His brothers and sisters are discussed in this post...First of all his older step-siblings who were mentioned in the post "Sennett Elders". (That post also introduced the parents; William, Deborah and Emily Sennett.) Then I also introduce James' full siblings.
James' step-brother John (Jack) Sennett
William Sennett was first married to Deborah Smurthwaite, and they had a son John Sennett who was born in County Durham in 1878. We know that he married & had several children, and that he worked as a miner.
Conjecture on the details is available in this other post here, but it's developing nicely!
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James' step-sister Jane Ann Sennett
You'll see in an earlier post that there is evidence that John had a full sister, too. Her name (Jane Ann, born around 1881 - the year before her mother died) is recorded in the 1891 Census, but it may be that she died at the age of 13 {it's still to be confirmed that that 1893 death certificate is definitely hers, or what fate befell her}. I know very little about her, as you see!
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After the death of John & Jane's mother Deborah, William married Emily. They went on to have the following children, including our James.
It is a lovely point to mention that William & Emily's first child, Deborah, may well have been named for her father's first wife (the late Deborah Smurthwaite) though of course that's just speculation.
James' Sisters - Motorbikers or Mediums?
Deborah (born 1887), Bella (born 1893), Mary (born 1900), Annie (born 1905).
His sisters Bella and Mary were particularly well-remembered as they rode motorcycles! (possibly Aunt Debra, too) I've put all the details I have so far about each lady in the sections below.
Some pictures below of two of them (which? - it's lost in the mists of time) with their leathers on, some classic style from the 1920's and 1930's seen in their hats & shoes. They are remembered "roaring down the village, being fun visitors, and roaring off again!"
Here's a fantastically dramatic shot (for the time!) of several of my Gran's Aunts. You may note that they are labelled as 'possibly Ransons' - but we now think these are the Sennett Aunts. As to which is which...
I've had a great deal of luck recently to make contact with descendants of Mary, Sarah and Deborah Sennett, and they have passed on some more details about James' sisters to me. I'm very grateful to them for all their assistance!
One of my favourite photos Pat sent us was this one, which shows the sisters Belle, Nan, and Peg {Mary} (no Deborah this time). Really not sure what year it was taken, can we guess at Forties?
Deborah Sennett
Deborah Sennett is remembered as a pianist, also a spiritualist. I have a note - perhaps she lived in 'Harrow Mede'?? And she married Joe Richardson... or she married Joe & had a son called Richard??!! I have looked in the marriage records for the Auckland area - Deborah Sennett married Joseph Richardson in 1909. Lovely.
I have made contact with a descendant of hers, thanks again to Genes Reunited. Hello to Carol & Phil!
They tell me that Deborah (1886 - 1968) married Joseph Richardson, a Durham lad born in 1888. He died in 1957, having worked as a miner. After redundancy, he trained to work as a piano teacher.
They married in 1909 and had 3 children, Isabel, Ronald & Denis who were born in the Byers Green area. The 1911 Census shows the couple living on School St., Byers Green, with just young Isabel. Joseph was working as a Hewer.
The children all looked very similar; in fact Isabel has been described as looking like "Denis in a dress", which doesn't sound too flattering! She is also remembered for being terrifically houseproud.
It was interesting to hear from Carol & Phil (Denis' son), who had some new details which they have been generous in sharing with me. Those of you who have read my post on Deborah's parents (her father was the miner William Sennett) will know that there is a lot of confusion over her mother's name. From Carol & Phil we have another suggestion - 'Mary'! That is how Denis remembered his grandmother's name!
I mention elsewhere about the musicianship in the Sennetts - we remembered Deborah as no exception to this, and Carol now tells me that Deborah played the violin. Her husband Joseph taught others to play piano, and their daughter Isabel was also a pianist.
Isabella Sennett
I didn't know much at all about Bella... until relatives of her younger sister Mary got in touch!Census records tell us that Isabella was born in ~1894, in Sunnybrow. A possible record of her birth registered in the Auckland area, 1896; as Sarah Isabel Sennett. Or - more likely as Isabel Sennett in the Auckland area, 1893. A record exists of the marriage of Sarah I. Sennett, in 1916 to a gent named Richard W. Rutter (Auckland, Co. Durham)... was this her?... No, it seems that was a cousin of hers.
Mary's family remember that Belle had kept a boarding house of some sort up North. She closed it down and moved down to Walsall to be near Mary (known as Peg). Her husband was named Willitts and was a good mechanic. We know that Belle was married to John Willitts before the Autumn of 1919 (they were the witnesses then at her sister's marriage). I haven't found any reference to their marriage in the English records; perhaps there's a mispelling, or perhaps Bella married twice?
Belle and her husband had no children of their own. However, they did adopt a son called Harold as a baby. Here's a lovely photo from the 1964 wedding of Harold Willitts, in which we see Belle on the far right, and Peg (Mary) next to her. (We did wonder if the other ladies here might be the other Sennett sisters, but it seems they were Belle's friends.)
