So That's Where I Get It From

Christmas Wishes and apologies for neglecting this blog!!

rootsresearcher — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:58:03 +0000

I know that it is such a very very looooooong time since I was able to post on my blog and am amazed it really has been ages since my last post.

Due to illness in the family and later a sudden change with things in September I really have not had the time to be able to devote to any family history research or this blog or much of anything else!!

I apologise to those of you who have been popping in to see something new but found it just the same as months ago. I just hope you will come and visit again.

Since September we have been looking after my (then) 100 year old Auntie Lucy (she is now 101 years old). She lived on her own, was completely independent and able to do everything for herself. She would go to her art group meetings twice a week and was still exhibiting her paintings in September.

Then she had a fall and was a bit unsteady on her feet as a result of that. Her doctor told us that he thought she had had a little stroke. So we took her home with us and have been looking after her ever since. She has fluid on the lungs, and has had a couple of infections (all cleared up now), but she has become very very forgetful and unless kept an eye on, could easily hurt herself because she is now unaware of things like hot cooker rings, and will stick her fingers into a toaster while the bread is toasting and picks up red hot plates and bowls but does not realise they are so hot. So although she likes to do her own breakfast and lunch, we have to watch her and make sure she does not hurt herself. We cook dinner so she does not have to do any of that.

Anyway, it has become very obvious that she can no longer live on her own so she is staying with us on a permanent basis. That means that we have to be alert 24/7 to make sure she is safe and comfortable and she tells us she is happy staying with us.

It has meant that we have even less time now to do the things we would normally do, which is why it has become such a long time since I posted to this blog. Now we realise that Auntie Lucy will always be staying with us I am hoping to get our routines done in such a way so that I can at least have more time to be able to get back to this blog and some lovely family history research.

As it is now Christmas time I have made a little virtual Christmas card for my family and friends (haven’t had a lot of time to do real Christmas cards) and want to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a wonderful, happy, healthy, and successful New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Hoping to catch up with you more in the New Year.

Tombstone Tuesday: Sarah Read of Lower Winchendon

rootsresearcher — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:40:03 +0000

For today’s Tombstone Tuesday I am showing the tombstone of Sarah Read who is the wife of Joseph Read whose tombstone was in last week’s Tombstone Tuesday.

Sarah was Sarah Smith from Ashendon, Buckinghamshire when she married Joseph Read (the grandson of my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read), on 22nd October 1835 at Ashendon.

They had five children and Joseph died in 1844 after only nine years of marriage to Sarah.

Sarah’s husband was a farmer and she took over the running of it after he died. She kept the farm going right up until she died aged 76 years.

The transcript of this inscription is as follows:

Memory of

Sarah widow of

Joseph Read

Who died Feb. 10th 1884

Aged 76 Years

“For so He giveth His beloved sleep”

Ps. 1. ..(?) 2

_____

Also of

Ann Read

daughter of the above

Who died May 15th 1871

Aged (the rest here covered by long grass and another tombstone)

Sarah and Joseph’s daughter Ann was 31 years old when she died and never married.

As Sarah’s maiden name is Smith and she was from Ashendon, Bucks it makes me wonder whether she was related to Martha Smith of Ashendon who married Sarah’s husband Joseph’s uncle Michael Read? I’ve not done much delving into the Smiths of Ashendon, so this will be another search to add to my “To Do” list!!

I think Sarah did wonderfully well to keep the farm going as a young widow and then as she became older. One of her sons lived with her and only married after she died, when he was in his forties.

As mentioned last week, the farm is now a successful stud farm owned by the famous jockey Pat Eddery. I have sent an enquiry to the farm to see if it is possible to obtain photos of it, especially if some of the original building still stands.

(Edit: My cousin Marion has kindly given me the information that I could not see on this tombstone and it is as follows:- The line of verse is actually from Ps. 127. 2. and the age for Sarah and Joseph’s daughter Anne is given as 31 years. I already had Anne’s age from other sources but could not compare it with her age given on the inscription. Thanks to cousin Marion for her help).

On The Street Where They Lived: 73 Weston Road, Aston Clinton

rootsresearcher — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:15:05 +0000

For this first post in my new topic theme of On The Street Where They Lived, I am focusing on the family of my great uncle Frederick Read who was born in 1866 at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire and died in 1908 at Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire.

I have mentioned great uncle Frederick before in the Tombstone Tuesday section. He was a champion duck breeder and was the originator of the famous Aylesbury Duck. (I have a pet duck, Demelza – her hubby Donny died last year), I wonder if great uncle Frederick is where I get my love of ducks from!!?

Great uncle Frederick married Annie Sophia Ridgway ( and it’s through her family that I have found a connection with the footballer David Beckham – but that’s another story)!! Frederick and Annie (1868 – 1955) married 22nd February 1888 at Weston Turville, where Annie was from and went on to have ten children.

