Monday, 4 January 2016

On digging a bit deeper...

Discovering a little about how my grandmother lived, and died, as a relatively young woman, made me curious to find out more. On pumping my mum for information I was surprised to find out that Pearl appeared to have had a child out of wedlock. Mum said that her eldest sister, Frances, was born before her mum and dad were married. The story was that Granny Pearl had become pregnant to a young man who had gone off to the first world war. He had been killed and Pearl was left in the predicament of being pregnant and single. My grandfather, who was fifteen years older than Pearl, married her and they went on to have a further 7 children I think. I found 6 more entries in the register corresponding to the names of aunties and uncles. Mum said there was another child who fell off a wall and died. She can't remember the name of that child. How sad not to know the name of your brother or sister who died before you were born. But then, there was a lot of sadness in Pearl's life. Married at 20, widowed by age 34, dead just a few years later leaving my mum and the other children orphaned.
Recalling this, I'm left feeling that I want to find out even more about Pearl. What was she like as a person. The trouble is, I have no way to find this out. I'm told Pearl was a nickname, given to her because she was regarded as a 'pearl' and yet I have no way to find any concrete facts about her.
This is so frustrating for me. My mum remembers so little; let's face it, she was orphaned at about 6 years old and so can't be expected to know much about what was going on in the household at that time. There must be a way that I can find out more. Maybe I need to look at Pearl's earlier life, before she met my grandfather.

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