Going to Sea is Dangerous!
Doing a One Name Study alongside my own family history has thrown up some interesting people and stories and I hope one day to have links from them into my own family. This week's efforts have centred on a family of mariners originating around the mouth of the River Tyne in North East England. In County Durham we have the town of South Shields while in Northumberland we have North Shields, both home to seafarers for many, many years. George Chicken, baptised in July 1769, grew up in Gateshead, south of the Tyne. He became a glass and pot maker in South Shields, married and had four children. His eldest son, William, became a sailor. He worked hard and learned how to navigate and manage a ship, gaining his master's ticket. William married and continued his seafaring life while his wife continued to live in South Shields and bring up their nine children. She must have had a hard life at times, but she was part of a community of mariner's wives who would support each other em...