Leodis
My mother's family, through the female line from my great-grandmother Emilie Killerby, hailed from in and around Leeds, Yorkshire in England, up until the 1895, when Emilie died, not quite 30. In Roman times, Leeds was called "Leodis".
Here are pictures of my great-grandmother Emilie Killerby (married John Sellars), my grandmother Elinor Sellars (married John Smith), and my mother Joan Margaret Smith (married Carl Truttman Jr.)
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Emilie Killerby, born 10 October 1865, died 1895. Her father was William Killerby, her mother Martha Watson (with a family tradition that Martha's family may have had connections with the Watson chemist firm that made ingredients toward the manufacture of Sunlight Soap.) Emilie was a confectioner before she married my great-grandfather. Her three pregnancies were difficult, and she died only three years after giving birth to my grandmother. |
| Taken on Clayhill farm, Enfield, County Middlesex, early
1930s. Standing at rear: Nurse Crow (who boarded with the family), my
Uncle Jack (he served in the merchant marine during World War II, in the
convoys to Russia).
Middle: my Uncle Tom (flew in Lancaster bombers during World War II), my grandmother Elinor. Front: My Aunt Rita, and on Grandma's lap is my mother, Joan. Elinor (1892-1973) always worked hard for her living. She was briefly a student teacher in the first years of the 20th century, and then ran a milk round with horse and cart. She was an ARP warden during World War II. |
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My mother always loved this shot of her aged about four years old. She called it her "tam-o-shanter" or "tammy" picture. On the streets of London. |
| Collingwood, 1943. My mother, my grandmother, and my aunt.
Mum married Carl Truttman Jr in 1945, just before the end of the war, and went to live in California as a war bride. Carl Truttman died in the early 1950s, and by the middle of that decade, Mum was back in England. |
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My mother, my grandmother, and my two half brothers, on
board the Rangitiki, enroute to New Zealand, 1958.
Mum wanted a better life for the boys than England had to offer at the time. New Zealand seemed to be that place. |
