Jane Langley

 

So this past weeks prompt for Amy Johnson Crows challenge for 52 Ancestors  in 52 weeks was Valentine. I was  not inspired so I am skipping on to next week prompt. We have instead Heirloom. It was a challenge to pick one heirloom that I had not written about previously. There are so many family treasures I enjoy having incorporated into our home. Here is one that holds special interest to me. It’s an item that my third cousin shared with my sister and I. A collection of writings done by my 4x great maternal grandmother, Jane Langley Jones.

I was first made aware of Jane Langley by my grandmother, the great “story” teller, for she told a story about the “Three Langley Beauties”, and Jane was one of the three. So I decided to finally delve into Jane’s writings and make a transcription. In transcribing I have found that I am able to work out almost all the words written. Today was one of those rare snowy Sundays in the Pacific Northwest and a perfect time to get started. The hand writing could be atrocious or maybe it is only due to the fact that I hardly ever get to read something hand written in the 1830’s. There are also many pages that are too faint to read. The collection contains 48 pages.

Jane was born in England about 1814. One of 4 daughters (not three) born to Edward and Mary (Jones) Langley of Coleshill, Warwickshire England. How my cousin Bob A. came by these papers I do not know. What they are, are an assortment of poems, recipes and letters written by Jane. One item has a date of  October 14th 1832 which would have been when Jane was about 18 years of age. The titles on some of her pages include:

To H-

Lemon Wine

Love Forgets

Good Bye

Ginger Wine

God save our Gracious King

My Mother

I give my heart to Thee for Thine

Affection

The Dead Twins

Reminecsence

The Child of Earth

Home

The Exiles Return

JTo the Forget Me Not

The Broken Promise

I can only speculate about the reason for these musings by Jane. Considering her age and the time period I believe she had been introduced to society and was quite the social young woman. The writings paint a picture of a young woman experiencing the drama of young love and the hardships of families.

The poem ” God Save our Gracious King” references King William who came to the throne in 1830 and reigned until his death in 1837.

Click on image to enlarge.

God save our Gracious King

William our Noble King

God Save the King

Send him Victorious

Happy and glorious

Long to Reign over us

God save the King


O Lord our God wise

Scatter his enemies

And make them fall

Confound their Politicts

Frustrate their R….cish tricks

On him our hopes we fix

God save us all


Thy cherish gifts in store

On William Reign to po…

Long may he …..

May he defend our laws

And even give us cause

To sing with heart and voice
God Save the King


Shield him thou good and great

And to our Queen and state

New Blessing  Bring

Great Brittons th… and long

May the expecting thronge

For them re…..d the song

God save the King

I am speculating that Jane wrote this around the time of King William IV’s coronation. History notes that he was much beloved by the people.

Any help on those words I couldn’t workout?

Congratulations mmelo for winning last weeks drawing. Your surprise  gift is going out Monday.

 

 

Leave a Reply