Family History Writing Challenge - Reflections on the 2011 Challenge

I did take the 28 days pledge, the one that made last February the month for the Family History Writing Challenge. When I wrote the introductory post I talked about a set of notebooks that I had written over the last 20 years, written from visits to my Great Aunts and other relatives.

It occurs to me that I have not once looked at the notebooks that I mentioned in my 2011 introduction. The posts that have been written have been done so from my memory, recollections and my computer programme. I could not possibly remember all those dates!

The posts were made in an almost logical fashion. I started with my Grandmother and steadily worked backwards. There were the odd deviation and separate posting, written as the fancy took me!

By being able to write several thousand words without the notebooks makes me wonder what else there is to post. Actually the word count sits at 11,557 excluding the introductory post, which was 253 words and this post of somewhere in the region of 200 words. There are lots and lots and lots....you get the picture? What information do we each store in our memories? Things that will overtime be lost. Even my own Mum failed to remember something that she herself told me a few years ago.

I have an idea of what to do with the data collected and written about during February 2011. I also plan to add to those initial 28 a selection of other posts written during the year. I then plan to publish. Depending on how and what I write for the challenge this year they may, or may not be included.

What are your plans for the contents of the 2011 writing challenge?

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 27

Sometimes I can simply be overwhelmed with research. Which line do I pursue next? How do I focus on the line in hand rather than be distracted by a different line? Often I receive an email or a document which takes me off on the road of research and discovery then I receive another email or contact and that prompts me to perhaps look at that data so that I can answer the email. I then find that I get absorbed into that research that I take sometime before getting back to what I was originally researching. By the time I get back to the original material I have lost my thought process and need to review the data. Does that happen to you or am I just disorganised?

My plan for the last few years has been to get my house in order or to complete, no, start the process of genealogy housekeeping. I am shocking at filing the data back into the files. There are, so a former boss told me filers and pilers and I am a piler; and alas not an organised one!....and I have 25 years of genealogy notes to file. As the films say. I could be some time!

Each conversation with a relative, visit to the record office, note, thought, plan and tree drawn out whilst researching has been processed, file (or piled), stored and perhaps revisited and then stored somewhere in the depth of my study. I dread to think how much paper and ink or pencil lead that is. Of course the fundamental question is do I really need 6 copies of a record? Do I need every note book written since 1986?

Whats more frightening, is that 70% of the current paper & data mountain relates to my maternal genealogy, 10% relates to my Italian ancestry, 5% relates to my husband's genealogy, 15% relates to my two one name studies and my one place study. I haven't stopped researching yet, there are many, many more ancestors and records to read and research. Just where will it all end?

Word count 348

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 26

Just what does all this genealogy mean? Over the last 25 days or so I have written about various lines of my ancestry. Along that writing journey I have pondered upon other considerations and questions and like with all genealogy with each answer that we establish we create more questions.

Both my Mum's parents had family deep within the infrastructure of the South East of England, all within the Counties of Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. Quite literally where the boundaries of those three Counties meet. I always knew that, from the early days of my research. I also knew that several family members married their Cousins and I accepted the fact that rural communities would of mean that men and women from those communities would perhaps meet through a family connection and subsequently marry. Given that so much of ancestry is contained within a small geographical area I was not surprised to see some surnames appearing more than once on my family tree.

What has surprised me is just how much name repetition has occurred. In some cases there has been a proven connection between the genealogical lines and not in others.  Also the amount of family relations marrying has surprised. None so than that of my own Grandparents. A fact that I am fairly sure they did not know in their lifetime and how I wish I could ask them now just what they think of it.

After 20 odd years of researching I still feel  real amazement and a buzz at what I can unearth and just what data has survived the test of time. I am also astounded at the twists and turns of my ancestry, the migration from parts of the South East to the colonials  - Canada and Australia.

All these names that appear in my ancestry are more than that. They are the foundations of my history each with a set of dates as a basic framework with the added details that bring those ancestors to life. Each of those individuals would have experienced every emotion that we experience. The families that migrated would have experienced a grief of missing a relative, migrated to a better life with virtually no hope of returning home. A new life that was hopefully a better life, away from all that was familiar and reassuring to a life of chance, unfamiliar and potentially dangerous.

Word count 396

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 25

Every now and again when researching our family history we encounter unusual surnames. Names that intrigue, us and make us wonder just where the name came from or perhaps are their others with this surname? I have at least two surnames that intrigued me.

The first is the Italian name of ORLANDO. Put that into Google and it displays thousands upon thousands of entries of where to holiday! I then tweaked the search and found that there were obviously others with the name, which in Italy is a little like Brown and Jones. I pondered and in 2002 Registered the name with the Guild of One Name Studies.

Distribution Map for Orlando in Italy & Distribution Map for Orlando in the USA

The surname does exist in other parts of the world, but these are the two distribution maps available currently.

The key thing with a One Name Study is to have a plan of action. The Guild can help you, but the study will be fairly unique to you, perhaps your research style, where you live, where the name occurs and so forth. Even two studies hosted by the same researcher can be different, mine are!

I have much data to be processed and placed on line and much more to gather.

The second name I registered with the Guild was the maiden name of my husband's Grandmother, and is the name of WORSHIP.

