Jim and Lady the Great Dane.My Great Grandfather, then was James Sennett. The prayer on his funeral card seems suited to our task here:
"We have loved him in life, let us not forget him in death."He was a devout Catholic, though not born as one. He converted to Catholicism prior to his marriage with Lizzie Fitzpatrick at St Charles RC church in Tudhoe, Co. Durham.
We actually know rather little about our James. We know that he was born in Co. Durham, in around 1892 (we know he was 9 years old at the time of the 1901 census). He worked as a miner (which pits exactly, I don't know). In 1913, Jim married Lizzie Fitzpatrick of Tudhoe and they lived, at first, at the Willis' farm down at Tudhoe Mill. Later they moved to a small house in Tudhoe Village.
He was very physically fit, which made his last few years especially hard, I would guess - he was ill with poor lungs due to his work in the mines. He died 27th January 1958, aged 66. He is remembered as an older man, "pretty housebound with the dread miner's disease. Actually, I never thought of him as ill because he always had time for us and was good company as he sat quietly peeling tons of spuds in a bucket from his seat by the fireside."
See this post to find out more about his wife Lizzie, here for a post on his parents and siblings, and here for posts on his children, Austin, Jack and Mary (I'm descended from Mary).
James' father was the miner William Sennett, and his mother was William's second wife - we think her name was perhaps Jane, or Ann. He had an older half-brother, and 7 other brothers and sisters. He was brought up in the Coundon/ Willington area of Co. Durham - in the 1901 census it is recorded that he was born in Witton Park, but living in Byers Green then.
***LATEST***
I now have seen James' birth certificate, and it tells the following:
Born April 8th, 1891, at 21, King St., Witton Park (link here for pages about the village; map linked here - although King St is no longer there, only the Queen St survives) and his father was the Coal miner William Sennett. He has made his mark, rather than signing his name.
Confusion reigns, however, when we find his Mother's name is Emily Sennett nee McGUIRE (although that's not very clear, I could be wrong there. Some records suggest she was a McQuire). Well, I'll be! I wanted clarity, and all I have here is mud. Need to delve into the records a bit more there.
It immediately raises the question of whether we truly have our James in this birth certificate. In all the indices I have seen (i.e. lists of those born in 1890-93), there is only one James Sennett who seems right, but now I need to take time to check out the others - James Dudley Sinnett born Haverfordwest in 1890 (too early) and James Sinnet born Tynemouth, 1891. I tend to believe the first choice is the right one, however, as it is backed up by the details of James' birth given in the 1901 Census (i.e. Witton Park).
Also - now found records of the marriage of William Sennet & Emily McGuire in the Auckland area, in the September quarter of 1883. Look to the post Sennett Elders for more on James' parents.
In the photo below, Jim is thought to be 21 years old. Or maybe it was taken in 1921. But he looks far too young for that!!
Kind of ethereal, this one.
Next, here's a lovely photo, they have dressed up SO smartly to visit the studio for this one! It was taken in the 1918...perhaps that's what people did when the war ended??Left to Right: Jack (aged 18 months), James Sennett, Austin (aged 4) and Lizzie. My Gran arrived a few years later.
The photo on the right shows (left to right) our Mary Sennett, with her parents Lizzie and James Sennett. You're all leaning slightly to the left now?I'm guessing this would be the year 1934 - so that Mary would be about 11, starting school. Then Lizzie here would be aged about 46, James around 43?
Can we make an educated guess about which pit James would have worked in? Listed below are the nearest pits to his home. (Details from Dmm.org.uk - a link here to a complete list of coal mines in Durham in the year 1914, and then a link here for a large list of all the mines within 5 miles of the Tudhoe Grange Colliery)
Brandon
Brancepeth
Byers Green, Spennymoor
Croxdale
Chilton pit, Ferryhill
Dean & Chapter pit, Ferryhill
Fishburn, Ferryhill
Spennymoor
Tudhoe Colliery
Tudhoe Grange Colliery
Hunwick pit, Willington
Hmm, perhaps a guess is out of the question, then...!
I hope to be able to add more to this page - do help out if you can?!
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