Gran’s Graveside Visit – A Life-long Ambition Fulfilled

Posted on 6 January 2011 by

It was a bright October day in 1999 when I travelled to France, with 5 family members, including my late gran who was 83 at the time. The journey was special because we were visiting my great-grandfather’s grave where he’d been buried in 1916.

Accidentally killed during WWI, more than eighty years had passed before Henry James Weaver (1882-1916) finally had a relative visit his graveside. It had been my gran’s life-long ambition to see where her father was buried, a father she’d never known and who had died 10 days before she was born.

Henry is buried in grave I.A.10. at Merville Communal Cemetery Extension and pictures from the visit can be seen in my website gallery.

The note attached to the poppy wreath which my gran laid at the graveside

The note attached to the poppy wreath which my gran laid at her father’s graveside

Posted in Making Memories | Tagged |

Henry Ridley From Birmingham. How Do I Tell I Have The Correct Man?

Posted on 29 December 2010 by

Investigating my Ridley family history.

My great-grandmother, Alice Ridley’s, birth certificate states that her father was Henry Ridley, a blacksmith, and her mother, Ann Ridley formerly Cotterill. Henry was ‘Harry’ on Alice’s marriage certificate.

I see her family in Birmingham on the 1871 census before Alice was born. Living there are Alice’s three elder siblings…

  • Henry’s age is difficult to read but it looks like 30 (b. abt 1841), born in Birmingham, Warwickshire. He is a blacksmith on the census too.
  • Ann (actually Hannah Maria Cotterill) was born in Dudley Worcestershire in abt 1842.
  • Joseph (who is Joseph Henry), b. abt 1864 in Wednesbury, Staffs.
  • Mary A, b. abt 1868 in Moxley, Staffs
  • Alfred, b. abt 1870 in Derby, Staffs

I’ve traced Alice’s mother in later censuses and she was no longer with Henry. She married a George Oakes in 1874 as Cotterill, her maiden name. As I hadn’t been able to find a marriage between Alice’s parents, this fits.

My problem is all I have for Henry Ridley is one definite census where his age is uncertain. I believe he might be the same Henry that I see in later censuses living with ‘Elizabeth’ in various parts of Lancashire.

Firstly, how might I gather further evidence to support the supposition that my Henry is definitely the one with Elizabeth – there’s no marriage again as far as I can see?

Secondly, and even more pertinent is how can I find out who Henry’s parents were? FreeBMD doesn’t offer any clues as to his birth. The censuses show a possible family where the father is William and the mother is Lydia. FamilySearch reveals the same family with a baptism in 1839 in St Thomas, Birmingham. However, there may be other possibilities and I don’t feel there’s enough to go on so far to be certain that I’m tracing the correct ancestry. Even if I do manage to find a birth certificate for Henry, what information might it reveal to help me ascertain that he’s definitely mine?

[Update: since I first posted, the mystery has been solved with the help of DNA.]

Posted in Brick Walls | Tagged , , |

Florence Smale’s Antique Tea Set

Posted on 23 December 2010 by

One of my most treasured possessions is the antique tea set given to me by my grandmother, Phyllis Grace Geake (nee Weaver). It had belonged to her mother, Florence Smale, and it is thought to have been a wedding present when she married Henry Weaver. Thus this lovely Crown Staffordshire 12 place china set probably dates before 1915.

Florence Smale's Antique Tea Set

Florence Smale’s Antique Tea Set

The set comprises 12 cups and saucers, 12 tea plates, 2 large cake plates, a sugar bowl, milk jug, tea pot and hot water jug with metal lid (my favourite item).

The base of one of the Crown Staffordshire cups

The base of one of the Crown Staffordshire cups

White with delicate yellow flowers mixed with gold patterns mounted on pink with a green border and gold edging, there is a single hairline crack in one of the cups, otherwise the set is perfect.

Detailing on one of the Plates

Detailing on one of the Plates

Hot Water Jug

Hot Water Jug

When I was growing up, my gran used to have the tea set on display in a glass cabinet. I know it meant a lot to her as she was orphaned before the age of 5 and so to have something of her mother’s must have been of special significance.

