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Old 03-09-19, 23:02
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Default Who Do You Think You Are - Sharon Osbourne 4th Sep

On BBC1 at 9 p.m., and repeated on Thursday night at 11:35 p.m. (though I guess the repeat may be later than that if the news is extra-long like it was tonight!)
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Old 04-09-19, 22:13
ElizabethHerts ElizabethHerts is offline
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I enjoyed this episode and found myself warming to Sharon. She was visibly moved by her family's story but was very dignified.

With regard to the death of Ira, it wasn't pointed out that she was married when she died. She died in 1918 and married Archibald B Graham in Q3 1917 at Lambeth.

The Genealogist has a synopsis.

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/fea...osbourne-1171/
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Old 04-09-19, 23:26
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Episode summary:

Sharon Osbourne lives part of the time in Los Angeles with her husband Ozzy Osbourne and part of the time in England. She lived in Brixton, London, until she was about 10 or 11. Her mother Hope Arden nee Shaw was a dancer, and her father Don Arden was a music agent / manager. Sharon worked for him after she left school. She knew a lot about his side of the family - he came from the Manchester Jewish community - but not much about her mother's side, other than that her maternal grandmother Doris or Dolly Shaw was a choreographer / dancer in vaudeville.

Sharon's niece Gina, who knew more about the family tree, came to visit, bringing photos of Hope dancing in Southampton in 1935, and of Dolly with her husband Arthur James Shaw (known as James) and her sister Ira Almgill performing as "The Hewson Trio". An issue of "The Stage" from March 1912 had an advert for the Hewson Trio, performing in Darwen, Salford, and Durham. Gina showed Sharon the marriage certificate of James and Dolly, dated Jul 1915 and describing them both as music hall artists. Sharon searched online for James's WW1 service record, and found that he was a driver in the Royal Artillery, service number 11235. He joined up in Oct 1915 aged 27. Hope was born on the 12th Apr 1916. James was sent to the Mediterranean and then to Egypt, arriving back home in 1919.

Sharon went to the Opera House in Tunbridge Wells, originally a variety theatre and now a pub, and she met an historian who told her that Dolly and Ira performed there at Christmas 1917 as part of the "Phil Ascot Four". A programme described the group as novelty dancers and Sharon was shown a photo of them doing the "English pony trot" dance. Ira would have been 17 and Dolly 25 or 26 at the time. Ira's death certificate showed that she died on the 9th Nov 1918, age 18, the wife of Archibald Graham, cause of death TB, from which she had suffered for 2 years. Dolly registered the death, giving the address of Acre Lane, Brixton. Dolly, James, and Hope lived at 29 Acre Lane after WW1, and then Sharon's uncle James was born there in 1920. Sharon remembered seeing the house when she was a child, but it was demolished in the 1970's and a Tesco stands on the site now.

Sharon then met a social historian who showed her a photo of Dolly, Hope, and James jr, and a newspaper clipping from 1929 which said that Dolly (known as Mabel), age 35, and Hope, age 12 or 13, had been charged with stealing two pairs of stockings and other items worth 8 shillings and fourpence, and had pled guilty. Hope had said she would take the blame if her mother was let go. The article said that Mrs Shaw was separated from her husband and had an aged mother to support, and had been out of work on and off for 5 or 6 months, and had not stolen before. Sharon went to see the old Police Court at Lambeth, now a Buddhist and meditation centre, and was shown the jailer's list. She was also shown the 1939 Register where Dolly was listed as a petrol can filler, a "designated heavy worker", and as a widow. The researchers had been unable to find out what happened to James sr. Sharon searched online to trace his family back, and found him on the 1891 census with his parents Arthur and Annie Shaw, both aged 26, and his brothers Thomas and John. James's birthplace was Stalybridge, Lancashire, and his mother Annie's was "America, Fallen River".

