Re: Dinning family from County Durham, Engla
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In reply to:
Re: Dinning family from County Durham, Engla
hilary ford 7/19/01
I cannot work out if you are in England or the U. S. A. or have spent time in either country.I only ask because it would make a difference to the information I would give. eg. you might know some of these places very well or you might have an English atlas, so if I state what seems obvious then at least you know why.
PELTON FELL. in Co. Durham, not far from Chester-le-Street which is the parish church for the place. One of the early pit villages. My husbands family worked in this pit in the early 1700's and it continued to be worked until about the 1950's.
Why go to the U. S. A.. I have recently written the history of a family in U. S. A.called Middleton who eventually proved to be connected to my husband. Stephen Middleton went to U.S.A. in 1870's and then sent for his family. They lived near to where your family were in 1881. Previously his half brother had gone to Pennsylvania in the late 1840's from the Haswell. There was a history of the miners going to the mines in Pennsylvannia.The reason Stephen did not go earlier was the age of his elderly mother. The family story was that she felt too old to go. Stephen left after her death.Letters obviously were sent to friends encouraging them to emmigrate.Apart from this in the early part of 1830's there was great unrest in the mines due to appalling conditions. After the strikes were over some of the men could not be employed. At one point about 200 Hetton men emigrated on mass to the U. S. A.probably at the end of the 1840's.
Half ofmy grandmother's family went to U.S.A. during the 1880's and they settled in Iowa. The family story is that they went for the gold but they settled in farming territory.
My grandfather went to America and came back and then all of his brothers and sisters went out there and left him here with his only remaining family being a half brother.I think they saw this as a great adventure much like the gap year student or the backpackers.They had more trains than we have so travel was not a problem.The most likely departure route would be through Portsmouth or Liverpool.
More Replies:
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Re: Dinning family from County Durham, Engla
susan callaghan 7/11/03
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Re: Dinning family from County Durham, Engla
hilary ford 7/19/01