Sarah Hignell, Prisoner At Usk Gaol 1871 - Newport Past Photo Search

Sarah Hignell, Prisoner At Usk Gaol 1871 - Newport Past Photo Search

Poor Cousin Sarah--three months hard labor for stealing a pair of 'trowsers'. From looking at the 1861 census, I think she might have been my great great Grandmother's Sister. Mary Jane Hignell was a maid at a Newport Inn. The address of Portland Street in Newport clinches it, because Henry Hignell and his daughters lived at Portland Street with Mary Hignell in 1861. I guess Sarah was in the hoosegow when the Wales census was taken in 1871, because only Henry and Mary Hignell lived there.

I'm thrilled--this is the first photograph I have seen of a Hignell ancestor/cousin. In a way, I'm having a guilt attack--I wonder if Sarah was working for her Aunt Mary when she stole the pants? It must have been a total shock for Mary Hignell when her Niece was arrested for stealing a pair of trousers. I don't imagine either her Father, Henry or Sister, Mary Jane, were too happy.

Is there any way I could find an account of her trial? I'd love to know how she stole the pants, and why. Wouldn't a young girl be more likely to steal a dress, skirt or blouse? Hope she wasn't following the world's oldest profession.

Environment or Heredity?

When I was very young, my Maternal Grandfather used to take me and my Sisters for long walks along Shore Road in Brooklyn.  It was usually on a weekend, and he would point out ships in the harbor ( many more cruise ships in the early 1960's) or how construction was progressing on the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge.  Construction began on the Staten Island side, and the steel towers were rusty orange.  Once, I pointed out to my Grandpa ( who we all called "John" --long story) that the tower looked like a capital H.  He repeated that story to my Mom, thinking it was a mark of great intelligence, since I wasn't in school yet.  So, wherever I have lived, in either Brooklyn, Massachusetts, or New York, I found peace and comfort by the shore.

As I have pursued Mom's genealogy,  it struck me that many of our ancestors lived by the sea or a river.  Newport was a major seaport in the 19th Century.  Henry Hignell, my great great great grandfather ( imagine the fuss if one of his grandchildren had called him "Harry") was a retired dock worker--a longshoreman.  The Hignells came from the Bristol area of Gloucestershire, which is also a port.  Could this sense of wellbeing be rooted in my DNA

?  The first photo is the shoreline at Goldcliff, Monmouthshire.  Some of the Hignell family settled in Goldcliff, and Henry's brother, William Hignell is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Goldcliff.  The second picture shows Monmouth Castle, in Newport, and the third is the Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn.  In a long journey from Newport to New York City, the Hignell family remained close to the harbor.

Frustration

I just realized that if I clicked a certain paragraph icon, I could write from the right side of the page to the left.  There are times when I think all my research might as well be written backwards, because it does not seem to be progressing.  A few weeks ago, I sent away for the burial registry for the Joint County Lunatic Asylum, in Abergavenny, Wales.  My G3 grandfather, Henry Hignell, described as  a ' lunatic/retired dock worker' in the 1891 Wales census.  I wonder if he ever met the woman  listed as 'lunatic/governess'?  I bet Bertha Mason Rochester would have appreciated that listing--the governess was the lunatic, not the poor wronged wife.

As usual, I digress--one of my weaknesses as a researcher/writer.  Mister Hignell died in the second quarter of 1892.  His GRO record is in volume 11a, page 34 of the Abergavenny district.  I made the assumption that he was a patient at the time of his death, and probably was buried in the asylum cemetery.  When the CD arrived, I eagerly popped into the laptop, and searched--Henry Hignell was not to be found in the burial register. 

There are several conclusions to be drawn or inferred .  The most reasonable is that HH did not die at the Joint County Lunatic Asylum, but had been discharged, and was living somewhere in the district.  He did have his brother, John Hignell, but he lived in Goldcliff, while his sisters, Mary and Sarah Hignell, lived in St. Woollos, Newport.  His sister in law, Sarah Hignell, resided in the Magor district.  So, the question is where in Monmouthshire is Henry Hignell buried? 

Now, I'm so annoyed that I'm going to let my imagination run wild.  Perhaps Henry Hignell was a vampire, and never died.  That would explain the lack of an entry in the burial register.  Somehow, I cannot imagine that poor old dock worker as a Robert Pattinson character, running through 19th Century Monmouthshire without a shirt.  More likely, he'd have been running around without his teeth. 

So, I will locate as many surviving Hignells in the 1891 Welsh census, find the location of their parishes and pray that there is an online burial register. 