Again, with Google you do need to be creative in the search style, as you can be presented with thousands of references to religion and churches. I registered this name in 2005 and like the Orlando study there is much more to be collected, processed and uploaded.

One of the observations with undertaking a One Name Study is that you can look beyond the names and dates into the social history & migration studies. For example my own Italian family is complex but has the connection to the UK at the end of the 1950s. When life in Italy, especially the South and the Islands, my own family is from Sicily, was poor. Like many people before them and since many Italians migrated to make a better life for themselves. Some came to the UK, others to the US. In some cases, in the 19th Century Italian walked through Italy into France and came to the UK on their way to the US, and if they ran out of money by the time they got to the UK they stayed here. There could well be similar migration reasons for people of Polish descent or religious groups.

If you have a vague interest in undertaking a one name study I would recommend it. By registering the name you are NOT committing to completing the study within a given period, you are joining a specialised working group with access to a conference, a journal an on line message board where you can share references, learn and develop your knowledge and study.

Word count 494

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 24

Even though I am not sure what the catalyst was for my starting to research my family history, the catalyst for my undertaking a One Place Study was seeing my Great Grandmother's name on the 1881 Census. I remember being so overwhelmed with emotion, here she was, just aged 2. I simply had to know all I could about the village which was embedded into my ancestry.

In the early stages I did like many of us, work back from known to unknown with fairly rapid speed. By the time I was back another two generations from Annie Harris I was firmly addicted and attached to both the parish of Puttenham and to the name of Budd, which I just love! There was even a Rose Budd in the family!

The Budd family were poor, the family featured consistently in the Poor Law Records for their illegitimate children! but regardless, they were part of my family and I felt something for their plight when I read it in the various documents. I wonder what they would make of the world now? These were women who were ridiculed for their "morals" and illegitimacy, yet look at the world today, where it is quite common for women to raise a family whilst unmarried or perhaps have offspring with more than one father. It is a complete turnaround, in what is a relative short space of time, given the history of mankind!

The village itself is a rural one; steeped in history and part of that history was the world occupied by the Curate Charles Kerry. Kerry originated from Derbyshire, yet he spent considerable time in the parish and kept a series of manuscript on the inhabitants of the village. These manuscripts were written at the time and often contained snippets of local history, hearsay & incidentals of village life, there are some parish records details for not just Puttenham but also neighbouring Compton parish and there are a series of pedigrees written at the time by Kerry with the help of those in the relevant family.

Here is the pedigree for the Budd & Strudwick family:



The pedigree contains such incidentals of life for example. There is a reference to William Budd putting his hand down a rabbit hole and being bitten by an Adder snake. The note also says that William put his finger in his mouth and then became a cripple for the rest of his life. I would not have known that from official records - William was born in 1731 in Puttenham, and is not recorded on the census records. There is also a note that Richard Budd who married Sarah Collins and is my direct line of descent had a fine tenor voice and sung in the choir. Another fact that I would have not know. These manuscripts have enabled me to see behind the dates that our ancestors create, and it is these facts that bring them alive and make them people rather than the written word. It is remarkable that the manuscripts survived. The originals were returned the Derbyshire Records Office where Kerry lived. How many more of these manuscripts are in the various parishes across the land, not just here in the UK, but also overseas? These documents were written when there was surely more important things to worry about, perhaps the next meal or the health of a parishioner, yet they were written and I am forever grateful for Charles Kerry.

Word count 576

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 23

Genealogy is like travelling along a country road, following the twists and turns of the road, with those taking the journey unsure of just where they will end up. There can be some real surprises, some curiosities and as always more questions. Genealogy is also like doing a jigsaw puzzle, with some of the pieces in the box and the rest rolling around on the floor, so that you must seek to find the bits or they will be lost for ever.

We all have a catalyst that prompts us to research our ancestry. I am not too sure what mine was. I was always curious of the life lead by my Grandfather and his siblings. I have mentioned before the visits to my Great Aunts and listening to them talk about the past, the people and places of their earlier lives. I also knew that my Grandfather was born in the parish of Wanborough, in the small hamlet of a wonderful place called Christmas Pie. Great name isn't it? I had this burning desire to bring the family back to life and really flesh out the bones of my ancestry. So that I could really understand who I was and from where I came.

The day I saw on the 1881 Census the name of my Great Grandmother, Annie Prudence Butcher, nee Harris I was truly overwhelmed. This was the old lady who had let her Great Grand daughter sit on the bed and tickle her toes, and who loved pineapple and we always took one when we went to visit. I recall a really jolly old lady with her white hair tied behind in a bun full of smiles. At the time I was only about 2 or 3 years old, yet the life she had led, the hardships she had suffered and the sights she had seen.

Born in 1879 in Puttenham Surrey, she married Charles Harris in 1898 aged just 19 years. Together they had 12 children with 9 living to adulthood. Charles died in 1943 aged 74 and Annie died in 1972 aged 92 years. I have only just realised that Charles was in fact 10 years older than Annie, something that I had not realised, not in 24 years of researching my ancestry. Which, just confirms that it is always worth re visiting the data held on a given person.

