In a message dated 16/01/2004 19:02:55 GMT Standard Time, SREVELEY@satx.rr.com writes: > What is lemon curd? > Lemon curd is an English speciality and traditionally was served with scones at afternoon tea.   It is a soft, thick, spreadable cooked cream that contains eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and unsalted butter.   Regards Stan Mapstone

In a message dated 16/01/2004 15:45:02 GMT Standard Time, janetchopkins@hotmail.com writes: > What was it that the dark haired man was supposed to bring across the > threshhold?  A lump of coal, a coin, and..... what was the other thing? >        As first-foot he brings in a token of the prosperity to be enjoyed by the hosehold forhte next twelve months, so as well as coal (warmth) and money (general prosperity), he must have some food and/or drink.  Indeed the money aspect was never important in my memory - It was the food (cake - a piece of left-over Christmas cake perhaps) and drink - usually whisky, as beer might be considered not strong enough - it had to be the best, ie the strongest, and so had to be spirits: with the Scottish connection with first-footing that had to mean whisky.        The man in question has to be tall, dark and handsome.  Considering that, after wishing everyone a Happy New Year, his next duty is always to kiss all the ladies present, that is perhaps understandable!        First-footing, on such a formal basis at least, seems to be dying out, as are so many old customs in this increasingly rootless and commercialised world, but it's not dead yet!   However, I can only see a strong revival coming if someone were to commercialise it - and then the government would think of a way to tax it!  it was strong when people lived in the sort of small community where everyone knew everyone else, all were close to the bread-line and just having the one fling of the year at New Year, where everyone knew everyone else well enough to wander into their house just after midnight (would you let a stranger in at that time of nght, even if he was tall, dark and handsome - especially when, as at New Year, he probably smelled strongly of drink?  In an old pit village there would have been no strangers.                           Best wishes,                                     Geoff Nicholson 57 Manor Park, Concord, WASHINGTON, Tyne & Wear NE37 2BU (0191 417 9546) Professional Genealogist - Northumberland and Co Durham.

Geoff, my father came out to Victoria, B.C. from Glasgow in 1925 with the first Princess Marguerite, he worked on her when she was being built at John Brown's Shipyard, then joined the crew to bring her to Victoria. A lot of his friends came out at the same time. Dad met Mom and stayed in Victoria, but, they seemed to attract every new Scot that arrived in Victoria. Dad was the person they all waited for when New Year's came along. Dad was tall, dark and handsome and also had a very good personality, so, the First Footing was 'extended' a bit. Dad would always take a good bottle of Scotch with him, plus some of Mom's Christmas Cake... Because he obviously couldn't be at everyone's home at the stroke of midnight, they stretched it, no one was allowed into the house.....'before Billie' arrived. Needless to say, Dad took taxi's on New Year's Eve. I know this carried on into the 60's.. Sheila > > The man in question has to be tall, dark and handsome. Considering > that, after wishing everyone a Happy New Year, his next duty is always to kiss > all the ladies present, that is perhaps understandable! > > First-footing, on such a formal basis at least, seems to be dying out, > as are so many old customs in this increasingly rootless and commercialised > world, but it's not dead yet! However, I can only see a strong revival coming > if someone were to commercialise it - and then the government would think of > a way to tax it! it was strong when people lived in the sort of small > community where everyone knew everyone else, all were close to the bread-line and just having the one fling of the year at New Year, where everyone knew everyone else well enough to wander into their house just after midnight (would you let a stranger in at that time of nght, even if he was tall, dark and handsome - >especially when, as at New Year, he probably smelled strongly of drink? In an > old pit village there would have been no strangers. > > Best wishes, > > Geoff Nicholson >

>>On the theme of our British heritage, does anyone know if a stotty cake can be bought in Canada? It is a round loaf of bread about the size of a frizbee, and best had with fresh lemon curd.<<Janet What is lemon curd? I googled a stotty cake source in Canada to no avail, also recipes. All I found was "Stotty cakes are discs of dough baked at the bottom of the oven. The origin of the name Stotty Cake is unknown, though stotted in North-Eastern dialect means bounced. Perhaps this reflected how the baker would throw them on to the oven floor as a preliminary, or to use up the leftovers." Sarah in Texas who has never tasted a stotty cake

