Category Archives: Coates-Hoskins

Is This Anything? Family Plates

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David Letterman used to do a sketch called “Is This Anything?” The curtain would rise on an individual or group performing an unusual stunt, then Dave and Paul Shaffer would discuss whether the act was “something” or “nothing.” I can imagine my children playing a version of this sketch as they go through the contents of our home sometime in the future. To help them with this task, I will randomly select something in our home and answer these questions: What is this and is it a family thing? Then they can decide if it is “something” or “nothing.”

My mom and step-dad received these plates as a wedding gift. They document the date of their wedding and the creation of a new family – which included me.

The adults are represented on the large plates and I am represented on the smaller plate. We don’t look anything like these representations – me with blond hair and dad with no mustache nor that much hair. Mom looked the most like the picture that represented her.

I see now that I put the plates out of order when I took the photo. Oops!

Someone made these for us. The people and clothes are cut from fabric and lace and glued in place. Details are painted on, as are the date, names, and border. Unfortunately, the crafter did not sign their work.

I don’t remember in what house these were hung (we moved several times), but I’m guessing at least our first home. The painted borders have some scratches from the plate holders. I keep thinking these would be cute hung over the bay window in the breakfast nook, but I haven’t done it.

Is this a family thing? Yes, I think they qualify as a family thing.
Are they something? I think they are cute and appreciate a wedding gift that acknowledged me. But ultimately, I guess whether they are something will be decided by our kids.

Sepia Saturday – Three Men and a Hetton Connection

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Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images. If you want to play along, sign up to the link, try to visit as many of the other participants as possible, and have fun.

Three men, seated, smoking pipes. One pipe leans left, two lean right. One man wears a tie. Two have open collars. All wear white, or light-colored, shirts. All wear vests. One wears a cap. One has a well-defined part in his hair; one whose hair defies a part. Two with rolled up pant legs; even some bare leg shows. Feet mostly hidden. The roofs of houses provide a background in a clear sky. All look directly at the camera. They seem familiar and comfortable together, yet assume a serious pose. Do I detect a hint of a smile? I think they have a bit in common with the men on the boat, although my men likely worked coal mines and I suspect the men on the boat did not.

John Elgey on right

I only know the identity of the man with the X over his head. He is John Elgey, older brother of George Elgey, who was central in last week’s post. His mother, Jennie Coates, sent the photo to my grandmother. Jennie was my grandmother’s aunt; John, my grandmother’s cousin. I have a copy of the letter that helped me identify John, as his name does not appear on the photo.

John was born in 1895, so the photo was likely taken 1939-1940.

After my post last week that included a newspaper clipping documenting the 50th wedding anniversary of John’s brother George, I did some internet searches for a few of the hints included in that newspaper article. My search led me to a private Facebook group for sharing photographs of Hetton-le-Hole in Durham, England. I joined the group and there are people there who knew George and Bella! What??? I’ll follow up on some of that later.

I posted the photo above seeking the names of the other men and a location. I only got a street suggestion that the next commenter said was wrong. Oh well.

Please add some enjoyment to your weekend by puffing on your favorite pipe, hanging out with a few friends, taking the boat out on the lake, or, may I suggest, reading what others have prepared for Sepia Saturday by clicking right here: Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday – George and Bella Elgey Celebrate a Golden Anniversary

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Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images. If you want to play along, sign up to the link, try to visit as many of the other participants as possible, and have fun.

Two Brothers : Unknown Third Party Print (Hall & Siggers, Keighley)

The prompt photo reminded me of these two portraits of George Frederick Elgey and provides me an opportunity to revisit him.

George Elgey was a first cousin of my grandmother Eveline Coates Hoskins. Eveline’s father, Joseph Coates, was the only member of his immediate family to leave England and settle in the United States. George’s mother, Jane Ann Coates Elgey was one of Joseph’s two sisters. Although Eveline and George never met, they did correspond. Back in 2012(!) I think I posted about George for the first time, featuring a letter my grandmother received from George during WW1. Sepia Saturday – Letters from the H.M.S. Birmingham.