Crown Staffordshire Antique Tea Set

Crown Staffordshire Antique Tea Set

I sometimes wonder how often Florence used the set and I presume it came out on special occasions only, although this presumption could be wrong. It’s wonderful to have in one’s possession something tangible, an item linking to a generation of yesteryear.

Crown Staffordshire Teapot

Crown Staffordshire Teapot

Posted in Ancestors Corner | Tagged , |

PCC And Other Wills At TheGenealogist.co.uk

Posted on 9 December 2010 by

Did you know TheGenealogist.co.uk include several databases of old wills in their subscriptions? These are partial indexes offering online access to images of the original pages. Old wills can be very useful for discovering more about your ancestors, who they were related to and how they lived their lives. Included are…

  • Bristol Wills Index 1572 – 1792.
  • Edinburgh Wills Index 1601 – 1700.
  • Irish Wills Index 1536 – 1810.
  • Leicestershire Wills Index 1495 – 1750.
  • Northampton Wills Index 1510 – 1652.
  • Yorkshire Wills Index 1389 – 1652.
  • Prerogative Court of Canterbury and related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers Covering dates 1384-1858. Contains over 776,000 records.

When I contacted TheGenealogist.co.uk about 4 months ago they advised me that their main coverage for the PCC wills so far was 1616, 1647-1650 and 1706-1857.

Posted in Family History Links |

Devon Ancestors? Search The Tithe Apportionments Database

Posted on 7 December 2010 by

In 1998, the Friends of Devon’s Archives undertook a project to make the information from the county’s tithe apportionments more accessible. Most date from the 1840’s, and they cover 97.4% of the total area of the county. However, coverage does not exist for the urban parishes of Exeter, nor for Kingsbridge, Dartmouth St Saviours, East Stonehouse in Plymouth, the town of Tiverton, etc. – therefore, many highly-populated areas are not included.

The names of owners, lessees and occupiers, together with the names of the holdings and their acreages, have been extracted and a database of this information has been created. Several border parishes in Cornwall and Dorset have also been included.

This database is available to search for free on the Friends of Devon’s Archives website.

The data can be accessed in two different ways, – by searching on a parish to obtain a complete listing of the parish, or searching on a name to obtain all occurrences of that name.

The main limitation with the database is that it does not contain field names or numbers and, except for named holdings whose location is known, the searcher will have to resort to the original Tithe Apportionment and map to obtain a geographical location of property.

I put in the surname, Horn, to try and find my 5 x great-grandfather, William Horn of Black Torrington, and the database rendered the following results:

Parish, Owner, Occupier, Holding, Acreage,
Black Torrington, Burden, John, Horn, William, Hole, 92.0.30
Black Torrington, Burden, John, Horn, William, Uptcott, 34.3.06
Black Torrington, Horn, William, Collacott, William, unnamed cottage etc, 0.0.03
Black Torrington, Horn, William, Dart, John, unnamed cottage etc, 0.0.04
Black Torrington, Horn, William, Horn, William, unnamed cottage etc, 0.0.20
Black Torrington, Horn, William, Horn, William, unnamed land, 1.3.34
Black Torrington, Paige, George, Horn, William, unnamed land, 1.0.00
Bradworthy, Oke, Hugh, Horn, William, unnamed house etc, 0.0.19
Holsworthy, Stanhope, Earl, Horn, William, unnamed house etc, 0.2.16

Area given in acres, rods (or roods), and perches (40 perches = 1 rod, 4 rods = 1 acre).

Devon Tithe Apprtionments

Devon Tithe Apprtionments

Devon Tithe Apprtionments Results for Horn

Devon Tithe Apprtionments Results for Horn

Used in conjunction with the 1841 census, I found the Tithe Apportionments database to be a useful tool. For instance, the census showed George Paige, the owner of an acre of unnamed land occupied by William Horn, lived at Bridge, Black Torrington. Using the Ordnance Survey maps at Bing, I discovered Hole Farm, Upcott Farm and Bridge Farm are all still in existence today.

Posted in Family History Links | Tagged |