Let Me Introduce You; Robert Owen Roberts Part 2

 In 1901, a 44 year old widowed Robert was working in the coal mine “on (the) pit bank,” while living with his daughter Margaret, son Hugh and step son John(470).  Fifteen year-old Hugh(463) was working as an “office boy” at the “post” while John(470) was working as a “cabinetmaker.” 

The last census record we have of Robert Owen, is in 1901 when he is living with his married daughter Margaret, her husband and family.  Robert Owen continues at age 54 to work in the “colliers” as a “labourer (sic).”  In addition to Robert living with Margaret and her family, his stepson John lives with them continuing his work as a “cabinetmaker.”

Robert Owen Roberts(7) died in 1922 in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England at the age of 66 years old.

According to family stories, Robert’s deafness was the reason he did not immigrate with the rest of the family.  It was probably difficult for Robert to remain in Staffordshire and have his family immigrate without him.  When the Hugh(1) & Margaret(2) Roberts’ family immigrated Robert’s two children were very small and they never saw either of their grandparents again.  Hugh(463) would only have been 2 years old and Margaret(460) would only have been 7 years old.  That was probably very difficult for their grandparents to have to leave the small children knowing they would never see them again.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking Where They Walked: Park Hotel

Image
Park Hotel, Rock Springs, Wyoming, September 2013, RR&B 19 Elk Street, Rock Springs, Sweetwater, Wyoming The Park Hotel opened in 1914 and was the hub of Western Wyoming until the late 1950’s. It was the largest and most modern hotel in the city. Advertisements boasted of hot and cold water in each of its 38 rooms, twenty of which had private baths and toilets. The fourth floor was added in the 1920’s. The Park Hotel catered to commercial men and automobile tourists traveling the Lincoln Highway. The hotel had a boisterous barroom and a sedate restaurant with sparking white table cloths. Rock Springs Miner, 30 January 1914, page 1, Wyoming Newspaper Project online. One memory of the Park Hotel, is related by Thomas P. Cullen, “One summer afternoon while walking up Elk Street toward the C Street Crossing, my attention was drawn to the small crowd assembled near the north end of the Park Hotel. A slight man, of short stature, stood rolling up his pantlegs...
Read more

What is a mortcloth?

A mortcloth, or pall, is a funeral cloth used to cover a coffin in the funeral ceremony or the deceased prior to burial.   The deceased’s family usually rented a mortcloth from the local church and after each use, the fabric was washed and readied for use again.   The word comes from the Latin word “pallium” meaning cloak. The Mortcloth case of 1792 begins:   “ For many centuries, and probably up to the 20th, the Church of Scotland was the sole supplier of mortcloths.   As the name would suggest, they were cloths used to cover the dead prior to burial, and after use, were washed ready for rehire. The Church hired these for a few pence, or in some cases loaned out these cloths, until the time of the funeral. The revenue raised by this service, typically around £40 pa, was distributed to the poor of the parish at frequent intervals.”   In the late 1780’s a local Society of Colliers decided to purchase and rent out their own mortcloths preventing the loc...
Read more

Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales

Image
Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagillt) The parish of Bagillt was gazetted on 23 May 1844, having been created from the townships of Bagillt Fawr, Bagillt Fechan, Coleshill Fawr and Coleshill Fechan, which were formerly in the parish of Holywell. It is located in the Northern part of Wales. (Genuki, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/FLN/Bagillt/index.html)   The 1841 British Census finds Margaret(2) Roberts, aged four years living with her parents and siblings in Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales. In 1831, J. Poole penned: "Bagillt is a bustling place, and will continue so, as long as her smelting and coal works go on in their present prosperous state. Well conducted boats go from this place to Chester every day; with a favorable wind, these little barks make the 17 or 18 miles in little more than two hours."   (J. Poole, Gleanings of the histories of Holywell, Flint, St. Asaph and Rhuddlan, 1831 as qtd.  in http://www.genuk...
Read more