I think that sometimes, we simply focus on the common criteria of our ancestors lives; their dates. I read somewhere recently that everyone has a set of dates (1879 - 1972) and to leave the bracket open is a loose end. Thinking about it, whoever said it was right. Imagine the questions if I didn't know Annie died in 1972. Would I be compelled to find the dates? Probably as I hate loose ends! but, in doing so would I loose focus on the other bits of her life? An obvious one is that Annie lived through the Boer War, The Great War and The Second World War. Was she frightened? Did she feel worried, sad, concerned that her son, my Grandfather had joined the Army? Did she feel proud of him for doing the right thing? or, cross that he had not returned to the farm where he would have been in a reserved occupation with his brothers? That is just a few questions involving one of her 9 children, what about the other 8?

So, when we hear the statement "Going back to our roots" perhaps we really should revisit the data we hold about our ancestors and ask what don't we know rather than what we know, ask what we would like to know and can we find out? There are always more questions than answers, and I rather think there are more questions that even we could comprehend.

Word count 638

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 22

I can't quite remember how I got onto the next trail; I may at some point remember and I may not! John Butcher's wife stated that she was born in Artington. Now, I went back to the 1851 Census for Wonersh as that was the original source and noticed that whilst the census did say Artington it did not say Surrey. How could I have missed that? I turned to my trusty friend Google and did a search for Artington just to see what the results yielded. The result was Arlington in Sussex as a distinct possibility. So, Mary had probably come from Sussex. I turned to FamilySearch to see if that yielded any suitable marriages for a John Butcher to a Mary and bingo! Mary Baverstock married John Butcher in Wisborough Green Sussex 26 May 1823. Certainly Wisborough Green is what I would call the right bit of Sussex, close to the Surrey border. My John and Mary had their eldest child baptised in November 1823, so whilst not nine months between marriage and birth, It would not be unheard of for the bride to be pregnant at the point of the wedding. So the big question was, was this John and Mary the same as my John and Mary?

I had always felt that the Butcher's had originated from across the border in Sussex. I didn't have anything to substantiate that, just a hunch. Before I embarked upon parish records and census records I undertook another Google search for "Baverstock"+ Wisborough Green. I was surprised, it did show some results, and some that looked promising. Most importantly, it gave me the website and email address of a fellow researcher. Did we have a connection? Actually we did. The researcher had worked at the research line from the Baverstock name rather than, as I had from the Butcher line. Their website confirmed that they had also looked at the same census material as I had, so I felt confident that we indeed were researching the same family and more importantly that this family connected to mine. The clinching factor was the will of Charles Baverstock in 1846 when mention is made to Mary Butcher living in The Street, Wonersh.

What is intriguing is the name change from Bavister to Baverstock circa 1813.....but that is another story.

Word count 387

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 21

It was in the early 1990s when I noticed that I had a lump in my throat. I was still in Australia and only had a few weeks before I flew home, via Singapore and The Tioman Islands. I resolved that I would see my GP when I returned home.

Once back home I made the appointment and went along to the Doctor. He examined my throat and suggested that I might have a slight swelling, probably caused by over excitement after my year of traveling. Twit! Another few months past and by this point I was back to work and feeling exhausted. I had numerous symptoms of Hyperthyroidism and demanded a referral to the Endocrinology department of the local hospital. The Doctor agreed and in due course I was given an appointment. The consultant was a nice fellow, who felt around then without me knowing what he was proposing to do, undertook a needle biopsy. It hurt like mad and I waited for the results. The verdict was I had a goitre, and therefore was suffering from Hyperthyroidism, but the cells could not be ruled out as cancerous and therefore surgery and the removal of the affected lobe was required.

After the surgery I was on Thyroxine and remained fairly stable for about 8 years, then started to notice that I had another swelling in the throat again. By this point I was no longer in Surrey, and was referred to my local hospital. The same process happened - a needle biopsy followed by the same diagnosis - another goitre and once again the cells could not be ruled out as cancerous and so more surgery ensued. Surgery always comes with a risk, after all the medics are not infallible, but surgery in the same spot comes with an increased risk. Well that was two risks, but it needed to be done, and so I was admitted. The main risk, which would be to my vocal cords turned out fine.

Having had now the remaining lobe removed I was completely without any Thyroid. As it happens it is not possible to remove 100% of the gland, or in my case 2 x 50%, because of the location of the gland to the vocal cords & Parathyroid glands, but what is left is non producing. So, now the problems started. With half a thyroid lobe I had been on 100mcg of Thyroxine, and remained on that dose for 8 years, with the remaining lobe removed I was to remain on Thyroxine at a dose of 100mcg. Logically it is not enough. I stated my case to the Doctor, who my now had passed from the surgical team to the medical team, who was less than supportive and I was discharged.

For the next 4 months or so the levels remained constant, and therefore I remained on 100mcg of Thyroxine. Then suddenly my levels became unstable, as did my general health. My pulse was so low I was almost readmitted to hospital. I was referred to the hospital. The Consultant, Dr P. Is truly a wonderful man. Firstly, he listened to me, discussed my treatment with me and after numerous tests, discovered that my absorption of the T4, Thyroxine was very poor. He prescribed T3 a drug called Liothyroline, which is not that commonly prescribed here in the UK. He was working as part of a drug trial based at a one of the UK teaching hospitals and did I mind being part of it. I actually could not feel any worse so I agreed. Within 3 hours, yes, 3 hours I felt so much better. My levels started to adjust and my symptoms changed.

