One Month before Heartbreak - a personal note

One Month Before Heartbreak

A Broken of Britain

Blogswarm

14^th – 16^th January 2011

I am not personally affected by the proposed and likely to take place changes that the current Government are looking to adopt. The point of this post and like many others is to express absolute disbelief that we live in a Society where we are prepared to give thousands to other Countries in the world despite being in a recession and yet not provide safety and financial security for those entitled to claim it and those who need it. It truly begs belief. Please understand, I am not against helping other nations, it is quite right that we as a nation help others in a worse situation than ours, but not at the cost of ourselves.

My interest in this is that in 1952 my mother contracted Polio. From the age of 5 until she was 17 she attended hospital for various tests and check ups to establish how her muscles were affected by this disease. When my mother left school she established her working life and eventually had me and raised me.

When she was about in her early 50s Mum was plagued by periods of exhaustion and pain to name a few. Her GP signed her off work and after much form filling Mum eventually saw a Doctor who confirmed that Mum was entitled to claim incapacity benefit. After a period of time this was reviewed and Mum was advised that she was fit to work, although clearly she was not. I launched an appeal to the panel, which consisted of a lay person, a representative from the Benefit Agency and a Doctor. The Doctor at the panel agreed with my argument and stated that Post Polio Syndrome which my Mum has will get worse and not better and the Incapacity Benefit was reinstated.

Mum turned 60 and was advised that she should now claim Disability Living Allowance due to her increasing mobility issues. The Post Polio Syndrome is of course, as predicted getting worse. The form which no doubt many of you have seen is nearly 50 pages long and comprises of a set of questions, many repeated so that you might make yourself illegible for the benefit. Having completed the form two or three times and each time being refused. I consulted a local "volunteer expert" who assisted Mum and I with the form. The deadline was before Christmas and the form has been acknowledged and finally a report from the "medical expert" has been requested. By medical expert they have asked the physiotherapist for their views. No request has been made to the GP or to an expert in the field of Post Polio Syndrome. I did include some details about Post Polio along with the form.

My concern is this. The decision to allow or disallow is made on the basis that an expert has been asked. It of course does need to be the right expert in order for the decision made to be a robust and the right one. At the end of the day everyone seeking to claim or retain their allowance is an individual, each with an individual set of issues and concerns. Is it right that someone at 63, who was looking forward to retirement has a poor quality of life? Is any of the conditions that are being experienced right? Of course they are not, and as a society we have the power to give a little bit of help in order that it makes the life of that individual easier. We should not be making lives harder, so that exhaustion of living day to day is placed on top of the exhaustion felt by the conditions itself.

I have read somewhere that the Government believes that the amounts paid out in DLA is unsustainable. This benefit is in fact one of the hardest to claim. Given that it is so hard to actually be awarded the benefit, does the Government really believe that by removing the benefit will miraculously cure all those who currently claim and those who should be claiming but are not strong enough to plough through the red tape? If they do then the Government is not only deluded but seriously mistaken.

In 1942 the British Government asked Sir William Beveridge to write a report on the best ways to help people on low incomes. In December of the same year the Beveridge report was published and proposed that all people of working age should pay a weekly contribution. In return, benefits would be paid to people who were sick, unemployed, retired or widowed. Beveridge argued that this system would provide a minimum standard of living "below which no one should be allowed to fall". When the Labour Party were elected in 1945 this policy was adopted. Somewhere since 1942 we have gone wrong. The current proposal confirms just that.

I don't know what the answer is. What I do know, is that we need to find away to protect those who for whatever reason are not able to fight this battle alone.

Disclaimer. The post above is written based upon known family history and my personal opinion. It is not written as a political post. I am happy for this post to be freely shared, however, please acknowledged me as the author.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Wk 3 - Cars

Week #3 – Cars
Week 3: What was your first car? What was the make, model, colour, but also any memories you have of the vehicle.This challenge runs from Saturday, January 15, 2011 through Friday, January 21, 2011.

The first car we owned together was a rather aged Maestro. We bought it for the small sum of £250 just after we moved here just to get us from A to B, which it did. There is a hill not far from here called Telegraph Hill and we always used to de-accelerate whilst travelling up the hill.

The next car we had was Stuart's choice, a Cavalier that I hated. We replaced that with a Peugeot Estate and that was followed by a Peugeot 406 which we loved. We then made the move to BMW where we still are, three cars later. They are sturdy cars and the car we had before our current one most certainly saved Stuart's life when he hit a patch of black ice in the January

of 2009. The car had £10,000 worth of damage, and as we looked at it on the ramps at the body shop of BMW we could see that every suspension part had snapped, like twigs. We were missing part of an alloy wheel and a chunck from the door handle. Stuart walked away thankfully with a few bruises. We have remained with a BMW because they are sturdy and we always go for the estate because we have a dog, a rather larger than life Border Terrier called Alfie.

Ancestor of the week - Henry Budd

My Ancestor this week has always been a bit of a challenge. Just when I think I have "got" him something happens that changes any hypothesis that I might have.

I started researching my ancestry the way most of us do, researching from what is known to the unknown. My Great Great Great Grandmother was a lady called Prudience Budd and it was this fact that got me on the trail to Henry and my obsession with the rural village in Surrey the family lived in called Puttenham.

As I trawled through the Parish Records and archives I became aware of one of the Curates of the parish called Charles Kerry. Kerry kept during his time in Puttenham a series of manuscripts written at the time and it was this manuscripts that brought the Budd family to life.

This pedigree, which appears in Volume 8 of the Kerry Manuscripts confirms all the details that I had already established from the Parish Records and very faintly, just above the name of Henry it reads "First of the Budds". I can still remember, 20 years on, the fascination that I felt when I stumbled across this pedigree, also the "what do you mean?" response that I echoed to the papers in a room full of archives and fellow researchers, much to everyone's amusement!.

I went back to the parish records and retraced my steps. All the children of Henry and his wife Martha were baptised in Puttenham. Another look in the Marriage records did not reveal a marriage for Henry to Martha. I spent more than 10 years looking for their marriage, searching each parish methodically from Puttenham and then each village and parish within a 10 mile radius. Success happened with the Church of the Later Day Saints released the Vital Records on CD.

