The history of gardens and the impact of gardens on the lives of our predecessors, is something that I have become increasingly aware of. Initially this was through my work as Mistress Agnes and her sojourns in the herb gardens of the seventeenth century. Then when I wrote Coffers, Clysters, Comfrey and Coifs, I looked at gardens of the rich and poor in Stuart England. This expanded into a more general study of gardening history and I now give talks on seventeenth century gardens and the historical use of healing herbs. You will have to wait until tomorrow, when ‘H is for Herbs’, for more on that topic.

For ordinary folk, gardens have only become places of leisure and pleasure comparatively recently. The gardens of our ancestors were to provide necessary produce for the family. The wealthy however have embraced the role of gardens for ornament and relaxation for more than 500 years. I recently completed a course on healing gardens. Healing not only in the provision of medicinal plants but also healing in the therapeutic sense. Gardens, whether we spend time in them or work in them, assail all our senses and can promote a sense of well being. Their plants, their wildlife and even just the fresh air can all help to heal a troubled soul.

My ladies who are contributing their memories of 1946-1969 are currently writing about homes and gardens. How well do you remember the gardens in your life? Sometimes garden memories are more powerful than those of interior spaces. Specific plants can also evoke memories of people and of past events. Have you recorded your recollections of the gardens of your past?

Regular, pre A to Z Challenge readers, of this blog will recall that I have had extensive building work done to my home recently. This has given me the opportunity to think carefully about how my tiny garden will look now it no longer needs to impersonate a World War 1 trench. Yes, I shall pay homage to the seventeenth century origins of my cottage but I will not be a slave to this. There are many helpful books for those wanting to recreate gardens that reflect a certain historical period. I have listed a few below. I shall also be incorporating some family history into my garden.

Alongside more conventional ways of recording our family history, gardens can be used to do this. Can you include plants to represent members of your immediate family? For ancestors who had a flower name the choice is easy; my grandmother was called Ivy, no problems there. Alternatively, select a plant that they were fond of, or that you associate with them. Add flowers that featured in wedding bouquets. If no particular plant springs to mind, then what about a garden ornament? An anchor could denote an ancestral fisherman, a milk churn a dairyman forebear, or a pitch fork for a farm labourer. Those of us who find the past a pleasant place to live, can use our gardens to surround ourselves with representations of the past, creating a place of peace and serenity in the present.

Jennings Anne Tudor and Stuart Gardens 2005 English Heritage
Peachey, Stuart Farmhouse and Cottage Gardens 1580-1660 1996 Historical Management Associates Ltd.

Communities have histories of their own that provide a backdrop to our ancestors’ lives. I shall use other letters of the alphabet to explain why I think that it is essential for a serious family historian to examine the locations in which their ancestors found themselves. For now, I want to concentrate on the benefits of studying the past to the communities of the present.

The history and heritage of communities, localities, places – what ever term you wish to choose are popular fields of study for individuals and groups. My own village formed a history group 7 months ago. Our website includes a ‘Tomorrow’s History’ section that details current happenings in the parish. In that short seven months we have reported the erosion of many community facilities. We have lost our football club, our milk round, our butcher’s shop and our mobile library service has been reduced. We live in time when services are being depleted. Those of us who live in rural communities have neighbours who are working elsewhere, being educated elsewhere and whose recreational facilities are often also in the nearest town.

How can history and heritage groups help? To begin with there is a suggestion that flourishing heritage groups help to boost tourism. Not only are they an attraction for those hunting ancestors but heritage trails and exhibitions provide activities for those visiting the area. More to the point, an investigation of and engagement in a community’s past can help to create a sense of belonging in the present. If those of us who study local history can share it with others, or better still involve others in its recreation, we help to create a sense of belonging and provide a focus for a common identity.

Local history groups should encourage the wider community to engage with their shared past in order to provide a focus for unity in the present.

Even in today’s digital age the diligent historian needs books. I have several different historical ‘hats’ and I thought I would mention just some of the books that have caught my attention whilst working in my various fields.

As regards my life in the seventeenth century, what better than a book written at the time. There are a number of these, many illuminating the lives of women. For today, I am choosing Hannah Wolley’s The Compleat Servant-maid: or, the young maiden’s and family’s daily companion. She has written others but this, first written in 1677 and available in facsimile, is full of recipes and household hints so that we can build a picture of the lives of our seventeenth century ancestors. More suggestions of contemporary books can be found in the bibliographies to the chapters of my Coffers, Clysters, Comfrey and Coifs: the lives of our seventeenth century ancestors.

My latest project, regarding the period 1946-1969, has led me to two excellent books. Firstly Jean Baggott’s The Girl on the Wall, that I have mentioned in a previous blog. If you need something to inspire you to write your memories this is it. Secondly Kate Adie’s Corsets to Camouflage, a story of women in war over the centuries.