Here is a photo of Annie outside their house at 73 Weston Road, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire.

I know the house had the name of Roseheath, because that is the information supplied to me when I was also given a copy of this next photograph which is of the same house. I don’t know the dates of either photographs but I am thinking that this second photo is a number of years earlier!

I’m not sure who the gentleman in the photograph is, but it is more than likely one of my Read ancestors. I think he looks a little like George Read (1864 – 1949) who would be great uncle Frederick’s brother.

This next photo shows great uncle Frederick’s wife Annie with their children, after he had died.

This photo was taken about 1918. I’m sorry that, as yet, I haven’t found a photograph of great uncle Frederick with his family. But, it is good to see this – I just so love to see ancestor photos!!

Here is Frederick and Annie.

: Copy of original photograph in my private collection – copyright 2011

: Copy of original photograph in my private collection – copyright 2011

I hope this first of my new theme has been interesting. I think it is good to see the same house at different times over the years. I shall have to take a photo of it as it is now, when we next make the journey to Buckinghamshire.

Something of Interest: New Theme – On The Street Where They Lived

rootsresearcher — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:52:00 +0000

As I celebrate my first year with today’s blogiversary, I have decided to use this celebration to announce a new topic theme I am adding here.

I have been thinking about it for a while and so have decided that I will do an On The Street Where They Lived topic. I have some photos of ancestor’s homes and in many cases some full addresses are given on the Censuses and together with Google’s StreetView I can see and show at least the road where some ancestors lived, even if I don’t know the exact address. It will be interesting to see how the homes have survived, or been altered, or have just disappeared!

I shall do the first post for this theme after I publish this post. I hope it will be of interest to those popping in.

Something of Interest: It’s my first blogiversary!!!

rootsresearcher — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:40:51 +0000

Forgive me for blowing my own trumpet, but I am really rather excited to be celebrating my first blogiversary!! It’s one year ago today that I started this blog and although there has been a couple of gaps because of the awful internet connection problems I was having (and which is still happening a bit off and on), I am quite amazed at just how much information and photos and such I have on here already!

I still have so very much to add, and still don’t seem to have any order as such with adding things. I know I have badly neglected my Coming Soon section and my Ancestor Anniversaries, so as this blog goes into it’s second year, I will make an earnest effort to get those sorted and properly do posts for them!

As this is a special day, I am also going to announce a new theme for some of my posts, but will write about that in a separate post today.

I want to thank Thomas at GeneaBloggers for adding this blog to the many already listed there, because it has been a turning point which has helped immensely with the items I have blogged about. It was through GeneaBloggers that I came across the Daily Blogging Themes, and they are a great help to prompt as to what to write about.

I also want to thank all the new geneablogging friends I have made over this first year. Many have visited my blog and commented, which is always appreciated. I have visited their blogs and have found them so very interesting and it really doesn’t matter that their ancestors are not connected to mine!

Thank you also to my cousins who also have been popping in to see the blog and either commenting here or by email. I’m delighted to have found some new cousins both for me and my other half Paul, through this blog.

Onwards now, to look forward to my next blogiversary in a years’ time. I wonder if I will have managed to get all the info I have on the blog by then? More than likely not, as I have so very much and will probably gain even more copies of documents and Wills and photos as my new blog year progresses.

It’s been a wonderful year blogwise for me, and I hope you will find some items of interest in amongst the lot of chitchat I seem to do.

Yaaaaay!!! A first for me!! I’m doing a little genealogists happy dance just because it is my blogiversary, but hey, the first one is special isn’t it?

Something of Interest: Gwennap

rootsresearcher — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 16:42:51 +0000

Today has been a gloriously sunny day, so we decided to go and do some research at Gwennap Churchyard, Cornwall and find the resting places of some of my other half Paul’s ancestors.

By the time we got there it had clouded over but it still gave a very peaceful feeling there. It’s looking pretty with all the Spring flowers dotted about but it was a much larger place than I realised it would be!!

We will have to come back another time to really search for Paul’s ancestors, but while there, and seeing how well preserved many of the tombstones are, I decided that I would add Gwennap Churchyard to my Ancestors at Rest Graveyard Rabbit blog. I am the Graveyard Rabbit on that blog for Mithian, Cornwall which is where Paul’s dear Mother and Grandparents rest (and which sadly is a closed church with goodness knows what will happen to the churchyard) and the church/churchyard at Lower Winchendon, Buckinghamshire where there are a large number of my ancestors including my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read.

Gwennap Churchyard

The flowering Cherry Blossom tree dominates the churchyard at the moment and I am very pleased we went today and saw it looking like this.