Bingo! I had located the marriage of Henry Budd to Martha Ottaway in 1723 in the parish of Chertsey. I should say that given the proximity of Puttenham to both the border with Sussex and Hampshire I checked the strays indexes held in those two Counties by the Family History Societies in addition to the one held in Surrey and there was no other marriage for a Henry to a Martha in the right time frame. What I did know was that Henry had certainly been in the neighbourhood as in 1720 he was witness to a marriage in the parish of Elstead, about a mile or so from Puttenham.

Next I set about trying to unravel the details of Henry's birth. I headed to the IGI first of all to see if that could give me a clue. The index revealed a Henry born in 1699 in Binstead Hampshire. Not all that far from Puttenham, certainly walking distance by 18th Century standards. I wasn't convinced I had the right man. I shelved the Henry Budd mystery for a while.

Then I was following a discussion on the Surrey Rootsweb list when someone suggested that perhaps my Henry came from Shackleford, a rural parish some 2 miles from Puttenham as there was a mention of a Henry Budd being a tenant of a house called Cobblers. Alas no parish records for Peperharrow, which would be the most likely parish for any births to be recorded in, have survived. I am now still looking in the neighbouring parishes for the birth of Henry.

What is a coincidence is that I had a Great Aunt and Uncle who lived in Shackleford for many years, the distance by road is about 2 miles and across the fields to Puttenham the distance is shorter and unachievable now or certainly in the 18th Century. My gut feeling tells me that this is the Henry I am seeking, I just need to have some proof and undertake some additional research on this elusive ancestor of mine.

Family Recipe Friday - Wheat Wine

Recipe written by my Great Grandmother- Annie Prudience Butcher nee Harris to my Grandparents George and Lilian. Written circa 1965.

Rec

My Great Grandmother by this time was living with various family members, her husband Charles had passed away in 1943.The address of Vine Cottages is believed to have been the address of My Grandfather's sister Margery and her husband Ernest, who was actually my Grandmother's brother. I have not tried the recipe, but might have a little experiment! I asked my Mum if she recalled what it tasted like, to which the response was lethal!

The photo (right) is of my Great Grandmother walking rather briskly along Bridge Street in Guildford circa 1955.

Copied from an earlier post and submitted to the Geneabloggers blog prompts.

Wisdom Wednesday - Afterglow

As readers of my Blog and Facebook page will know, I recently experienced the loss of my Aunt. Her funeral was yesterday, Tuesday 11th January 2011. The last reading from the service was the following and it is this I submit for "Wisdom Wednesday"

AFTERGLOW

I'd like the memory of me

To be a happy one.

I'd like to leave an afterglow

Of smiles when life is done.

I'd like to leave an echo#

Whispering softly down the ways

Of happy times and laughing times

And bright and sunny days.

I'd like the tears of those who grieve

To dry before the sun

Of happy memories that I leave

When life is done.

Anon

Dorothy Lilian May nee Butcher 1915 - 2010

Dear Aunt,

The final link with the generation of either our parents or grandparents has passed away and along with the sadness there is joy. Joy of how lucky we were to have experienced the love and friendship from you. All of us, friends and family will have memories of you, for many of us there will be far too many to mention. I will share with you all one of mine.

I was about three years old and with my Grandfather. We had selected a bunch of flowers, all pretty colours, pinks and yellows. Later we were walking to your house, up Bright Hill which to a three year old that hill seemed like a mountain. At the door I was presented with the flowers and told that I was to given them to you. The door opened and I thrust the flowers at you, in true 3 year old style! That was the first bunch of Freesia's I gave to you and for the next 38 years I never visited you unless I had the customary bunch of Freesia's, because to arrive empty handed was not the "correct way" and you loved the flowers.

Yesterday we arrived into Surrey and I headed off to the florist, to collect the very final bunch of Freesia's. Having collected them I went to the Chapel of Rest where I laid that final bunch with you. As I stood with you yesterday I was overcome with such emotion, not just the sadness that you were gone, but many of those memories came flooding into my mind, the afternoons we spent together, the walks we took if the weather was nice, even down to you telling me to write clearer and sending my letter's back, so I could do just that. I was incredibly lucky to have experienced all those moments and memories with you, my Great Aunt.

I will truly miss you, and although you are gone, I know you still walk with me.

Love, as always

Julie xx

Sunday Obituary - Dorothy Lilian May nee Butcher 1915 - 2011

It somehow seems appropriate that I participate in this week's Sunday Obituary for Geneabloggers with the obituary of my Great Aunt.

From the Surrey Advertiser (Guildford Surrey Edition) 7th January 2011. This is the Announcement placed in the paper by my Cousin and her family.

"MAY, Dorothy formerly of Longore, Farncombe sadly passed away on 29th December 2010. Will be sadly missed by June, Ian, Kim, Lea, Dean, Nicky and family. Funeral service at Guildford Crematorium on 11th January at 11.00am."

To read more about My Great Aunt see an earlier posting & a further posting.

Blogger in Draft - Mobile Monday & Tech Tuesday

I read somewhere, perhaps someone's blog or the official Blog that it is possible to have access to a mobile version of your blog, when hosted by Blogger.

Visit http://draft.blogger.com/home and log in as usual. There,under settings and then Email & Mobile you can turn on the facility for your blog to be viewed in a different format via smart phone.

I have an iPhone and turned on the facility and it does in deed look different to that you view via a laptop or PC. From your smart phone it is still possible to access the web version, but why would you want to?.....

Bowring Family at Torquay

Through various bits of research I established the Bellasis family connected to a fairly well know Devonian family called Bowring. As I live in the County it was relatively easy to access the archives and cemeteries. I don't want to write more of the Bellasis & Bowring families at the moment as they are going to be the subject of a couple of "Ancestor of the week" posts over the next few months, but I wanted to load the photos up the Grave Encounters site and I couldn't do that without a small write up.

