Post by 1dave on Dec 26, 2020 13:13:06 GMT -7
Calvin Warby - A LUMP OF COAL FOR CHRISTMAS
Last night, I was recalling how Dad used to say when we were little, that we had better be good or all Santa would leave in our stocking was a lump of coal. It started me thinking about my Briggs and Fielding ancestors. With the number of people in England at the time, resources, including firewood, were scarce. Only the well-to-do had money to buy wood or coal with which to heat their homes. Most went without heat during the winter.
I remember reading in my ancestors' histories about them following around the coal wagon to pick up any lumps of coal spilled from the wagon so that they could have a little heat once in a while. I think many of them would feel blessed to have a little coal to keep them warm on a cold, Christmas day.
My Warby and Blanch ancestors were like many; poor with no land or resources and little to eat. While still in England, they, too, probably suffered for want of heat in the winter. William, a son of my third great-grandpa, James Warby, Sr, was caught stealing a tame rabbit, probably out of hunger. For this crime, he was sent on a prison ship to Australia and after working off his time, became a free man. A year later, James Sr. and the rest of the family followed. England was overcrowded and overburdened with the poor, and landowners in Australia needed laborers and wanted house servants, so off they were sent by the local Poor Law Union. There they worked off the cost of their passage until they were free from the debt.
My 2nd great-grandfather, James Warby Jr., was seventeen years old when the family made the voyage in 1839. There, he met and married Mary Blanch, who had also recently been sent on a poor ship. How blessed they must have felt in Australia to have a chance to earn more than what was needed for their survival. Then to marry, join the Church and come to America! How blessed they must have felt to be able to own their own farm and raise enough food! Even still, the threat of dying from accident, disease or in childbirth was constant. Seven of their eighteen children died before reaching adulthood and three more died before the age of forty.
All of this started me thinking about how most of the crises in our lives today pale in comparison to the trials and struggles they went through. How blessed would they feel if they only had to deal with the things we consider crises.
As we face our personal crises, may we always stop and think of all the things we take for granted today that our ancestors would have considered great blessings. As we do, maybe we can learn to truly be grateful for the things we do have and maybe we won't consider our personal crises so bad after all.
Calvin Warby
December 25, 2018
Last night, I was recalling how Dad used to say when we were little, that we had better be good or all Santa would leave in our stocking was a lump of coal. It started me thinking about my Briggs and Fielding ancestors. With the number of people in England at the time, resources, including firewood, were scarce. Only the well-to-do had money to buy wood or coal with which to heat their homes. Most went without heat during the winter.
I remember reading in my ancestors' histories about them following around the coal wagon to pick up any lumps of coal spilled from the wagon so that they could have a little heat once in a while. I think many of them would feel blessed to have a little coal to keep them warm on a cold, Christmas day.
My Warby and Blanch ancestors were like many; poor with no land or resources and little to eat. While still in England, they, too, probably suffered for want of heat in the winter. William, a son of my third great-grandpa, James Warby, Sr, was caught stealing a tame rabbit, probably out of hunger. For this crime, he was sent on a prison ship to Australia and after working off his time, became a free man. A year later, James Sr. and the rest of the family followed. England was overcrowded and overburdened with the poor, and landowners in Australia needed laborers and wanted house servants, so off they were sent by the local Poor Law Union. There they worked off the cost of their passage until they were free from the debt.
My 2nd great-grandfather, James Warby Jr., was seventeen years old when the family made the voyage in 1839. There, he met and married Mary Blanch, who had also recently been sent on a poor ship. How blessed they must have felt in Australia to have a chance to earn more than what was needed for their survival. Then to marry, join the Church and come to America! How blessed they must have felt to be able to own their own farm and raise enough food! Even still, the threat of dying from accident, disease or in childbirth was constant. Seven of their eighteen children died before reaching adulthood and three more died before the age of forty.
All of this started me thinking about how most of the crises in our lives today pale in comparison to the trials and struggles they went through. How blessed would they feel if they only had to deal with the things we consider crises.
As we face our personal crises, may we always stop and think of all the things we take for granted today that our ancestors would have considered great blessings. As we do, maybe we can learn to truly be grateful for the things we do have and maybe we won't consider our personal crises so bad after all.
Calvin Warby
December 25, 2018