[lace] Lacemaking Ancestors Revisited
A big thank you to everyone who replied, either personally or to the list, about my question re lacemaking in Northamptonshire in the 1800s. It is interesting to learn (be reminded of? my memory is lacking these days!) that there was a Northamptonshire lace though I have yet to discover how it differs from Buckinghamshire. It was also lovely to hear about other people's textile-making ancestors. To clarify one item, 'my' branch of the Braybrooks moved from Keyston to Folksworth in Huntingdonshire and being a male relative, the lacemaking wouldn't have gone with him anyway. The family then went further into Huntingdonshire, to Broughton. I sometimes wonder what they would think about my trying to find out about them after all this time and from such a distance. As to the fact that an international discussion went on, electronically, about what type of lace might have been made - and the vast amount of knowledge on the subject of some of you - one can only assume that it would have been completely beyond their ken! Oh, and Adele, your absence from the RAL meeting was noted :-) Regards, Helen (in Vancouver, BC on the west coast of mainland Canada where the earlier cloud has dissipated leaving a lovely clear blue sky and a red sunset) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lacemaking Ancestors?
Jenny wrote: ...1871 census shows very few Braybrooks in Keyston, Ancestry.co.uk has the place name indexed as Keystone, and of the women I looked at by that name I only found one 14yr. old girl as a lacemaker called Braybrook. Other Braybrooks were spread around the area at this census. I think the Genuki page above will tell you the Keyston was absorbed into another village or something as time went on so maybe the Braybrooks were living in the same places as before but the place name had begun to be changed as the village boundary was being re-drawn? These census results show the sad decline of the lace making industry though. Hi: I think the census results also demonstrate how quickly and easily women disappear when they lose their last name through marriage. These women could still have been living in Keyston and making lace but as Mrs. John Smith, not so-and-so Braybrook. Adele North Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lacemaking Ancestors?
Helen wrote, <<Helen, I found this page about Keyston parish Huntingdonshire on the genealogical website Genuki. You might find it interesting to read about the place to help get a feel for where your lacemaking ancestors lived. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/HUN/Keyston/index.html there is a link on this page to a map of the area too. The description of Keyston says it lies on the border of Northamptonshire and it bounded by the old county of Huntingdonshire, It could be that over time, since 1841, the boundaries of the counties have changed and what was once in Northants is now in Hunts and vice versa, there have been a few boundary changes in England over the time. If you scroll down the page past the description you will find other useful information about the place. If you should want to try and find out more the Genuki site is a useful one as it deals with all things genealogical with advice and tips on where to look for your roots etc., for the whole of the UK. the name Genuki stands for GENealogy UK and Ireland www.genuki.org.uk is the home page. I have read, in books on the history of lace making in the East Midlands area, that both Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire lacemakers originally made Point ground laces, as in Bucks Point lace, but as the machine lace came in and became too much competition for the hand made kind, the lacemakers of Bedfordshire began to turn to making the ground with plaits instead of the usual point ground because the plait ground is quicker, and therefore cheaper, to produce. I cannot say whether this is absolutely correct as it is just what I have read in books written by those more knowledgeable than I about lacemaking and it's history. The 1851 census shows 26 Braybrooks at Keyston with the majority of the females amongst them being lacemakers, some of them about 7yrs of age. The 1861 census shows only 20 Braybrooks in Keyston and of the females only a few of the daughters in each family are lacemakers, the wives are mostly noted as Ag, Labs. wives. (Wives of Agricultural Labourers). !871 census shows very few Braybrooks in Keyston, Ancestry.co.uk has the place name indexed as Keystone, and of the women I looked at by that name I only found one 14yr. old girl as a lacemaker called Braybrook. Other Braybrooks were spread around the area at this census. I think the Genuki page above will tell you the Keyston was absorbed into another village or something as time went on so maybe the Braybrooks were living in the same places as before but the place name had begun to be changed as the village boundary was being re-drawn? These census results show the sad decline of the lace making industry though. Regards Jenny DeAngelis. Spain. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE:[lace] Lacemaking Ancestors?
Original message: With the lace list being so quiet just now, I thought I'd tell you about one of my latest genealogical finds. While tracing one family (the Braybrooks) on my Dad's side, I found census records for them in 1841 in Keyston, Huntingdonshire and all the female members of the families (there were several groups) were lacemakers! That means I now have 'race memories' of lacemaking from both sides of the family as my maternal grandmother made lace most of her life though only as a hobby. Clearly I was meant to learn to make lace myself :-) What I don't know is the type of lace that would have been made in Keyston. It is on the border of Northamptonshire but could have been influenced by either Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire. Does anyone have any suggestions to offer? Dear Helen and other spiders 1841 is in any case too early for Bedfordshire lace, which didn't really get going until after 1851, when Maltese lace had wowed everybody at the Great Crystal Palace Exhibition. The lacemakers followed the fashion, copying and adapting it to make "Beds-Maltese" which later, thanks largely to the genius of designer Thomas Lester, became the distinctive Bedfordshire lace we know today. Co-incidentally, "Cranford" is set at the same period - early 1840s. Rightly the lace shown is small scale, Bucks or Mechlin style. Though I do think they might have found a more spectacular piece for the cat the swallow - that after all was meant to be a priceless 18th century antique! Happy lacing Bridget, in Watford, England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lacemaking Ancestors?