I am of course a family historian and there are numerous books I could recommend to help researchers hone their craft. I could even mention one that I have recently written myself! Instead I am going to suggest that family historians do seek out information, either in written or digital form, that helps them to understand the sources that they are using. I have been a family historian since B.C. (before computers). Whilst I applaud modern technologies that allow us to see digital images of records from the comfort of our own homes, it has also bred a generation of ‘push-button’ genealogists who do not understand the records that the computer is searching on their behalf. Please, before you ask one of the leading subscription websites to interrogate a data set, read the background information that will explain why that class of record was created, what information it is and is not, going to provide and any gaps that there may be in its coverage.

Families do not come alone and I spend much of my time looking at the communities in which they lived. Do look for books about your own community or the communities of your ancestors. More on this topic tomorrow but for now I will recommend the sadly out of print Sources and Methods for Family and Community History: a handbook (Cambridge University Press 1994) by Michael Drake and Ruth Finnegan, with yours truly as a critical reader.

Finally a few more favourites that can help with many branches of history:-
Caroline Davidson’s A Woman’s Work is Never Done: a history of housework in the British Isles 1650-1950 (Chatto and Windus 1986)
Michael Wood’s The Story of England (Viking 2010)
Dorothy Hartley’s Food in England (Piatkus 1954)

So books are important to historians, read them, write them, let others know about your favourites, even if we access them online do not let books become a thing of the past.

Pleased to learn that my One Place Studies article for Discover Your Ancestors periodical is now available. Other good news for family and local historians is the plan by Find My Past  to make the 1939 register available. This was the list compiled at the outbreak of the second world war, in order to facilitate making identity cards available and organise rationing.

We recently spent an enjoyable day at Dorset Family History Society’s Fair, in company with a party from Devon Family History Society. Young Edward’s early arrival made it possible for us to attend and therefore we could save money by having a self-drive mini-bus with Chris as driver. When he went to collect the vehicle, the day before our trip, he was disconcerted to be told that he was too old! As he is only just the wrong side of retirement age this was a bit of a shock and of course meant that we had no way of getting our party to Dorset. Fortunately a few phone calls to the insurance company rectified the issue and we drove away with our vehicle of choice.

A couple of days entertaining school children in the seventeenth century and a talk to Devon Family History Society in Plymouth this week. As we draw up at the Plymouth church where Mistress Agnes is on the bill, the premises is suddenly surrounded with vehicles sporting blue flashing lights on their roofs. There seems to be some form of raid going on. Has someone reported strange folk loose in Plymouth in seventeenth century garb? I am relieved that we are lacking any unusual herbs, swords or guns amongst our props. Later Chris collects fish and chips from the nearby take-away without the proprietors blinking an eye. Does this say something about the residents of Plymouth perhaps? I do wonder if the particularly generous portions of chips owed anything to the period clothing. Either they were impressed or keen to get rid of him!

The building work is coming to an end, just leaving me with a lifetime of painting to do. A couple of minor snags. Butler sinks are clearly designed for ornament not use. Mine does not have a plug. Surely I cannot be the only person who wants a sink to hold water? Is that not a definition of a sink? I point this out to the representative from the prominent DIY chain who supplied the kitchen. They agree that I can purchase a plug, which bizarrely they do not stock, at their expense. Then there is the issue of the free washing machine that was part of the deal. This did not arrive when it should, with the rest of the kitchen. Several phone calls later and a delivery date is arranged. An integral washing machine arrives on my doorstep. ‘No’, I say. ‘I am expecting a free standing washing machine’. After all my kitchen has been designed and there is clearly no space for an integral machine. The integral washing machine is on its way back to the depot and I chase up its replacement. Ah, it seems the free offer was for an integral washing machine only. This has not been made clear. Where am I to put an integral appliance? This saga is ongoing, watch this space.

A slightly greater hitch on the snagging list is the fact that a sharp shower has revealed that there are two major leaks in the conservatory. One involves rain rushing in under the lead flashing and pouring ferociously down between the old wall and the plasterboard, finding its way out round the window frame and on to the floor. Another downpour and my beautifully plaster boarded conservatory will lack a wall. The builders are on track to come and solve this – hopefully before the rainy season sets in.

Be warned good folk that I am taking part in the annual A to Z blogging challenge. This means that almost every day in April will be taken up with blogging my way through the alphabet. I am yet to finalise my theme for this but I promise that it will be historical.

Family History is all about relationships but how often do we consider what those relationships actually mean. Regular readers will remember that when I first became a grandparent, in November, I posted about The Maternal Line and suggested that it might be interesting to compare numbers of children, ages at marriage and ages at death of our female ancestors. Now I have acquired my first male descendant I have to think of something different. Edward Leo does have a direct male line of course but that is for his other grandmother (also a family historian) to pursue. I thought therefore that I would concentrate on grandparents on my side of his family. Grandparents have been much on my mind recently and not just because of my newly acquired status. When I married in 1980 the wedding ring of my maternal grandmother became my wedding ring. Yesterday, with regret, I had to remove this ring before my increasingly chunky fingers necessitated it being cut off. A lengthy session with margarine and ice cold water and mission accomplished. When I married, my grandparents’ initials and the date of their marriage in 1922 were still visible, engraved on the inside. After thirty four more years of wear, sadly, these are no longer legible but I have at least preserved the band intact. I have had a ring on that finger since I was eleven. First a copper band that had to be nail varnished on the inside to prevent my finger becoming green. This was replaced by a silvery metal version and then the wedding ring. I felt the need find a replacement ring for the fourth finger of my left hand. What better than the, slightly larger, wedding ring of my paternal grandmother, which now graces my finger. Tangible links then these rings from the past.