I found many of the tombstones very interesting, even though they weren’t connected to Paul’s family and there was a lot of information on some of them and they seem to have withstood all that time and weather has thrown at them!

Something of Interest: Letter from Edward Read – 1806

rootsresearcher — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:57:55 +0000

Following on from the post about my surprise present of a handheld portable scanner from my brother Alan that he gave me yesterday, I figured out how it all works this morning so wanted to get on with some scanning, just to see how it worked and if it was all ok.

This is my first scan with it:

This was a letter that was included with the Marriage Licence for John Lee who was marrying Rebecca Read. They married 23rd October 1806 at Quainton, Buckinghamshire, UK.

The letter was written by Rebecca’s father Edward Read (1747 – 1808) who is one of the sons of my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read.

This is the transcript of it. (I should really include this in the Amanuensis Monday theme, but doing it here instead as it is the first scan with my surprise new present).

“I the undersigned Edward Read of the parish of Quainton in the County of Bucks yeoman the natural and lawful Father of Rebecca Read a Minor of the age of Nineteen years and upwards and under the age of twenty one years Do hereby give my full and free consent that my said Daughter Rebecca Read may lawfully intermarry with John Lee of the said parish Quainton As Witness my hand this 10th day of October 1806/ -

Edwd. Read

Witness

John Kightley

I think it is wonderful having these added items which are included with some of the Marriage Licences I have now received copies of. In some cases they give exact ages, which is good to compare with the dates of baptisms found in the parish registers. In some cases there is other useful information, so I am going to have some fun with all this information as well as having a lot of fun with my new handheld scanner!!

Surprises: My Surprise Present!!

rootsresearcher — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:37:00 +0000

I was completely taken by surprise yesterday, because my brother Alan had bought something for me that he knew I wanted very much (and which was on my Christmas Wish List for later this year).

He is not so very into our family history, but does listen when I talk about it, although sometimes with that glazed look in his eye that non-genealogists get. So he very kindly treated me to this:

A handheld scanner!! Wow, this is such a wonderful gift for me. I can take it with me to Record Offices to scan documents and parish registers and all sorts. I can take it with me to visit my family to scan lots of old photographs and I have so very many copies of documents and Wills that need to be scanned so I am going to have a wonderful time with my new present!!

Here is a pic of me using it today, having worked out how it works!!

I scanned those Marriage Licences that came the other day with my new present today. (I also posted this photo to my Project 365 Photo Journal blog (where I am taking a photo every day for a year) at http://picsbychris.wordpress.com/) Now I am ready for anything!! Armed with my portable scanner and digital camera there will be no stopping me now!!

Something of Interest: Copies of Marriage Licences Received

rootsresearcher — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:20:46 +0000

I ordered 24 copies of the Marriage Licences of many of my ancestors from the Buckinghamshire Record Office. I wanted about 37 but only 24 of the ones I ordered have survived.

I have been waiting since February for these but because of a shortage of staff there was a backlog of about a month before my order was even going to be looked at!!

It arrived like this: (I’ve hidden my address as I did not want it to show all over the internet).

I was a little dismayed at the sight of this and know it wasn’t the fault of the Record Office. This is the result of its travel through our postal system. Had there been anything small in that package, then that would have disappeared!! It is worse than the photo shows. There are other holes at the back and it is completely battered and torn.

Here is some of what was inside:

Ooooooh, lots of lovely old documents to read and lots of notes to take!!

I included one of these Marriage Licences for the Amanuensis Monday theme this week, that of Michael Read who is one of the sons of my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read. I was so pleased to have this document as it cleared up a little niggling doubt I have had for a number of years. Michael married when he was 49 years old, so I always wondered if he just might have been married before this. His Marriage document states that he is a bachelor when he marries Martha Smith so now that niggling doubt I have had for so long has finally disappeared.

Tombstone Tuesday: Joseph Read of Lower Winchendon

rootsresearcher — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:33:27 +0000

Today’s tombstone is that of Joseph Read of Lower Winchendon. He is a grandson of my 6 x great grandfather Cozens Read.

Joseph and his wife Sarah married in 1835 at Ashendon and had five children. Sadly, after only nine years of marriage, Joseph died.

The Inscription is as follows:

Memory of

Joseph Read

who departed this life

July 3rd, 1844

aged 39 years

I left this fading world in blooming years.

And all my friends in mournful tears.

My earthly cottage moulders into dust.

Whilst my immortal soul is with the just.

Mourn not for me, prepare to die.

For you must sleep in dust as well as I.

Joseph was a farmer and I know from the Censuses that his wife Sarah continued running the farm until she died in 1884 aged about 76. So this family group lived there for about fifty years, depending on when Joseph first lived there. Just out of interest, this particular farm is now owned by the famous horse racing jockey Pat Eddery. It seems to be a thriving stud farm now.