Having established that Lewin Bentham Bowring was buried in Torquay I telephoned to see if I could arrange for the grave to be marked so that I could find it it easier. When I met up with the groundsman he said that there were two graves and asked if I had known that. I said no. He then arranged for me to see the burial books, which indicated that in addition to the grave of Lewin Bentham Bowring and his wife Katherine there was also the grave of Lewin's son Captain Vincent Bowring, but the plot also contained the son Edward Lewis who had died in 1885 aged 15 years.

It is a purely a guess that the grave had been initially been marked with a headstone for Edward by his father, but by the time Captain Vincent Bowring had passed away in 1951 both Lewin and Katherine themselves were deceased and as the family already owned the plot someone made the decision that Captain Vincent could be interned there and placed the headstone accordingly, which means that the burial of Edward is no longer recorded at the site, and only in the burial register.

Buried in section C, Un-consecrated ground

Pray for the souls of

LEWIN BENTHAM BOWRING CSI

Chief Commissioner of Mysore and Goore

J P for Devon

Who died Jan 14^th 1910 aged 85

And KATHERINE his wife

Née BELLASIS

Who died March 18^th 1915 aged 74

Requiescant in Page

Pray for the soul of

Captain VINCENT LEWIN BOWRING

Royal Navy

Died Feb 23^rd 1951

RIP

Section C line 18 Grave

From the Cemetery records we can establish that also buried in this grave is

EDWARD LEWIS LLANISLAS BOWRING

Who died 3^rd July 1885 aged 15.

The plot was purchased by Lewin B BOWRING.

Katherine purchased the grave of Lewin Bentham BOWRING at the time of his death. She purchased a double plot and they lay side by side.

At the time of her death Katherine was residing at 90 Hagley Road, Edgebaston Birmingham.

Graves Transcribed March 2000, Photographed June 2002

Graveyard Rabbits

When I first saw this I had a wonderful vision of a cute bunny foraging through the grasses in a cemetery! It is though a great site prompt for getting all those photos of gravestones up and on line.

Earlier this week we created Grave Encounters and have loaded up various photos that are on our Flickr album.

Devon

Torquay Cemetery

Surrey

Guildford Mount Cemetery

Guildford Stoughton Road Cemetery

Shackleford Churchyard

Cambridgeshire

Abbotsley Churchyard

Herefordshire

Bredwardine & Bromyard Churches

Scotland

Irongray Churchyard & War Memorial

Isle of Bute

Ancestor of the week - Henry Rhodes Hindle

The following posting started life as a posting and article made back in 2007 to the now defunct Yahoo group "Preserving our Heritage" (POH). There were also four post scripts to the article through the course of 2007 - 2008. Therefore I have tweaked the structure of the initial post and the additional research for the point of this blog posting. I don't exactly know when the POH group folded, but it did and that was a huge shame. The group was friendly and very often the discussions were very thought provoking and informative.

About 15 years ago, my father in law, Derek Goucher gave me a pencil. There was nothing particularly special except that it lead to a part of my husband’s ancestry that I find intriguing, because it is harboured by geography.

“My grandmother divorced her husband, moved to America and remarried”, said my father in law and this pencil is the advertising his business.

Well, not quite, but let me explain.

Annie RHODES was born in Bradford Yorkshire in 1869 she married Charles WORSHIP in Bradford in August of 1899 and they had three daughters:

- Emily born Bradford 1890
– married June Q 1915 to Sydney NEWBOULD in Bradford
- Lillian born Bradford 1893 (my husband’s paternal grandmother)
- Florence, born Bradford 1901.

The 1901 UK Census shows the three children living with both their parents in Bradford.

The 1911 UK Census was not available for general searching at the point of the initial start of the research.

The story of Annie WORSHIP (nee RHODES) going to America was confirmed when I was greeted with a photograph, bearing on the back an address in PA in 1943.
I can not be specific on the address and my father in law was not happy to let me copy the photo, so I let the matter drop, at least for now!

Meanwhile, Ancestry had put online lots of Passenger lists, so a search was done to be able to see if I could establish a date when Annie went to America.

Passenger Lists

1905 Passenger List
Mrs Annie WARSHIP, aged 36 years arrived in Philadelphia on 13th December 1905, having travelled under her own carriage on board The Noordland from Liverpool. Annie declares that she has more than the requisite $50. With her is Master Harry, aged 10 months. The address given is in Philadelphia is 113 Lambert Street, and last abode in England is Bradford. It also indicates that Annie had been to Philadelphia before, again in 1905.

1921 Passenger List
Annie Hindle aged 51 years sailed from Liverpool on board the SS Haverford on 7th January 1921 and arrived at Philadelphia Port, United States on 23rd January 1921, under State Dept PP 180721, Naturalised date 1917, living at the address of 3625 Fairmont Ave, Philadelphia. Travelling with Annie was Henry Rhodes Hindle, aged 16 years, son.

1931 Passenger List
Annie Hindle along with husband Harry Hindle were due to sail from Liverpool on board the SS Laconia on 31st October 1931, which docked 10th November 1931 at New York. According to the list of passengers, neither, Annie or Harry embarked on the journey.

Instead, they waited and are to be found on the passenger lists for a month later. The SS Laconia left Liverpool on 28th November 1931 and arrived in New York on 9th December 1931. Their address is recorded as 3725 Haverford Ave, Philadelphia.

Passenger List 1932
There is a Harry Hindle aged 28 years who is a discharged deck hand, having signed on in New York on 10th Sep. Nationality is recorded as British.

Passenger List 1933
There is a Henry Hindle aged 27 years who is a deck hand. He sailed on board SS President Pierce arriving at the post of New York 26 Oct 1933 from the port of San Fransisco. Ship consigned SS Lines Inc Ltd

1933 Passenger List.
Annie Hindle, aged 64 years once again making the journey from Liverpool on board SS Laconia on 11th November 1933 and arriving back in the US at New York on 21st November 1933, under passport number 272342, and the address recorded as 4117, Hallaran Street, Maffair, Philadelphia.