Miss Hignell Regrets

31.jpg (966×698) Finding poor female ancestors is tough. For starters, the parish registers seldom, if ever, wrote down the birth mother's maiden name. I was luck to find this one reference to my great great great Grand Aunt, Mary Elizabeth Hignell. Just 'Miss Hignell" without a first name, or profession.

I'd love to find a photograph of the Lady Sexton. Somehow, calling her 'sextoness' seems a bit disrespectful, as though she was an Anglican hoochie momma. Mary was a single woman, who had to work hard to support herself. I didn't see any sign that she asked for help from her more affluent brothers, William or John Hignell. Perhaps I feel drawn to her because I never married, and will have to make my own way in the world sooner or later.

But there's a risk of reading too much into old records.  Mary Hignell might have been a very disagreeable woman--who just did not like men.  Perhaps she was the type of old lady who frightened the neighborhood children  'behave, or I'll get Miss Hignell to fix you".  I doubt it--if that was true, her Niece, Mary Jane, would not have named her oldest daughter "Mary Elizabeth".  While I can't find a death record for Mary Jane Hignell's mother, Mary Ann Hignell, by the 1861 census, Mary Jane and Henry Hignell are living with Mary Hignell.  I suppose she was a mother figure to her niece, and I do hope she wasn't like Pip's sister, in 'Great Expectations".  

Today, my Mom had a slight accident--falling off while transferring from the commode.  Somehow, I remained calm.  It was as though I tapped into my inner Mary Hignell.    If that was true, thank you, Great Aunt Mary--Mom and I both owe you.

NYC Death Index Results

NYC Death Index Results That is my maternal great great grandmother, Mary J. Diamond of Brooklyn, who died on July 29,1921. My Grandma never talked about her family, except to say that her Mother was born in England. Since my Maternal Grandparents were married in June, 1920, I wonder if Mary Jane was able to attend her Granddaughter's wedding, or if she, as an Anglican, refused to set foot in a Roman Catholic church.

According to freebmd.co.uk, Mary Jane Hignell was born in 1850--which would have made her 70/1 at the time of her death. Note that the age is given as 67. Fibbing about one's age, or failing to keep track of it seems to be a Hignell/Riley trait. My Grandma was born in May 1893, and my Grandpa in August 1894. For reasons known only to herself, Grandma was mortified at being 15 months older than her husband. Grandpa, being an Irish American Gentleman, fixed her age on the 1930 census so she was 15 months his junior.

Grandma kept up the pretense until my Grandfather died in 1964, and remained quiet until the 1970 census. My Mom was helping her fill it out, and began to write down 1896 as her Mother's year of birth. "No, you cannot lie to the government" said Grandma, confessing her dark secret.

Mind you, it was fine to let your husband do the lying for you, and it was permissible to fib to your daughters and grandchildren, but a Lady must never directly lie to the United States of America. Did that post hoc rationalization come from the Irish or English side of Grandma's family?  Mom has her own version of irrational rationalizations, which make me wonder:  which side of the family created such silliness?

I recall November 22, 1963, because Mom came to pick me up from Kindergarten, and we walked back to the house.  She was pushing my younger sister, Cathy, in a baby carriage ( strollers were not popular in the Mad Men era).  The truck from a local produce company pulled up in front of our house as we reached it, and the driver called  out "The President's been shot".  Mom got so upset that she rifled through her purse, but could not find her housekey.  Her solution was to walk around to the back door, take one of our roller skates, and smash the pane in the door, so she could open the latch.

Years later, I asked " why didn't you go to the Kildahl's house, phone Dad, and ask him to come and unlock the door.  Mom gave me one of her Great Lady glares--pure Hignell/Dimond/Burroughs, Westcott, etc--and said regally "What good would that have done?"

The Search for Uncle Charlie: Secrets

The Search for Uncle Charlie: Secrets: "Grandma never talked about her family. She would mention her brothers from time to time--I knew they were John, Thomas, Andrew and Har..."

Secrets

Grandma never talked about her family.  She would mention her brothers from time to time--I knew they were John, Thomas, Andrew and Harry.  Her mother, Mary Elizabeth Diamond was a Protestant, born in England, who converted to Catholicism when she married her father, Andrew Riley.  James Riley, her Grandfather, fought in the Civil War, and her uncle, Tom Riley, was a member of the NYPD.  That is all I really knew when I began to research the family.

My great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Riley, died in August 1943.  She had a stroke on the 5th Avenue trolley, and was taken to Kings County Hospital.  Grandma wanted to transfer her Mother to a private hospital , saying that 'my Mother worked hard all her life; she had nothing, and now she's dying in a public hospital."  It was sad, and Grandma, being a good Catholic, probably felt guilt that her Mother died on the way home from a visit with her.  

