FAMILY HERO
‘Charlotte Survived Great Tragedy’
Tommylee Smith has been astonished by the hardship of his great grandmother’s life. He is also deeply inspired by her will to overcome heartbreak.
Ordinary people can live extraordinary lives, and this is certainly true of Tommylee Smith’s great grandmother Charlotte Davison. “All I knew of my great grandmother was that she was known as Lottie, and that she lived in West Auckland, County Durham,” says Tommylee. The discoveries that he has made have opened his eyes to the hardships that people suffered in the past.
Charlotte was born in 1890 into a mining community in Bishop Auckland. Her mother was Hannah Turner who was married to a man named William Davison.
“I ordered Charlotte’s birth certificate and was devastated to discover that she was born in Auckland Union Workhouse. I’ve read that there were terrible conditions in some Victorian poorhouses. I hope that Charlotte and Hannah didn’t suffer neglect.
“It was equally shocking to see that no father’s name was given on the birth certificate, even though Hannah was married to William at the time. Charlotte must have been given her stepfather’s surname. I’ve yet to discover who her real dad was.”
The many tragedies in Charlotte’s life began when she was only two years old. William died in 1892, leaving Hannah with two young children to raise. She later remarried to miner Thomas Lee, and the couple had four more children.
Tragedy struck again in 1902 when Hannah died aged 37 of an embolism. Charlotte was orphaned at the age of 12, and had to work from a young age.
She became a laundress, which was an exhausting job. Garments were turned in a tub using a large, heavy ‘dolly’ stick, shaped like a stool. Then they had to be scrubbed on a metal board, rinsed out and turned through a mangle. Finally, there was the ironing.
In 1911, Charlotte was boarding with the Jennings family in Gomer Terrace, Bishop Auckland. Romance blossomed between her and one of the Jennings’ sons, Jesse, who worked in a colliery. They married the following year, and their daughter Lilian Mary was born in 1912. “No one in my family knew that Charlotte had had Lilian, so this was quite a revelation.”
Further tragedy came a year into the marriage. “Lilian died at the age of six months in April 1913, after suffering whooping cough and convulsions. Two months later, Jesse Jennings died d of tuberculosis.
“Charlotte must have been heartbroken by two such terrible loses. She remained single for another seven years.
“It was lovely to find some good news, and discover the marriage of Charlotte and my great grandfather Albert Denham, which took place in 1920.”
The couple went on to have seven children, including Tommylee’s grandmother Edith. “Charlotte never told any of her descendants about Lilian. It was probably too painful to speak of.
“Relatives who knew my great grandmother remember her as a kind and caring person, who worked hard to support her family and was always there when they needed her.”
In 2019, Tommylee took a DNA test with Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk/dna). The results revealed surprising connections in the USA. One of these was a link to Elizabeth Thorne Bynon, who lives in Pennsylvania.
“Beth was thrilled when we matched, because her dad remembered a family member called ‘Charlotte’, and she had been searching for her for 31 years. We worked together and deciphered that Beth was Charlotte’s great niece.
“Despite the hardship of her early life, Charlotte lived to the remarkable age of 87. She passed away in 1977. I wish that I’d met her, although I feel as though I know her through researching her life. She is my inspiration.”
TOMMYLEE SMITH lives in Darlington, County Durham, and has been researching his family history for six years
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