If you have ever delved into family history, you may well have heard of brickwalls. You may even have come across some of your own. Brickwalls are when you have searched and thought and looked and delved and
still haven't been able to find the information you are looking for. But brickmaking is different.
Brickmaking is the profession followed by most of my HAYWOOD ancestors. In the late 1780s, John HAYWOOD (my great great great great grandfather) was a potter, as were his two sons after him. John (born 1816) was a brickmaker; his six sons followed in his footsteps as well (John, Alfred, Walter, Albion, Ebenezer and Harry). And the profession continued through the years, the only difference being the men who were foremen and managers - of the local brickworks.
This didn't exclude the girls, either, although they tended not to make the bricks. Anna Maria was an earthenware painter for years and years, even after she became a widow at a young age and returned to live with her (brickmaking) father.
So when you are faced with the brickwall of several people of exactly the same name living on the same street of the same town - look at their profession. Might just be the demolition you are looking for.
See....I knew I'd learn something today! :)
ReplyDeleteBrickwalls! I came across one today when attempting to Google a name of a medication. The way the doctor spoke it it sounded like Doltran, but nothing came up.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend in Florida who was a landscaper. He made his own bricks and was very adept at his profession.
One day I pulled up to his house and saw like 7 boulders out front with a For sale sign next to them.
He was selling rocks, so help me God! I was further surprised that people actually bought them for landscaping purposes.
Wow, so awesome. I've not done much genealogy research, but I've heard other family members who've tried it have also run into brick walls. Someday soon, I hope!
ReplyDeleteGreat approach to our inevitable genealogical brick walls. Thanks Ros.
ReplyDeleteGreat approach to our inevitable genealogical brick walls. thanks Ros.
ReplyDelete