Two further photos here from Harold's wedding - I found the registration in the index: Harold Willits married Kathleen H. Jasper in the Walsall district, 1964. Mary's family remember that Harold did marry a lass named Kath, & they had 2 daughters.
Bella may have been widowed fairly young, we aren't too sure. Then she lived in and around Walsall and Rushall, acting as housekeeper in several addresses. She ended her days in her own house in Rushall.
Mary Jane Sennett
Delightful to have made contact with descendants of Mary Jane (Peg) Sennett; they are Charlotte, Pat, Keith. Hello!!We knew Mary Sennett as married to Captain "Reginald Rodgerson"??, and that they lived in Easington with son Billy. Austin remembered that Mary was also at one time a spiritualist, or medium.
According to the birth registers, Mary Jane Sennett was born in the Auckland area in 1900.
Mary's family knew her as Peg, of course. They have told me their ancestor was indeed born in 1900, and married a gent named Edward Rogers. They lived in Easington, had a son Bill (Ronald William) & then moved to Walsall.
We know Bill was a redhead; all Peg had ever wanted was "a little boy with red hair and that’s what she got!"
Additionally, Pat has spotted that the Rushall address Harry gives in his wartime marriage to Aunt Jim (Keturah) was also the home of Mary & Edward Rogers. So he was living with his sister - for a while at least! Also, a witness at Harry's marriage was 'M. Rogers' = his sister, of course!
Mary's own wedding, we now know (Thanks to Pat for passing on a copy of the marriage certificate) took place in Hipswell, North Yorkshire (near Catterick Garrison) in the Autumn of 1919. Edward Barber Rogers gave his age as 36 then (although we know he was born in 1878), and Mary was aged 21 (except she was actually 19 - so quite a big age gap). Edward was a Warrant Officer at Scotton Camp, and Mary was living at Colburn.
{Scotton Camp, Catterick was one of four command depots established in or after 1916 for the rehabilitative training of soldiers too fit for the army's convalescent camps but not yet fit enough to be returned to unit. It had a capacity for 100 officers and 5000 men from Western Command.}
Witnesses to Mary's marriage were Belle & John Wilitts, Mary's sister & brother-in-law.
Here is a photo of them from about the late 1930's - son Bill, Peg, husband Edward (Reg) and dog. And of course, if you look at several of the photos in Bella's section above, you will also see Peg!
Sarah Annie Sennett
We remember that the youngest sibling, Annie, was a motorbike rider who emigrated to New Zealand with husband, Isaac Barker (ex-waggonway man of Easington). They had 2 daughters and a son. We also have a half-remembered, tragic tale about a man who died on a ferry from NZ to Australia; but really not sure exactly WHO that was.
Carol & Phil (Deborah's family) remember "Annie Sennett (born ~1900?) - name of husband not known, but three children are roughly remembered. Connie & Joan were born in the Twenties in Co. Durham, whilst Roger was born in c.1935 in New Zealand."
Keith (Mary's grandson) remembers that Roger was born in London before emigrating (with his parents) to NZ in the 1960's where Connie and Joan were already settled.
The 1911 census and the birth registration index tell us that William's youngest child was Sarah Ann Sennett, born 1905, in the Auckland area. From the marriage registry indices, we see a Sarah A. Sennett marrying an Isaac Barker in the Easington area, in 1922. Seems to be her.
I looked on FreeBMD and found no Roger Barker born ~1935, with mother's name Sennett. In London or otherwise. But there was a John R. Barker, born 1941. All the children born to Barker & Sennett listed on FreeBMD were Constance L Barker (1922, Easington), Joan K Barker (1925, Easington), and John R. Barker (1941, Hendon).
So that fits well with what we know between us!
{Young Roger himself has been in touch recently, and confirms these details for us! Helloo Roger!}
Also, now have found the Passenger Lists for a journey from London to New Zealand in July 1958. Isaac Barker (born 1898), Ann Barker (born 1904) and John P. Barker (born 1941, single - I guess that P should be an R) were passengers bound for Auckland. They sailed on the RMS Rangitane (but not this one!) and you can read more about the NZ Shipping Company: here on the Ship's List.
The image supplied on FindMyPast tells us some more personal information about the passengers - we can read that Ann was born on 26/11/1904, and that her husband Isaac (born 1898) was a Shop Manager at the time of the journey. They gave their address as c/o her sister Mary Rogers in Rushall.
Well! Bishop Auckland, County Durham, to Auckland, New Zealand - what a hop!
Here's a lovely photo of Sarah Ann! (Generally she was known as Nan.)
Spiritualists
Several of James' sisters have been remembered as being 'mediums' or practising 'spiritualists' - something that would have seemed very exotic (or shocking?!) to the Catholics in the Fitzpatrick family then. I have tried here to list some links to contemporary Spiritualism: an online scrapbook on Spiritualism in Australia, a few books recommended here, and a brief history here, or try the Wikipedia page. Anyone seen anything better?