Sharon went to Newport, Rhode Island, in the US, where she met a genealogist who had been tracing Annie's part of the tree, and who told her that the correct name for the city was Fall River, Massachusetts. Annie's birth certificate gave her name as Hannah O'Donnell, born 17 Aug 1868, the daughter of Thomas O'Donnell born in Ireland and Catherine Dowd in England. A travel guide from that time described Fall River in glowing terms. It was an important manufacturing city, producing cotton, wool, prints, iron, and machinery.

Thomas and Catherine married in Dec 1867 at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Fall River. Sharon went to the church (Fall River being about 20 miles from Newport) and looked at Annie's baptism record, plus those for her siblings: Margaret in 1870, Mary in 1871, John in 1872, Elizabeth in 1874 and Thomas jr in 1875. Sharon then went to the Fall River Historical Society and met an historian who showed her an 1877 map of the city which had a lot of mills. Thomas sr and Catherine worked at Troy Mill, one of the first mills built there. Accounting books showed that Catherine ("Kate") was paid 17 dollars 4 cents a month and Thomas was paid 34 dollars 50 cents a month. There was also a rent column, since mill workers had to live in cramped housing provided by their employers.

Sharon was then shown death certificates for Annie's younger brothers and sisters, who all died in infancy - Margaret aged 2 months, from convulsions, Mary aged 2 months from "cholera infantum" (i.e. diarrhoea), Elizabeth aged 6 days from "weakness", Thomas aged 3 months, also from "weakness", and John aged 2 years from consumption (i.e. TB). Catherine's death certificate showed that she died on the 3rd Mar 1880 aged 35, also of consumption. The address given was the "Almshouse", similar to a workhouse in the UK.

Sharon was told that Thomas sr and Annie moved to England soon after Catherine's death, and was given a photo of Annie.
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Old 05-09-19, 04:38
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This much at least they did teach me in school.

Fall River would have been so named because, like so many mill towns and other industrial towns running on water power, it is located along the Atlantic Fall Line. “From Georgia to New England, the fall line along the Atlantic seaboard represents the boundary between the Piedmont and the coastal plain physiographic regions. It's called the Fall Line, for the number of waterfalls and rapids it features along this boundary.”
Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line

In other words it’s where the uplands end and all water everywhere has to fall over the edge onto the coastal plain. Tracing some Fall Line cities and towns:


End of today’s American geography lesson.
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Old 05-09-19, 11:14
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End of today’s American geography lesson.

Lol Janet and thank you! I guessed a waterfall may have had something to do with the name but I have never heard of the Fall Line before. I take it Niagra is on that line too? I remember you once told us how much of North America's water cascades over Niagra Falls and it was an astonishing amount. By the way, did you happen to see our Royal Air Force acrobatic team, the Red Arrows flying over the falls a week or so ago? I live about 10 miles from their home station and, when they are at home, often see them practicing above my garden. I thought of you when I heard they had flown over Niagra.

Sorry....off topic so back to WDYTYA. I thought Sharon came across very well and it was an interesting programme.
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Old 06-09-19, 01:28
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Niagara Falls is not on the Atlantic Fall Line, Ann. The Fall Line describes the edge of the continent whereas the Falls are in the interior. The origin of the Falls is linked to the advance and retreat of the last glaciation. The explanation is complex, and I think the Niagara Parks people from Canada did a great job here:
Niagara Falls Geology Facts and Figures

I did not see your Red Arrows, but I do believe we heard them! I wondered what that great commotion was, and asked OH if he knew, which he did not. Mystery solved! I see by one of the local papers that they were on their way to a show at the Canadian National Exhibition, which was a yearly must-do for us. My mother took me every year when I was young.
Red Arrows to fly over falls Wednesday morning

And once again, apologies for the hijacking and back to WDYTYA. I have to say the summary here of Sharon Osbourne's story has opened my mind a teeny bit. I don't think this show is available here yet, but I'll keep it on my radar.
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