The Tambourer

My 3x great-grandmother, Agnes Gilchrest Crosser, was a tambourer by trade.  What's that?

Family member name: Agnes Gilchrest Crosser

Lifetime: 1820 - 1895
Tree branch: Anderson
Relation: My 3x great-grandmother (My mom's dad's mom's mom's mom)

How do we know she was tambourer?  The 1871 Scotland Census mentions her occupation.  See it highlighted in red.

In French, le tambour means the drum.  It's where we get the word tambourine.  But was my 3x great-grandmother a drummer? No, probably not.  Here is the definition of the word tambour.

a: an embroidery frameespecially : a set of two interlocking hoops between which cloth is stretched before stitching

b: embroidery made on a tambour frame

She most likely was an embroiderer.  Throughout the centuries, when fine clothing with embroidery or beading was made, it was done by hand.  Even though machines have been invented to add beads to fabric, upscale, haute-couture clothing even today is still embroidered by hand.

The tambourer uses a tambour hook tool and fabric stretched tightly across a frame to create beautiful designs.

Here is an example of a fancy Victorian dress that was made around the time of this Census.  Perhaps Grandma Agnes was commissioned to add the detailed embroidery to dresses like this.

Sources:

1871 Scotland Census for Bothwell, Holytown

London Embroidery School - A brief history of tambour

Dream With my Hands

You Tube - Tambour Embroidery: Basic stitch

The Poorhouse

One hundred and twenty-eight years ago today, my 3x great-grandmother, Agnes, faced a difficult situation. Let's imagine the circumstances from the point of view of her daughter, Euphemia.  

Agnes lived in Bothwell, Scotland which is west of Edinburgh.

Family member name: Agnes Gilchrist Crosser

Lifetime: 1820-1895
Tree branch: Anderson
Places lived: Scotland

Relation: My 3x great-grandmother (my mom's dad's mom's mom's mom)

My name is Euphemia Anderson and I'm heartbroken.  My mother, Agnes Crosser, just visited our little home to ask us if we could take her in.  Even though we desperately want to help her, there is just no way my husband Robert and I can afford it.

To understand our background, Agnes was a single mom.  Her husband died before I was born and my 38-year-old mom never remarried.  Life was tough for us as she supported us seven children by selling piece work.  My grandparents had passed away, so we were on our own.

Eventually my siblings and I grew up, got married and started our families. Three of us stayed nearby Bothwell, three of my older brothers either died or were out of the picture.  Sadly, my sister Agnes passed away in 1874 when she was just 21 years old.

When my mom was 65 years old in 1885, she was unable to support herself.  That was the first time she came to us for help. By that time we already had five children under the age of 7, with one on the way.  My husband's salary as a miner could barely feed us.   

My sister Ann also tried to help when she could, but having 6 children herself, they also were just surviving. My brother James went to America in 1881 (8 years ago) and has not been in contact.

It is now August 29, 1892, and we have nine children. So since neither of us siblings have the means or the space to take her in, today my mom has to go the Poorhouse.  It's the fourth time since 1885 and it's killing me. 

I don't want my mom to be in the Poorhouse! (Or the Workhouse as the English called it.) The diet and living conditions are very austere (this discourages applications from those who could otherwise rely on family support), so it is definitely a last resort only for those considered destitute. Thankfully they have medical care there.

In 1885, my mom was in the Poorhouse for 11 days, in 1886 for a period of time I can't remember, and in 1890 for 3 days.  Each time, we were able to get her out somehow or she received an allowance from the government.

Fast forward: I'm so happy that my nephew Thomas Porteous is willing to maintain my mom.  He's so sweet to support his grandma.  She was only in the Poorhouse for 12 days this time, and thankfully, it was the last time!

Here is the Poorhouse record for Agnes from Bothwell, Scotland.

 

 

Illegitimate

After researching my five Euphemias from a previous blog post, I decided to try to go further back in the family tree.  But I ran into a brick wall.  Let's go through the facts.

Family member name: Robert Crosser

Lifetime: 1821 - ?
Tree branch: Anderson
Relation: My great-great-great grandfather? (my mom's dad's mom's mom's dad?)

I already knew my great-great-great-grandmother's name was Agnes Gilchrist, (more on her story in an upcoming blog post) so I was researching her husband, Robert Crosser.  Here he is in my family tree.

Here's what we know:

• Agnes Gilchrist's husband's name was Robert Crosser
• He was born about 1821 in Carluke, Scotland
• Agnes' youngest daughter, Euphemia, is my 2x great-grandmother
• Agnes is a widow on the 1861 census, meaning Robert died before 1861
• Some believe he died on August 1, 1858, but there is no source material to prove that date  (PS: That is 162 years ago today.)