1935 New York Passenger List
Annie Hindle aged 66 years, sailed from Liverpool on board SS Laconia on 28th September 1935 and arrived in New York on 8th October 1935. She is travelling alone, under passport number 191565. Her address is recorded as 4117, Hallaran Street, Philadelphia

1938 New York passenger list
Annie Hindle aged 69 years sailed from Liverpool on board SS Franconia on 16th September 1938 & arrived in New York on 26th September 1938 with her husband Harry Hindle aged 68 years. The passport number is listed as 191565 and under Harry in the details that he was naturalised in the Supreme Court in PA in September 1917. Their address is recorded as 3004, Fanshawe Street Philadelphia.

1944 - 1945 Passenger List (Aliens employed on vessel as crew members)
Harry Hindle, aged 40 years, sailed on board the vessel British Courage on 19th Dec 1944 from Greenock Scotland to New York, where it docked on 5th Jan 1945.According the passenger list he had 1 year as a length of service at sea and was a deck hand

1945 Passenger List (Aliens employed on vessel as crew members)
Harry Hindle, aged 41 years, sailed on board the vessel British Courage on 1st Feb 1945 from Portsmouth to New York, where it docked on 20th Feb 1945. According the passenger list he had 1.25 years as a length of service at sea and was a deck hand

1946 Passenger List
Annie Hindle, now aged 77 years sailed from Southampton on board SS Queen Elizabeth on 22nd November 1946, docking in New York on 27th November 1946, under passport number 54184 and her address reported as 14, North Belfield Av, Havertown, Pennsylvania.

1948 Passenger List
Annie Hindle departs Southampton 30 July 1948 on board The Washington, arriving New York 6th August 1948. Annie is recorded as a British Subject with passport number V71666. Her luggage is recorded as 3 bags and her address is 593 La Foret Ave Windsor, She is aged 64 years and recorded as married. She is travelling alone.

1950 Passenger List
Henry Hindle travelled on board air craft N 6012 C from London to New York, arriving in New York on 26th October 1950 under passport number 293797, and his address recorded as 3004, Fanshawe Street, Philadelphia. (I believe this to be Henry Junior, as Henry would have been 80 years old)

1953 Passenger List
Harry Hindle arrives on 2nd Oct 1953 at Halifax Nova Scotia Canada on board Britannia, The port of departure was Liverpool, on 5th September. Passport number is recorded as V-386612 which is the same as the passenger list for 1956. The address recorded is 18, East 41st Street, New York, 17 NY

1954 Passenger List
British Overseas Airways Corporation – Aircraft - G-ALSD - BA607/256 Departed London and arrived at Montreal, Quebec, Canada 1st Oct 1954. Passengers in Transit to the US. The Offical Use column indicates – B-1 T 2987687

1956 Passenger List
Harry Hindle travelled with Belgian World Air Lines 18th June 1956. Harry flew 1st Class flight number SH545. In remarks column – V-386612 (passport no?) From Manchester UK to New York USA

From those details I now have confirmed addresses plus a year of birth for Henry Rhodes Hindle.

A quick search in April 2007 FreeBMD for an update on the entries for the surname of WORSHIP. I was totally surprised to see the following:

Dec Q 1904 Henry Rhodes WORSHIP Birth Bradford 9b,43

So, it would appear that whilst still married to Charles Worship, Annie gave birth to son Henry Rhodes who was given the surname of WORSHIP. Certainly by the time the family are in the US both Annie and Henry Rhodes are using the surname of HINDLE and this is confirmed by the 1905 passenger list.

A further search recently revealed two further references to the Hindle’s, named on a Passenger record in 1922 for a Herbert George PITCHFORD & his wife Ida Mary Pitchford. According to the shipping manifest for SS Pittsburgh which sailed from Liverpool on 28th October 1922, and arrived in Philadelphia Port 4th November 1922 Ida Mary’s nearest relative in England is her brother William Rhodes. With this data, this now set me on the trail in Yorkshire for the surname Rhodes, and to trace the ancestry of Annie herself.

A quick search of the 1881 Census for the UK revealed the birth of Annie Rhodes the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Rhodes. The family were living in 1, Oakroyd Terrace in Manningham, which is a small village outside of Bradford. Also listed, born in 1879 is William Rhodes brother.

Another curious thing, was that Annie did make regular trips back home to see her three daughters, they were all left here in England. Out of interest I did a quick search for the surname of WORSHIP, and was surprised to see that Emily Worship, Annie’s Eldest daughter had, in April 1914 gone to Philadelphia on board SS Haverford, which sailed from Liverpool on 16th April 1914, to visit Annie Worship. Recorded on the shipping manifest, Emily’s relative in England was a Chas A Worship residing at 212 Philip Street Newcastle upon Tyne, and address that my father in law recognises for correspondence that he has inherited from his parent’s courtship.

In October 2007 I turned once again to the birth of Henry Rhodes Hindle or was it Worship and ordered the copy of Henry Rhodes Worship’s birth certificate from Bradford It confirms what I’d believed, that Henry was registered with the surname Worship as that was his mother’s husband, making the assumption that Charles Worship was the father. The address given is Eastbrook House, Chapel Street, in Bradford. Occupation Curate. Having just checked the 1901 census to confirm what Charles and Annie were doing there, it appears that Charles was the “Chapel Keeper”.



Turning to the US, A search of the website http://www.germangenealogygroup.com/otherdb.stm, on the off chance to see if a marriage could be located. I struck lucky, as there in New York City was the marriage of Annie WORSHIP & Harry HINDLE on 6th September 1922. Certificate number 31122, in the county of Manhattan. I had already located a second marriage for Charles Worship, Annie’s first husband in Edinburgh Scotland in 1922, so it looks as though the divorce became final in 1921-1922. The divorce records have been tracked down and is in the National Archives and was finalised in 1922.

I ordered the marriage certificate only for it to be due to arrive here in the UK as were about to head into a load of postal strikes, needless to say I was irritating and grumpy until the certificate arrived!



I next looked for a Naturalisation record. On every passenger list and the census Henry is recorded as being Naturalised (except 1910 US Census) with the year as 1917. There are variations to the month and court it was done in. I located a copy of the Naturalisation record for September 1917 in the Eastern Court of PA, which ties in with various other documents and a further check of the passenger records confirms September 1917 as the date for naturalisation, so bingo!





