{"id":3925,"date":"2013-08-10T17:49:46","date_gmt":"2013-08-11T00:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/blog\/?p=3925"},"modified":"2019-03-18T19:26:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T02:26:52","slug":"joseph-askew-breaks-his-leg-in-a-train-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/blog\/joseph-askew-breaks-his-leg-in-a-train-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Askew breaks his leg in a train crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2-2-2<\/a>It’s been a long and tiring week, and so when I finally had a chance to sit down and write this morning, I found myself staring uninspired at a blank page. Seeking inspiration, I looked for databases I haven’t yet explored. The university at which I work has a great library that I can access online, and after I bit of poking I discovered a database of 19th Century British newspapers (called, for those of you who are curious, 19th Century British Library Newspapers<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I know little about the lives of my 3rd-great-grandfather Joseph Askew and his family before they migrated to Minnesota in 1875, so I set out to see if I could add learn anything at all about Joseph Askew’s time in England. I was successful, and I’d like to share one of the first items I found, about a train crash just outside Whitehaven, Cumberland.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first mention I found of the train crash was thanks to the\u00a019th Century British Library Newspapers<\/a>\u00a0database. Their full-text index led me to a news item\u00a0from Tuesday, May 15, 1866, on page 7 of\u00a0The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald<\/i>\u00a0of Bury Saint Edmunds, England. This short mention was in the Casualties and Crimes column:<\/p>\n

Accident in a Railway Tunnel.<\/strong>\u2014On Thursday a mineral train was passing through a tunnel near Whitehaven when three waggons became detached in consequence of the couplings giving way, and a subsequent passenger train, full of people who had attended WhiteHaven market, ran into them with a fearful crash. None of the passengers were killed, but several were very seriously injured, the following cases being the most important:\u2014Mr. Tatham, cattle-dealer, Halifax\u2014serious injury to the face; nose literally smashed to a jelly; head injured. Joseph Askew, a youth in the service of the Company\u2014thigh fractured. Joseph Turner, clerk in the employment of the Company\u2014collar-bone broken. Miss Mossopp, Sellafield\u2014laceration of face, and contusion of head. Mr. John Leece, St. Bees\u2014laceration of the head, and hurt on the right leg. Mr. Henry Bell, Holburn-hill, Whitehaven\u2014contusion of both legs. Miss Quinn, St. Bees\u2014injury to head and limbs, &c. Eighteen others are known to have been considerably shaken and bruised, and it is supposed that there are many more in the same category.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The whole column is reproduced below, with Joseph’s name highlighted in green:<\/p>\n

\"1866-05-15<\/a><\/p>\n

Joseph was born on April 11, 1840, so he would have been 26 years old at the time of the accident. The article implied that he was an employee of the railway company, but doesn’t state which company that would have been. These are among the most likely candidates:<\/p>\n