Hello Adele My lace research mainly covers Northants but I've looked at the map for Keyston and it is virtually surrounded by towns/villages where lace was made - Thrapston, Raunds, Ringstead, Rushden, Kimbolton, Catworth and is not too far from Wellingborough where it is believed the Luton sheets originated from at the beginning of the 19th century - but is nowhere near Tiffield! Also its not far from the border with Bedfordshire and early in the 20th century Harry Armstrong of the Bucks Cottage Workers Agency had workers over the border in Hunts. I did a Google search but not much there except I noticed it was on a toll Road and had a toll house. It is also close to an old Roman road - the A1 - which meant that any dealer coming from London would have an fairly straightforward journey. Though not very good this site will give you some idea what the village is/was like. http://www.huntsdc.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C7D16423-1FFE-4A2C-BE9D-17EBC06E7277/0/Keyston_Character_Statement.pdf I'll look see if there's anything of interest in my 'archive' and get back to you if I find anything. Diana in Northants - Original Message - From: "Adele Shaak" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Lace" Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 2:33 AM Subject: Re: [lace] Lacemaking Ancestors? While tracing one family (the Braybrooks) on my Dad's side, I found census records for them in 1841 in Keyston, Huntingdonshire and all the female members of the families (there were several groups) were lacemakers! What I don't know is the type of lace that would have been made in Keyston. It is on the border of Northamptonshire but could have been influenced by either Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire. Does anyone have any suggestions to offer? Ahhh, Helen, what we really need to know is, - how far is Keyston from Tiffield? :-) In Jackson's "History of Hand-Made Lace", regarding Northamptonshire laces, she says in part "...The patterns were taken from those of Lille and Mechlin, hence the laces of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire are often called "English Lille." (P. 184) The outbreak of the war with France gave a great impulse to the lace trade of Northampton, as it closed our ports to the French laces. From that time a sort of fausse Valenciennes, called locally "French ground," has been made. Valenciennes as fine as any made in Hainault was also made until the cessation of the war. The lace is still [1900] in Tiffield and other lace-making districts of the county." I wonder if your 1841 ancestors would have been influenced by the laces made during the French wars, but 1815 to 1841 is only 26 years, and 26 years ago, today, is only 1981. I can well imagine someone making the laces of 1981 in 2007. Adele Very close to you, in North Vancouver, BC and sorry to have missed the RAL meeting today. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lacemaking Ancestors?
While tracing one family (the Braybrooks) on my Dad's side, I found census records for them in 1841 in Keyston, Huntingdonshire and all the female members of the families (there were several groups) were lacemakers! What I don't know is the type of lace that would have been made in Keyston. It is on the border of Northamptonshire but could have been influenced by either Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire. Does anyone have any suggestions to offer? Ahhh, Helen, what we really need to know is, - how far is Keyston from Tiffield? :-) In Jackson's "History of Hand-Made Lace", regarding Northamptonshire laces, she says in part "...The patterns were taken from those of Lille and Mechlin, hence the laces of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire are often called "English Lille." (P. 184) The outbreak of the war with France gave a great impulse to the lace trade of Northampton, as it closed our ports to the French laces. From that time a sort of fausse Valenciennes, called locally "French ground," has been made. Valenciennes as fine as any made in Hainault was also made until the cessation of the war. The lace is still [1900] in Tiffield and other lace-making districts of the county." I wonder if your 1841 ancestors would have been influenced by the laces made during the French wars, but 1815 to 1841 is only 26 years, and 26 years ago, today, is only 1981. I can well imagine someone making the laces of 1981 in 2007. Adele Very close to you, in North Vancouver, BC and sorry to have missed the RAL meeting today. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: SPAM-LOW: [lace] Lacemaking Ancestors?
:))) There's actually a Northhampton lace. It quite resembles Bucks. There are two wonderful examples on the cover the the paperback edition of Palliser. If you do not have a copy write back and I'll send a scan of the cover. Kate Henry Indiana USA - Original Message - From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Lace" Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 5:13 PM Subject: SPAM-LOW: [lace] Lacemaking Ancestors? With the lace list being so quiet just now, I thought I'd tell you about one of my latest genealogical finds. While tracing one family (the Braybrooks) on my Dad's side, I found census records for them in 1841 in Keyston, Huntingdonshire and all the female members of the families (there were several groups) were lacemakers! That means I now have 'race memories' of lacemaking from both sides of the family as my maternal grandmother made lace most of her life though only as a hobby. Clearly I was meant to learn to make lace myself :-) What I don't know is the type of lace that would have been made in Keyston. It is on the border of Northamptonshire but could have been influenced by either Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire. Does anyone have any suggestions to offer? Happy lacing, Helen (in sunny Vancouver, BC on the west coast of mainland Canada where the local mountains are getting a fine sprinkling of snow to add to the beauty of the place) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lacemaking Ancestors?
With the lace list being so quiet just now, I thought I'd tell you about one of my latest genealogical finds. While tracing one family (the Braybrooks) on my Dad's side, I found census records for them in 1841 in Keyston, Huntingdonshire and all the female members of the families (there were several groups) were lacemakers! That means I now have 'race memories' of lacemaking from both sides of the family as my maternal grandmother made lace most of her life though only as a hobby. Clearly I was meant to learn to make lace myself :-) What I don't know is the type of lace that would have been made in Keyston. It is on the border of Northamptonshire but could have been influenced by either Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire. Does anyone have any suggestions to offer? Happy lacing, Helen (in sunny Vancouver, BC on the west coast of mainland Canada where the local mountains are getting a fine sprinkling of snow to add to the beauty of the place) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