I now wanted to see if I could find any records for the deaths of Annie and Harry Hindle. A search of the SSDI for Henry and Annie proved fruitless, but I did check again to see what the index said for Henry Rhodes. There was the death of a Henry in November 1962 with the SSDI number of 159-09-3752 and issued in Pennsylvania with the birth date as 4th October 1904, the same date as the birth certificate from Bradford. A later search of the FamilySearch revealed the following death certificate.



I went through the census and passenger lists and looked at the addresses the family were living in. The latest date I had at the time was 1946 for 14 North Belfield Havertown PA. Havertown is in Haverford township, 7 miles from the centre of Philadelphia & is in Delaware County with zip code 19083. I searched Google maps to get an idea of the area and to see if I could in a roundabout way locate the cemetery records for both Annie and Henry bearing in mind I had no dates of death for either of them.

There are three cemeteries in the area – Har Jehuda, Arlington (PA) & Montrose.

A search online for the cemetery records in Arlington revealed two likely suspects!

Harry Hindle 19th Feb 1871-19th Feb 1952 buried in Avon section and
Annie R Hindle 14th May 1869-14th May 1953 buried in Avon section.

The years of birth are right, and Annie appears to have a middle initial of R possibly for Rhodes? The actual dates for birth and death look a bit suspicious, but it does give me a starting point. The address for the cemetery is in Delaware County – 2900 State Road, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026. Then by chance I made contact with someone who connected to Henry Rhodes Hindle and was sent the Cemetery details which confirmed those details.



I do feel that I have, in someway completed a circle, but the story is full of more questions and I guess that is the appeal of genealogy. I have made contact with someone who connected to the family of Henry Rhodes Hindle. They very kindly sent me some bits electronically and some of those things have given more questions. One of the things I was sent was a lovely photo of Henry Rhodes Hindle and his parents, my husband's Great Grandparents.



Oh, the details on the pencil –

Henry R HINDLE
Fruit & Produce Commission Merchant
Market 2414
200 Dock Street
Phila
PA

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Wk 2 - Winter

Week 2: Winter. What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

I grew up in the South East of England and the winters were very cold with some snow. When it would start to snow and there was a decent depth of snow we would wrap up warm and go out for a walk in the snow, while it was still fresh. It was lovely, no fear at all of falling. We lived in a town so the lovely thick snow soon became slushy and horrid. I love, even now to walk in the thick snow, wrapped all warm and snug. There is always a eerie silence when it snows, I have never understood why.

As a child at senior school I was a very keen hockey player, we would, even in the coldest of winters don our PE kits and head off to the pitch. Our PE kit consisted of a navy blue skirt and a red shirt. We also had to wear red knee high socks and hockey shoes. We would stand on the pitch with the warmth of our breath blowing onto the cold air, our hands and knees with a red tinge from the cold. Those were happy days, we would long to get playing so we could get warm.

Winter food were typically stews and soups. I do the same now. My Mum's casserole is always a favourite, even now when Mum visits I ask her to make me a casserole. A mix of suede, carrots, onion, mushrooms with a lovely gravy with braising steak, complete with mash potato. We may have to have one tomorrow!

Other foods we had during the winter were stuffed hearts, liver in gravy and shepherds pie. We still have those foods of course, although I am not so restrictive to have them just in the depth of winter. Although we don't tend to have them when it is warmer. As a child I remember a treat on a Saturday night was a really big baked potato cooked in the oven in tin foil. My Grandmother would stand and grate lots of mature cheddar cheese for us to have over the potato. It was a real treat and now we can of course buy baked potato's for a few pounds ready done in the microwave, nothing can beat the smell of a oven baked one and I am always plunged back to my childhood and those happy memories.

Memorial Log

I recently commented on someones blog that writing helps us to grieve for our departed loved ones. In that post I mentioned a Memorial Log and I promised that I would explain a bit more about the log and what it did for me.

My Grandmother passed away suddenly on 21st April 1995 and had recently spent six weeks with us, starting just before the Christmas period of 1994. During that time my husband spent some time videoing and recording conversations with my Grandmother, now, 15 years on I still can not watch those video's, but I am deeply grateful that Stuart had the foresight to record those conversations. We still hold the original camcorder tapes and the VCR tape that the data was transferred to. Sometime this year Stuart will transfer the VCR tapes to DVD, a task he will do when I am out.

My Grandmother, and I were very close. I was overcome, not just with grief and the need to give her the send off she deserved, but I suddenly became aware of all the things and questions I had never asked and all the snippets of information that she had shared with me. Not just genealogical information, but the sayings she would suddenly come out with, things she would do, places and people that she held an association with.

The bottom line was that I missed her dreadfully, her passing had left a huge void in my world and even though the period of time between the death and funeral is fairly busy with the domestics of it all, I felt that I needed to keep my Grandmother with me. I did not want to forget a simple thing. Looking back now, many of the comments and notes I made were one liners, a simple remark that acts as a prompt for more thinking and adding to a journal at a future date, and occasionally I still add to the log. The 18th December 2012 would have been my Grandmother's 100th birthday. I shall commemorate that in some way, perhaps linked to the Memorial Log.

The Memorial log was for me a simple Filofax that I had and was not using. I used whatever paper I had to hand and my log contains a mix of lined and plain paper. Each entry dated. In the early days I would write and jot down notes for hours, later as time progressed I wrote less, and as I adapted to a world without my Grandmother the entries became fewer in number and less in content. That said, it does not mean that I miss her less. When someone we love passes away we find a way of coping and adapting without them, but they always retain a place in our heart.

History of Cardigan........

Thanks to the BBCHistoryMag Twitter feed I became aware of the following post - a fascinating task of knitting with history.

"History of Cardigan told through a cardigan" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12123866

Reading and The Spectator.....

Yesterday I read a post on a friend's blog over at wordpress - Laura was commenting on reading The Spectator online using her Kindle, and it jogged memories of her high school teacher.

