Genealogy Chat

in a mo

I know Suffolk was hard hit by the agricultural slump after 1880 but .... The Suffolk families in which I have an interest seem to fail to breed after the ladies(?) reach the age of about 20. Quite often it seems the family almost dies out completely - perhaps just one son or daughter continues the line. The Yorkshire builders seem to do slightly better at surviving. Both sides appear to have no difficulty at breeding before marriage. What are your views and experiences please? Clive

Clive Not Suffolk, but I have noticed the same thing in my family, from the mid 1800s onwards. Most of the women just didnt marry, don't know why. And of the men who did, they had only small families, or none at all. To the point where my family line is almost extinct, and the surname is now carried by only one family on my line. OC

On my mother's side of the family, all the interesting surnames died out because the couples only seemed to produce girls, or the male children failed to marry or reproduce. Hence, my Quintrells, Purkises, Jeffcoats, Bonds, etc (in my immediate tree) are no more! My uncle even wrote a poem about it for a family reunion over 30 years ago entitled 'Ode to the Quintrells' bemoaning the demise of the surnames!

I have a lot of Suffolk ancestry. Most of them managed to breed. Two of my main lines had families of 11 and 14 children in the 1800's. However, whole families seem to have been wiped out to TB so don't know if that had anything to do with the slump. Cheers, Horatia

You might doubt the 'dying out' theory if you look at Cattermole born Suffolk 1810 +-10 but .... My particular version had enough children by 1834 but by 1900 there were no Cattermoles from the special village left. This was despite the girlies having children of unspecified fathers!! (One of these also had a girl of unspecified father and it is from her the numerous family of different names stem.) Clive Clive

Also in Suffolk, my great grandfather had six brothers, none of whom appear to have had children. He had four sons and two daughters but none of the sons had children. I've often thought this to be very strange and think I must be lucky to be here at all. Jane

Clive I have a hobby tree which revolves around an individual named Timothy Holden, born in 1700. He had 15 children, who presented him with over 150 grandchildren, who had nearly 1000 children between them, and those children had at least 5,000 children... But there is now only ONE male direct descendant of Timothy that I know of. the rest have either died out, or been dispersed into the female line. I read somewhere - don't ask me where - that on average, a family name survives 6 generations and then vanishes (from one particular line, that is) OC

Hi OC The Buckle line has exceeded the six without difficulties - and spread like the plague too! Initially they were wheelwrights before moving on to become joiners in the building trade. Clive

Clive, My Suffolk Cattermoles seemed to have a lot of girls, but they lived to a ripe old age. Many moved to London I think. Did your lot come from Swefling? The other Suffolk family I have, the Baggotts (that my Cattermole married into) all lived to a very old age, once past childhood, My gg grandfather Baggott was 90 and still running a shop when his shop was bombed and he was killed. maggie

Yes Maggie they are Sweffling Cattermoles Joseph Cattermole who married Elizabeth Denny. We visited the church there that has copies of its registers but too early in this ancestors game to copy enough of it. Clive

Hi Clive, My mum, sister & I went up to Suffolk 6 years ago, went to the church and copied the registers - unfortunately they're on my other computer. when I get time, and my backside into gear I'll send them to you. What was really interesting about the church were the two ladies arranging the flowers!! They told us that THAT church (can't remember the name) where the Cattermoles worshipped was the Royalist church. The other church further down the village was where Cromwells supporters worshipped!! maggie

Are you in contact with anyone on the http://www.suffolk-surnames-list(.)co.uk/ re that part of your family?

Clive, I got my backside into gear and have PM'd you. Also just realised my Cattermoles moved to Leiston and became Agricultural fitters during the Ag revolution - making the implements that put them out of a job!! maggie

To illustrate OC's point about names dying out..........my son will be the last of our branch of my surname. My father had only one sibling.......a brother; he produced one son, who died, childless, in 2002. My son and his wife do not want children. I have yet to find any other male line descendants of my paternal great-grandfather. Reg

My g grandparents had 10 children - 5 boys and 5 girls. Boy No 1 died in infancy Boy No 2 had 'special needs' and never married Boy No 3 had daughters Boy No 4 was killed in the war - his wife had a stillborn girl Boy No 5 had a son - he's gay!!! So no more of that family name - the twig has snapped!! maggie

Thanks Maggie and Maid Marion. Convalescence is over. Have spent some of today renovating a chair which has been on hold whilst I was in hospital and so on. Just reading the boards does not take too much effort - except when arguing with OC or falling about with laughter at that thread about what things ancestors must do to confuse their descendents. Clive