No.10

DO YOU REMEMBER -

when milk was delivered to your doorstep in glass bottles?

when a film (sometimes two films) plus a short feature, a cartoon and a newsreel were all included in a night at the cinema?

when the commercial station Radio Luxembourg was famous for its broadcasts of popular music?

when very often two homes had to share a phone line?

when the usual way of getting a TV set was not to buy one, but to get it on rental? A weekly visit to the TV shop with the payments book was a must.

when there was just one TV channel?

when the TV was switched on before the start of the scheduled programmes, this test card was displayed on the screen?

-o0o-

IF YOU REMEMBER (as I do)
street lamps lit by gas, horse-driven vans, Harry Lauder on the wireless, Mrs Simpson who was the cause of Edward VIII's abdication, the launch of the Queen Mary at Clydebank, the Lambeth Walk and young ladies sporting the earphone hairstyle 

THEN JOIN THE CLUB!

-o0o-

The photo below was taken around 1940. It shows my grandfather John Armour Jaap in the dress of the Ancient Order of Shepherds. I know he was a member of that benevolent society, though I don’t think he held any office. Perhaps he got dressed up like that, just for a bit of fun.

Born in 1868 in Kilmarnock, he married Charlotte Graham in 1891 in Kirkintilloch, where he had found work in the local coal mine. Later he became an engine driver, driving the “pug” which carried the coal wagons to nearby foundries and to the canal depot.

I remember, when I was a boy, my father telling me in all seriousness that Grandpa had once seen a fairy down the mine. I had no reason to doubt the story then, but I’m surprised that, when I was older, I didn’t ask my grandfather about it.

Many years ago I came across a magazine article about the supernatural and was interested to find how many well-known people, particularly in the literary world, were believers in the Wee Folk.

Towards the end of the 19th century W. B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory began collecting fairy stories, and became convinced that the existence of fairies was a reality. 

Another believer was G. K. Chesterton. He wrote “It is a fact that it is not abnormal men like artists, but normal men like peasants, who have borne witness a thousand times to such things. It is the farmers who see the fairies. It is the farm labourer who calls a spade a spade who also calls a spirit a spirit. It is the woodcutter with no axe to grind who will say that he saw a man hang on the gallows and afterwards hang round it as a ghost.”

-o0o-

Among my memories of childhood one incident is still very clear in my mind.

In the 1930s there was an outbreak of scarlet fever, a very infectious disease which necessitated patients being isolated in hospital. I fell victim to it, and, after I recovered and home again, my sister, just a few weeks short of her 5th birthday, caught the germ. 

This looks very like the dreaded "fever van"

I can remember the day she was taken away. After the van had left I couldn't find my mother and I searched the house. And then I discovered her - the sitting room door was wide open and there she was, hiding behind the door, crying . . .

-o0o-

When our daughters were at Lenzie Academy, they made contributions to the school magazine. Here are examples beginning with a poem by Margaret - Class 1A

STORM

A pale, untidy moon
Peers fearfully from a lurid sky
Through tattered cloud curtains of blackening grey.

The wind blows furiously
Carrying litter, leaving trees
Leafless and tottering in its wake.

And grey sea walls tower,
Pause, leap and plunge
Endlessly and mercilessly on slimy roads.

-o0o-

A poem by Lesley - Class 1A

PATIENCE

I sit, waiting
For thoughts to be transformed
Into words,
Waiting
For pen to touch paper:
Waiting, waiting

-o0o-

And something completely different from Fiona - Class V

Section 4. PRACTICAL CRITICISM

Read or sing this poem and answer the questions that follow in English.

NB. Answer EITHER questions 1, 4, 2, 6, OR 2, 5, 3a, 9, BUT if you choose question 7 do not attempt questions 8, 2, 6. Do not attempt question 5b if you are of a nervous disposition.

Baa, baa, black sheep

Have you any wool?

Yes, sir, yes, sir,

Three bags full.

One for the master,

And one for the dame,

And one for the little boy

Who lives down the lane.

- Anon

-o0o-

Finally, some photos of me, between the ages of 2 to 12

-o0o-

TODAY'S POST CONCLUDES THIS SERIES.
However it will be replaced by a new blog
90PLUS AND STILL BLOGGING
which begins next Saturday 24th June

-o=0=o- 

No.9

This photograph is one of the oldest we have of our branch of the Jaap family. Taken about 1888, it shows my great-grandparents George and Jean with their six sons. My grandfather is standing behind my great-grandfather.

My great-grandmother was Jean Armour from Ayrshire, so it's quite possible that she was related to the Jean Armour who was Robert Burns's wife.

One family member not in the picture is Jean's own daughter from a previous relationship.

Some time during the 1890s five of the brothers went to the USA and found work in Andrew Carnegie’s steel works in Pittsburg. Two of them decided to stay and later brought their families to settle in the States. My grandfather remained in Scotland.

