12 Days of Ancestors Epiphany

The Twelve Days of Christmas ends with Epiphany. 

It has been challenging to find ancestors that fit with the theme of the poem, but I managed to do it. 

I hope more bloggers will try it next year.

   

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12 Days of Ancestors - Day 12

"The twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
twelve lords a leaping..."


There were 12 Lords Falconer of Halkerton.

Lords Falconer by Wim Spaak

One of the earliest place names in the parish of Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire is Halkerton, or Hawker's Town, the residence of the king's hawker or falconer. It is said that the third generation son, Ranulph was the first to take the surname of Falconer. Robert le Falconer was the first to have his name associated with the estate of Haulkerton who swore fealty to King Edward I of England in 1296. 

Haulkerton Castle

Down the line it was Sir Alexander Falconer (1595-1671), son of Sir Alexander Falconer and Dame Agnes Carnegie who was bestowed the title of the First Lord Falconer of Halkerton on 20 December 1646. 

Painted by William Robertson

Alexander was granted a yearly pension of £200 with the title for his ability, integrity, and affection for administration of Justice.

I am descended from Sir Alexander Falconer (1522-1587) and Dame Elizabeth Christian Douglas (1524-1587), my 11th great grandparents, via their son Archibald. The Lords via their son Alexander. 

The information and genealogy comes from different books and a website:

History of the Parish and Burgh of Laurencekirk

The Peerage of Scotland

The Concise Dictionary of National Biography

The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland

The Lords Falconer of Halkerton

12 Days of Ancestors - Day 11

"The eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
eleven ladies dancing..."



There were eleven ladies in the Ladies Aid Society of Verdun including my grandmother, Sadie (Sarah) King, age 16, in the front row, and my two great grandmothers... Rebecca Mavor and Mary Jane King. I am pretty sure they didn't do much dancing, but my grandmother was taught how to play the piano at the school she attended, and she played the organ for singing hymns at the end of their meetings. 

My grandmother was pretty good at labeling photos, thank heavens!! 

Back - lt-rt:    Mrs Evely, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Mavor, Mrs Dawson
Middle:          Mrs Bradbury, Mrs Hayden, Flo Bradbury, Mrs King
Front:            Sadie King, Jessie Bradbury, Mrs Brown

Reg Cummings - Photographer - cor Wellington & Gordon, Verdun

Ladies Aid Society of Verdun Methodist Church (later Verdun United)


She did not write the name of the lady standing on the far right, who is not one of the Society. 

My grandmother had no idea at the time that Mrs Mavor would become her mother-in-law.

Is one of these ladies your Verdun ancestor?

The Ladies Aid Society had social meetings (often a tea or strawberry social) and often had a religious speaker. They held fundraisers to make money for the upkeep of the church. They also helped out with the war effort.

Many times as a child when I went to stay with my grandmother she took me to help out at her teas or rummage sales at the church. 

12 Days of Ancestors - Day 10

"The tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
ten pipers piping..."




It used to be usual and accepted for people to smoke. My Dad and his siblings all smoked, as did both their parents. I remember as a child sitting on my grandfather's knee at his desk while he got out his tobacco and papers and he let me help make cigarettes with his rolling machine. 

In their younger days, when it was fashionable to do so, my Dad, his brothers Bill and Jack, and their brother-in -law Jim sometimes smoked a pipe.

Dad

Uncle Bill (my Godfather)                                Uncle Jim

When my Dad tried to quit smoking cigarettes he went to little cigars, thinking he would smoke less.  When that didn't help he went back to smoking a pipe. That didn't work either so he ended up quitting cold turkey.

Here is my Dad being... fashionable??  In his antique dealer days, he was trying out some things he either brought home from an auction, or from buying the contents of a house.

NOTE:  Thanks to my cousins for the photos of their fathers, and my sister for the idea.  

12 Days of Ancestors - Day 9

"The ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
nine drummers drumming..."



My great grandfather Alexander Mavor didn't play the drums, though he was in a band. 
He played the cornet in the Montreal Salvation Army Citadel Band. 

Alexander Mavor, front row, extreme right.

This is a piece that was once in the Montreal Star...

These are the fifteen members of the Montreal Citadel Band of 1901. Back row, from left to right: Edward Douglas, John Thompson, George Armstrong, Nelson Garayt, Charles Goodale, Joseph Piche and William Gatehouse. Centre row: Charles Volkert, Ensign and Mrs J.C. Habkirk, William Smith (bandmaster), Gilbert Ellis and Alexander Maveur (Mavor). In the foreground are Mike Sullivan, left, and James Harris. 

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 8

"The eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
eight maids a milking..."



A dairy farm manager and one maid-a-milking...

My 2nd great uncle, William John Porter moved from Ulverton Quebec to Jefferson New Hampshire in 1893, when he was about 17 years old, and found work on a farm. He later moved to Colebrook and became a manager of a dairy farm. But I didn't have to go that far back to find fodder for an article on dairy farming. 

My beautiful hard-working sister is a special ed teacher at a high school. Like our Dad, she always has to have something to do, so when a friend asked if she could help out with milking one evening, she was happy to do it. Now she helps out with the evening milking at the dairy farm on weekends plus on call at other times, and 7 days a week during school holidays. 
She is what could be called a part time maid-a-milking.  
  

She doesn't go into the barn swinging a bucket and carrying her little stool. Today milking is done by machine. 

She has to prepare the cows' teats for the machine by stripping them by hand, dipping them with a solution to clean them, then wiping them with a paper towel.

Then they are ready to put the milker on, which comes off automatically when milking is complete. Next she has to dip the teats again and move the milker to the next cow. The milking takes about 1½ hours for 39-42 cows.

Other chores take another 1½ to 2 hours... including scraping out their stalls, cleaning the alley way, and putting fresh bedding in their stalls. The cows go outside either between milking or for the night depending on the weather.