Family History Research

All sorts of interesting facts turn up when I research my family history.

The latest I have discovered is regarding one of my Great Grandfathers’ families. According to the 1871 census, the remarks against his elder brother state ‘Born Idiot’ and the same remark is also applied to his younger brother! My great grandfather was an agricultural worker. (his father was a shoemaker who also ran a small farm). Great grandfather eventually left the farm and became landlord of a Public house.

Ten years later, on the 1881 census, his elder brother is now described as a ‘harmless’ lunatic, unable to work, his younger brother is no more (died in 1880 at age 18) but he now has a younger sister who is also described as a ‘lunatic, unable to work’.

What makes this more odd is that there is actually a column on the census form to highlight persons who are either:- (1) Deaf and Dumb, (2) Blind, (3) Imbecile or Idiot and (4) Lunatic. I wonder if there were a lot of these in the 19th Century. I also wonder who made the distinction between an Imbecile an Idiot and a Lunatic.

I'm worried now in case the ‘Lunatic’ Gene will reappear at some time in future in my family.

Another of my Great Grandfathers worked in a railway works but had an accident in which he lost his leg and he was fitted with a wooden leg. It didn’t seem to impede his progress through life too much, as he eloped with a young lady on the day she was due to get married to someone else, but they later returned to the town where he set up a photography business and a bakery as well as having several children.

Great Grandfather number three apparently worked in a brewery until he got the sack for excessive drinking and then became a milkman. Great granddad number four had a fairly normal life as a Coalminer in North East England.