My response was:

"I think that many of us are influenced by teachers when we are in our later teens. Likewise, I was influenced by a teacher, who was senior master called Mr Tanner. He loved reading all the Orwell texts and got me to really think about what the characters really represented. Between Mr T and the help of Miss Russell who taught me history and greatly influenced my love of history, I flew through my O level Eng Lit and History. Also I think now our reading is influenced by the people we each become, which is a result of the people who help us on the way to adulthood.

Incidentally, when we first moved here there was a huge rambling antique shop on the site of a former hotel. On a rummaging visit I found a lovely, but not undamaged edition of the Spectator for 1715. It is a beauty, and does have damage to the front cover."

Having written the above post, I went to the display cabinet in our kitchen/breakfast room as that is where The Spectator lives, nestled into the bottom shelf. There is more damage that I recalled yesterday, and I got the dates slightly wrong. The book is actually a collection of The Spectator and this is the 5th Volume which dates from 1711 - 1713. The front cover is completely detached and when I purcashed the book there had been some water damage. Actually for a book that is effectively 300 years old it is not too bad.

Here are a few snaps shots of it...

Crematorium considers dissolving bodies .....

I read yesterday in the paper of a Crematorium considers dissolving bodies here is the link to the UK newspaper - The Telegraph telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopic

Maybe I am getting old, but I do believe that Crematoriums and Cemeteries are sacred places and should not be disturbed. What is being suggested in this news article somehow, does not seem right, it seems disrespectful. What say you?.....

Cross posted to Grave Encounters

Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley

Publisher: Avon (28 Oct 2010)
ISBN-10: 1847561152

The prologue to the book sets the scene. Holly Brown is a young widow whose husband was killed in a tragic accident just before Christmas. Holly's parents died when she was young and she was raised by her Grandparents. Holly's Grandmother had been ill and as she passed away she mentioned a name of Ned Marland. A name completely unfamiliar to Holly.....

Holly housesits for a living during the winter and works as a chef during the rest of the year. Due to her upbringing and her deepset grief at Christmas Holly doesn't really celebrate Christmas and accepts a house sitting booking in country, where her tasks are to housesit and look after a dog and a horse. Accepting the booking Holly packs her car and heads off taking with her a trunk of her Grandmother's notebooks in which Holly might just find out who the mysterious Ned is.

The notebooks reveal that Holly's Grandmother met and nursed a young soldier back to health. After he was discharged from hospital and returned home he continued to meet with Holly's Grandmother and they embarked upon a brief romatic relationship. As Holly housesits she gets to know the home owner who is abroad, his elderly nearby family, the pets and the local residents, who keep asking if she is a Marland, something which Holly denies. Holly also continues to discover her Grandmother through her note books and makes some fascinating discoveries along the way.

Cross posted to Book Reviews

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Wk 1 - New Year

Week #1 – New Year’s Memories
Week 1: Did your family have any New Year’s traditions? How was the New Year celebrated during your childhood? Have you kept these traditions in the present day?!
This challenge runs from Saturday, January 1, 2011 through Friday, January 7, 2011.

As a child we really didn't celebrate the New Year. I was usually allowed to stay up to see the New Year in , but we didn't really do anything special that I remember.

We have now created our own traditions but again we don't really celebrate much. We still though, stay up and see the New Year in and Stuart, growing up in Scotland always does the First foot. He usually goes outside with a bit of coal, meaning we'll always be warm, some cash, meaning we will always have money and some food, we'll always be fed. I guess that is more of a Scottish tradition, certainly coming from the Southern Counties we didn't do the First foot.

For New Years Day we always have a roast dinner and eat at lunchtime, as usually we eat in the evenings. We usually make some plans for the coming year - holidays, or things we want to do etc. This New Year has started with the focus on my very recently deceased Aunt and her funeral and somehow 2010 has ended rather how it was in the middle of the year for us. We are hoping for a happier 2011.

What I have always disliked is that we start a new year with the Christmas tree still up and the decorations. If we had felt less ill this year we would probably have taken the tree and cards down before the New Year, but we always do before 12th Night (6th January).

Ancestor of the Week - Edith Jelley nee Matthews

My grandmother, Lillian Edith MATTHEWS inherited her middle name from her Aunt, the sister of her father, Edith Annie Matthews born 1877 in Rugby Warwickshire. Despite this my Grandmother knew very little about Edith other than she was a nurse. My Grandmother never remembers seeing her. Research shows that the miles between my Grandmother's family and that of Edith were not great, yet there appears to have been little communication between Edith and her brother.

What brought the family from the Midlands down to Guildford, where they lived in Merrow parish is unclear, but Edith did share one thing with her mother, they both died young.

I had inherited a few photographs of Edith, one of her in a type of military uniform, and another two photos of Edith with her children, the first with an older boy and girl and the second photo of the same two children with a young baby. That confirmed that Edith did indeed marry and have a family.

Figure 1 - Edith Matthews with her children identified as Charles & Edith Mabel

I turned at first to the military style photograph. Edith would have been too old to have been especially active during the Great War 1914-1918, so I pondered on the Boer War. Family history indicated that Edith was a nurse, so I researched the various avenues available. Edith Matthews had never been a nurse, but perhaps was a VAD?


Figure 2 Edith in her military style uniform


I put the nurse aspect on the backburner for a while and instead sought Edith’s marriage certificate. I eventually found it at Holy Trinity Guildford in 1902 where Edith married a Charles JELLEY. I was delighted, what a fun surname! It was not going to be too difficult to research Edith’s new family….or was it?

Figure 3 - Marriage Certificate for Edith Matthews to Charles Jelley 8th April 1902

Over the Christmas period of 2008 Findmypast opened up the search facility to the 1911 census. I could barely control myself! On Christmas Day, whilst the turkey was in the oven I nipped into my study for a quick search for Edith. There she was, in Redhill Surrey with her husband, two children Charles and a daughter Edith Mabel and her father, John Matthews who was recorded as a boarder.


Figure 4 - 1911 Census

I did a search of a death certificate for John Matthews. I found him in the Redhill registration district for 1927 residing at St Johns, Redhill although his place of residence was at 114 Walnut Tree Close, in Guildford. This was an address I was very familiar with as my Grandmother had been born there in 1912. The informant was a Read, occupier. Why was the death no recorded by Edith?