But I can only speculate if there was a deeper layer to Grandma's emotion.  Mary Elizabeth Riley's grandfather, Henry Hignell, died in the Joint County Lunatic Asylum in 1892--it was in Abergavenny, Wales.  The Diamond family had emigrated to New York in 1881.  Henry's sister, Mary Hignell, was literate--she signed the parish register at her brother's wedding, so I presume she wrote the family in New York when her brother died.  It probably became a source of shame, guilty and sorrow that a loved one died in a pauper's hospital.  I'll never know for certain, unless I unearth a cache of family letters discussing this subject.

I felt such pity for Henry Hignell, as well as for the Sisters, Sarah and Mary, who had to make the decision to take him to the workhouse.  Did his daughter, Mary Jane Diamond, ever feel guilty that she had not insisted her Father come to America with them?  Perhaps he was too hard for her to manage, along with her daughter, Mary Elizabeth, and her son, Charlie.  John Diamond may not have been thrilled with supporting another adult.  If I were a novelist, I could speculate until the cows came home, but as a genealogist ( amateur) I want to stick to the facts.

Family Tree

I wonder who coined the phrase " family tree' because it does not seem to apply to the Hignell/Collins branch of the family.  A tree has distinct, individual branches--but I would not describe either the Hignell or the Collins's of Newport, Wales as distinct.  If anything, they were more like garden ivy than a tree, spreading branches all over the garden, and crowding out other plants.

My Great Great Great Grandparents were Henry Hignell and Mary Ann Collins.  One of the witnesses at their wedding was William Hignell.  According to the Welsh censuses of 1841, 51, 61, etc. William's wife was named Sarah.  Their daughter was born about 1842.  When I checked freebmd.co.uk for a marriage record, it just so happened that William Hignell married Sarah Collins.  In the 1841 census, their is a Susan Collins living with them who is noted to be William's sister in law.  

Since I found Mary Ann Collins's baptismal record at Goldcliff, and she does not have sisters named Susan or Sarah, I presume they were cousins.  All the same, it's surprising how closely related the two families were.  I'm a little surprised that Henry's brother John didn't also marry a Collins, but I think he preferred the Prosser ladies, even if Wife no. 2 was 11 years older than he.

On a side note, I found Henry and Mary Hignell, brother and sister, in the 1880 Monmouthshire directory.  She is described as "Sextoness" a job she held for over 20 years.  Just love the phrase 'sextoness'.

Hignell Family Values

My maternal Grandma's family is far more complex than I ever imagined.  Take my great great great Grandfather, Henry Hignell.  He worked as a laborer, but ended his life in the Joint Counties Lunatic Asylum--a facility for paupers.  I doubt he was a private patient, because nobody in the family had any money.  His sisters were dressmakers, and one of them, Mary Hignell, was the sexton of Holy Trinity Church, Newport, in 1881. Henry's brother, John Hignell, may have had more money than his siblings which leads me to an interesting story.

In 1843, John Hignell married Rachel  Prosser, in Newport, Monmouthshire.  They had one surviving daughter, Ann, born in 1847.  Rachel Hignell died in the first quarter of 1850.  Her widower, John, remarried in December 1850, to Ann Waters, who was 11 years his senior.  When I checked the Michael John transcription for Newport marriages in 1850, it stated that Ann Waters' maiden name was Prosser.  So, did John Hignell marry his sister in law?  That might explain why the Prosser family took 17 years to pay John the sum of 50 pounds from Rachel's estate.

On the other hand, it could have been that another relative had a life estate in the property, which would not pass to her husband until that relative's death.  From the wording of the probate document, I believe it was a cash sum, not an estate.  

I have mixed emotions about this.  It's kind of creepy to marry your sister in law.  In the 17th and 18th century, Mr. and Mrs. Hignell might have been brought before the local magistrate.  All the same, I can't imagine it happening in my family--I have two married Sisters.  Suppose one Sister died, and the other Sister lost her husband.  I can't see  the survivors joining each other in the estate of holy matrimony.  

There's an interesting story here.  It needs further documentation--better order John Hignell's GRO license--for the second marriage.  If Rachel Prosser and Ann Prosser both have the same father, with the same profession, it's reasonable to infer they were Sisters.

Frere Jacques

It's amazing what a record search on ancestry.co.uk can reveal about an ancestor's life.  John Hignell  (1817-?) must have been quite a character.   He was my Great great great grandfather's brother, so I did an ancestry search on  him. His name turned up on the UK Probate index.  It said that his wife, Rachel, died in 1850, but he did not recieve 50 pounds from her estate until 1867.  17 years--what could have caused the delay?  Other Hignells who were affluent enough to have an estate had their wills probated in a few months.