I remained on the Liothyroline for 10 years, only stopping the drug in 2008. Since then I have continued to be, on the whole in good health. The reason for my stopping the drug was the affects of the T3 could lead to other problems, and after 10 years I stood a good chance of suffering from them.

I should point out that during the 10 year time frame I had always had always had the odd day when I didn't feel "quite right" and really I can not be more specific than that. Unless you suffer from the condition the feeling can not be explained. I still have the other symptoms, but they are nothing that I can not cope with. I have my bloods checked every 6 months and since 2008 have had my Thyroxine reduced to 100mcg from 150mcg. When this happened I noticed that I did not seem to have a lot of colds. Readers of this blog may have noticed that since November I have had 4 such colds, but this I have put down to the effects of stress from my last day job,as my blood levels taken recently show that I am on the lower side of normal!

My post of a few days ago asked the question was Thyroid Disease inherited? There is some evidence that it is. It can not be caught like a cold, but the auto-immune condition linked into Thyroid Disease can be passed down through family members. As I said, I am the only one in my immediate family with the condition. None of my extended family have the condition apart from the members I mentioned in the earlier post. Our common ancestors are John Butcher (Woolgar) and his wife Mary, who were both born during the time frame of 1795-1800. That is approximately 215 years ago. Is it possible that a condition can be carried through the genes over that time period?

Consider though, if the condition is passed down and I suspect that it would come through the female line as statistically it occurs more in females. I have had pharmaceutical treatment, two lots of surgery and numerous blood tests. None of which would have been available with the same levels of success to our early ancestors. We are the recipients of medical and pharmaceutical science, something that our ancestors could only have dreamed of. Even if it had of existed could my ancestors have afforded it? I know how ill I felt, so how would my ancestors have felt with the condition. There was no welfare state, to support them if they were too ill to work. They would have continued to work and live their lives with an undiagnosed condition. Food for thought isn't it?

Word count 1,073

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 20

I was able to work forward on the Butcher family with relative ease. I still did not know the surname of his wife, a fact which frustrated me no end. I knew an approximate year, based upon the birth of their first son Charles in 1823. I descend from Charles. I searched every parish in Surrey for the marriage of John Butcher to a Mary born circa 1799. I had started with Guildford because on the 1851 census Mary had said she had been born in Artington Guildford. I could not find a marriage in Guildford, or Godalming the two main parishes either side of Artington, then I went into rural Surrey. Nothing. I searched for a marriage of a John Woolgar to a Mary for the same period. There was one, in Hascombe, Could this be it, given that just a generation or two before John there was links to Hascombe? No, The John and Mary in Hascombe were having their family in Hascombe while my John and Mary was having theirs in Wonersh. I double checked and crossed checked in case the children were baptised in both parishes, but no. They were two separate families. I wasn't even contemplating at this point if the two John's were connected. Frustration was an understatement. In disgust, I focused on their children.

Charles was the eldest of 9 children, born between 1823 and 1844, all but the last child born in Wonersh.

• Charles born 1823 *
• William born 1826 *
• Mary Anne born 1828
• Thomas born 1830
• Alfred born 1832
• James born 1835 *
• Henry born 1837
• Ellen Jane born 1841 died 1844
• John born 1844 died 1855 born in Shalford

Using the marriage sources I traced all the children. In keeping with the family tradition and the complications with marrying cousins and spouses with the same surnames Thomas married a Sarah Woolgar in 1861, and James married a Denyer in 1868.

Over the course of the last 24 years I have met just two other people who descend from the children of John and Mary, which I do find interesting. The line of Alfred moved to London, as does a later part of the family descended from William.

* What I find particularly fascinating is that I descend from Charles, I have met a contact whose wife descends from James and a contact whose line descends from William. A member of each of those lines of descent has a Thyroid condition which I find interesting.

As far as I know no one else in my family has this condition so is this coincidence, or is this something that is in the genetics?

Word count 445

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 19

My several times Great Grandparents were John Butcher born 1795 and Mary his wife born circa 1799. What has always fascinated me is that for a very long time I could not find John's birth record, all I had was an approximate year based upon the census details. Then I could not find his marriage. One thing I knew with certainty was that John and Mary had existed, had they not I would not be here!

I turned again to the rural parish of Wonersh, about 5 miles or so from Guildford and went systematically through the parish records. I started going through the census details, the 1841 census purely told me that John was born in Surrey, the 1851 gave more details, although not about his family. I then started extracting all the Butcher references to the parish. Eventually I wondered had John been illegitimate and baptised under his mother's name?

The clue to John's parentage was actually in a will. John was baptised as a Woolgar, and the base born to Sarah Woolgar. His father's will (James Butcher) admits that he is the illegitimate son of James Butcher and Sarah Woolgar, even though his parents marry in 1801. So John was born a Woolgar and yet lived his life as a Butcher. I wonder how he felt when he was 6 years old and his parents married? James Butcher and his wife Sarah also had another son born in 1802 who inherits the bulk of the Butcher estate, which was detailed in the will of James Butcher.