I took up writing about George again in 2013, trying to identify the people in this wedding photo.

A photo of a wedding cake was identified as George and Bella’s wedding, so I worked from the assumption that the groom in the photo was George and started piecing together the puzzle. I did a weekly series beginning with Sepia Saturday – George’s Wedding Photo Part 1 and thought I had ended the series with the 7th post, but two weeks later, while preparing a Sepia Saturday post, I discovered another clue. And a closer inspection of the wedding cake played a more significant role in identifying people than one would think. That post didn’t have a Sepia Saturday tag, but fits right into the series. Wedding Wednesday – The Clue on the Cake

I do not have a widely read blog, so it is always exciting to hear from someone who has stumbled upon it. On my birthday in 2017, I received an email from someone related to the bride in the photo, Isabella Lidford. He sent me the photo below of a newspaper clipping titled

Son from Canada for Hetton ‘gold’.

The caption reads: Mr. George Elgey, and his wife Isabella of Station Road, Hetton celebrate their golden wedding this weekend. With them are their sons Ken and his wife Erica (right), on holiday from Canada and John and his wife Nancy. Judy the terrier would not be left out of the group!

I believe I have a photo of John and Kenneth as children. The boys are identified as Jack and Kenneth Elgey, so I assume that Jack’s given name is John. The boys had an uncle John Elgey.

Jack and Kenneth Elgey

Transcript of the newspaper article:

When Mr George Frederick Elgey, and his wife Isabella celebrated the golden jubilee of their marriage this week, one of their two sons John, and his wife, Frances, had only to “pop in” from next door, in Station Road, Hetton.

But their second son, Kenneth and his Swiss-born wife Erica had traveled from Canada, at the end of a European holiday. The couple had spent some time in Switzerland, visiting Mrs Elgey’s relatives, and joined Mr Elgey’s parents for the family celebration before leaving for home on Wednesday.

Mr and Mrs Elgey Senr. were married at St Nicholas’s Church, Hetton, on a Houghton “Feast” Monday and are to mark the occasion on Saturday with a party ????d by son John and his wife – complete with “golden” cake.

Mr Elgey worked at local pits from leaving school, and completed 41 years at Silksworth Colliery on his enforced retirement for health reasons.

Mrs Elgey is a long serving member of St. Nicholas’s Mothers Union, and is well known locally for her association with the Wandering Minstrels concert party of Easington Lane, which has done sterling work in raising money for charitable causes.

She is a member of the Lidford family, and for 30 years, before and after her marriage, worked in the family wallpaper and decorating business. Mr Elgey’s father was for 30 years the local hairdresser in Easington Lane.

Mr Ken Elgey emigrated to Canada in 1953, and is a quotation specialist with a large electric company in Montreal. The couple have made regular visits home to see their respective families but considered this one the most enjoyable.

The email that included the photo of the newspaper article says that the photo is dated 10 October 1970. I do not have an exact date for George and Bella’s wedding, only a 1920 marriage register for England and Wales that covers the months Oct-Dec, so this helps to pin down the date of their wedding.

There are a lot of new hints I could follow up on from this newspaper clipping! It is a shame I have let it go so long. I did send a return email to the sender and hoped we could correspond more, but I did not receive another reply. And the timing suggests that I was in the midst of cancer or chemo brain, so … I’ll use that as my excuse. I just looked back and see that I did not participate in Sepia Saturday at all in 2017.

I know nothing of the feast day mentioned, there is a church to look up, a wall paper business, perhaps, Kenneth in Montreal, Silksworth Colliery, Wandering Minstrels … so many possibilities!

Please put on your sailor suit, or any other suit, and visit others who have participated in Sepia Saturday by clicking on the link: Sepia Saturday.