So, I did a death record search for Rachel Hignell, of Newport Monmouthshire, and found she died in the first quarter of 1850.  Then, I did a full search for John Hignell on Ancestry--by the time of the Wales 1851 census, he has remarried to Ann Watters, a woman 10 years his senior  ( Ann Watters, a Victorian cougar-I salute you).  Then I backtracked to the freebmd.co.uk and searched for John Hignell marriage in 1850-52.  He remarried in December 1850.  Granted, he had a 4 year old daughter, Ann, but I do think it showed scant respect for Rachel Hignell.  

Fortunately, John Hignell married Rachel in 1845, and there were no other couples on the page, so I know Rachel's maiden name was Prosser.  Here's where it starts getting weird.  In the 1851 census, John and Ann Hignell are living with Ann Hignell, John and Rachel's 4 year old daughter,  Ann Watters Hignell's two teenage daughters, and John's former mother in law, Mary Prosser, 70 years old.  

Why was Mary Prosser living there?  John Hignell had a stepmother for his daughter, and she brought two older girls to the marriage.  Young Ann didn't lack for female company, so why was her maternal Grandma part of this one big happy family?  Even the Brady Bunch did not add Grandparents to the mix.  My guess is Grandmother Prosser did not trust 'that woman' to take care of her surviving Granddaughter.  Without any family letters, it's all conjecture on my part.

There's a fragment of data in my brain that said Ann Watters maiden name was also Prosser, but I have to find the record to prove it.  If true, that makes the whole situation even more volatile.  

Blessed Be the Tie that Binds

I am so mad at my Mother that I could spit nails. Yesterday, she woke up three times during the night, and by her final call at 7AM, I was so tired ( the first calls were at 428am, then 530) that I said "oh no, not again' and was given the cold shoulder for yelling at her.  As a caregiver, my role is to be totally subservient, and carry out all her instructions without protest.  

After thinking it over, I decided:  be nice no matter what she asks or what time she asks it.   This morning, she called me at 5am.  "Do you want to get up"?  I said "no, since it's only 5am".  So I got up at 7, helped transfer her from the bed to the wheelchair, and give her a pat on the head.  Mom yells "don't pretend to be nice; I'm angry at you".  She has an idea that she is awake, I must keep her company, and I am a bad daughter because I choose to go back to sleep once I finish taking care of her.  Even though I have chronic hepatitis and diabetes, and have often neglected my own health to look after Mom.  She's become totally self absorbed--which is no surprise, given her age (84) and history of TIA's.
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Mom apologized, but I expect it will happen again, and shall do my best to react in a non co-dependent manner. Imagine the ordeal of care giving for our ancestors.  No washing machines, dryers, adult diapers:  all the modern conveniences which ease the caregiver's burden.  I look at the records of my female ancestors and ask 'how did you raise children and keep house without losing your mind?"  Doing all that work, while being treated by society as a second class citizen.  I want to bring my female ancestors into the limelight--not easy, since they were poor, and didn't leave much of a record--just birth, death, or marriage notices.  Guess that meets the old rule of a lady is only mentioned in the newspapers three times:  when she is born, when she marries and when she dies.

A New Beginning

 The problem started with my Great Grandmother's death certificate, which listed her Father's name as Henry Hignell, and her Mother as Elizabeth Dimond.  I did many searches through genealogy databases and could not locate the correct Henry Hignell.  At that point, the Irish side of the family was easier to track, and that is without a national birth marrriage index, or any 19th century censuses.  ( The English said the Irish burned them to make more space for records, and the Irish retort that the Brits destroyed the records from spite).

Anyhow, it turned out that Henry Hignell was not Grandma Riley's father--but her Grandfather.  Her parents were John Dimond and Mary Elizabeth Hignell.   They were married in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales.  Neither spouse was Welsh, but English who had emigrated to Wales looking for a better life.  The Hignell family came from Gloucester, and the Dimonds were from Devon.

Since our Dimond dna came from England, and not Ireland, I guess the family legend that Legs Diamond was a cousin is a nice story, and nothing more.  My Grandma was such a lady--she had the gracious lady act down to perfection, and I don't think it was much of an act--Grandma did not have royal or noble blood in her veins, but she was gentle, dignified, and kind--unless you crossed her, and then she became 'Snippy'

I promise to write an entry every day, and to then organize the writings into an article or book.  One question is why was Henry Hignell committed to the Joint Counties Lunatic Asylum?  Was it a penalty for being drunk and disorderly, or did he have some form of mental illness?  Why didn't he go to America with his daughter and her family in 1881?  How did his Sister, Mary Hignell, become the Sexton of a local church?