Tombstone Tuesday: James, John and Ann Read

For the Tombstone Tuesday theme today I am showing the tombstone of my ancestors James Read, his wife Ann and their son John which is at Bierton, Buckinghamshire.

James was a Labourer and he and Ann had five children: John, William, Mary, Thomas and Hannah.  I know from Censuses that Ann was born in Mursley, Buckinghamshire but I have not been able to find a marriage for her and John anywhere in Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire. 

There is only one marriage that could be theirs that fits for the right time period and the names of James Read married to an Ann.  That is a marriage at Wingrave, Buckinghamshire on 11 October 1826 when a James Read married Ann Symons.  Both could not sign their names and both are stated as being of the parish of Wingrave.  One of the witnesses is Thomas Read and I know the Bierton James Read does have a brother Thomas.

For the Bierton James and Ann Read, their first two children (twins) were baptised at Bierton in February 1827. 

This is the tombstone for James, John and Ann Read

original photograph in my private collection and taken by me at Bierton, Buckinghamshire in 2000 - copyright 2010

The Inscription for this tombstone is as follows:

Sacred

to the memory of

James Read

who died  ? July 1835

aged 29 years

also of

John Read

twin son of the above

who died Sep.  ?  1836

aged 9 years

also of

Ann Read

wife of the above

who died Dec. 16th 1873

aged 76 years

 

James died so young at 29 years and Ann went on to a ripe old age of 76 years.  I find that very sad as they had so few years together.  I will keep searching for their marriage and then find Ann’s maiden name!  The above mentioned marriage looks hopeful, but of course they could have married anywhere else in the country so the Wingrave couple may not be them at all!!

Tombstone Tuesday: Herbert Howard and Alice Laity

I had actually planned to do another ancestor for Tombstone Tuesday today, but a couple of weeks or so ago a “new” cousin of my partner Paul found us through this blog, which is absolutely amazing and we are so delighted by this.

Paul’s grandmother was Sophia Laity and his great grandmother was Eliza Leaity but apart from some family tree information, we have never had any Laity photos. 

Paul’s “new” cousin has very kindly been sending us some photos and Paul has discovered that his youngest son actually looks like Herbert Howard Laity who is now today’s Tombstone Tuesday ancestor along with his wife Alice.

Herbert is Paul’s grandmother Sophia Laity’s nephew and we now also have a photo of Sophia’s brother too.

Herbert Howard and his wife Alice Oprie Williams were both born in Camborne, Cornwall in 1890.  Before they married Herbert Howard travelled to Canada and a year later Alice went to join him.

Paul’s cousin believes this photo of Herbert Howard and Alice to have been taken on their wedding day in Ottawa, Ontario

original photograph in the private collection of C. Faiella - copyright 2010

Paul’s cousin sent the next photo to us today, which is why I am including it in this post and as well as having our first Laity family photos, this one is also a first as it is the first tombstone photo we have of any of Paul’s family so very far away from Cornwall.

original photograph in the private collection of C. Faiella - copyright 2010

Herbert Howard and Alice Oprie (Williams) Laity are buried in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

Tombstone Tuesday: Stephen and Elizabeth Read

I took this photo of the tombstone for Stephen Read and his wife Elizabeth (nee Sanders) in 2000 and although I had no idea then that he was actually one of my ancestors, I sort of had a feeling that he was.

They are buried in the churchyard at Great Milton in Oxfordshire and at the time Stephen and Elizabeth were the only Reads I could find buried there.  (It wasn’t until a few years later that I discovered that my ancestors Edward Read and his wife Mary (nee Tanner) were also buried in the same place although we did not come across their graves.

Stephen became a bit of a brick wall.  I found him and Elizabeth in the Censuses.  They did not appear to have had children.  He worked as a Harness Maker and in the various Censuses there are one or two others living with Stephen and Elizabeth who are apprentice Harness Makers or assistants etc..  Also living with them in one Census (1851) was Elizabeth Larner.  She also became a bit of a brick wall too.

I found her in an earlier Census (1841) living with a different Stephen Read and his wife Ann (Nanny) (nee Rose) in Thame, Oxfordshire.  This Stephen was the youngest of all my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read’s twenty children and was the only one to appear in a Census.  So, I wondered, is the Harness Maker Stephen related to Cozens Read’s youngest child?  Especially as at one time they each had Elizabeth Larner living with them?

