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. 

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.