The strands of the family came together very slowly and without actual planning. As I said I had extracted all the Butcher references, and by doing this I came across James and then researched each of those individuals until I found a link with John. It was slow and took several years.

I then went to the records office. In those days Surrey Records Office was split into two, the Kingston office and that at Guildford known as the Muniment Room. It was a great place, attached to the museum and I often visited weekly. I called for some documents, I can't recall what now, but it would have been probably Butcher related. Whilst I waited I inspected the name card index, and just to kill the time whilst waiting for my documents to be delivered to the table I flicked immediately to the name of Butcher and when to John. Never for one moment inspecting to find anything. On the card index was the details of John and a reference to a taxation form for 1864.

I called for the document, which came in a miscellaneous file with some other documents relating to the same surname. Once at the table I started reading them. I then spotted his will. I knew it was my John from the death records and the omission from the 1881 Census. Had I not gone through the card index I would not have found the will. There are no records of the will at the probate office. Also in the pile was the envelope the will had been in along with a note saying that the documents had been handed into Wonersh Village post office and then donated to the records office.

From his father James, John had inherited a cottage in Wonersh Street. The cottage is still standing although the son of John that inherited it upon his father's death in 1877 sold the cottage. Likewise, there are some photographs in the archives, which were housed in the local studies library at Guildford and are now at the Surrey Records Office in Woking that showed a photograph of the house and details of whom had donated the photos, which were initially to Croydon library. They were donated by someone with the Butcher surname, unknown to my branch of the family.

Another loose end, just one of many connected with this crucial part of my ancestry.

Word count 660

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 18

There is so much we inherit from our ancestors. One thing I find curious is just what we develop as being part of a family group compared to what is genetically passed down. I recently wrote to someone about age and there is a history of longevity in my family. My Great Great Grandmother, Caroline Ellis died aged 91 in 1935. Her daughter, my Great Grandmother, Annie Prudence Butcher nee Harris died in 1972 aged 92. Then three of my Great Aunts, the daughters of Annie died aged 94,98 and 95 respectively and the daughter of Annie's sister died aged 95 years. Whilst it is not usual to died at a grand old age now, I suspect it was in 1935, and perhaps even in 1972. Is that trend inherited or just luck? The men of the family died fairly young. The sons of my Great Grandmother all died before she did. We can explain men's early deaths - the unknown effects of smoking and the huge toll of manual labour, but women, certainly in the late Victorian period would have had just a hard time, especially if they kept house and worked in the fields....many hands make light work.

Physical similarities are really expected to be passed down. I for example look very like one of my second cousin, not too surprising as we are second cousins through a brother and sister marrying a brother and sister. Other similarities are height, eye colour and alike. I may have mentioned through the course of this blog that I am half Italian. I always feel very Anglo when I am with a group of Italians, yet can feel very Italian when I say or do something when in the company of non Italians. Curious.

So, when I look in the mirror and see my reflection just what else do I see? I see probably the resemblance of a few generations of family history.

Word count 321

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 17

In my kitchen breakfast room we have a triple display unit. The photograph shown here shows the centre section of it. This display unit is the home to an assortment of things. Things we have gathered together as a result of wanders around antique centres, or from a well known auction site. It also houses lots of china and things that I inherited from my Grandmother. The water set on the top shelf, the beautiful tea set that sits on the second and third shelf which were wedding presents given to my Grandparents in 1939 and on the bottom shelf sits a few plates and serving dishes inherited from my Grandmother.

My favourite bits are the tea set. It seems ironic that we have all this china, which lived in a cupboard, out of sight when my Grandmother was alive, yet we don't have a single photograph of the wedding. Sad, but true.

About 10 years ago we were in Honiton having a wander around one of the then many antique shops when I saw some bits that complimented and matched this set. I pondered; should I get them and add to the set or leave the set as it stands as a true reflection of my Grandparents wedding? I asked Stuart who said, unhelpfully, its up to you. I wandered back and forth, picking up bits and then replacing them. In the end I decided not to buy of any of it. Do I regret it? just a little. It is a lovely set. I have never used it and I suspect that neither did my Grandmother. As to who bought if for them I have no idea.

The bottom of all the items it reads:

X L Ware

Flying Pheasant

British Made

There are no other details and apart from that one day in the antique shop I have never seen any other pieces.

That tea set is really as much a part of my family history as any written word or picture of an individual. Most of us inherit bits from family members and we of course treasure them, as gifts from a known individual. Do we though look beyond that? To explore the how did they get the item and why? All those thoughts and questions build further information into the life of the person from whom we inherited it from.

Word count 395

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 16

Following on from the Ellis post, was it yesterday? I was inspired because of two things. I dusted the photo of Caroline Ellis in the lounge and thought that I should look at the Ellis family for day 16 and then I picked up my email and there was an email via Genes Reunited from someone who connected with the Ellis family. Not just the Ellis family of Elstead, but my particular branch of the Ellis family. Horray!