So how has the grandparent-grandchild relationship changed? On this side of the family, Edward has one living grandparent – me. I am younger now than any of my grandparents were when I was born. I have (so far) two grandchildren and they live 300 miles away. In the past this might have meant that I saw them rarely, if ever and unless I was comfortably literate, even the occasional letter would have been unlikely. It is too soon to say what aspects of my appearance or personality will be reflected in my grandchildren but I can see echoes of my own grandparents in me.

What then of these grandparents of mine, Edward’s great great grandparents? I was an only grandchild for all of them, unusual for the time. When I was born I had four living grandparents, although all had died by the time I was eleven years old. Even though I am fortunate to have a very good recollection of my childhood, this does mean that my memories of grandparently relationships are limited to the perspective of a young child.

Ivy Gertrude Smith née Woolgar and her daughter (my mother)

My mother’s parents lived within walking distance and we saw them weekly. They were able to provide regular support for my mother. Equally she was on hand to help my grandmother when my grandfather was ill and then when she was widowed. When my grandmother herself became unwell she came to live with us.

‘Granny’, Ivy Gertrude Woolgar, was 63 when I was born and died a month after my seventh birthday. She was a wonderful lady and the archetypal granny in everything except build. We played together regularly, she taught me to knit, recited nursery rhymes and did all the things grannies are meant to do. My first family holidays were on the Isle of Wight and Granny came too. My memories of Granny are a role model for my own grandparenting. Although I lack her dainty size, physically I have inherited most from this grandparent. In fact I wonder why, when I look in the mirror, she looks back.

My maternal grandfather and youngest grandparent, was Frederick Herbert Smith; he was 61 when I was born and he died the following year. Despite this I do remember sitting in the sunshine on his desk in the back bedroom that was his office. According to other relatives he was happiest with his own company. A Chartered Accountant by profession, his main hobbies were stamp collecting and train spotting. I suspect that in today’s world a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome might have been applied. He did everything he could to avoid family gatherings but nonetheless played with me and taught me to count his keys. There were thirteen but somewhere someone must have suggested that thirteen was not to be mentioned so I always counted ‘eleven, twelve, fourteen.’ What then has come to me from this grandparent? Physically, my short-sightedness but some aspects of my personality, such as the attention to detail and my self-sufficiency are his too. I wish I could have had the chance to get to know him better; I think we would have got on rather well.

My paternal grandparents were much more aloof. We visited, perhaps monthly and occasionally went to Battersea Park, together with my parents. I was certainly never alone with them and have no recollection of anything that could constitute play. Albany Braund, ‘Grandpops’, a railway porter, became a grandparent at the age of 67 and died when I was six. He was also the only one of my grandparents to grow up in the countryside and I now live closest to his birthplace. I was always a little wary of his gruff manner. Although I didn’t realise it at the time it is likely that my maverick tendencies and my willingness to challenge authority come from this grandparent.

My fourth grandparent, ‘Grandmums’ Elizabeth Ann Hogg, was 69 was I was born, the eldest of my grandparents, yet she lived the longest, dying when I was ten. My relationship with her was a distant one and memories are shaped by her diabetes. We always had to shop for PLJ for her to drink and diabetic chocolate, neither of which were easy to obtain. I can’t identify how Elizabeth Ann has contributed to my genetic mix. I clearly remember the journeys to their house and the house itself but the personalities of my paternal grandparents elude me. Perhaps that in itself suggests that they were not child orientated. When one considers their background this is perhaps not surprising. Albany was only five when his widowed mother married again and left him to be brought up by his grandmother and then an older aunt, who had children of her own. He had contact with his three surviving grandparents, all of whom lived close by. In contrast, although three of Elizabeth Ann’s grandparents lived until she was a young adult they lived many miles away in Northumberland and Buckinghamshire, whilst Elizabeth’s parents had brought her up in London. Elizabeth’s mother died when she was twelve and family stories relate that her Northumberland grandmother came to look after her.

Unusually for their generation, three of my grandparents grew up as only children, the exception was Ivy; this probably had an impact on their ability to form other family relationships, certainly Ivy was the most family orientated of the four.

So young Edward, what will come down to you from all these ancestors and of course from your equally significant ancestors on your paternal line and the forebears of your maternal grandfather, whom I have not celebrated here? You will of course just grow up to be your own very special person but maybe sometimes echoes of your genetic forbears will travel down the generations and show themselves in you.