Recent content by John Ben

Finally fired, mounted and framed. Just need to wait until I can get to see the archives and see if I can find any information on Old Mill as it appears as an address on the 1851 census.

Some nail makers turned to chain making as the demand for hand made nails declined.

Thank you. Its a medium I only started working in towards the end of last year. I find the whole thing about nail making in the 19th century fascinating. Just so much I will never know about the family back then. According to the records they occupied at least six houses in St James's...

I have completed my tile panel in memory of my Dudley nail making ancestors. I have now discovered that two of my Great Aunts were also nail makers. As well as my Great Grandmother. The map is from the 19th Century. The drawings are based on old drawings found online. I have applied for...

Looks like I have pretty much unraveled the story of my ancestors in The Black Country. Taken a while and some blanks filled in using circumstantial evidence. From 1810 through to 1936. From my Great Great Grandad Samuel, to my Grandad also Samuel. Seems quite fitting somehow. One last...

Ahh OK Rosie. I just wanted to check he wasnt at Old Mill as I have found at least three families there. 2 of which my ancestors married into. I am now convinced that Old Mill is that one I posted the picture of. Its too coincidental for my 2 x great grandad to have been at Old Mill in...

Message for Rosie I am finding out more about my ancestors. Seems at one stage in 1841 there were several families living at "Old Mill" I am now convinced this was the old disused windmill near the end of St James Terrace. So far it seems My Great great grandad Houlston. Thomas Jones...

I have just embarked on producing a 12 tile illustrated panel showing nail maker scenes superimposed on a 19th century map of the part of Dudley known as Shavers End.

Just found a photo of the old windmill. I was demolished in the 1930's. The buildings just visible look like they have been occupied. It was known as Shavers End Mill. I found a reference to it on a railway modelers site. Someone called Dave said his Dad was bought up in it along with 8...

The saga continues. I have now worked out where Old Mill was in 1851. At the end of St James Terrace was the site of an Old Windmill. It was also the site of an Ironstone quarry called Millfield. My Great Great Grandfather Thomas Jones was an Ironstone Miner. My guess is they lived in a...

He died in 1921. She died in 1919. aged 86 and 80. So I am guessing that photo was taken maybe around the early 1900's

OK here is a question I have been trying to get the answer to for years. My Grandad was as I have said, a Dudley coal miner who moved to Nottinghamshire He like lots of miners wore straps around his work trousers just below the knee. My mother said these were called Dudley Yorks. She...

Thanks The name was Thomas Jones He was an Ironstone miner. His wife was Sarah They had 6 children at the time of the census. I am hoping to do more research into my ancestors lives. I dont expect to come across them mentioned in any publications seeing as how there were some 50,000...

I think I posted all my information to the wrong thread. My Great Grandparents were from Dudley. She was a Nail Maker from aged 10. I am struggling to locate just where they lived. The 1851 Census shows them as living in Old Mill Dudley. I cant locate an area called Old Mill. This might...

Hello Rosie. My Great Grandmother's father was an ironstone miner In the 1851 Census Thomas Jones was shown as married to Sarah ( Oops Madely is where she was born in Salop.) Both shown as aged 46. Four daughters all working as nail makers. Two younger ones. Girl 7 and a boy 4...