Time went on and I looked at this photo often to see if there were any clues as to who Stephen belonged to.  At the time I did not know his wife’s maiden name either!

original photograph taken by me in Great Milton, Oxfordshire in 2000 - copyright 2010

More time and more searching went on and eventually I found that Stephen the Harness Maker was in fact the grandson of Stephen and Ann (Nanny) Read and so also the great grandson of Cozens Read.  It also turned out that Elizabeth Larner was the Aunt of Stephen the Harness Maker!  (And so at more or less the same time the brick wall I managed to break down with Stephen was also the same wall I managed to break down with Elizabeth Larner as she is the daughter of Stephen and Ann (Nanny) Read.

Stephen’s wife Elizabeth was a Great Milton girl and they married there on 2nd December 1850 and lived there for the rest of their lives.  I have never found any children for them and as they are in all the Censuses until they each die, there have never been any children living with them at all, so I think it is fairly safe to say they were childless.

The Inscription on their tombstone is:

To

The Memory Of

Stephen Read

who died Jan. 31. 1888

Aged 74 years

Also of

Elizabeth

wife of the above

who died (and this then goes down into the grass – but Elizabeth died in December 1878)

There is also a footstone which reads:

S. R.   1888

E. R.   1878

(next wording is unreadable)

Stephen was about four years old when his own father, also Stephen, died aged 30.

It took a number of years to discover who Stephen the Harness Maker belonged to, but the original feeling that I had that he was one of mine proved correct!!

Tombstone Tuesday: Frederick Read – Champion Duck Breeder

For today’s Tombstone Tuesday theme I want to show the tombstone of my Great Uncle Frederick Read.  He was born in 1866 at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire and died in 1908 at Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire.  He and his wife Annie Sophia Ridgway (1868 – 1955) had ten children and Great Uncle Frederick became a Champion Duck Breeder.

I have been informed that he was the originator of what is known (certainly in the UK) as the Aylesbury Duck and he also used to write about breeding ducks in newspapers and magazines.

original photograph in my private collection - copyright 2010

Great Uncle Frederick is buried at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire and the photo I show here is the Inscription part.  Unfortunately, although we took a number of photos of his grave and the Church they were taken with a non-digital camera and are not really clear enough to show on this blog. 

Inscription on Great Uncle Frederick’s gravestone

original photograph in my private collection - copyright 2010

My transcription for this is: 

In Loving Memory of

FREDERICK READ

died Feb 14th 1908   aged 41 years

_________

AT REST

_________

also SOPHIA

died June 26th 1955   Aged 88 years

This next photograph is of one of Great Uncle Frederick’s adverts that he placed in various places.

original photograph in my private collection - copyright 2010

Tombstone Tuesday: The collapsed table top tomb isn’t Cozens Read’s!!

A little while ago I did my first Tombstone Tuesday, showing the Table Top Tomb of my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read and went on to describe how I had been informed that his tomb had collapsed and that I was concerned the pieces would be thrown away etc..  I also mentioned that I was looking into obtaining grants for restoration of this tomb, but they take forever to make their decisions.

A couple of days ago I received a photo from my cousins in Australia.  Bob and Pam had been on a holiday taking in some family history research at Lower Winchendon, Buckinghamshire and took this photo of the collapsed tomb.

original photograph copyright 2010 - Pam and Bob Herbstreit

 and the full view photograph

original photograph copyright 2010 - Pam and Bob Herbstreit

While I was extremely surprised but relieved that this was not the Table Top Tomb of Cozens Read and his wife Elizabeth Shirley, I was still very saddened by the sight of it and immediately knew that  it was the tomb for Cozens and Elizabeth’s son William Read.  The tomb holds William (1736-1803); his wife Mary Pollard (1742-1821); their daughter Mary (1783-1850) and their daughter Mary’s husband John Moores (1783-1855).  (Cozens Read’s Table Top Tomb can be seen through the fencing that is now surrounding the collapsed tomb).

My partner Paul and I had visited this church in 2000 and 2004 and took various photos of the graves there and we realise now that the reason for the collapse of this tomb is obviously through a tree that was growing up from inside it.  Some of the following photos taken in 2004 show what was happening then and so Paul cut the branches back and we tidied the Table Top Tomb up as much as we could.

The following photos show the state the tomb was in and the tree roots and branches quite obviously did most of the damage which resulted in its collapse a few years later!

original photograph taken by me in 2004 at Lower Winchendon - copyright 2010

original photograph taken by me at Lower Winchendon in 2004 - copyright 2010

original photograph taken by me at Lower Winchendon in 2004 - copyright 2010

original photograph taken by me at Lower Winchendon in 2004 - copyright 2010

I will continue trying to find out what grants and help is available for trying to restore this tomb, but somehow don’t think we would ever be able to get it back like it once was.

