Great Grandfather Tom

If like myself you have ever traced your family tree you will no doubt have come across an ancestor or two  whom you would have liked to have known personally and in greater depth.  I would love to have been able to spend some time with my paternal great grandfather Thomas Jobling. 

Tom was  born in 1832 in the North Yorkshire village of West Rounton which lies seven miles from the town of Northallerton.  The son of a flax handloom weaver Tom was a bright self educated man who worked as a schoolmaster for part of his career. Upon his marriage to Elizabeth Robinson he became coachman to the German industrialist Bolckow at Marton Hall near Middlesbrough.  Bolckow co-foundeded the first blast furnace on Teesside and later became the first m.p for Middlesbrough. Sadly Marton Hall no longer exists having been burnt to the ground in the 1950's, all that remains today is a covered walkway which would have been at the rear of the house.  The grounds however are now a public park, 'Stewart Park' and well worth a visit if you are ever in the vicinity.

Elizabeth was very homesick for her hometown of Seaham Harbour,  the young couple who now had a young son, moved to Seaham to be close to Elizabeth's family and Tom gained work at the local pit as a wagon driver.  In the mid nineteenth century the 'Tommy System' was in operation in the Durham mining communities.  This meant that miners were under contract to the mine owners on a yearly basis, although the mine owner was free to evict a miner at anytime without notice.  conditions for the Durham miners was amongst the harshest in the country.  These were very deep anthrocite mines and accidents happened all too frequently.  In addition to the dreadful working conditions the men had to endure, they also tended to be paid in tokens which had to be  used at the company's own store, where prices were greatly elevated. It was a case of the rich benefiting from the labour of the poor.  Thomas worked in quite a few pits in the Durham coalfields - including Seaham, The John pit at Heworth, Esh and Blaydon.  The couple had seven children, six sons and a daughter.  My own grandfather Oliver was the youngest son.  The three eldest sons worked as hewers in the mines, but my grandfather who was very bright like Tom, eventually became the chief accounts clerk for the Great Northern Railway at its Darlington office. My grandfather also married a miners daughter.

Although they were not rich or famous I am extremely proud of my ancestors and wish I could converse with them - perhaps one day in some far away place I will be able to?