View Article

Don't Ignore The Promptings

by Carol Spillar

Article ID: 42, First Published: May 2007

Are you in the mood for a story?

We each have at least one to tell, and here is one of mine.

Are you sitting comfortably?

In September last year I visited the yearly genealogical fair held in the North East of England, and after the usual quick survey to orientate myself I began to investigate the various stalls row by row.

Among these were County Record Offices, General Register Office, Genealogical Magazines and other specialised subjects.

It was in the latter category that I came across ‘ The Hughes Collection ‘

The photographer Joseph Hughes opened a Bromsgrove studio in Worcester in June 1897 and over ten years built up a catalogue of at least 2,000 glass negatives from the Victorian and Edwardian period.

These were passed to a local historian and over the last two years they have been scanned and formed into a searchable gallery archive.

I found the examples on display delightful and the name of the photographer seemed vaguely familiar.

When I returned home I searched through my inherited ancestral photographs and there, sure enough, was a family photograph of the George William Ellis Robson family taken by the same photographer.

I searched the Hughes website to see if this photograph was there and an hour later I found it.

George William Ellis Robson was the brother of my great grandmother Anne Ellis Robson. He was born in South Shields, County Durham. A Tailor by trade, he moved from Durham to Bromsgrove and brought his family up in that area.

I also found a photograph of his eldest daughter on the site, and I have since obtained a copy of this.

My family photograph stayed on display for months and I bored my family with the story (and anyone within snatching distance)

After a while I forgot about the photograph but it stayed where I had placed it.

A few weeks ago I was unwell and took three days of rest and recuperation. During this time I caught up with some reading and pondering.

One morning after a restless night I awoke to hear the loud clear song of a blackbird outside my window. I listened to the song as I watched the sun rise and I was struck by the permanence of nature and the land. It came to me that no matter what troubles or illness befall us nature fulfils the measure of its creation, and there is a comfort in that.

My thoughts drifted to my ancestors and I felt sure that the comfort of a new day would also have held healing for them as they triumphed over the inevitable illness and death that were a common feature in those days.

I went back to bed, continuing to ponder, with thoughts curling like smoke in all directions, and it came to me that I had never looked for Thomas Robson the grandfather of Ann Ellis Robson on the 1841 census. I didn’t need to because I had found the family on later census ,and had, I thought, all the facts.

After a good search on the computer, I found them with an additional child Frances Ellis Robson aged 10 years (born about 1830), who was unknown to me.
I then searched:

IGI and found her birth and details of an 1892 death.
For the death and found her married name
For the marriage and found her husband
The census and found her children
Marriages again and found one of her children married
AND SO IT WENT ON!

Now in tune with the Robson family I felt prompted to go and get the photograph of George William Ellis Robson and his family. This was two generations forward from the 1841 Robson census entry which I had just found.

The name Robson is very common in the North of England and because of this I had not previously found the children’s births, my original photograph had the first names (nicknames) of the family written on the back , so nothing ventured , I searched for their birth entries in the indexes and this time found every one. Encouraged by this success I took up another photograph of yet another brother, Jack Ellis Robson with his wife and three daughters and the same thing happened all over again, the names and entries just jumped from the pages. I was ecstatic, within the space of a few hours I had located so much information.

I reflected upon the events leading up to that moment.

The genealogical fair and my interest in the newly created photographic database.
The discovery of my ancestral photographs online and the renewed interest this generated in research of the Robson family.
The strong connection I felt with my Robson ancestors one morning which led to a dawn research session with wonderful results

I have taken this experience as a warning, sometimes my life is so busy that I can miss things, I do not take enough time to think, there are hints and prompts all around regarding our ancestors and I really do believe that they wish to be found and identified.

If you have ancestors who lived in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire between 1897-early 1900’s you may like to view this site and if you do find anyone please let me know.

http://www.thehughescollection.co.uk/about.htm