Sepia Saturday - More Joe Plewis

Oh, dear. Sepia Saturday's got me hooked. Genealogy is a true passion of mine, one that's been obsessing me since I first got my computer and discovered Ancestry.com.
 
I do have pictures of ancestors that go further back than Joseph Plewis. I have a hilarious one of his father and I have one of his mother-in-law that must date from around 1860 because she's dressed like Mary Todd Lincoln. But she's CREEPY.  But Joseph Plewis born 1853 is the oldest ancestor I have information on so you'll have to bear with me again this week.

Here's a picture of my Great Great Grandfather circa 1893 when he was with the fire brigade and working on his facial hair.

Here's a much later picture, probably around 1922-23 of Joe and his lovely wife Harriet. Family lore has it that after Queen Victoria died in 1901, Harriet wore black for the rest of her days, that is, except for special occasions when she was feeling especially frivolous and wore a really nice shade of eggplant. If you are able to zoom into the picture, I now am in possession of the brooch Harriet is wearing at her neck. (Sorry for the blue in the picture - it was very dark).

Joe's dad Edward Plewis, spent most of his life as a farm labourer in and around the village of Hoo, mostly as labourer at Mackay's Court Farm. Joe's youngest sister Elizabeth married a chap named James Mugeridge Bridger, (sometimes he used the Bridger, sometimes not). Anyway, at some point, Elizabeth became the lady of the house at Mackay's Court Farm, where her father had worked for so many years and her sister had worked as a nursemaid.

Mackay's Court Farm is the location of the next two photos. They show the celebration of Joe and Harriet's Diamond Wedding in 1932.

Here's Joe with Harriet on the left - maybe she's wearing aubergine today - and his daughter Ada on the right. My own grandfather (from the other side of the family) managed to get in the picture between them.

Here they are again sitting with their sisters.

I've seen the guest book for this special occasion. It's great to read because not only does it contain the names of the dignitaries that attended, it has the childish scrawl of the aunts and uncles that I can only remember as old folks. My grandfather signed my mother's name on her behalf. She was three and a half and what she remembers about this party is getting stuck under the barn!

Here's Joe, at age 87, at the dedication of the fire engine that was to bear his name and carry his flag-draped coffin to his own funeral.  I think that's a bishop.

An aside - one of Joe's nieces, I think her name name was Nance, lived on a nice old farm called Shakespeare Farm on the Hoo peninsula. My mother remembers visiting it and loved it. She remembered the views over the River Medway and she rembered the porcelain toilet hand-painted with violets. When I Googled it I found that it was one of the largest landfill sites in England. Nice view though.

And that's all she wrote. But maybe if you twist my arm I'll remember something else.

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Edna St. Vincent Millay - (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950)

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning, but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

Sepia Saturday - My Great Great Grandfather

This is my Great Great Grandfather, Joseph Plewis. He's the father of Ada from my previous post. He was born in Hoo (yes, Hoo) just north of the Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester area in Kent, England in 1853.

He started his adult life as an agricultural labourer and by the 1880s he and his wife Harriet went on to run their own Cook Shop/Eating House in Gillingham's High Street. Unfortunately no one in the family could remember what the name of it was.

Although he was known for being teetotal, his wife's father was later recorded living in both the Staff of Life, and The Beehive - both pubs on the Hoo Peninsula. His daughter ran a pub called The Two Sawyers and her husband's family ran a nearby pub called the Plough and Chequers. This must have made the temperance gods very angry.

Somehow along the way, Joseph became the High Constable of Gillingham ( which I believe is like a mayor or reeve). He held that esteemed position for 1898-99.

Family history says that Joseph Plewis initiated the development of the Gillingham Volunteer Fire Brigade. In 1920, he received the Order of the British Empire for "conspicuous courage and devotion to duty at fires caused by hostile aircraft" while Chief Officer of the Gillingham Fire Brigade.