Hello, all! Does anyone recognize this family? The brother-in-law, I believe was my great-great-grandfather, Henry Robinson WATSON, and so Mary HODGSON would have been his sister. The information that follows is how the information appears in the 1881 British Census transcription on www.familysearch.org . Fylands Bridge Auckland St Andrew, Durham, England John HODGSON Head Married Male 23 West Auckd, Durham, England Coal Miner Mary HODGSON Wife Married Female 22 Middleton In Teesdale, Durham, England Robert HODGSON Son Unmarried Male 4 St And Auckland, Durham, England George W. HODGSON Son Unmarried Male 2 Crook, Durham, England John HODGSON Son Unmarried Male 5 m Coundon, Durham, England Henry WATSON Brother In Law Unmarried Male 18 Middleton, Durham, England Coal Miner Thank you! ~~Bren "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result" -- Albert Einstein "A fool makes the same mistakes because he never learns from them; a smart man learns from his mistakes; but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others." -- (If someone hasn't said it already, then I just did). --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes

In a message dated 16/01/2004 15:45:02 GMT Standard Time, janetchopkins@hotmail.com writes: > What was it that the dark haired man was supposed to bring across the > threshold? A lump of coal, a coin, and..... what was the other thing? > The Old Year would be let out through the back door and the New Year let in through the front door at the chimes of midnight. It was custom that the first person at the New Year to pass over the threshold should be a dark haired male bringing coal or whisky for luck in the New Year. Regards Stan Mapstone

Dear Listers, On the theme of our British heritage, does anyone know if a stotty cake can be bought in Canada? It is a round loaf of bread about the size of a frizbee, and best had with fresh lemon curd. My elderly grandmother has emigrated to the Brampton Ontario Canada area and is missing them. A recipe would be wonderful if anyone has one. Janet in Canada _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcomm&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca

Hi Geoff, In your last message, you mentioned about the Cemeteries Act. Could you tell me a little bit about it please? Thanks! Jan Boyes Stockton-on-Tees, England. > If you would be happy with a burial record rather then a death one > then you might like to trawl through the registers of the likely churches and > municipal cemeteries for that period. The Cemeteries Act was passed about > half-way through it, so you would need to take both sorts of burying place into > consideration. >

Hello All, Keeping in mind that our customs are passed down from our families as well as our genes, I would like to enquire about first foot traditions at New Years' Eve. We have been away from Gatesehead since 1965, and no longer do the first foot thing. What was it that the dark haired man was supposed to bring across the threshhold? A lump of coal, a coin, and..... what was the other thing? Out of curiousity, why was it a dark haired man? Was it supposed to be someone young and handsome, as a good luck thing, or was there another reason? Janet, transplanted from Gateshead in infancy _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca

Thankyou to those kind souls who replied to my query how to order bmd certficates from Canada. I am all set now, Thanks! Janet _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

In a message dated 16/01/2004 10:28:06 GMT Standard Time, markandjanboyes@ntlworld.com writes: > The Cemeteries Act By 1850, urban churchyards had had their day. Over-full, exclusively Anglican, and suspected of being sinks of contamination, they were closed in large numbers over the next few years. A public alternative to the profit-making private cemeteries was needed, however; the Metropolitan Interment Act of 1850 allowed for the provision of publicly-funded cemeteries in London, and was extended across the country by an Act of 1853. This ushered in a boom in the construction of public cemeteries by publicly-financed Burial Boards run by parish vestries (the ancestors of today's local authorities). Scores of cemeteries were set up in the 1850s and 1860s. History of the English Cemetery http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/default.asp Regards Stan Mapstone

