Comments on: Spinster aunts, part one: Grace Duncan (b.1885)

By: Colin Salter

Colin Salter — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 20:20:02 +0000

Spinster is a lovely word, and I’ve just returned from a holday in English northern mill country where it was used in its original context about women who spun cotton. Maiden is probably worse, because it reduces them to some idealised, ineffectual maidenhood. Here’s one of my maiden aunts who certainly wasn’t ineffectual – http://talltalesfromthetrees.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/catherine-gurney-obe-1848-1930-and-her.html – and three more (lumped together, to my shame) here – http://talltalesfromthetrees.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/anne-gurney-salter-born-c1840-and-toil.html

By: CR

CR — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 19:25:39 +0000

Oh, I must read your post (I’m sure mine isn’t better!) – and it’s interesting to see you use “maiden aunts”. I don’t know what I would have called them before; probably just unmarried women (I’ve traditionally been wary of the word “spinster”, even though I get that most people in genealogy circles are using it as the contemporary term in discussion of times gone by).

I decided to go with spinster aunts here though, partly as a little joke to myself because it has a kind of reclaimed feminist sense now, especially as used on one particular blog where I lurk but don’t post.

By: Colin Salter

Colin Salter — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:27:24 +0000

Entirely agree about maiden aunts in family trees, and so rewarding when you give them the attention they deserve. I wrote, arguing in similar terms, a piece in my blog; but you have put it so much better!

By: CR

CR — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 19:25:48 +0000

Yes, I think it must have been. One thing I’ve heard in general family chat about Dundee in those days is that people recollected “all the men hanging out the windows and drinking, while the women went to work”. No idea how accurate that is, or what situation it reflects if it is true; were women finding employment more easily because they were cheaper labour? Or was it more to do with the fact they typically worked in different industries that were less affected by hard times (confectionery versus jute, maybe)? I guess I need to read about it a little more.

By: Jo

Jo — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:22:47 +0000

Brave Grace! Dundee must have been a fairly depressing place to be at then, and several of my ancestors left Scotland around the same time. Looking forward to the next post in the series!

By: Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds » Climbing My Family Tree

Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds » Climbing My Family Tree — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:01:06 +0000

[...] 5. Spinster Aunts, Part One: Grace Duncan and Spinster Aunts, Part two: Ruth Esther Rockwood at Who Does She Think She Is? [...]

By: Spinster aunts, part two: Ruth Esther Rockwood (1889–1969) | Who Does She Think She Is?

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 09:36:01 +0000

[...] last week’s spinster aunt post, I quoted a bit from Margaret Ward’s The Female Line: “many spinster daughters cared [...]

By: CR

CR — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 21:05:16 +0000

Really?! I suppose that (the university policy) isn’t hugely surprising; but how sad for the women who had to leave. A door to new opportunities briefly opened, then suddenly closed in your face. Very harsh.

But your aunt’s life sounds like a good and satisfying one, led on her own terms. I’m sorry that you’ve lost her. Hope all goes well on Monday with a good turnout.

By: Rosemary Morgan

Rosemary Morgan — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 20:38:27 +0000

I, too, have had several spinster aunts of my own and agree that their lives are often very full and varied. In fact the last one died last weekend and I shall be going to the funeral on Monday. She was 86 when she died and had been a nun for most of her adult life, although that didn’t stop her having some quite radical views and getting to travel to California (for a sabbatical), Canada (to visit her sister), and France (where she had another sister). She also had to give up her place at London University in 1945 when the “men” came back from the war. I only found that last bit out fairly recently. I find that quite shocking in today’s terms.

By: CR

CR — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 19:40:43 +0000

I haven’t read either of those, so will add them to my list immediately. Thank you!