I then ploughed my way through oddles and oddles of papers, all on the Ellis family. Reading everything as I went. I emailed back to the enquirer delighted that contact had been made. I then received another message via Genes Reunited from someone who was a known cousin to the first email researcher. Excellent, I zapped off an quick email and thought were there any more? Well, there was one more researcher who recorded their interested ancestor as George Ellis born 1775 in Guildford that I had not been in touch with. I email them and opened my tree for viewing.

I was delighted and exhausted after reading all those Ellis papers, to see that the last correspondent also connects to my particular branch and he is descended from the brother of my Great Great Grandmother Caroline, Frederick Ellis.

Genealogy has the last laugh because Frederick Ellis born 1846 and brother to Caroline only went and married a Harris. I am no longer wondering if there is a connection, I am wondering when I shall find it or will the last laugh be on me?

Word count 263

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 15

I have always thought that my Ellis families from Puttenham and Elstead were connected. When I initially embarked upon trying to untangle the Ellis I shared my thoughts with Ivy Sheffield, who was my Grandfather's first cousin. Ivy was then in her late 70s, but like most of the Grandchildren of Caroline Harris, nee Ellis, Ivy had an amazing memory and as I explained my hypothesis to her, she simply nodded and said I suspect your right. Not perhaps the most helpful of statements, but I felt that there was perhaps some truth in my thought process.

Then in 1990 I met a contact, I can't even remember how we met, but someone who shared a connection to one of the Ellis families in Elstead. She didn't live too far from Elstead and I was invited to tea and to see the documents and photos she had. They were delightful. With hindsight I wish I had photographed them, but I didn't, although I did transcribe and described the documents. The transcripts of those documents is online. Following that meeting I was even more confused and I elected to go back to basics and start again with a clear head.

The bottom line was there were too many families in the same 4 mile radius each having children and calling them all the same names. See the problem?, but there was a glimmer of light on the horizon and I remember telling myself at the time that I must not get swept away and caught up in the details that I was about to unravel.

The first thing was to head back to Ivy. Her son in law, (DW), was the Grandson of a man, from Elstead called Job Ellis. DW presented me with a birthday book that had come down through his family, and was understood to have originally belonged to Adelaide Underwood. I copied the details and like the other Ellis material it is online. It was the least of my problems to know where Adelaide Underwood slotted into the general mix. So my big question was to DW what is the connection between your Grandfather Job and your wife's Grandmother Caroline? The answer was a smile and then "that is what your to find out!" I could have cried. I didn't of course. DW reached into a photograph album and very kindly lent me some photographs that I shall load to the Ellis' of Elstead blog.

So, now I had four sets of Ellis families in the parishes of Elstead, Puttenham, Godalming and Guildford, and in 1992 I met a fifth connection to the Ellis families.

1. My Great Great Grandmother Caroline Ellis born 1844 the daughter of George and Prudence nee Budd in Puttenham.
2. Job Ellis born in Elstead in 1848 and the Grandfather of DW
3. The family of John Ellis born 1817 in Elstead whose family had migrated to Geelong Australia in 1854. I had already made connections with at least three other researchers in Australia and met them during their time in England, or mine in Australia
4. The family of my contact OS whose family came from Elstead.
5. The family of my contact BE whose husband's family came from Elstead.

The early families, were easy to work on.

• John Ellis born 1817 was the nephew to Job Ellis through the marriage of George Ellis and Sarah Hall in 1801 and subsequent lineage to James Ellis
• Caroline Ellis born 1844 was the Second Cousin to John Ellis leading to James Ellis
• Caroline Ellis born 1844 was the third Cousin to Job Ellis leading to James Ellis

Initial research has shown that James Ellis, who is the key to this entire family was one of three sons who were the children of James Ellis born circa 1690 and Jane Edwards who married in Peperharrow in 1710. As to what happened to the other two children of James and Jane I have no idea, and I am almost to frighted to find out!

The members who connect to the families of OS and BE are related and eventually join up and connect to Job Ellis.

So I was right when I sat and said to Ivy I think they all connect, I simply hadn't thought that they connected back in 1710!

Word count 720

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 14

When the majority of our ancestors married did they do so for love? Divorce was time consuming and expensive and restricted to those who could afford it. We all like to think that our ancestors married for love.Think all the hardships they endured to raise their families, those families who, if they had not existed, then neither would we.

I was given this picture by one of my Grandfather's first cousin's and I recall showing it to my Great Aunt. Her sight wasn't particularly good, but I wondered if she had ever seen the photo, so I asked her.

I was surprised and delighted with the answer, which was, I don't just recall the photograph she said, I took the photograph she said really proudly. Well that was two of us who were proud.

The photograph is of my Maternal Great Great Grandparents, Henry Harris (1843 - 1929) and Caroline Harris nee Ellis (1844 -1935). The couple had married on 3rd December 1864 at Puttenham Surrey. This photograph was taken on the occasion of their 60th Wedding Anniversary in 1924 and was taken at Manor Farm at Wanborough Surrey.

I am delighted that:

1. I had a relative that recalled taking the photo
2. The photograph had survived
3. My Great Great Grandparents had lived long enough to have celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary. At the point of the celebration Henry was aged 81 and Caroline aged 80 years.

Henry and Caroline raised a family of 10 children born between 1864 and 1885, their eldest child, born just a few weeks after their wedding.