In a message dated 16/01/2004 10:28:06 GMT Standard Time, markandjanboyes@ntlworld.com writes: > Hi Geoff, > In your last message, you mentioned about the Cemeteries Act. > Could you tell me  a little bit about it please? > Thanks! > > Jan Boyes > Stockton-on-Tees, England. > Jan:        I'm no legal expert, but the Cemeteries Act - or what I think of as such - was passed during the early 1850s to enable local authorities to establish and operate Municipal Cemeteries within their towns.  Once it was passed, various Orders in Council were issued, forbidding, on health grounds, any further interments in the grossly overcrowded parish churchyards within those towns.  That which effectively closed the ancient churchyards of Newcastle, for instance, was issued in 1854, and cemeteries were set up on the then outskirts for each of the four "ancient parishes of the city.        Parish churchyards in towns and cities had become such a scandal well before then that those who could afford it subscribed to a number of private cemeteries, of which Newcastle had the very large one on Jesmond Road (Newcastle General Cemetery, where the wealthier citizens were mainly buried) and also another at the top of Westgate Hill, near the "Big Lamp" (Westgate Cemetery, not to be confused with St John's Cemetery on Westgate Road, one of those established as a result of the Act and of the closure of St John's churchyard).  Newcastle also had other private cemeteries, of longer-standing, such as that at the Ballast Hills, outside the boundaries of the town until the Byker district was added, which began at least 100 years before that, as an unofficial burying place for poor nonconformists, mainly Scottish Presbyterians.  There was also the Jewish cemetery behind Westgate Road, though I'm not sure without looking it up when that began, and various Quaker ones.                           Best wishes,                                     Geoff Nicholson 57 Manor Park, Concord, WASHINGTON, Tyne & Wear NE37 2BU (0191 417 9546) Professional Genealogist - Northumberland and Co Durham.

At 02:31 AM 15/01/2004 -0600, Sarah wrote: > Pelton Fell is in Chester-Le-Street, and so is the Colliery. I'll bet >all of the men were colliers here. http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/p001.htm What a great site! Yes, the NAYLORS were all colliers - no wonder they became miners in Victoria after they emigrated to Australia. Cheers Jan

Hi Sarah, Many thanks for the website. I thought it was Chester-Le-Street but I wasn't sure which church. It looks like "parish church" refers to the Church of England one, ie St Mary and St Cuthbert Cheers Jan ---------------------------- At 02:24 AM 15/01/2004 -0600, Sarah wrote: Could they have meant Chester-Le-Street? http://www.durham.gov.uk/recordoffice/dro.nsf/vwebparishes/chester-le-street +st.+mary+and+st.+cuthbert

Hi all, The marriage certificate of my gg grandparents says they were married in the Parish Church in the Parish of Chester St in the County of Durham: Marriage solemnized in the Parish Church in the Parish of Chester St in the County of Durham Feb 21 1850 Thomas NAYLOR, of full age, bachelor, collier, Pelton Fell, father George NAYLOR, collier Mary Ann LOWES, of full age, spinster, Pelton Fell, father Edward LOWES, collier married in the Parish Church according to the rites and ceremonies of the established church after banns by me Fredric MOULAGE, curate. This marriage was solemnized between us, Thomas NAYLOR and Mary Ann LOWES in the presence of us John Bell LEYTON and John BARNISSE, Parish Clerk Can anyone tell me where this church was located? Cheers Jan Canberra Australia

In a message dated 15/01/2004 21:20:53 GMT Standard Time, nancylong@comcast.net writes: > Need help in how to locate death record for Charles RILEY who appears with > his family on the 1851 Durham, England census in Ebchester Parish, residence > East Law (?). Wife Ellen RILEY is listed as head of household on 1861 > census, St Johns Parish, living at 124 Park St., Darlington, with her > children Julia, Catherine, Marie, George. Also in household are Catherine > MULLEN, grandmother and Margaret HAMILTON, > lodger. I feel Charles may have died between 1851 and 1861 as he does not > appear in later immigration records with the rest of the family. Appreciate > suggestions What was Ellen's marital status in 1861? If it was "widow", then presumably her husband had died by then. What you need to do is (a) seek the reference to the death certificate via FreeBMD (you never know your luck!) and if you cannot find any likely one (ages are not given in the indexes during the 1850s) you will need to get sight of the GRO Quarterly indexes of all deaths in England and/or Wales for the whole period between the censuses (41 indexes) and find him in one of them. If you would be happy with a burial record rather then a death one then you might like to trawl through the registers of the likely churches and municipal cemeteries for that period. The Cemeteries Act was passed about half-way through it, so you would need to take both sorts of burying place into consideration. Other possibilities are (if he was affluent enough) to seek a Will (but the whole system of Probate Courts changed from the mediaeval one to the modern one in 1858), or you could seek something about him in local newspapers - again, there is not likely to be any death notice etc, so his death would only be mentioned if it was the subject of a news story - killed in an accident, perhaps, with a Coroners' Inquest held on the body. You have mentioned two places, Ebchester and Darlington St John's parish, which are at opposite ends of Co Durham. Leaving aside the question of why he should move from one to the other, as you do not mention his occupation, you must take in to consideration that the family may have had several moves, stoppinig off at various places between those two extremes and he could have died at any of them. For that reason I would recopmmend the GRO way forward, as you are covering the whole of the country in one go. Incidentally, East Law is now a small housing development (between the Wars, I'd say from the look of them) about mid-way between Ebchester and S hotley Bridge, on the A694 road. Best wishes, Geoff Nicholson 57 Manor Park, Concord, WASHINGTON, Tyne & Wear NE37 2BU (0191 417 9546) Professional Genealogist - Northumberland and Co Durham.

