My great-grandmother was Marian Armitage (nee Foster), who was born in Fishlake (1887) and married Leo Armitage & lived in Thorne, Yorkshire. I have already talked about what I've found out about her parents and siblings (see earlier post).
I recently found that Genforum helped me make contact with a distant cousin, Julie, who is descended from Marian's older sister Betsy. You'll see that Julie and I had found out a similar level of information about the Fosters, but Julie had discovered more about the Kitchen family
(that would be Marian & Betsy's mother's side). I first found Betsy in the census of Fishlake for 1881 and 1891. Here I bring you a note written for us by our Julie - Thanks, cuz!!
Julie tells us:
My Great Grandma was Betsy Foster – daughter of George & Mary Foster and sister to Maria/Marian Foster. Betsy was born in 1880, in Fishlake, Yorkshire.
When I was looking for Betsy on the 1901 census I couldn’t find her in Fishlake (or anywhere near) so I decided to look on the Blackpool census as I know that is where she settled eventually (and is also where I was born). Sure enough Betsy is down there as a Nurse Domestic. In Thorne, in 1905 she married 23-year-old Levi Thomas ALLEN, also from Yorkshire (Bradford though, not Fishlake). They had 4 children – Hilda, Doris, Mary and my Grandad Sydney. One of their daughters died as a young girl (I think it was Hilda, but I cannot find a death record as yet). In 1901, Levi was listed as an Electrician's Apprentice - a Cable Jointer.
Levi died in 1952 and Betsy went to live with my Grandparents. I wasn’t old enough to remember her or my Grandad Sydney as he died when I was 2 months old, but I remember my Grandma saying that she was very old, always wore black and wore her long grey hair scooped up in a bun. She lived with my grandparents for most of their married life and when my Grandad died she went to live with one of her daughters.
Betsy’s father George Foster married Mary Kitchen on the 14th Aug 1871. He owned a considerable amount of farming land in Fishlake (60 – 70 acres) as did Mary’s family - James Kitching and Amelia (her maiden name is unknown as yet, she's sometimes called Millie on censuses). Considering Fishlake is a small village today (and will have been even smaller back then), the family must have been quite prominent.
I visited Fishlake about 3 years ago on a wet Sunday evening on my way back from a day out in Yorkshire. I trawled around the graveyard of St. Cuthbert’s church and eventually found George and Mary’s gravestone.
I couldn’t find any other Foster graves, but whilst walking around the village I spotted George Fosters name on a stone of the Parish Hall. I did take a photo but it isn’t very clear and you can’t make his name out:
Julie contiues:
Here are some more photos I took whilst there.
The old school, Fishlake Endowed, which our relatives will have surely gone to (now empty):
Hay Green where the Fosters lived:
Fishlake is a small village and there are only really 4 main streets – Hay Green, Sour Lane, Pinfold Lane and another I think called High Street. There are quite a lot of newer built properties existing alongside the old buildings which were obviously once farms, but have now since been turned into very nice houses. It is difficult to say which ones the Fosters and the Kitchings would have owned as the census doesn’t give many clues. However here are a few contenders:
{I've added letters BCDE to the Fishlake photos so that you can easily refer to one in any comments you make. Lisa}
Well that’s all for now. Now that I am restarting my research, hopefully there will be more info to come. Julie.
So - Many Thanks, Julie, interesting photos. I wonder what Betsy thought of the lights of Blackpool after living on a farm in Fishlake?!
I took some hints from what Julie told me & went with it:
First I looked into what happened to Betsy after she married, and searched for her in the 1911 Census of Lancashire. It showed the following Allens lived in the Fylde area. (I haven't seen the original page, just the index.)
Head of Household: William Henry Allen, born 1863
Martha Ellen Allen, born 1866 - presume they are Levi's parents.
Betsy Allen, born 1880, Fishlake
Levi Thomas Allen, born 1882 - husband & wife, living in parents' house.
Mary Alice Allen, born 1886
Eleanor Allen, born 1897 (aged 14) - presume they are Levi's sisters.
Hilda, Doris and Mary Allen, (aged 5, 3, and 1) - Levi & Betsy's children.
More another time - on the Kitchen Elders.
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