I can't help but think of the film Blithe Spirit!
Musicians
The Sennett family are also remembered for their music - from Bill the father through many of the children and indeed down to several of their descendants such as (even just on our side) Austin and even more so his brother Jack {sorry no page yet}... and a few contemporaries of mine who I won't name to spare blushes! (I don't include myself in that list, my Grade V Clarinet is very out-of-date!!)
So all in all they seem to have been a very interesting and lively bunch of characters - I often think I would like to travel back and see what they were like when they all got together for Christmas etc!!
We'd love to hear more about these sisters. Any more of their descendants out there?
James' Brothers: Harry, Bill, Joe
Henry Sennett
Harry was born in 1889, married 3 times and had (we believe) 3 children. More details are given about Harry on another Trunk Calls post; click here.
Here's a photo which Mary's family had found in their albums, but with no name - happy to have been able to introduce Harry Sennett!
William Sennett (Junior)
Billy was born in 1896, and we know from the 1911 Census that he worked as a Pony Driver down the mine at the age of 15. He married Gertrude (Gertie) Gates (in 1920; Auckland district) and lived in Willington. They had 3 bairns: Trevor, and 2 girls Joan (spinster) & Joyce, a bus conductress. Trevor is known to have been a Squadron Leader (Surrey??) flying Sunderland flying boats. He was a barrister/solicitor as a civilian.
Uncle Bill is remembered for his driving, despite suffering from Parkinson's in the 1960's (?). It seems he died in 1972.
Joseph Sennett
Joe was born in 1898, and was known to have died after an accident in the Easington Pit in the 1920's.
Old pictures of the Easington Colliery area here, on the Frances Frith site.
A list of fatalities on DMM.org.uk gives these details:
"Sennett, Joseph, 31 Aug 1921, (accident: 10 Aug 1921), aged 23, Stoneman, Injury to spine"
So his accident was on the 10th and he died on the 31st of August. The site also explains that a Stoneman cuts stone below ground, rather than coal (i.e. to create tunnels), and that in 1921 the Easington pit employed 2683 people.
He is remembered as a violinist.
Pat was able to send me this lovely precious image of Joe from his short, busy life - a formal studio shot - he looks about 19-21 years old? Mary Jane was Joe's younger sister, and this photo of Joe has long been treasured by her family.
A record in the Easington Registrars office tells us that a Joseph Sennett married an Annie Welsh in 1918. Also parish records exist in Easington for this marriage, and for the birth of a Joseph Derreal Sennett in 1918 (father Joseph, mother's name Annie Welsh), and for the burial of Joseph Sennett (born ~1898) in 1921.
In 1920, Joe Sennett won a race at the well-known Powderhall Sprint races (in Edinburgh since 1870). We don't know more about it, though - sadly no archives found that go back that far (except this one where the Roll of Honour lists one winner for each year - no mention of our Joe). So he may well have taken part, but we can't confirm in which race, or where he was placed.
A photo here shows us what the Edinburgh Powderhall area is used for now!
A page linked here about a Powderhall race winner from Dalkeith, and another from Canada.
A page about the Powderhall Races in the South Wales Valleys;
"The ‘Foot Events’ at Glais were all over 100 yards and were for professional and semi-professional athletes competing in so-called “Powderhall Sprints” for prize money. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the inhabitants of all industrial areas in Great Britain were obsessed with organised sport. Boxing and foot-racing sports attracted big money gamblers and nationwide thousands of spectators attended displays of ‘Pedestrianism’ as professional running and walking was then known.
The Welsh valleys produced a surprising number of professional and semi-professional runners and as the races were handicapped to ensure close finishes betting coups and malpractice were not unknown. At Glais, most of the athletes competing for a first prize of £15 were local but competitors came from as far away as Llanelli, Caerphilly, Cardiff and even Gloucester. I don’t know exactly what the average weekly wage was in 1920 but I’d guess £15 was more than most people earned in a month."
After his fatal accident, Joe left a wife Annie, daughter Josie and son Derek Sennett (also known as Mac). Annie trained as a nurse (Queen's nurse or district nurse), perhaps living in Ashby de la Zouche. Young Josie was well-known to our family as she came to live with James Sennett for several years. She later married a Ted Bradley and had two girls, Marie & Catherine, living in Coalville. Some photos in this post.
I think this post is much better than it was, but it still has lots of question marks!! I'd be very grateful if anyone can help me. Thanks to all those who have so far!
Sennett One-Name Study
A fascinating One-Name Study of all the Sennetts is beginning - not just the Durham Sennetts, though! There were also Sennetts in Ireland, Cornwall, Stretham, Yorkshire and Hampshire. If you'd like to know more, please get in touch with the main researcher (not me!!!), using the email address sennett@one-name.org
1 comment:
I can now trully say that i have been converted into a loyal fan!
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