My first encounter with the Lines family came when I discovered my 3xgt grandmother Hannah Lines. Born 1825 in Stapleton, Gloucestershire, she married twice, had 9 children, and lived to be 93 years old.
Hannah's parents, John Lines and Mary Hendy, both came from local families, based in and around Bitton, Gloucestershire. The families were closely linked with the coal mining industry - areas such as Coalpit Heath bear witness to the now long-gone industry which shaped the culture and the landscape of the area.
Bitton's neighbouring area of Kingswood was for centuries owned by the Crown, and as its name suggests was kept as an area for hunting. The Royal Family kept a hunting lodge at the summit of the hill where Cossham Hospital is now. The local inhabitants, however, lived a much less luxurious life; working as farm labourers or down the coal mines.
The coal in this area was not the best quality nor plentiful, and many mine companies went bankrupt while hoping for a lucky strike. Safety precautions were basic, and accidents not uncommon. John Lines' grandfather Michael Lines (1740-1766) died aged just 26 in a mine accident.
Hannah's younger brother John Lines was born 1828 at the family home in Thicket Road, Stapleton, was interviewed in 1842 by a Government Commission into the Employment and Condition of Children in Mines and Manufactories.
John Lines, aged 13, works for Sir John Smyth and Co. He hauls by the girdle and has done so for four years. The girdle never hurts him and he earns 1s. a day. He works eight hours and has potatoes and meat for dinner when he goes home. He attends the Wesleyan Sunday-school at Kingswood and can read a little. He walks four miles to the pit every morning.
The coal mining industry in Gloucestershire eventually failed and John, and his brothers Isaac and Michael, went to the USA to work in the mining industry there. Michael soon returned to the UK, but Isaac settled in Missouri and John in Illinois. Many others went to South Wales, the North East and Yorkshire where mining was still profitable.
Hannah, however, remained in Bristol. Aged 19, she married George Moss, a coal haulier from St George. The couple initially lived in rented rooms in St George, but after the death of her parents in 1853 they moved to the family home in Thicket Road, where she lived for the rest of her life.
Hannah and George had 5 children, all of whom survived infancy, but in 1855 when the youngest daughter was 2 years old, George died of pneumonia. Hannah was left a widow aged 30 with 5 young children. In many cases a widow in this situation would have remarried as soon as possible, but clearly Hannah was not destitute, as when she did remarry, it was in 1862, seven years later. Hannah's second husband, Joseph Millard, was a widower with 3 children, a coal miner and a neighbour. They had a further 4 children making a total of 12.
Joseph Millard died in 1890 leaving Hannah again a widow and still in her family home. She remained living there alone with the support of family living nearby for 30 years, until an accidental fall near an open fire led to her death.
Hannah's lifetime spanned the most incredible era for social change: the coming of the railways and commercial steam ships, the invention of telegraph and wireless radio, the automobile, and electricity for lighting were visible changes, but the invention of pasteurization, anaethesia, X rays and the understanding of antisepsis changed daily life enormously. She was born at a time when industry and mechanisation were beginning to make an impact on the lives of ordinary rural people. She lived through the reigns of George VI, William IV, Victoria, Edward VII and George V. She probably never travelled further than the city of Bristol, but the world came to her as her siblings and friends travelled and and sent back news of incredible places and experiences.