He and Harriet lived on Priestfield Road, a street that dead-ended at Priestfield Stadium home of the Gillingham Football Club . Sundays were very hectic on that street. The house stayed in the family for a while - my brother was born there in 1953. My own father had to deal with the final moments of  Joe's odious son-in-law Fred as he lived in the flat below.

Chief Officer Plewis held the medal of the "Life Saving Society of France." Tere was also some exchange program between the fire brigades of France and the County of Kent, hence the picture above.


It says, roughly:

"Captain Plewis

Brigade Commander of Gillingham (Kent County), is also very experienced in the world of fire-fighters. His brigade is also the well-organized winner of the main competition. They are highly trained in fire and ambulance service. Captain Plewis is an Honorary Member of the National Federation of Fire Brigades and the French Federation Belgium. Honorary Member of the Union of the Corps of the Fire Brigade of the Lyonnaise Region. Holder of a Medal of Honour of the French Government and honourary member of the Lifeguard of the Aisne. Gillingham is a town located in Kent County and most important country(?) in this county of a population of about 40,000 inhabitants."

When he died, his coffin was transported on the Plewis Engine, a fire truck that was dedicated to him. Just today I found online a picture of my Great Grandfather, yes that's him front and centre with a chest full of medals.  The picture was taken circa 1929 which means he was around for the "Fireman's Wedding Disaster" at the Gillingham Park Fete.But more about that later.  I hope that didn't blot his copy book.

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Ada

Here's a picture of my Great Grandmother and Grandfather on their wedding day. They were married in the spring of 1898 in the Medway region of Kent.

Ada Elizabeth Plewis was born in 1880 into a teetotal household. Her new husband, George Cleaves had been born into a pub-owning family. The Cleaves family  managed the pub, "The Plough and Chequers" in Gillingham since about 1850. That must have lead to an unusual wedding reception!

They themselves went on to manage a pub near the Chatham dockyards called "The Two Sawyers". Apparently they had a good reputation with the sailors stationed nearby because the couple didn't turn them in if they were out past curfew. They made them comfortable in the pub for the night. Some sailors of the time, circa 1903, thanked my Great Grandparents buy buying them a new "time gentlemen please" bell. Around 25 years ago my Grandmother and my uncle visited the pub, probably for her 85th birthday. They told the current landlords the story and they ceremoniously took down the bell and handed to her to keep. Unfortunately I think the bell was sold along with her other possessions when she died.

Poor George died in 1909 of  tuberculosis. But before that  - in the 11 years Ada and George were married - they had 8 children but only 2 lived. May, Percy, Harold, Doris, Leonard, Ronald, Ivo and Cyril.  Apart from my Grandmother Doris and her brother Ron, all of them died before they reached 9 months of age. Despite the shocking fact that she may have been pregnant with the twins May and Percy before they were married, Ada never let her husband see her naked.

A year after George died, Ada married one of his friends. Frederick Godfrey Walkefield Oakley Holmes had been a piccolo player with the Royal Engineers since he was 15 years old. Mr. Holmes was a rotter (at least in my books). Poor Ada had been through 7 pregnancies and the death of her handsome husband, but Fred Holmes didn't want her children around - therefore my Grandmother and Ron were raised from the ages of  7 and 5 respectively by their grandparents. Luckily for them, their Grandfather was a wonderful man. More about him in a future post maybe.

Ada and her new husband Fred had a baby of their own within the year - the intensely spoiled Freda.

Ada, Fred and Freda moved to Dover where she owned and managed the local post office and gift shop.

She was around to see both World Wars. In the years between the wars Ada welcomed her grandchildren to the seaside town. Buckets and spades were bestowed upon my Mum and Uncle Ken. Probably some Rupert books too.

Ada died in 1953. Both pubs thrive today. The Plough and Chequers' Petanque team has a world class reputation and is known for it's live music. Maybe one day...

Jersey