Arthur married Mary and moved from his home town, South Shields to Jarrow and then, in time, to Hebburn.
In terms of distance - there's not much between all three towns. My great x 3 grandfather, Rodger Stephenson moved to Jarrow so they were probably working together for a while at the mine.
Arthur and Rodger had pretty normal north east miners lives; they both had big families and lived in pit houses in Jarrow and then Hebburn - these were usually two rooms, three if you had a bigger family and the back lane area was a shared area, housing the outside toilets, pigeon lofts, allotment areas etc.
Arthur's daughter, Jane Anne Stephenson married well. I have researched my family tree quite thoroughly and nobody really did well for themselves - the girls usually married miners, dockers and eventually shipyard workers and the lads married girls from their area; usually miners' daughters. I'm not saying that was a bad thing, that was just the normal thing to do - the north east of England was heavily industrialised.
Jane Anne married an architect and surveyor. On the earliest census of their married life, he is listed as a architect and builder and in later census reports as an architect and surveyor. His name was Edward Jameson and in time, he bought them a lovely house in a rather nice area of Gateshead.
Jane Anne eventually had her parents living with her in Gateshead and they were set up with their own grocery store. That would have been unheard of in those days but would have given them some financial independence from Jane Anne, even if they were sharing her home.
The Jamesons and their children disappear from UK records in 1881. They appear on the census but then there is no sign of them. Theri eldest daughter, Lily died in 1878, still a child but they had three other children.
As I have the worldwide version of Ancestry.co.uk, I am able to look abroad for other records.
In 1883 I find Edward being investigated by British police for fraud but all charges are dropped 'no case to answer'. Maybe that was the push he needed to move from the United Kingdom and take his talents elsewhere.
He and Jane and their children, Arthur, Louise and Fred emigrated to Leavenworth in Kansas.
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| Leavensworth, Kansas in 1867 http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/files/2007/02/Leavenworth,%20Kansas,%201867.jpg |
I traced their emigration on the ship, City of Chicago and their settling into Leavenworth with some excitement.
Edward becomes a 'real estate agent' (a good trade for an architect/surveyor). On their first census in the USA, their son Arthur Edward Jameson is listed as an 'artist'. This piqued my interest - it looked like Arthur had picked up his father's talents.
The next census finds Edward, Jane, Louise and Fred still living in Leavenworth, Kansas but Arthur E Jameson has moved to New York City and is a boarder, along with many others at what looks like an apartment block in Manhatten. He has moved there to hone his skills.
Eventually, Arthur marries Brownie (real name Arabella) Duncan and settles in Manhattan. He is listed on the census as 'Illustrator', Brownie is a woman of independent means (she is from a fairly well off family).
Arthur and Brownie have 2 daughters, Margaret Duncan Jameson and Helen Duncan Jameson. On one census, both are listed as students - Margaret of 'music' and Helen of 'art'.
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| Illustrated by Arthur E Jameson |
I wondered if Helen was following her grandfather and father into artistic pursuits?
Further research shows that she did! Indeed, Arthur Jameson was a prolific illustrator, illustrating both adult and children's magazines. He seems to have specialised in children's colourful illustrations.
Helen D Jameson illustrated books and magazines but is particularly well known for a series of Madamoiselle covers she did in the 1930s and 1940s.
The covers are all viewable online if you want to delve further. I have included some of my favourites here.
Helen married an illustrator, Arnold Hall (he did covers for New Yorker magazine) and went by the name of Helen Jameson Hall. They had no children.
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| Illustration by Helen Jameson Hall |
Edward was an illustrator all of his life and Brownie outlived him by several years - he went back to Leavenworth, maybe for a family trip and died whilst visiting his family.
Helen's sister, Margaret Duncan went to Julliard and studied classical piano. She was, for a few years, a piano teacher before becoming a legal secretary for a top law firm in New York.
So from their very humble beginnings, the Jameson family did very well for themselves; their move to Kansas was a good one. Edward and Jane clearly saw their future lay away from the North East of England and they provided their children with options other than mining, shipyard work, steel making and the docks.
My great grandfather x3 stayed in the north east and his son became a miner (and Wesleyan minister) before getting other work after returning from Pennsylvania. My great-grandfather did not go down the mines, becoming a labourer but my family is (on both sides) mainly from mining stock!
I'm so pleased for Jane Anne; she married a man who could take her away from the industrial north east and showed her a life on the other side of the Atlantic that she would never have seen in England.
And look at the opportunities which opened up for their son Arthur and their granddaughter, Helen.
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| Margaret Jameson aged 23 |
The best part of my research on this part of my family tree was discovering the illustrations still available online. The one I featured here by Helen is available as an iphone cover, how cool is that?
The second best part of the research was finding their passport applications for a trans-Atlantic trip to Europe in 1922 - it included their photos - now they are not strangers! Hello to Margaret and Helen, my second cousins, three times removed.
Helen died in 1983 and Margaret died in 2000, she was 100 years old.
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| Helen Jameson - aged 20 |
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