The thrill of the chase?

A few weeks ago I treated myself to the full Ancestry subscription and have had much fun wandering digitally (i.e. with my fingers) around the world's records.

So many US databases and their census information!  Canada - I salute you for your various records.  And European stuff too.  I love that, when hunting in a Paris births index, Ancestry warned me that I'd have to search in French and that the results would also be in French!  Can't beat Ancestry for helpfulness.....

And not forgetting Australia - another country with some magnificent online records (I particularly enjoy their newspapers at http://trove.nla.gov.au/.  Their national BMD indexes are very thorough - showing parents' names at almost every opportunity.  So, in about 30 minutes, I'd extracted about 10 times as many names as I could in a similar time on UK records.

But therein lies a bit of a problem for me........ it feels a bit like shooting fish in a barrel.  That is, it's too easy, there's no real challenge in it.  Whisper it very quietly but....I was almost bored.  Perhaps next time I will have to limit myself to one small family........

Apart from that minor snag, I'm loving the freedom to follow my rellies across the Pond or around the world.  So far I've discovered only people who went of their own accord but, hey, who can tell what's going to turn up.  That's the joy of this!

More soon.

Unseen and unknown .....

Thanks to Andrew Martin's blog (http://historyrepeating.org.uk/) I remembered to go to St Ives on Monday to see the "Unseen St Ives" exhibition at the Norris Museum.  And very good it was too; I like the museum and it's always good to have a poke around but the addition of these photos made it even better.

Alas there were no Culpin relatives on show but I was entertained to read the following:

The old police station on Priory Road, c1940

Sandbags are piled up against the front of the police station during wartime.  The police station was built in 1845 and remained in use until 1973 when a new police station was built in Pig Lane.  This was felt to be an "unsuitable address" for the police station so that part of the street was renamed Broad Leas.

I'm still giggling about it.

In the meantime I am also puzzling about a branch of my Webb ancestry: their 1911 census entry indicates four children of the marriage, one alive, three having died.  So very clear.  Except that I have seven-two-five respectively.  Unfortunately there are plenty of people with the same name in that area so my chances of sorting them out online are somewhat slim - I suspect I'll need to see the  parish registers to have any chance of clearing it up!  Hey ho.....

More soon.

So this is spring......?

It's the middle of March; spring, according to the Met Office, and it's trying to snow again......ridiculous!!  So I'm staying in the warm, physically and mentally, furkling around in the Queensland BMDs online.

My maternal first cousin 4 times removed, John Eastwell, removed himself and his family to Australia in 1854.  He was born in Great Gransden, Hunts, in 1816, married Charlotte Warboys in 1839 and, with their four surviving children, they arrived in Oz on board the vessel "General Hewitt", ending up in Queensland. where they begat two further offspring.

And began a line of much begatting.......I've found thirty four grandchildren so far, from the marriages of just three of their children.  One newspaper report, from Australian Newspapers Online (http://trove.nla.gov.au/) talks about the death of one of John & Charlotte's daughters-in-law: She married Mr Joseph Eastwell, a farmer; and at the time of her death she had 11 children living, 50 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren, a total of 83 descendants. 

I've got a long list of marriages and deaths to input and I still haven't started on John & Charlotte's daughters!

More soon.

Lost and Found?

Ancestry seem to have misplaced their census references so I'll leave them alone for a few minutes to sort it out....

In the meantime, I'll tell you about two emails I received recently which have caused me to rethink some of my data.  Sylvia asked about James Blaydon, b 1827, and she suggested an alternative husband for him.  I disagree but I can see the potential problem: there were two James Blaydons born in that part of Suffolk within a couple of years of each other.  The younger, I think, married Hannah and "mine" married Anna Maria.  I can see, though, that I've mixed them up myself so, if you are currently looking at Blaydons on my website, please double-check.

And then there was Lynn who also threw a spanner in the works.  Another James, this time Mr Ongley, who may have been mixed up; it's a question of who was born in Reigate and who was born in Horley.  And if "my" James didn't marry Sarah, but rather hitched up with Mildred, then I've got the whole family wrong.  Plus, just to add to the confusion, he appears to be married to Amelia in the census; I'm thinking that this could be explained by abbreviating Mildred to Millie and then taking a leap to the census enumerator either mis-hearing or assuming that Amelia is the full-form of Millie.

