52 ancestors Week 41 (Oct. 11-17): Changes

 Week 41 (Oct. 11-17): Changes

This is going to be a general post and not about 1 person.

Each and every one of us has been through some “changes” in our life. Our ancestors would have been no exception to this, and in some ways may have dealt with more “changes” than us alive today.

The image left is taken off the internet and lists what “change” means. It covers many different things and can be used in many different ways.

Linked to my family and ancestors one of the biggest “changes” has been linked to religion. By this I don’t mean that they have “changed” religion (although some did) but in terms of religious beliefs. My 2x Great Grandparents (Robert Lackey and Mary Jane Jackson) were Irish and moved to England in 1870. They were very religious people. All of the family were married in a church, went to church regularly, the men were servers and church bearers, they all helped with church events like garden fates (ladies included), the children were linked to Sunday school and had bibles, some of them were involved in the choirs and many were buried in the church yard or attached graveyard. Robert and Mary actually left money to the church towards the upkeep of their grave – when I visited it in 2006 their grave was clean and shiny and had no weeds etc – the rest of graveyard was in a bad way. No other living ancestors are in the area and I messaged the church about their grave and was told it was due to the money they had left. Many of their children continued the religious lifestyle and passed it down to their children. This has now phased out. My Grandfather was still in the local choir up to his death and my Dad went to church occasionally. Myself and sister did go when we were little but as we got older were given the choice to go or not – we don’t. And likewise my children have had the option but none are interested.

Another big “change” that has taken place is the number of children born to each family. Many of my early ancestors (1800’s) had in excess of 6 or 7 children, with a few having 12 or 13. This has come down and many now days only have 2 or 3.

There has been “changes” in occupation as well. Many of my ancestors (male) followed the line of work of their fathers. The above Lackey family were boot & shoe makers, Roberts father was a boot & shoe maker, as was Robert and many of his sons and nephews also did this. 1 of his grandsons knew the trade but didn’t keep it up all his life. This is just 1 line that shows it, others include the farmers and agricultural labourers who also passed down their occupation. There has been “changes” linked to the ladies as well, in the 1800’s their occupations were mainly as housework, cooking and raising the children or doing this linked to another house as housekeeper/laundry woman or servant. Today many of the ladies have had or still do have proper jobs in offices, schools etc.

Fashion and clothing has seen lots of “changes” over the years. I look at photos of what people wore and have had thoughts of “did you really wear that” and “I don’t think I would like to wear that”. I’m pretty sure that if they could see what we wear today they would have similar thoughts. As much as I love the big flowing Victorian dresses I wouldn’t have liked to wear them – I don’t wear skirts and dresses very often.

Transport has “changed” as well. Going back in time most of agricultural labourers (and other ancestors) would have had horses as the main mode of transport and only the elite few would have had cars as they were expensive. This has “changed” to the majority have cars and only the few who can afford them have horses – more as a hobby than mode of transport though.

I am sure that there will be many more “changes” in the future as well.