Caroline Jane (Pollard) Bussell (1824 - abt. 1912)

Born 21 Mar 1824 in Stepney, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died about 1912 at about age 87 in Forest Gate, Essex, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

The mother, Caroline Pollard Bussell, following the death of her husband in 1877, lived for many years in a small cottage in Forest Gate, England, a suburb or London. She enjoyed a small pension from her husband's former position with the Custom House Service, supplemented by funds received from her seven children.

The writer has a very vivid recollection of his grandmother, Caroline Pollard Bussell, as he knew her during the two years he lived in England in the years 1892 to 1894. She was quite tall, well built, with beautiful white hair, and although of a kindly disposition, was not one to be trifled with. She lived alone in a very small cottage at 16 Brighton Road in Forest Gate, England, not far removed from the city of London. During the summer her leisure time was devoted principally to the cultivation of a small flower garden in the rear of her cottage and the care of two canaries and a cat. She possessed a very keen mind which is evidenced by the contents of letters she wrote to her granddaughter and namesake, Caroline Bussell, in New York City with whom she corresponded regularly beyond the eighty-second year of her birth.

One of these letters, written on March 25, 1906, during the week following her eighty-second birth date (March 21, 1906) is written from the same Brighton Road cottage and is in a decidedly firm hand. She relates how she passed her eight-second birthday which occurred as usual on the first day of spring, but which happened that year to be a very cold and blustering day with nothing of the cheer of springtime about it. The letter goes on to say that "tomorrow, March 26th, is your brother Richard's birthday and I hope Dick is well," etc. She declined at least two offers from her son Walter napoleon Bussell to live with his family in America. Both refusals indicated an independent spirit. Her actual words on one of those two occasions, were that she "would never live under the same roof with another Mrs. Bussell." She added that she had the love and devotion of her son-in-law and her several daughters-in-law and that this delightful state of affairs could only continue providing no two Mrs. Bussell lived together. In the eightieth year of her birth, she journeyed alone from London to New Zealand for a visit to her son Harry. On her return she wrote her granddaughter Caroline in New Your City that she enjoyed the journey immensely, especially the visit with her son whom she had not seen for twenty-six years, and her New Zealand grandchildren whom she had never seen. She mentioned, however, that now that she was home again, she disliked having to go out in bad weather to do her marketing, but having no one to do it for her she would of necessity have to continue to manage somehow, "Weather or no weather."

Sources

• Family information provided by Helen Bussell Wittenbauer