Where there's a Will

Those of us with a subscription to Ancestry (other websites are available) will doubtless have discovered the recent addition of the "England & Wales National Probate Calendar, Index of Wills & Administrations, 1861-194" . . . . to give it the full title.  And much fun it is too!

I've got one in front of me now for a chap who worked as a plumber & grocer in what is now Greater London, between 1871 and 1929.  Somehow he managed to leave effects to the value of £4310.  Now that's not bad.  I'm guessing, though, that it's before tax . . . ?

I do have a few in the family who left effects worth wondering about but mostly I come from a long line of ag labs so I'm not holding my breath!  I've joked before about following a silver teapot through one branch because it must have been worth a bob or two - why else would it be mentioned on its own?  

The most remarkable thing, though, about this Index is the language.  I've seen any number of individual Wills before where there is a serious lack of punctuation.  Well, these entries are the same.  Nary a comma or full stop to be seen.  Quite a challenge to read if, like me, you're daft enough to obey the rules and not breathe until the end of a sentence!

Still, don't suppose that'll stop me looking at it again - for the more unusual names, you understand; I'm not sure I'm up to looking for the more . . . . shall we say, prevalent surnames!

Back to sorting out a corrupted file.

More soon.

Learn from me . . .

So here I am, trying to work out why my laptop is playing games with me, and I start looking through the files that are shared with the desktop.  Well, it passes the time while I think of what to do next . . . .

And there's one I should have looked at a long time ago.  Plainly I thought I was being clever when I transcribed a number of entries from the IGI and then put them "somewhere safe".  It was simply a list of christenings and one marriage but it has taken me about 30 minutes to work out who links to whom.

I can now report that Mary Sandby, my great-great-great (pauses to check) grandmother was the daughter of Richard & Mary (nee Thompson), and she had two sisters.  She married John Quince in 1808 in Doddington, Cambs, and they begat seven children in the nearby village of Benwick.  John died in 1827.  And that's all I know about her.

But I can go back even further, thanks to my newly-discovered habit of filing things away without remembering: Mary's mother Mary was the daughter of Isaac & Anne (nee Nicholls), born in Farcet in Huntingdonshire, along with five sisters and three brothers.

And now I *must* go back to contemplating this wilful computer.

More soon.

Not Forgotten

Hello dear reader. Please don't think I've forgotten about you - it's just that I've been having problems with the computer & it's lucky not to have been thrown through the window! It's this interweb-thingy causing the grief, but I shall give it all a serious talking-to.

More soon.