Thread by @na_dixon

When the 1921 census was released, I found my only grandparent who was alive that year: William Herbert Jefferson, a Church of England priest. He is on the list of vicars at Christ Church, New Seaham, a church built for miners in County Durham that I last visited in 2015. (1/7)

William was a miner's son. On the day of the census (held at @UkNatArchives) he was 4 years and 11 months old. He was in Geoffrey Street, Whitburn, with his parents: William Herbert senior, a heaver at Marsden colliery who was ‘out of work’ and Edith, who had ‘home duties’. (2/7)

William Herbert Jefferson senior had fought in the First World War in the West Yorkshire Regiment, and was a prisoner of war in Germany. His son (my grandfather) was born in 1916, but did not see his father (my great-grandfather) until after the war had ended, in 1919. (3/7)

My grandfather had an uncle named John Jefferson, recorded as a putter at Whitburn colliery ‘on strike’ living with his mother Betsy Jefferson at North Guards, Whitburn, in 1921. He died in an accident at Whitburn Colliery that was witnessed by my great-grandfather in 1936. (4/7)

Despite coming from a poor family, my grandfather trained for the priesthood at @StJohnsDurham in the 1930s. He was a dedicated parish priest in various parishes in the @DioceseofDurham for many years. (5/7)

At Christ Church, New Seaham, where he was vicar in the 1960s, there are several moving memorials to mining disasters. My grandfather must have been reminded every day of the tough working life of his father and of the terrible tragedy that had befallen his uncle. (6/7)

It is inspiring to think of the many challenges that my grandfather and his father must have overcome. As they both died long before I was born, genealogy is one of the main things that connect me with this side of my family. (7/7) #genealogy
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