The Brick Wall: When did Robert really pass away? If he passed away more than 9 months before Euphemia was born in May 1859, that calls into question her ancestry.

With some kind help from two Ancestry.com power-users, I located Euphemia's birth certificate.

Notice that Euphemia is listed as "illegitimate" and no father's name is given.  Also, Euphemia's mother Agnes is shown as a widow.

So now we do not know Euphemia's father's name.  It is lost to time.  (Major brick wall!)

However, years later on Euphemia's marriage certificate, she listed Robert Crosser as her father.  That is confusing.  Maybe her mother told her that Robert was indeed her father.  After all, August 1, 1858 was 9 months and 6 days before her birth, making it technically possible that he was her father.  But again, we're unsure of that date.

Until that date is confirmed, I'll have to consider this birth certificate as fact since Agnes was present and "signed" it with her mark.

So I've updated my family tree with this new information.  Do you notice that the ancestry line for Euphemia only points to Agnes, and not to Robert? Robert Crosser is now only a part of my family tree in that he is my great-great-great grandmother's husband, and not my great-great-great grandfather.

  

Namesakes: My five Euphemias

Euphemia (pronounced you-FEM-ee-ah or oh-FEM-ee-ah) is not a common name these days.  According to the Social Security Administration, its peak popularity as a baby name in the US was between 1903 and 1915.  However, it is more popular in Scotland.

I'm happy to have FIVE Euphemias in my family.

Euphemia #1

Family member name: Euphemia McMillen

Lifetime: 1785 - unknown
Tree branch: Boyle
Relation: My 4x great-grandmother (my mom's dad's mom's mom's mom's mom)

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1785.  We don't know much about her except that one of her children was Agnes Gilchrest, who named her own daughter after her mother.  (See Euphemia #2)

Euphemia #2

Family member name: Euphemia Crosser Anderson

Lifetime: 1859 - 1918
Tree branch: Boyle
Relation: My great-great-grandmother (my mom's dad's mom's mom)

Named after her grandmother, she was born in Scotland and married Robert Anderson there. At the age of 35, they moved to the United States and settled in Indiana.  Among their 15 (!) children, they named their 8th Euphemia.

Euphemia #3 - nicknamed Effie
Family member name: Euphemia Anderson Moss
Lifetime: 1887 - 1917
Tree branch: Boyle
Relation: My 2nd great-aunt (my mom's dad's mom's sister)

Named after her mother, she was also born in Scotland and was 7 when she came to the US.  She married and had a daughter, named Mildred Euphemia.  Unfortunately, both she and her 6-year old daughter were killed in a tragic car accident on May 10, 1917, which is 103 years ago today.

Euphemia #4 - nicknamed Famie
Family member name: Euphemia Catherine Boyle Koos
Lifetime: 1918 - 1988
Tree branch: Boyle
Relation: My great-aunt (my mom's dad's sister)

Named after her grandmother or aunt who both passed away shortly before her birth. I remember Aunt Famie from our visits to grandma and grandpa's in Michigan.  My mom describes her as "bright and opinionated and suffered no fools." For her husband Vic's work, they moved their young family to Geneva, Switzerland for several years.  

Euphemia #5 - nicknamed Phemie (Phemia in Spanish)
Family member name: Euphemia Melissa Hight Hargreaves
Lifetime: 1975 - 
Tree branch: Hargreaves
Relation: My sister-in-law

A completely British name for my wonderful sister-in-law with Mexican heritage. She was named after her great-grandmother, Eufemia Rosales Osuna from Sinaloa, Mexico.  Fun-loving and smart, she's raising her two lovely daughters in sunny California.

I'm happy to have a picture of 3 out of 5 of my Euphemias.

Tree Branches

What is a branch of a family tree?

Is it the family line through my grandparents?  If so, each person would only have four tree branches.  And while this is technically a true statement, for this blog's purposes, I'm going to narrow it down a little further.

Going forward, when I reference a branch of my family tree, I'll be referring to the branch beginning with my (or Dru's) great-grandparents, as shown in the red box below.

Therefore, we each have eight branches.  Mine are: Webber, Pearson, Smith, Bromley, Boyle, Anderson, Sullivan and Goesch.

Meredith's Family Tree's branches

Dru's branches are: Hargreaves, Cottam, Jones, Newman, Kekos, Papoutsaki, Stevens and Papas.

Dru's Family Tree's branches

Each post will also be tagged with the tree branch so as to find information easily.  Hopefully this will add some clarification to what may be a bunch of random family stories and research findings.