-o0o-

It was in the 19th century that a great many Scots emigrated to America. Poverty and unemployment were perhaps the main causes of this great movement of the population, but for some there was the attraction of going to a country where, so it was believed, a higher standard of living was attainable.

It’s difficult to imagine the feelings of the brave souls who left their homes and friends behind, heading for the unknown. Certainly, for those whose adventure began in the earlier part of that century, there were many problems.

Liverpool was the main starting-off point and very often travellers had to wait for days, living in dirty, over-crowded lodging houses, being constantly harassed by pickpockets and thieves who would steal their luggage and make them pay for its return.

The journey by sailing ship took about 35 days. Most folk were accommodated in steerage, which was like a dormitory with bunks on both sides and tables down the middle. There was serious overcrowding, poor ventilation and, apart from seasickness, there were cases of cholera and typhus. What a nightmare it must have been!

Things had improved considerably by 1860 when steam ships had replaced sailing vessels. By that time healthy competition had grown between shipping companies who were keen to do what they could to attract customers, and 3rd class cabins had largely taken the place of steerage. And most important of all, the journey was now taking 7-10 days.

Of all those who emigrated, a surprising number were Mormon converts on their way to Utah. There had been a lot of Mormon activity particularly in England from 1835 on, and it was claimed that by 1850 they had made 30,000 converts. On two occasions they hired the SS Sailor Prince to convey their new members from Liverpool to New Orleans.

On the second voyage beginning on September 24th 1848, there were 341 passengers, and those included relatives of our Montgomery Japp, born 1764 in Fife. Montgomery (unusual name for a woman) had married Thomas Muir, born around 1758 and the emigrants were her son, who had become a Mormon in 1846 and his wife, their seven children, their son-in-law, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren. The journey took 57 days, and from New Orleans they continued on to Utah.

The following is from Gloria Emery, a descendant of Montgomery:

"Montgomery’s  great-grandson, David Muirie Hunter and his wife Sarah Jane Urie were part of what is called the “Hole in the Wall” wagon train – they were chosen by the Mormon leadership to go to southern Utah canyon country with a group of other Mormons to found a new town in the southern wilderness. They went by ox and wagon, travelling through country that is remote and takes a 4-wheel drive vehicle today. They had to cross the Colorado River. In order the get the wagons down off the cliffs, they blasted a “hole” and lowered the wagons with ropes. It was quite a feat. They settled in the little town of Bluff, Utah, then returned to Cedar City, Utah later."

 We know of other families who went to Utah. Isabella Japp, born 1834 in Fife, married George Edgar, born 1830 and they emigrated with their thirteen children. And Elizabeth Jaap, born 1823, with her husband Robert Laird and their family, also settled in Utah. 
The following comes from Mormon archives:

“In 1856, Brigham Young, the Mormon president, devised a plan whereby emigrants from Britain could come to Utah if they were willing to pull handcarts and walk the 1,300 miles from Iowa to Salt Lake City. Ellison Jaap, her husband Paul Gourlay and two small children undertook this journey. 

Unfortunately this group was late in beginning their trip in the fall of 1856, and met with disaster when winter storms trapped the emigrants along the Sweetwater River in Wyoming. Two hundred members of the company died of starvation and cold, before Brigham Young could send a rescue party of wagons from Salt Lake City. Ellison Jaap's two young children died. 

There are conflicting stories on the fate of Ellison. One report says she died in Wyoming, and the other states that she made it to Utah. A journal kept by one of the members of the Martin Company mentions the death of Ellison’s seven month old child Margaret with the following entry:
15 August 1856, a child was buried this morning. The coffin had to be made, which delayed us until about eight o'clock.”

A very sad story! We know that Ellison Jaap came from Fife where our ancestors lived, and it’s very likely there's a family connection.

-o0o-

There used to be occasions when Americans visiting Kirkintilloch asked to be directed to the Duggan’s Dew distillery, and were disappointed to find that there was no such place.

In fact there was - and there still is - a popular whisky in America called “Duggan’s Dew”. The makers had taken the name from a series of short stories published in the (American) Saturday Evening Post. Written by Guy Gilpatric 1896-1950, they featured a fictitious Colin Glencannon, a ship’s engineer on a tramp steamer who with his dog Mary had come originally from Kirkintilloch. He was very fond of a drink, his preference being the whisky made in his home town, and there was always a mention of “Duggan’s Dew” in the stories. I believe a 39-episode series based on his adventures was produced for TV in the late 1950s. 

The author himself had an adventurous life. An airman in the first World War, he became a stunt and test pilot, and took part in a number of films. In one film he had to crash a plane, but another “take” was needed, and he had to do it once more - with another plane, I presume. Incredible!

-o0o-

On 8th June it will be 2 years since Lesley's death

GALLERY

-o0o-

-o0o-

-o0o-

-o0o-

-o0o-

A PERSONAL SCRAPBLOG No.10
will be posted on
SATURDAY 17th JUNE

-o=0=o-