Whatever the solutions, I love it when people take the trouble to email.  I'm by no means certain that I'm right all the time so I'm pleased to be pointed at corrections in this way!

More soon.

Multi.....

So here I am, multi-tasking again.  Andy Murray playing in the Australian Open final on the TV and I'm researching something for today's blog entry.  Ordinarily I don't use a death date as a prompt but I see I have today.....

Percy Charles Walter Ongley, who died today in 1942, was my third cousin twice removed.  The son of Thomas & Laura Louisa (nee Bateman), he was born in Camberwell in 1879 and, in 1910, married his cousin Alice Maude Martin.  She was the daughter of Alice Caroline Ongley, Percy's aunt.  They had one child, Philip, and died in 1942 and 1956 respectively.

So far, so very ordinary.  And then I looked at young Philip.  His full moniker was Philip Percy Henry and he was born in West Ham in 1911.  In 1932 he married Hilda Hayter; in 1941 he married Ottilie Javurkova and in 1949 he married Margeritha Hauke.

Then, in 1949, he & Grete sailed on the "Stratheden" from London to Sydney, to live permanently in Australia.  And, just to complete the set, he married again in 1960.

Making it even more fascinating is the entry I've just found on an auction catalogue archive from 2011:  The Lot  includes medals, photograph & certificates; and the following narrative:

Philip Percy Henry Ongley was born in London on 24 November 1011.  Ongley enlisted into the Corps of Military Police (TA) on 16 May 1940 but was transferred to the Intelligence Corps in July 1940 and then to the Royal Army Service Corps in October 1940.  On 26 November 1942 he was posted to the Psychological Warfare Branch, being appointed a Local Staff Sergeant in August 1943, On 15 September 1944 he was discharged to a commission, being appointed to an Emergency Commission into the General List as 2nd Lieutenant permanently attached to the Psychological Warfare Branch.  Promoted to War Substantive Lieutenant in March 1945, Acting Captain in June 1945 and Temporary Captain in September 1945.  On 17 June 1946 he relinquished his commission being granted the honorary rank of Captain.  Ongley served in North Africa, 26 November 1942-15 September 1944 and with the Central Mediterranean Force, 16 November 1944-12 March 1946.  Ongley later settled in Australia, employed as a Company Director and married in Elizabeth Bay, NSW.  Latterly living at 14 Cliff Street, Watson's Bay, NSW, he died on 30 September 1973.

Philip was awarded the 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 1st Army; Ital Star; Defence & War Medals; and was Mentioned in Despatches: "..... in recognition of gallant & distinguished services in the Mediterranean Theatre."

More soon.

This'n'that....

Well, here we are in next year and, so far, it's looking ok; it's even stopped raining today!  I'd like to pretend to be a real historian and to summarise 2012 from my viewpoint......but I can barely remember what happened this morning so no hope at all for an entire year!

I do recall that I've had a number of people see my website and contact me - one or two to correct, the others simply to say hello.  One kind soul contacted me via ancestry the other day to tell me that they'd found a couple of Bullards in the USA; this person has no link with the Bullards, or me, but just went out of their way to forward the info to me - how kind is that!

My own research is currently focused on my Staden line, going right back to James Ongley, my gt-gt-gt-gt-grandfather, and much fun am I having.  Some great names & mostly based in the Surrey area so far.

The other focus at the moment is my new obsession with CSI; my current favourite being CSI: New York.  I must, however, discontinue my habit of sitting down to watch, with supper on a tray.......it's not really the sort of programme to watch while you're eating!

Hope 2013 is good for you.

More soon.

Voices from the past.....

Earlier this evening I saw a report on the news: the Museum of London (http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/) has played some recordings of a family (whose name escapes me) at Christmas in the early 20th century.

Fascinating and, oddly enough, the father of the family sounded ......well, like anybody one would hear today, with only the quality of the recording giving any clue to the time.  But I couldn't understand why it was attracting so much media interest.

And then I realised: my maternal grandmother, and her brother, both of whom I remember clearly, were born in the 19th century - like the people on the recording - and it didn't occur to me to think that it was unusual to hear people who were born so long ago.

But maybe it is unusual for someone my age to have grandparents (and all their siblings) born before the turn of the 19th/20th century....... 

.....or maybe I was just feeling grumpy and hungry.  Who can tell?

More soon.