Figure 5 - Death certificate of John Matthews December Quarter of 1927 Reigate Surrey

So, it would appear that Edith and my Grandmother's father, also called John must have had some communication in regard to their father. John senior did according to my Grandmother live with them in Guildford, and like many families my Great Grandmother had in law problems and referred to her father in law as a dirty old man. I guess that he suffered from various conditions that affect elderly gentlemen!

While searching the Great War Service Records on Ancestry for another relative I did an off the wall search for Charles Jelley. I did not really expect to find that he would have been active. Much to my surprise he was, aged 41 years, called up as a reservist for the duration of the war. Having served during the Boer War with the 6th Dragoon Guards, he was discharged medically unfit in 1916. As I read through the record I spotted that another child had been born to the family, a baby girl Olive Kathleen in 1916. She sadly died aged 7 months and a copy of the death certificate was in the Great War Service Record for Charles Jelley. That confirmed the photographs of the children with Edith.

Figure 6 - Edith Jelley (nee Matthews) with children identified as Charles, Edith Mabel, Olive Kathleen.

There is still no picture of Charles Jelley. The Service Record revealed something else of interest, and that I had been unaware of. The family had moved to Paddington London. As always, as one question is answered so another few arise.

I searched the online facility of FreeBMD to see if there had been other children born to Edith and Charles. None were found, but I found a death for Edith Jelley in the June Quarter of 1921 just aged 40 years. I felt such a wave of emotion. Here was Edith's death . I sent off for the certificate hoping that I had found another Edith Jelley, alas no, the certificate arrived. Edith Annie Jelley aged 40 years, wife of Charles Jelley a restaurant manager of 13 Malbern Road Kilburn. The death recorded by E. HARRISON sister in law who had been present at her death.

I knew that the surname of Harrison did not appear on the Matthews side of the family, therefore I assumed that E Harrison must be the sister of Charles Jelley. Using the search facility on FreeBMD I searched for the marriage of a Jelley to a Harrison. My luck was in and it revealed the marriage of Eliza Jelley to George Ernest Harrison in the December quarter of 1895. Then I spotted when I had another look at the marriage certificate that the marriage Charles to Edith had in fact been witnessed by Eliza Harrison. Which just shows that you should often look back at previously located information, sometimes we forget what we already know!

I may never know anymore about Edith, although there are lots more questions about their time in London, what happened to their children, How did Charles become a restaurant manager, just to name a few. I suspect that Edith was a VAD and helped to nurse Charles back to health. They lived next door to one another, a fact gleaned from their wedding certificate and were friendly faces to each other and I would like to think that potentially a romance blossomed as they married in April 1902 and Charles was discharged in June of the same year.

Dorothy Lilian May nee Butcher 1915 - 2010

Today has not been a good day. The last link with my Grandfather's family passed away this morning and has left a void that will be quite impossible to fill.

Born Lilian Dorothy Butcher in February 1915, the second youngest of a family of 12. Aunt was always known to us as Doll, the nick name given to her by her brothers because of her petite size. Whilst she was never a large lady in size she had both character and depth far great than anyone I have ever known.

Aunt married Richard May at St Nicholas Church Guildford in 1936.



Widowed in 1958 Aunt never remarried, but devoted her life to her son, nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

Whilst this posting may seem rather morbid, I didn't want to let Aunt's passing be unmentioned. I have some wonderful memories and in time, when I feel stronger, they will appear in this blog in remembrance of a true lady.

I was indeed very lucky to have had such a wonderful relationship with her, both as Great Aunt and as my Godmother. I will truly miss her. She is now reunited with her beloved husband,son and her siblings.


Photo taken May 2008.

Snippets from the the news......

BBC News - Life goes online after death with 'memory boxes'
Published 3rd December 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11900774

The Independent - Identified at last: faces of the Somme - Europe, World
Published 28th December 2010
http://ind.pn/dRYl4n

Advent Calendar 2010 - In review

I have simply loved writing the advent calendar posts. These have been huge journalling prompts and have encouraged me to write and think about times past. They have also highlighted to me the questions that I wish I had asked.

I have though not managed to keep to schedule, which is personally irritating to me and what subjects I have not posted on as yet will be posted on during the next few days. Alas, work has been the culprit this year and I have certainly lost my work - home life balence which will be recovered for 2011.

Christmas Broadcast or 'Queen's Speech'

View the Christmas Broadcast or 'Queen's Speech' in full on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWwVoCVCEZo

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas and Deceased Relatives

Christmas always has its sad moments, in that we miss our deceased relatives, and yet remember with fondness and love those who have passed away.

My Grandmother, always comes to my mind because her birthday, on 18th December was a week before Christmas and this has appeared elsewhere during the Advent Calender postings. The last Christmas my Grandmother was alive she came to stay with us. Stuart did lots of recordings of her, asking her questions and listening to her remembering past times. Even now, some 14 years on I can not listen to those tapes or watch the video. When Stuart transfers it to DVD which he will do next year he'll do it when I am out as I still miss her dreadfully.

Then in the late 1990s my Nephew, then aged 16 years died on 18th December as a result of a tragic accident involving another school boy. His funeral was on Christmas Eve and although I was not especially close to my Nephew, my husband was and my thoughts always turn to him and the fact that his young life was wasted.

This year we lost my Father in Law and this is the first Christmas without him. Likewise, I was not especially close to him, but his death, was unexpected and this year will of course bring sadness to our Christmas. Amongst that sadness is of course joy, as each of those individuals has a special place in our hearts and we have some wonderful memories, which, when the time is right will probably appear in this blog.

May they rest in peace, in the knowledge that they are missed everyday.

Lunar Eclipse to coincide with Winter Solstice

The first full lunar eclipse to coincide with a winter solstice since 1554. UK & Europe will be able to watch from 0741 GMT on Tuesday 21st Dec.