Luckily on our visits in 2000 and 2004 I was able to take a transcript of the details engraved all around William, Mary, Mary and John’s tomb.  From the bits that have been laid flat as can be seen in the top photo, I think most of the engraving will have been more or less completely ruined.  I’m so glad that I have a record of it.

Tombstone Tuesday: Nora Moyle and Johnson & Sophia Moyle

This Tombstone Tuesday post is for that of the graves of my partner Paul’s mother Nora and his grandparents Johnson and Sophia.  Johnson and Sophia are already mentioned under my Ancestor Anniversaries theme for their Wedding Anniversary.

Paul’s mother died in March 1957 and within just a few months of losing her, his grandparents also died, Sophia first and then Johnson.  They are buried together in two graves at St. Peter’s, Mithian, Cornwall.  This is one of the churchyards that I am the Graveyard Rabbit for and please visit my Ancestors at Rest blog (link in the sidebar to the right), to see the blog I posted there today about the sad, neglected churchyard and closed church, which will help explain why the photographs I show here make the graves look very unkempt!!

Original photograph taken by me at Mithian, 31st May 2010 - copyright 2010

 These are the inscriptions for each grave:

Nora Moyle

Original photograph taken by me at Mithian, 31st May 2010 - copyright 2010

Johnson and Sophia Moyle

Original photograph taken by me at Mithian, 31st May 2010 - copyright 2010

And this is how Paul’s mother and grandparents’ graves look from the main path!!

original photograph taken by me at Mithian, 31st May 2010 - copyright 2010

If the flowers weren’t there, you wouldn’t know that Paul’s mother and grandparents are lying at rest as it would be impossible to see the gravestones in all that overgrowth!!

Tombstone Tuesday: Eliza and Francis Farmbrough

For today’s Geneabloggers theme of Tombstone Tuesday it is the grave of Eliza and Francis Farmbrough that I show here.  Francis is the great grandson of my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read and he shares this grave with his wife Eliza.

The wording is very difficult to see now but to me it looks like there could also be another Francis Farmbrough in the grave too, unless his description on the stone is as the husband of the late Eliza.

Original photograph taken by me in 2000 and in my private collection copyright 2010

I thought it quite ornate with the book and flowers at the top, quite different from most of my ancestor’s graves.  The Inscription reads (as best as I can see it!):

In Memory of

Eliza

(unreadable)

(unreadable)

Francis Farmbrough (I think this is probably saying Eliza is the wife of FF)

died December 31 1891

aged 85(?) years

(unreadable) Farmbrough

also of the above

Francis Farmbrough

died December 18 1904(?)

in his 99th year

(unreadable)

(unreadable)

It wasn’t until I was sorting this photograph out to add to this Tombstone Tuesday post, that I realised that I had no note of where this Tombstone was actually situated!!  I checked my genealogical programme to see where Eliza and Francis had died but don’t show this!!  This is partly because my old computer died and I fairly recently bought the one I am now using and have not finished adding all the ancestor details to my programme from the printed sheets I took of the programme on the old computer (I sensed it was not very well) and of course, this is a very laborious job and I am doing it in between sorting out all my other records!!  So I do have the details, just not to hand as I write this!!

 

Tombstone Tuesday: John Hughes Cox and Annie Humphreys

Today for Tombstone Tuesday I have a photo of the gravestone for John Hughes Cox and his wife Annie (nee Humphries).  This is the couple whose Diary Extracts I have shown under the Old Documents Pages.

They married on 25th October 1866 at Haddenham Baptist Chapel, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire  some details of which John wrote about in his Diary which are included in the transcript extract.

John and Annie went on to have 7 children and moved several times within Buckinghamshire to different farms that John had.

This is my own photo taken in 2000 copyright 2010

 There is a similar stone either side of John and Annie’s which are those of two of their children.  This gravestone is near the edge of the churchyard at Lower Winchendon, Buckinghamshire and just behind it is one of the homes/farm where they lived for quite a while.

I get the feeling from the diary extracts that John and Annie were a very loving couple and I once had the chance of having a photo of them if I wanted it, but at the time I did not know how they were part of my family, so declined for a while.  Sadly the “new” cousin that offered this has since died and I am not sure about asking his family if I could now have a copy of that photo!!

