Samuel BETTRIDGE

                   IGI shows sealed to parents also 8 May 1934
                  

                   Also endowed 20 Dec 1975
Family Group Sheet of Effie Thomas shows incomplete date of sealing to parents of 3 Jan 197?
Name also spelled Lottie.
Lottie had no children.

Lottie Bettridge, a nurse who had been assistan Matron at the Birmingham City Hospital for some years, had, at the age of thirty eight, married a widower many years her senior.  Her husband, Thomas Henry (Harry) Ludford, was destined to become my one and oly Uncle and one of my greatest friends.  He lived in the charming old world village of Kirk Hammerton, which is situated on the River Nidd and is just about half way between York and Harrogate in Yorkshire.  The homes in the Kirk Hammerton all had picturesque names and most of them were either on or near the village street.  My Aunt's house, "Rose Lea" had formerly served for many years as the Villiage Inn.  It was an old stone structure standing back some distance from the street, being secluded by a brick wall.  In order to reach the front door one had to pass through an old oaken gate and walk down a pathway leading through an old fashioned garden abounding in roses from which the  house took its name.

Leaving "Rose Lea" and walking east on the village street one soon came to the Village Church.  This beautiful piece of architecture boasted a tower whose base dated back to Saxton Times.  The remainder of the church had probably been built or renewed during the Norman era.  The green and well-kept Church Yard whose crosses marked the graves of villagers for centuries past, still served the village as a burial ground.

Across the village street to the south of the church stood the imposing Village Hall, the manor house where Colonel Staniforth, the Squire and virtual owner of Kirk Hammerton, had his residence.  At that same corner but forming a kin of island in the intersection of the village street and a road which crossed it from north to south was the traditional Village Green, shaded by its proverbial Chestnut trees.

Turning the corner by the church, crossing the street and walking some distance north one came to the village school.  The schoolhouse was of red brick and consisted of just two classrooms, which served to educate all age groups from Kindergarten to Fourteen years.  Nor do I us the work "educate" lightly, for the classroom which housed the village children aged eight and over was the domain of the ablest teacher I have ever known.  Well advanced into middle age, Miss Hook was tall and slim with a short straight pompadour of grey hair.  She taught, and taught well, every subject in the curriculum.  Each child received individual attention, and the scholastic standards of her classroom were far in advance of those of the very much larger school which I attended in Hucknall.

Her neice, Effie May Bettridge spent the Christmas Holiday at "Rose Lea" with her Aunt and Uncle.  She says, "I don't remember the details of that Christmas holiday spent in Kirk Hammerton with my Aunt and Uncle; nor do I remember the gifts I received.  Almost cerrtainly Uncle and I attended the Christmas services at the Weslayan jChapel where he was a lay preacher, and almost certainly my Aunt remained home to prepare the traditional dinner of roast foul, plum pudding, and mince pies.  Somehow, though the exact events of that day have long been forgotten, I know it was just about the happiest Christmas I shall ever know."
                  

                   Submitter Kathleen McMurray
2 Morven Avenue Hucknall, Nottingham NG 15 7RE
Submission Search 1867154-1017102110616
CD-Rom: Pedigree Resource File - Compact Disc # 51

Verify sealing to parents.  Family Group sheet shows incomplete date of 3 Jan 197-.
IGI shows baptism also 09 Sep 1904

Joseph was the son of Samuel Bettridge, and the father of Effie May Bettridge.  He lived from 1980 to 1966.

His mother died when he was ten years old.  Since his father never remarried, was raised in a home where there was no mother.

He was a strikingly handsome man of 23, with considerable wit and charm.  His hair fell in a mass of chestnut curles in a manner that is remeniscent of the poet, Byron.  He tried vainly to straighten his hair out by the lavish use of hair oil.  He was emotionally immature, it now seems to me.  His mother, of whom he had been very fond, had died when he was a boy of ten, and his father, who had a remarkable sense of humor coupled with an unpredictable temperament in the home, had never remarried.

