Appendix V
Husbands, Wives And Partners

Fact or Fiction?
Print And Digital Resources
From the Author
If you are to write a family history, or a story based on the life of one of your ancestors, you will need to know the facts. Census data is the crucial element underpinning your work. Your book will be read not because of your literary talent, but because of the factual information contained within its pages. If you are fortunate, members of your family will have undertaken much of this arduous work and, like me, you will be free to engage in the more interesting task of imagining the lives of the men and women whose existence led to your own.
It is, therefore, with much gratitude that I acknowledge the long and painstaking research conducted by George Schonhut and Charles Robin Hartley, son and grandson, respectively, of Elizabeth Smith Schonhut, the eldest daughter of George and Mary Smith. Their keen interest in their forebears made it possible for me to write Rabbit George and Me and to weave a story which I hope is of interest not only to present and future members of the family, but to those who wish to produce their own narrative history.
When you work on your family history, you will experience a newfound impetus to reach out to relatives, both near and distant, in order to uncover the memories and news from the multiple branches of the family. You will not only enjoy these communications, but will learn a great deal. With much pleasure I thank George and Mary Smith’s many descendants, and the members of their families, who provided vital and interesting information: Robin Hartley, Nigel Hague, Gay Wadsworth, April Stern, Pauline Tear, Sally Foster, Louise Sampson, Jane MacCaw, Dorothy Goodswen, James Goodswen, Charles Hague, Cordelia Sampson, William Hague, Elizabeth Sayers, Angela Hague, Charlotte Schoch, Adrian Sayers and Beryl Brown.
In addition, I am grateful to Pamela Thickett for serving as an invaluable connection to the descendants of George Smith and his second wife, Mary Crawshaw, and for generously sharing information about her great-grandmother, Margaret Laver. I am also thankful for the information provided by Sandra Pounder and Susan Lane, descendants of James Larrett Smith, brother of George Smith.
As you embark upon writing your family tale you will discover how much you don’t know regarding your origins, whether it concerns the village in which you grew up or your family’s business. I am grateful to Graham Hobson and the Greasbrough Community History Society for providing information on the village of Greasbrough during the time of George and Mary Smith. I also thank Kathleen Dickinson and Ann Brown, my friends from Greasbrough Primary School, for their interest and insights. In addition, I am grateful to Jean Bailey and Stephen and Amanda Pilgrim for their assistance in exploring the naming of Rossiter Road.
I am indebted to Dr. Charles Collinson for providing the document which marked the founding of Hague’s of Parkgate in 1870, and to Roy Young, retired headmaster of Wentworth Primary School and expert on the history of Wentworth, for sharing his knowledge of that village during the time of my great-great-grandparents, William and Elizabeth Smith.
I thank Lincolnshire historians, Christine and Lou Hird, and Bernie Ayton of the Shireoaks and District Local History Society.
Sincere thanks to Robin Hartley and Ffion Hague who generously took the time to provide fact-checking and editorial review prior to publication. This book is a better work because of their involvement.
Writers need encouragement and with this book project, as with others, I have been blessed with the love and support of Steven McAuliff.
Finally, and most poignantly, I can attest to what you already know, or suspect, as you embark upon this story, or delve into your own family’s tale. You will wish you had paid more attention to your history when you were younger. You will regret not asking questions of your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles before it was too late. Those opportunities may be gone, but the chance to read this story, or to create your own, is now in your hands.

Veronica Hague
Lebanon Township, New Jersey, USA
December 2017

Email: [e-mail]



“Rabbit George”
George Smith 1827-1907



Sampler by Mary Stennett



Wedding of Elizabeth Smith and Albert Schonhut, August 1906,
Rossiter Villa, Greasbrough, South Yorkshire.
I
I am so happy the photograph of Lizzie’s wedding has been passed down and that I can start my story with a picture. This book is my chance to tell you, my descendants, about your forebears and this photograph truly saves me a thousand words! Looking at our stern faces you must think we’re at a funeral rather than a wedding, but sitting for a photograph was a slow job back in 1906. It took ages for everyone to sit still and you wanted to make sure you wore a serious expression and wouldn’t go down in history looking like a grinning idiot.
In the photograph I’m sitting on the right with my husband, George, next to me. I’m wearing my best frock, swathed in black from neck-to-toe which a bride’s mother wouldn’t wear now, but was considered refined back then. The pitch black color set off my pale skin and light grey hair but, as usual, I was covered in too much material and I’d been hot and bothered all day. I envy you now when I see you jump into a pair of stretch trousers and pull a sleeveless top over your loose hair!
As you can see from the photograph, the stiff collar of my dress went all the way up to my chin and the sleeves ballooned out below my elbows and got in my way when I was working. All that day, I’d itched to unbutton the wristbands and roll up the sleeves, but Lizzie told me I would spoil the style. If only I had a style to spoil, I’d replied, a little too tartly considering it was her wedding day.
The truth is that Lizzie didn’t want me to look as if I’d been working in the kitchen, even though that’s exactly where I’d been most of the day. We’d brought in some women from the village to help but I’d had to make sure the beef and ham were cooked properly and the trifle wasn’t brought out of the pantry until we were ready for it to be served. Each time I’d gone into the kitchen I’d had to close the pantry door to keep the cold in and the flies out. You didn’t get a day off just because your eldest daughter was getting married. Not in the Smith family. Not in Yorkshire over a hundred years ago.
George’s life ended the year after Lizzie’s wedding, but mine lasted another twenty-six years on earth and many, many more watching from Far Yonder. Not everyone gets the opportunity to see what happens after they’re gone. Far Yonder is a gift which is given to a precious few, usually to those who didn’t have much of a voice during their lifetime. So the gift was given to me, but not to my husband. George had a say in every aspect of his life, as well as those of his children and the men who worked for him, not to mention many more people in Greasbrough and beyond who knew him or did business with him.
George Smith was a stonemason, farmer and builder who had three wives and twelve children. I was his third wife and the mother of his four youngest children. It is because of me and my children that th