More On Charlotte Wintrup's Boots

Regarding Charlotte Wintrup's boots, no Wintrup descendants have contacted me yet.

Gwen Stein has done some research. The gravediggers' book shows that Charlotte was buried on 19th May 1876 in Kirklands churchyard, Innerleithen. It's not in our Innerleithen Monumental Inscriptions CD because there's no gravestone at her grave.

In the 1881 Census, James Wintrup was shown living at 13 Woodside Place, Galashiels, and his occupation was General Labourer. There were 7 children: Margaret, aged 26; Mary R, aged 21; William, 19; Thomas, aged 16; James, aged 14; all of whom were millworkers and Mary Ann, aged 10 and George, aged 6. George was born in Innerleithen; all the other children were born in the parish of Melrose.

There's also a John Wintrup, a groom and domestic servant employed in the household of Dr John D. Cox who lived at Hillend, Innerleithen and Gwen thinks this John Wintrup might have been Charlotte's eldest brother. Dr Cox was a poor carriage driver and particularly for night calls he would have needed a coachman.

I've found James Wintrup, Charlotte's father, an agricultural labourer living at Bridgend (Melrose) in the 1861 census, and as a baker living at Leaderfoot Mill in 1851 census.

Charlotte's boots were bought from an antique dealer in Michigan, so perhaps one of the Wintrups emigrated to America, possibly even to the Michigan area.

Are you related to those Wintrups ? If you are, please get in touch, either at Old Gala House or via our Contacts page selecting the Contact Type 'Border Telegraph'.

Online booking for our Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland has closed.

Migrants in American Newspapers

With our Migration-themed conference and family history and local history fair in Galashiels, Scotland on 11th May, just over a month away, we're finding more ways to find information on migrants.

Marjorie Gavin found free online access to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from 1841 to 1955 useful.

The parent website, Fulton History, has almost 22 million pages from newspapers published in New York state, USA between 1795 and 2007, and I've found over 50 articles about my (until now, mysterious) great-uncle Arthur who emigrated to New York in the 1890s.

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Charlotte Wintrup's Boots

Laurie Williams from Colorado, USA, wrote to me about a pair of 137 year old boots her father bought from an antique dealer in Michigan 35 years ago. These small hand crafted boots were owned by a little girl named Charlotte Wintrup who died at 4 years old in Walkerburn. The antique dealer was cleaning the boots one day and discovered a small note in the toe of one of the boots. It was written by the little girl's father, James Wintrup.
It reads, in his hand writing:
"This is to certifie that these little boots was the last that my little Dear Charlotte Wintrup wore while hear on this Earth & it is hur Fathers wish they will not be worn by no won while they are as a token of Rememberance of my Dear Little Daughter who died at Walkerburn on the 19th May 1876 Aged 4 years & 2 months, James Wintrup hur loving Father".

The boots moved from place to place across the USA as her family moved.  Back in 1978, her father accepted a job in the Middle East and although many of the antiques her father and mother had collected, as well as all their household furniture, were lost in a warehouse fire, Charlotte's boots had been stored with her grandmother and they were spared from the fire !

Charlotte was born in Galashiels.  Her father was James Wintrup, son of John Wintrup and Margaret Gray.  He was born about 1829 in Kelso and died 20th March 1896 in Galashiels.  Charlotte's mother was Charlotte Brown, born in 1832 in Darnick and she passed away in Galashiels on 25th November 1882.  According to the census, the family were millworkers in Galashiels. Are you related to those Wintrups ? If you are, please get in touch, either at Old Gala House or via our Contacts page selecting the Contact Type 'Border Telegraph'.

Book now for our Conference on 11th May 2013 in Galashiels, Scotland.