Re: Forth Bridge


"Bob" <bcjs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:h3REi.75222$xp6.52654@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Family search.

"Joseph Seaman we believe was originally Polish (Zeaman??)who fled
to Germany,and came over too work for Krupp steel building the Forth
Rail Bridge."

I was sent this info from a relative. I find it a bit difficult to
believe thia was the case as Joseph had a son born in about 1853 (no
records) but the son Charles married in Middlesbourough in 15/9/1873
at St Pauls Church. There appear to be no records on Joseph Seaman
nor for the death of Charles. However on my grandfathers wedding
certificate of 1901 it does indicate deceased against his father
(perhaps this was common if someone had disappeared ten or more
years earlier?)

The difficulty I have is that The Bridge did not commence
construction until 1882.

Charles had departed the family home by the 1891 census in
Dunfermline Scotland.

The Middlesborough connection intrigues me, He had brought his
Scottish bride down to Middlesborough for he wedding. Does that
indicate a firm Middlesborough connection?

You have a man who was in 'big' iron. He would go where there was work
in big iron. There was plenty such in Middlesborough. Look into its
history. It doesn't matter much to such men what the function is of
the structure being made. Their skills are in cutting big iron and in
joining the bits together so that they don't fall apart when they
shouldn't.

Judging by my youngest half-brother and his father-in-law, these sorts
of people are not strong on delicacy, precision or anything else
'fine'. 'Solid' might be a fair description of their physique, their
attitude to life, and what they build. They have an element of 'gypsy'
in that once they have done all the 'solid' work available in one
place they up sticks and move to somewhere else needing big iron. It
is a necessary concomitant of building to last longer than their own
lives.

Marrying the boss's daughter isn't compulsory, but my brother says it
happens frequently. The boss gets his daughter to run the office so he
has more time to handle iron. Then he takes on a young man in his own
mould to help him. Then the young man has to go into the office for
the paperwork. Which presents the daughter with a 'carbon copy' of her
father. The outcome is, to put it mildly, predictable.

The chances are that your man's bride had a family connection with
'big iron'. The Forth Bridge wasn't the earliest, and is far from the
only, lump of 'big iron' in Scotland at the time of interest to you.

Don


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