I was up in anticipation of seeing something wonderful. Sadly it was cloudy where I was and that was rather disappointing. There have been some great photos posted on the web. Here is the photograph posted to the local BBC radio station on Face Book - Good Morning Devon and here is the details from Sky News.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas Shopping

I often do my Christmas grocery shopping in the middle of the night, or at the very earliest just as the day turns midnight. Due to our domestics we planned to go to the supermarket just after midnight on Saturday 18th, which would have been my Grandmother's birthday (see yesterday's post).

Over the last three or four weeks we have had very cold weather, heavy frosts and the odd sprinkle of snow, so I was not overly surprised to find a heavy frost as we left the house at midnight on Saturday. We live half way on a hill in a cul-de-sac and the car was pointing the wrong way. Which meant that we had to drive down and turn. There is always a horrid bit in the middle of the turning area which has a tendancy to get very icy and Saturday morning was no exception. So there I was at midnight trying to push the car. Just when it seemed hopeless we managed it and set off. I spent the next hour or so pushing the trolley round gathering groceries. We made it home and I collapsed into bed at abou 2am, planning on sleeping until 7am when I needed to be up and away for work. Imagine my horror when I saw this at 7.00am

About 8am this was the real picture.

I went to leave and we tried to move the car and made it to the turning point, then..... Lots of wheel spins and Anglo Saxon. We managed with the help of a neighbour, some carpet under the wheels and sand to get the car back outside the house which is halfway up the hill. I have worked muscles that perhaps are new or have not been used in the last 20 years! Anyway, I didn't make it to work.
Monday faired no better. We had no more snow here, but we had dreadful icy conditions. Driving was not an option and actually neither was walking.
We did make it out today (21st Dec 2010) and this was the view across Haldon - lovely on a Christmas card, but lethal to drive and walk on.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas Stockings

I don't recall ever having a stocking as a child, just this pillowcase into which my presents were placed. Since I have been married to what can only be described as the biggest Christmas baby of all time! Stuart's birthday is on the 21st and he simply LOVES Christmas, I have always prepared a stocking for everyone.

Traditionally, I know that stockings always contain fruits and nuts and perhaps a small toy, or at least that is what my Grandmother always said was in her stocking. This year I went to fill the stockings to struggle to find them. I sorted through the Christmas decorations box several times to no avail, and resorted to having the wrap the stocking gifts on Christmas Eve. Note to self to buy some nice new ones for 2011.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Grab Bag!

Today's posting is a free for all. Tomorrow, 18th December 2010 would have been my beloved Grandmother's birthday.

Born in 18th December 1912 Lilian Edith Matthews to John Matthews and Elizabeth Mary nee Elstone at Guildford Surrey England. Gran was one of 11 children and the second child to be both in 1912, although she was not a twin.

My Uncle had been born in the January of the same year! She married my Grandfather George Butcher in November 1939 and ironically made her marital home in the same road that she was born in, just at the opposite end of the road!

No photographs of the wedding have ever been located, but here are two from my collection. The first one (above) of my Grandmother aged 12 years and the second taken (below) at her 21st Birthday.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Fruit Cake

Mum has used the following recipe since the early 1980s, actually my Grandmother spotted it in a copy of Woman Magazine, and since then we have used this one, albeit, the copy does look in rather a sorry state! The actual date is gleened from a book review on the reverse of the recipe - 1983!




Here is the cake for the Christmas of 2006, icing was not brilliant as I recall, probably too much wine! See the original post from 2006

Advent Calendar 2010 - Other Traditions

Although I now live in the West Country of England, I was born and brought up in Guildford Surrey, and still consider that home. There was always a magical feel about Guildford, the cobbled historical High Street with the Rotary Club playing music, usually outside W H Smiths and collecting for local charities, The shops full of Christmas decorations and music and the temperature fresh and cold, but not like the weather of late, where the temperature has been well below freezing, not typical for the UK.

In the last 10 years or so the world of retail therapy has changed beyond recognition. I am pondering back to the days when shops closed at 5 or 6pm apart from perhaps local deli's and corner shops and the only other shops open into the evening were DIY stores and supermarkets and those were open late until 7 or 8pm. In the run up to Christmas the shops would open on Sundays and even the post was delivered on a Sunday too for the few sundays preceding Christmas. Now we live in a world when you can do your grocery shopping in the early hours and shop online. I wonder what previous generations would make of that? The shops being open on a Sunday back then had a magical feel to it, and somehow in this world of technology we have lost some of the Christmas magic.

On Christmas Eve we always attended Midnight Mass at Holy Trinity Church, an impressive church situated at the top of the High Street. We did not live in Holy Trinity parish, but in St Nicholas, but always attended at Holy Trinity. It wasn't until I started researching my own family history that I established that we had links to the parish that start with my Several times Great Grandfather George Ellis born in 1811 in Holy Trinity parish.

Having now moved to the South West I do not feel that same enthusiasm to go to the local church for the midnight mass and very often we are well in bed before the magical hour.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas Gifts

Oh my, I was doing some Christmas shopping today and pondering on some small bits to go into a couple of Christmas stockings. I was overwhelmed with the incredible amount of expensive nothing presents, and wonder just how we got to be such a society.

My Grandmother always said that she and her siblings had a Christmas stocking. In it was a sugar mouse, a tangerine and some nuts. The boys had a small car or soldier and the girls a small dolly. The money value for the early 20th Century to a working class family preparing stockings for a family of 11 children would have meant cuts in other areas of expenditure to provide those meagre gifts. In comparison to the stockings of today when we spend so much more and I wonder if we really enjoy the gifts we receive and give? Or are we simply swept away in the retail commercial hyper.

On my bookcase are several books given to me by family members, in some cases relatives that are no longer here. I was surprised to see that I had kept the gift card in one book dated 1985. The book rarely looked at now, holds many special memories and now sits as one of my treasured possessions.

One gift that I love dearly was bought for me by my husband two or three years ago. I would never have purchased it myself, not due to the expense, or the thought that I would hardly wear it, but simply because I just wouldn't. So I treasure it not only because Stuart bought it for me, but because it is a beautiful simple gift that says more than many words, and one that is a treat for me, and only me.

Of course, no matter how big the gift or how expensive the gift, the ones that we treasure the most are those that create such wonderful memories.