Harriet Houghton

Dairy Woman of Lincolnshire

By Keith Fisher GG Grandson

The life of a dairy farmer held a great deal of promise for a young girl when Harriet Houghton was born in Frithville, Lincolnshire, England on July 6, 1849. According to her son James Ransom Skipworth, she was known as one of the best "Dairy Women" in Lincolnshire county. Rising from a warm bed to help her father milk cows before sunrise every morning was not an easy thing to do. Helping to feed the cows that had come into the barn would get the blood going. Then to go down and take her turn at the utters of the family business would have been gratifying because of the warmth of the milking shed.

Life on the farm would have been enough for one who was content, but perhaps the second child of William Houghton and Dinah Hollome had other dreams. It’s not hard to imagine what life was like for this family. Like the fiction of Fiddler on the roof William and Dinah had 4 daughters in a row. It wasn’t until ten years after Harriet’s older sister was born that William got a son. So Needless to say, much of the farm work would have been done by Harriet and her sisters.

We know that this family were good religious people of good standing. Harriet was given a Bible for her good work in Sunday School.

In 1871, the Census takers recorded that the four daughters were not in the household. We know that Harriet had married a man named Frederick Brackenbury. History didn’t record much about this man. Once again to quote JR Skipworth, "She married Frederick Brackenbury and had three children, one died in Infancy, another burned to death and Rose lived to a good old age."

There is some mystery in regards to this marriage and the man Frederick himself. Some believe he was a horseman. Whatever he did, and however he died has yet to be found. They had 3 children, one died in infancy, another, a girl died when Harriet was cleaning ashes out of a large cooking fireplace. The daughter got to close, and her dress caught fire. She burned to death.

It must have been a horrendous experience for Harriet, one that she probably never got over. Then to loose her husband. It is no wonder that we don’t know much about her life at this time. People tend to close theirselves to painful memories. They never talk about them and often never recover.

We next find Harriet listed in the 1881 Census she was living in Wyberton. she was a widow and head of the house. Rose Anna was living with her. In the next house was a family with the name of Brackenbury. Henry Richard was the father’s name. This was probably Frederick’s brother. Also in this census, were a few clues, Harriet was working as a laundress and Henry was a farm servant. He was born in Wyberton and so was Rose. Frederick must have also been born in Wyberton.

It was in Wyberton, that James Ransom Skipworth was born 25 September 1882. He was the first son of Harriet and her second Husband Ransom Skipworth. Ransom had been staying in Boston with his sister’s family. His brother Bollon was also living there. Ransom was from Friskney and had left home to work in the big city. It was a match between the laborer and the servant. Nothing is known today about the courtship between Ransom and Harriet. But I’m sure, for Harriet it must have been bittersweet. Her husband was dead, two of her children had died, one of them in a horrible way. She was forced to rely on the good graces of her brother in law. She was doing the laundry for rich people in Wyberton She needed a man because women in the 19^th century literally had no autonomy. Ransom must have been like a savior for Harriet and Rose.

Harriet and Ransom were married June 22 1882. Harriet was 32 years old and Ransom was 20. Their first born son came 0n Sept 25, 1882 in Wyberton. Sometime in the next two years they moved to Boston where the family grew quickly, Harriet had 3 more children in 8 years and by 1891, Harriet’s father had died and her mother and sister had come to live in the Skipworth house. Rose was working as a domestic servant for a woman who was a mattress and bedding manufacturer. There were only two people in the household, Rose and her mistress. The census lists the occupation of Ransom as Railway laborer.

Florence was there last child and she was born in 1892. By the time that James was a young man, he had grown tired of his father. He felt that Ramsom had treated him badly and left the house and moved to Gainsborough he was a boarder in a rooming house there and working as a skilled laborer in 1901 Ransom was still working as a laborer.

Harriet kept house and raised some good kids during a time of great suffering in England. The 1890 s were marked by an economic downturn that separated the classes and drove wedges between them. The solutions to the problems were offered in the forms of poor laws and work houses. And Harriet kept her children out of those work houses.

Harriet died on 2 December 1921 and was buried in the Boston cemetery. Hers was a life well lived. She made the best of her situation in life and passed love and responsibility on to her children and judging by her son JR, they were very good people. Ransom died 23 years later on 19 April 1944. JR said that he made his living in later life as a rat catcher.