Was this true love? I do hope so.

Word count 273

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 13

I have in my study a set of notebooks, they are not anything special to look at, simply notebooks for jotting down the incidentals of life. To me these note books hold the key to my ancestry because they are the original notebooks that I used to gather information from my relatives. I am posting this particular post today, because today would have been my late Aunt's 96th birthday and there are pages of notes, snippets of information that she passed to me that I wrote down. At the time some of those bits of information didn't make sense and it was only through research that the information all nicely slotted into place.

As a child I would routinely visit the sisters of my Grandfather. They would chat with my Grandparents and I would presumably sit and play. I don't actually recall what I did. I simply recall being transported back 70 years or so into the world they inhabited as children. As I got older I would ask questions, who were they?, where did they live?, and rather than be frustrated by constant questions, they loved it, and I loved them for sharing those snippets with me. Those visits as a child were from talking to my cousins unusual. Even the grandchildren of one of my Aunts doesn't recall his Grandmother telling him or his brothers the details she shared with me. For that I am very lucky and I treasure those memories.

Those note books don't just house the information from my Grandfather's sisters. There are also snippets from my Grandmother, my Cousins who were the children of my Grandmother's sister Elsie and from the first cousin of my Grandfather, and any other family member who happened to mention something that would lead me onto the path of discovery.

My Great Aunt Rose shared so much with me. She was very elderly, and had always been very active, gradually her body gave up and she spent time in a wheelchair. Her sight failed, but with the support of her family she remained in her own home up until a few years before she died aged 94. I would still visit her, and open the front door and call out my name and she would always be delighted that I had visited. I would make us some tea then she would usually ask how I was getting on with my research. I recall one day asking Aunt if she knew the name of her Grandmother's mother, the reply was Prudence Budd. I jotted it down. A few weeks went by and I asked the same question and reply was the same. Then a few weeks later, another Great Aunt came with me to visit my Aunt and we were accompanied by their first Cousin Ivy. All three of them, sat and remembered earlier times and my pen could not move fast enough. I approached the subject again of Aunt's Great Grandmother, to which the reply was "I have already told you twice, it was Prudence Budd" I simply didn't believe that Aunt could possibly have know the name of someone who was three generations back from Aunt and had died long before she was born. Somehow, Aunt did and all three of them sat and chatted about a story they had heard, of events long before they were born. Now that is family history!

Word count 565

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 12

Serendipity is defined by the dictionary as a noun

1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident
2. good fortune; luck

Is that a good description of ancestry, and in particular mine? Given some of the discoveries I have made.

I find the more I research and answer one question, that more questions appear and for some questions there is no answer, the answer is simply lost with the passage of time. Whilst to loose answers to the passage of time has a romantic feel to it. I find it also has an annoying and frustrating feel! Every now and again I have to stop researching, simply to digest what I have found and look back through the data that I already knew and then what I discovered along the path.

For the last 11 days I have taken part in the Family History Writing Challenge. Each day as I write I am amazed at the data that I have either found because someone told me, or that I have discovered along the way. I also have found that I have questions that have popped up, perhaps things I over looked whilst on the path of discovery. An example is the gap in the children of Alfred and Rose Butcher that I mentioned earlier. I must have noticed that before, but simply not remembered it. I have sat, each day as I have written these pieces and added to my to do list. More questions, but will there be answers to those questions?

I have an idea, which at some point in the next few months I may share with readers of this blog. I need to reflect more on the feasibility of the idea and is it achievable? That idea has grown out of the writing that I have done diligently each day and a few other posts that I have made recently. I read a book a few years ago called "So many books, so little time", and that is what ancestry is like, so many ancestors who each deserve their place in the written word.

What I find truly wonderful, is that we can as researchers have a certain degree of expectation that ancestors who were well established would leave a trail of primary source documents. I have an ancestor who appears in the Manorial Records. Not surprising given his status. What I find amazing is that those records have survived and that the ordinary worker, the Agricultural Labourer has, in his own way left a written word, perhaps he literally signed with a mark, but nonetheless, a document exists that supports that individuals very existence.

Sometimes, we need to think "outside the box" An Agricultural Labourer perhaps left very little evidence, we all should leave a set of dates, a birth, marriage and death, but what else? Perhaps we should look at where the Ag Lab worked. Did he work on an estate? Did the owner of that estate own other land in another parish, another County? Does that open more doors for research and enable us as researchers to explore more avenues?

Word count - 518

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 11

I mentioned a few days ago that I have some surnames repeating themselves in my ancestry and the families do not always tie up together.

I was told by my Grandmother, that Uncle Alf married Rose Butcher and lived with his large family in High Path Road Guildford. I remember asking my Grandmother if she really meant that, and being given a very stern look. The reason for my query was that my Aunt, my Grandfather's sister was Rose Butcher before she married. So had Gran got the details wrong?

No, she had not. Alfred Elstone did indeed marry Rose Butcher in Merrow on 11 February 1899. Together, they had 11 children between 1901 and 1926, and like his mother before him, Alfred and his wife had a child every two to three years, with the exception of a large gap between Lilian May born 1909 and Louise Mabel born 1917. As I type this I don't recall noticing the gap before and wonder if there were stillborn or miscarriages during that period or was there another cause?