When he was a bout 20 years old, his friend (or cousin) Wilf Orton had a girlfriend named Lilly.  She had a friend named Effie Hannah Bailey.  Wilf and Lilly line up Joseph and Effie Hannah on a double date.  Both women went to the congretaional Church.  Wilf married Lilly and Joseph married Effie Hannah when he was 22 and she was 21.  .  Her father, Alfred Benjamin Bailey disliked the Mormons and didn't want his daughter to marry Joseph.  However, he had lost his son, Alfonzo, in the navy during WWI, and he didn't want to lose his daughter also, so he accepted the marriage.  Effie Hannah was later baptized into the church when her daughter Effie May was a child.

   During WWII he worked as a Batman (valet) to military officers.  He was also responsible for cleaning their quarters.  He went through a lot of officers because they would get killed in the war.  Some he liked, some he didn't like.  He especially liked on Polish officer named Piatrovski.

Joseph O. was a miner, but did not like it.  He was out of work during the Great Depression.
After WWII he returned to the coal mines, but worked on the surface until retirement.  He probably worked at No. 2 Collery or "Bottom Pit" as it was called.

He fought in the "Sherwood Foresters" and trained on Sunderland for the service.  He was due to sail to france on November 11, 1918, but the Armistice was signed that day so he was able to go home.  His daughter, Effie May was three months old before he saw her.

In England,  unfortunately, people were still more or less "born" into their class or station in life.  In this sense, Joseph had been born into mining or some similar occupation.  it was virtually impossible to change what one had been "born" into.  It seems that Joseph always hated his job as a miner, yet he was trapped into that way of earning a living for his family.  He took refuge in the pursuit of endless bohhoes and eventually--if his daughters viewpoint is correct--in hypochondria.

Joseph's wife, Effie Hannah Bailey was ill throughout most of their married life.  He coped uncomplaingly with the inconveniences that resulted from her continuing illness.

He was an avid gardener, winning many awards for his beautiful flower gardens.

From time to time he bred rabbits of different varieties.  He also bred white mice, all maner of caged birds, and several breeds of dogs.  Much later in life he took up beekeeping and the production of honey.

Somewhere around the time of the 1926 coal strike, Joseph happened to look critically at a large, lovely china swan someone had given his wife as a wedding present, and he decided he'd like to carve, from solid oak, a matching pair just like it.  He went to a cabinet maker and bought two blocks of seasoned oak, each about 12" by 12" by 18".  He proceeded to carve the swans.  He used no tools other than a hand-saw for the first fough shaping, a chisel, a pen-knife, and a supply of sandpaper.  The work occupied his evening hours for quite some time.  After the carving was completed, he gave the swans a final sanding, then set about staining and painstakingly polishing them.  The turned out beautifully  It seemed that he had even caught the grain of swan's feathers in his carved reproductions.  For many years these swans sat on each side of the Queen Anne sideboard in the kitchen in their home.

Some time later he started writing poetry and won first prize in a poetry contest that was sponsored by the "Millennial Star", the official publication of the British Mission.  John A. Widtsoe was then President of the British Mission.  The contest called for a patriotic poem to be written--one that British Saints could sing in their church meetings in praise of their own country.  Joseph like to sing around the house, and one of his favorite hymns was "O, Ye Mountains High, written by an English Mormon convert, Charles W. Penrose (quite some time before he "gathered to Zion" and actually behild Utah's mountain ranges.   Joseph's poem for the Millenial Star contest was entitled, "OBritain, Dear Britain" and was written to be sung to the well known tune of "O, Ye Mountains High."  For his prize, Joseph received a book  about Brigham Young that had recently been authored by one of Youngs's daughters, Susa Young Gates.

He died of Kidney cancer at age 71.
                  

                   Family Group Sheet showed incomplete date for seal to parents: # May 197-.
At one point, Elizabeth was removed because there was no proof that she had been properly identified.
She was still living as of 28 Apr 1969 when records were submitted.

Family Group Sheet by Effie Thomas, granddaughter to Samuel Bettridge, notes that Elizabeth was sealed to her second husband.
                  

                   Baptism date also of 25 Jun 1966
                  

                   IGI shows seal to parents also 8 May 1934