John and Annie were 3rd cousins to each other and both were 2 x great grandchildren to my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read.

Tombstone Tuesday: Joseph Moyle and Family

For my Tombstone Tuesday post this week, I am showing the grave of my partner Paul’s great uncle Joseph MOYLE  which Joseph shares with his wife and son. 

Paul only met his great uncle Joseph a couple of times when he was a little boy, but remembers him with great fondness and that he seemed a very kind and generous man.  Paul remembers that great uncle Joseph went off to New Zealand, but had no idea when or whereabouts he lived there.

We did some digging and delving in New Zealand, discovered great uncle Joseph’s family there and also found out that great uncle Joseph actually travelled to New Zealand with his brother Frederick and Frederick’s family.  They were all going to a new life but it seems that once landing in New Zealand, great uncle Joseph and Frederick had a parting of the ways!!

Original photograph in my private collection - copyright 2010

 This seems a very huge graveyard so it would certainly have been almost impossible for us to find had we decided to go and visit New Zealand!!

Original photograph in my private collection - copyright 2010

This is a close-up of the Inscription to Joseph’s wife Elizabeth Jane (nee GOLDSWORTHY) originally of St. Just, Cornwall, UK and their son William Edward who was born I believe in New Zealand and Joseph’s own Inscription has just managed to be shown.  Joseph originally came from Helston, Cornwall, UK and married Elizabeth there in 1903. 

We will always be very very grateful to the very kind woman who  found this grave as a Random Act of Genealogical Kindness for us.  She went further, she very kindly placed the white flowers you can see for Paul’s ancestors and did not stop there!!  She also very kindly looked up the death certificates for Joseph, Elizabeth and William and sent copies of those to us as well as all the photos.  And I must say, New Zealand Death Certificates have so much more information on them, including great detail about those that travel to New Zealand from other countries.  We did not expect the Certificates, so were greatly surprised and so appreciative of that very kind woman’s help.

Tombstone Tuesday: Cozens Read

For my first addition to Geneabloggers’ suggestions of Daily Blogging Themes, I had to start with Cozens READ, my 6 x great grandfather.  It was his burial anniversary two days ago, 25th April 1783.

My own photo taken in 2000 of the Table Top Tomb of Cozens Read and his wife Elizabeth copyright 2010

 Cozens READ was baptized 24th May 1706 in Caversham, Oxfordshire and died in Lower Winchendon (I much prefer it’s ancient name of Nether Winchendon) in 1783.  From at least his marriage in 1734 to Elizabeth SHIRLEY they lived in Lower Winchendon and had 20 children.

He was my 6 x great grandfather and I discovered that he was a Churchwarden for a number of years and also the Overseer for the Poor.

The above photo was taken at what I call The READ Plot at the parish church in Lower Winchendon.  Cozens READ’s Table Top Tomb is one of three READ such tombs.  Two of his sons, Michael and William have their Table Top Tombs very close to their father’s.

Sadly, I was informed a short while ago, that Cozens READ’s Table Top Tomb has now collapsed!!  And because of new rules and regulations it has meant that much of the parts of this tomb will have been taken away and some laid flat for safety.  I have requested that none of the collapsed pieces should be thrown away, perhaps they could be stood around the wall edging the boundary of the churchyard?  I am hoping that as a direct descendant my wishes have been granted.

In the meantime, I have been trying to make enquiries as to what grants are available to allow restoration of a Table Top Tomb.  It seems these types of graves are historic so are part of our heritage, and because my 6 x great grandfather appears to have been very important to this village, I am hoping that we can restore his tomb.  But, the authorities that allow grants for historic monuments can take half a year to a whole year before they meet up to discuss whether to allow a grant or not.

So I am just waiting and really hoping that all the pieces haven’t just been thrown away.  Any Inscription on Cozens READ’s tomb was almost completely gone when we saw it in 2000 and then again in 2004.  But I did see myself the letters COZ and a gap and then READ (but very feint) with the name Elizabeth underneath it, so I know it is his tomb.  I could also make out a date that started 16.. on another side of the tomb, which suggests to me that another READ was also buried in this tomb first, as Cozens READ and his wife were born in the 1700s.  But it was all much to feint to make out.

There is nothing in the Parish Register to show another earlier READ being buried there, so I wonder if it was saying something about the family Cozens READ came from??  Now I will never know!!!

All the other gravestones that can be seen in this photo are for the children, grandchildren and later generations of Cozens READ and his wife Elizabeth SHIRLEY.