I did ponder on Rose Butcher. Did her Butcher family connect in any way to my own Butcher family or was it simply a coincidence? Rose was born in 1880, the third of 13 children, to Henry Butcher of Alfold Surrey. Whilst there was no obvious connection to my own Butcher family, the two families were not very far from one another. I left that research for another day and do still need to go back to it.

As I sat in the Muniment Room in Guildford extracting all the Elstone and Butcher references from the Merrow records I spotted something else. Rose Butcher had a sister called Louisa born in 1895 and who in 1919 married Albert Goacher. It was one of those almost heart stopping moments. Not one of those hooray moments, but a moment that meant I had to sit and really read what was in front of me. The reason for my surprise is that I married a Goucher whose family had been established in Derbyshire from between 1715 to 1901 and who were often recorded as Goacher instead of Goucher. Was this a coincidence?....another one.

I have never established a connection between these Goachers and those of my husband, but have established that a Goacher family arrived at some point in Sussex and made their way into Surrey. It has not been established just where those Goachers arrived from. When I got home that evening and shared the facts with my husband he simply looked at me in complete surprise and I guess we both wondered, could it possibly be?.....

Word count 443

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 10

Having established that my Great Great Grandparents James Elstone and his wife Mary nee Denyer moved their family of 9 children from Bramshott to Merrow, Guildford I wondered why? According to the 1881 Census for Merrow James Denyer was a labourer, and I wonder if he worked for a farmer who held land in both Bramshott and Merrow? or was it simply that he was paid more in Merrow?

Mary Denyer having married James Elstone in 1857 had their first child, James in the same year and then almost systematically had the remainder of the children every two to three years for the next 23 years, the last child being my Great Grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Elstone born in 1880, when Mary was 42 years old.

The line up, all born in Bramshott Hampshire, looked like this:

James born 1857

Ann born 1859

Eliza born 1862

Alice born 1864

Henry born 1867

William born 1872

Alfred born 1875

Frederick born 1877

Mary Elizabeth born 1880

My Grandmother often spoke of several of her mother's siblings Ann, Eliza and Alfred, who my Grandmother always refers to as Uncle Alf. The remainder my Grandmother never spoke of and until I researched the family I didn't know of their existence.

I knew from my Grandmother that one of her mother's cousins lived in Merrow and he was apparently the school's inspector for Guildford,who would visit my Great Grandmother, Mary Elizabeth in Guildford asking why my Grandmother's brothers had not been to school. Mary Elizabeth would always be furious and always smack the boys for playing truant, and when I asked for the name of the inspector it was not known. Research has not provided those details, and I can imagine that my Great Grandmother was a stickler, and according to my Grandmother she indeed was!

The photograph here is of my Great Grandmother Mary Elizabeth when she was approximately 18 years of age. It is such a sad photo and at some point before I inherited it, it had been torn and fixed together with tape.

Word count 343

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 9

I am very proud of my heritage, from the Surrey, Hampshire and Sussex borders. I have no idea why, but when we travel back to my old stomping ground from Devon I always feel that I am home. Over the years I have met lots of people who have migrated to the South West, tempted by better climate and cheaper house prices and they have always vowed that would never go back. I always amaze them when I say I would!

Having established the link between my Grandparents, apart from their marriage I was keen to establish the details of my Great Great Grandmother. Born Mary Denyer circa 1838. I say Circa because on every census the year of birth varies as does her place of birth. Incredibly frustrating!

Remembering my earlier comments about the border of the Counties Surrey,Sussex and Hampshire being within a mile or so, I contemplated if Mary had in fact been born in Sussex. I simply hoped that her birth had occurred after the start of Civil Registration, which happened in 1837 and I hoped that given it was still a fairly new system at the point of Mary's birth that she had been recorded.

Her death, recorded as Mary Elstone was found in Merrow Guildford in 1913 aged 74. I knew from her marriage to James Elstone in 1857 that she was the daughter of Edward Denyer. I was therefore delighted to find the birth of a Mary Denyer daughter of Edward and Emeline Denyer in 1838 in Lurgershall Sussex, the last of 10 children.

At this point, more than 20 years after I started researching, the lineage of my Great Great Grandmother is nothing more than the dates of her birth, marriage and death along with the details of her children. Much more research needs to be done to turn these basic, but important facts into the life that she would have lead, and to get to know her through whatever documentary evidence I can find.

Denyer is a common name in this part of the world. In much of my ancestry I have family names that appear twice, and in some cases there is no obvious connection between the two lines of research. Is this simply because the families didn't really move outside of the confines of these three Counties or is there more to it than that?

The name of Elstone is not particularly common in those same three Counties. There are family connections to paper mills in Sussex and Hampshire and a lineage back to the surname of Pim (Pym, Pymm & Pimm). A few years ago we were away for a few days heading to North Devon when we drove through a small hamlet called Elstone, set on the banks of the River Exe where there was a paper mill. There are also connections to the surname of Pim in the County of Devon who were involved in paper making. Is there a connection or is it simply coincidence? I guess we shall have to wait and see!

Word count 508