Need help in how to locate death record for Charles RILEY who appears with his family on the 1851 Durham, England census in Ebchester Parish, residence East Law (?). Wife Ellen RILEY is listed as head of household on 1861 census, St Johns Parish, living at 124 Park St., Darlington, with her children Julia, Catherine, Marie, George. Also in household are Catherine MULLEN, grandmother and Margaret HAMILTON, lodger. I feel Charles may have died between 1851 and 1861 as he does not appear in later immigration records with the rest of the family. Appreciate suggestions. Nancy Long Eighty Four, PA, USA

Hi Frances, Jan from Stockton here! I remember we have been in touch before! A suggestion for you! Why not e-mail the local newspaper that covers Stockton and area? It is called The Evening Gazette, and has a Remember When section in their Saturday evening paper. They also have a separate Remember When magazine, that is very popular! Lots of people put in requests and articles to try and find their ancestors etc! I've just had an article and photo in this last week, on behalf of an American lister, who is on this list!! (Hi, R.J.!!) Below is the postal address and the email address of Chris Rooney, who is the Editor for Remember When. If you have any pictures or stories to tell Remember When, email Chris Rooney or write to him at: Remember When, Evening Gazette, Gazette Buildings, Borough, Middlesbrough, TS1 3AZ. You can also telephone him on 01642 234 270. chris.rooney@eveninggazette.co.uk Best wishes Jan Boyes ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frances Cook" <frances.cook@sympatico.ca> To: <ENG-DURHAM-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 12:45 AM Subject: [ENG-DUR] Callaghan Family > Hi fellow listers. > I am still hoping to find relatives of my father,Francis (Frank) Callaghan > born 26 July 1898. He was sent to Canada in 1911 from an orphanage in > Stockton-on-tees. > His siblings were lice born 1886, Mary Jane b. 1888, Jonathan 1891 and Henry > born 1897. There were two children who died as infants. The parents were > Thomas Callaghan born about 1856 in Consett and Elizabeth Ann Turner b. 1862 > in Blackhill. > I have many certificates and some census which I am willing to share with > anyone researching the same family. > Hoping to hear from someone. > Fran >

In a message dated 15/01/2004 11:04:11 GMT Standard Time, markandjanboyes@ntlworld.com writes: > It is called The Evening Gazette, and has a Remember When section in their > Saturday evening paper. They also have a separate Remember When magazine, > that is very popular! > This is the web site. http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0900expats/rememberwhen/ Regards Stan Mapstone

In message <3.0.6.32.20040115182759.00c61ab8@hawkerc.act.edu.au>, Jan Glasby <jan.glasby@hawkerc.act.edu.au> writes >Hi all, > >The marriage certificate of my gg grandparents says they were married in >the Parish Church in the Parish of Chester St in the County of Durham: > >Can anyone tell me where this church was located? > >Cheers >Jan >Canberra Australia Hello Jan, Here is information on the church and parish <http://website.lineone.net/~pjoiner/genuki/DUR/ChesterleStreet/index.htm l> The church has its own website here <http://www.maryandcuthbert.org.uk/> Regards, -- Helen Oram