North British Accents

One of my first jobs was with British Sugar in Norfolk. I remember a time when I travelled to Newcastle with a colleague who had a strong Norfolk accent. Near our destination, somewhere between the Tees and the Tyne, he stopped to ask directions, and neither he nor the road-workers could understand each other's accents! I was, however, able to translate for us. And I wonder sometimes how my ancestors would have sounded, our accents separated by both time and distance, and whether I could understand their speech.

The previous post established a strong (no pun intended!) likelihood that the father of Joseph Strong ("Master Steem Boat", and my 3x great grandfather) is John Strong (formerly Keelman, and later Steam Boat Owner). John Strong would be husband of, first, Elizabeth Fairs, the mother of Joseph, and three brothers; and, second, Hannah Elliot, mother of nine children.

 

The hypothesized life of John Strong runs as follows:
       born about 1772 in Ryton, Durham (according to his marriage to Elizabeth Fairs)
              or Newburn, Northumberland (according to his 1851 England Census);
       marries 1. Elizabeth Fairs in Newburn, Northumberland, near Scotswood 1796;
              they have four children in Newburn;
       widowed between 1807 and 1813
       marries 2. Hannah Elliot and moves to Heworth (near Felling Shore), Durham before 1814
              they have eight children in Heworth, Durham;
       moves to Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, between 1830 and 1838;
              they have one more child, born in Middlesbrough;
       moves once more after 1851 to Birkenhead, Cheshire;
       dies 10 March 1858 in Birkenhead.

The data so far are consistent with this sequence of events. But just to complicate things, parents John and Ann Strong baptize a daughter, Ann, at Newburn on 18 Dec 1796, so likely there is more than one John Strong around in Newburn in the 1790s.

In effect, there are two sets of data, one for a family of John Strong and Elizabeth Fairs, and another for a family of John Strong and Hannah Elliot. This post details the evidence of their sharing the same John Strong.

 

First, John Strong, stepson of Hannah Elliot (1861 England Census), to John Strong, son of Elizabeth Fairs (1801 baptism) share the following:
       (1.) name (John Strong);
       (2.) year of birth (1801, consistent with infant baptism);
       (3.) place of birth (Scotswood, Northumberland).

Connecting this with my ancestry, obviously Joseph Strong of the 1807 baptism is a brother of John Strong of the 1801 baptism. This Joseph Strong and the census returns for my 3x great grandfather share:
       (1.) name (Joseph Strong);
       (2.) consistent year of birth (about 1807, consistent with infant baptism);
       (3.) place of birth on censuses is Heworth, Durham (1851) and Felling Shore (1871),
              which, while not identical to the baptism - given as Scotswood - is consistent with
              a supposed upbringing in Heworth.

In addition the Joseph of the census returns is connected with this supposed family of John and

Hannah (Elliot) Strong in the following ways:
       (1.) his Steam Tug work;
       (2.) moves out of Middlesbrough around the same time.

Second, around this time I was looking for a death record for John's first wife Elizabeth Fairs, which has presumably occured between 1807 (when Joseph was born to Elizabeth) and 1814 (when Elizabeth was born to Hannah). I followed up on a lead on a private tree on ancestry, and was not disappointed. The tree's owner, Judith from Wirral, Merseyside kindly sent me this photograph of a headstone at St Mary's Heworth, Durham. This is the resting place of Elizabeth Fairs, wife of John Strong, and mother of William (1798), John (1801), Anthony (1803), and Joseph (1807) of the baptisms at Newburn, Northumberland, previously cited.

The elements have damaged the left side of the inscription in particular, and here is
a transcript of what we can read, or infer.

       SACRED
       to the Memory of ELIZABETH, wife of JOHN STRONG

       […Daug]hter of WILLIAM FAIRS,
       […died] Jan. 11, 1812, aged 34 years.
       [… HI]S SON DIED JUNE 12, 1817 AGED
       19 YEARS.
       [… H]ENRY HIS SON DIED YOUNG.
       […] above WILLIAM FAIRS
       [w]ho died Feb. 5, 1836, aged 81 Years.
       ANTHONY SON OF THE ABOVE
       JOHN STRONG
       DIED APRIL 6TH 1850 aged 47 Years

This further narrows down John's move from Northumberland, since Elizabeth was buried in Durham in 1812. The headstone appears to have been inscribed in the order in which the various deaths occurred, except Henry's for which no date is given, but which presumably occurred between 1817 and 1836. Presumably, those memorialized are:
       Elizabeth Strong (nee Fairs), abt 1778 to 11 Jan 1812, wife of John Strong
       [...Hi]s Son must be William Strong, abt 1798 to 12 Jun 1812, son of John and Elizabeth
       Henry Strong, August 1819 to November 1819, son of John and Hannah*
       William Fairs, abt 1745 to 5 Feb 1836, father of Elizabeth Fairs
       Anthony Strong, abt 1803 to 6 April 1850, son of John and Elizabeth

*Heworth parish records have young Henry baptized (15 days old) on 22 Aug 1819, and buried (aged 15 weeks) 16 Nov 1819.

Thus, children of John and Elizabeth are buried with children of John and Hannah, indicative that the father is the same John Strong.
      
We can now account for the births and deaths of all four sons of John Strong and Elizabeth Fairs, baptized in Newburn, Northumberland:
       William Strong, born in 1798 died - on the headstone - in 1817, aged 19 years.
       John Strong, born in 1801 would be Hannah’ stepson in the 1861 England
       Census, and BMD Death Index has:
              John Strong Sep1866 Birkenhead 8a 269 Age:65.
       Anthony Strong, born in 1803 - on the headstone - in 1850, aged 47 years.
       Curiously, the BMD Death Index has no death registration, although the parish
       does have a burial record; according to law, it was illegal to bury someone
       without a death certificate or coroner’s order.

       Joseph Strong, born 1807 is the 1851 Census “Master Steem Boat” in
       Middlesbrough, and BMD Death Index has:
              Joseph Strong Mar1879 Market Drayton 6a 642 age:73
              (where his daughter lived at the time).
 

Third, while, this in itself is compelling evidence for the family as we have reconstructed it, in addition, we can look back at Robert Strong’s birth registration in Greenock. In this document, the mother of Robert is given as Susannah Strong, formerly Hughes (when we would have expected Jane Strong, formerly hughes) and the informant is Susannah Redhead, listed as Robert’s cousin. Judith is a Redhead family genealogist. She suggested that the informant is Susanna Nurser (1822-1890), wife of William Redhead (1818-1881). From the tree she has researched, William Redhead's mother is Dorothy Elliot, sister of Hannah Elliot, wife of John Strong. Census returns show William and Susanna Redhead living in Greenock around the time of Robert’s birth.

Thus Joseph Strong and William Redhead are first cousins, or rather step-cousins. And, it is in this sense that Susannah Redhead can claim to be Robert Strong’s cousin (she is married to his 1st step-cousin once removed!). This last piece of data corroborates the link between our Joseph Strong, "Master Steem Boat" and the other children of John Strong, Sr. by both Elizabeth Fairs and Hannah Elliot. And it also confirms that this record belongs to our Robert Strong. The substitution of Susannah for Jane as the given name of Robert’s mother is probably a clerical error, and I wonder if Susannah's Middlesbrough accent and the clerk's Glaswegian were mutually confusing!