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| Granny |
Her name was Anna. Anna Beatrice. She was born on February 1, 1888. She was the oldest of 14 children, 7 girls and 7 boys. Her brothers and sisters addressed her as Sister. Her 9 children called her Mummy. Her 50+ nieces and nephews, all called her Big Aunty, often strung together as one word "Bigaunty"! Her 17 grandchildren called her Granny.
She was my mother's mother. She wore dresses with three quarter length sleeves, not the saris her daughters would eventually wear and not the full long skirts her husband's sister wore. She might have married a Sinhalese, but Granny was Burgher and wore dresses!
She was left-handed. She sewed, embroidered, and did filet crochet using fine cotton thread and tiny steel crochet hooks. She crocheted a bedspread/table cloth for each of her married children and the one granddaughter who was married before she died. Apparently, she also crocheted a table cloth for one of my mother's friends, because, that lady sent the table cloth to my mother, many years later. I have a bed sheet she embroidered (by hand) for my mother and the two table cloths, although, the one she made for my mother's friend is torn.
I don't have many pictures of my grandmother. The one above is from the prayer card at her funeral. The one below is from a copy of a picture taken at my grandparent's 25th wedding anniversay:
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| Granny |
There was one other picture of me as a baby, with Granny and my mother, but I couldn't find it.
Granny died in January 1972, aged 83, just 3 weeks before her 84th birthday. Today was the 130th anniversary of her birth! Happy birthday, Granny!
Granny sounds like another very strong independent woman in your amazing family. Really big families back then. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat she was, Sandy. I think she had to be independent and strong. She was a housewife, but, Grandpa (who died before I was born) brought his entire salary and handed it over to her and she ran the household, including looking after several of her younger siblings. Apparently, they all came to her house for their "confinement" when they were ready to have a child and my mother said, they'd stay for weeks before going back to their own homes! Granny, herself, had all her babies at home, with only a midwife to attend to her. Maybe her mother came to be with her for the births; I don't know. Yes, Granny and her parents were Catholic, so, the large families. In contrast, Grandpa, who wasn't Catholic, but converted in order to marry her, was one of 3 siblings, his sister had 1 child, and his brother had 3. :)
DeleteI bet as the oldest of 14 children Anna had a lot of responsibilities growing up. It was interesting to learn about your grandmother. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteNot just the oldest child, but the oldest daughter, too. She was a second mother to the younger siblings. I remember Granny telling me stories about how she had to draw water from the well to bathe her younger siblings and how she would feed them their meals (I guess her mother was too busy attending to the newest baby). :)
DeleteWhat a lovely lady and what treasures she created with crochet hook and needle! I can tell from your description that she was greatly loved.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bushlady. Yes, she was much loved. She was a very gentle, kind lady.
DeleteWhat a lovely post. All those children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews from one lady and of course her husband - amazing. Did she have a lot of great-grandchildren and do any of them have children? xx
ReplyDeleteHa, ha, yes, there were 32 great grandchildren (but she didn't live to see any of them; her oldest granddaughter was pregnant with her first child at the time of Granny's death). And yes, there are some great great grandchildren, too, but I don't know how many. I've kept in touch with most of my cousins and some of their children, but not all of them.
DeleteShe was a beautiful woman, Bless! Can you explain the difference between a Burgher and a Sinhalese? Are they people from different parts of Sri Lanka or is there also an economical background difference? I'm asking because of the comment that a Burgher woman would wear dresses, not saris.
ReplyDeleteNathalie, the Burghers are an ethnic group with European ancestry; primarily, the descendents of the Dutch settlers in Sri Lanka. The descendents of the Portuguese are also included in the term, but not by the Dutch Burghers! LOL! They are considered to be the most Westernized of the various ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, usually Christian, and, they speak English as their first language. During the British rule, they were allowed to have the better government jobs that were denied to many of the Sinhalese and Tamils, who are the other two main ethnic groups. Many of them considered themselves to be superior to the Sinhalese (my mother used to tell me stories about how one of her aunts - her mother's sister - used to tease her about having a "tobacco-chewing Sinhalese" father and how angry that made her, and how her oldest brother once came home from school, in tears, because someone called him a Sinhalese and he was vehemently denying that he was Sinhalese!)
DeleteMy granny's father was of Dutch/German descent (she had told me he was German; his last name might be considered German or Dutch), her mother was probably of Portuguese descent as her last name was a Portuguese name (although, some Sinhalese also had taken on Portuguese names for one reason or another - often, they had to convert to Catholicism and change their names upon being baptized in order to receive a good education and a good job, back when parts of the country were under Portuguese rule). So Granny considered herself Burgher.
A lot of the Burghers, including several members of my family from Granny's side, emigrated to Australia and Canada after Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) became independent and the new government became more nationalistic. Several of my cousins from my mother's side identify themselves as being Burgher, even though they have a Sinhalese parent. In fact, as far as I know, only I, and maybe one other cousin, identify ourselves as Sinhalese. :)
Thanks for explaining this, Bless :)
DeleteMy pleasure, Nathalie. :)
DeleteNice post and I learn so much from your blog. I have to d a google search for terms which always leads me down another rabbit hole as I follow links. Then I come back and reread your post filled with facts I never knew!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne. Glad to hear that you were able to find out more! :) I never know how much background info to provide. But then, I think, "Well, they can always ask"! :)
DeleteYOur grandmother was a beautiful lady!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Debbie. :)
DeleteAnna Beatrice sounds like a wonderful and inspirational lady. X
ReplyDeleteWe like to think so, Jules. I know for a fact that she was hard working and very good at managing her resources. I don't know how she was as a younger woman, but, as an older lady, she was a very gentle presence in our lives.
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