15 May 2011

Chameleons and Corrections

Today, having come down to earth after the joy of Manchester City winning the FA Cup yesterday, I'd like to introduce you to George Westley Langford, my first cousin three times removed and a bit of a chameleon.  Born just one month before they married, his parents were Benjamin Langford & Charlotte Westley, and young George was christened in St James' Church, Stretham, on 3rd January 1847.  

141 years ago today, as George Wesley, he married Jane Rowell in the village and they went on to produce eleven children, all of whom were registered with the surname of Wesley.

I found a lot of this info ages ago and, having plucked out George & Jane's wedding as an anniversary to comment on, thought I'd better revisit them to see what else happened to them.  And quite intriguing it is too!

George started out as an ag lab in Stretham and then became a railway platelayer, remaining in Stretham until at least 1901.  I suspect I failed to find him again because, shock horror, he left the county! Mind you, he didn't go far  ...... in 1911 he & Jane, together with daughter Rose & grandson Cyril, are ensconced in the Gate House at Needingworth, near St Ives (Hunts, not Cornwall), where George is the Gate Keeper on the GER line.  And not for long, either, as he has returned to the county, if not necessarily Stretham, by the time of his death in 1923.

Now for the corrections ..... memo to self "Do Not Assume".  I really only looked more closely at them because, in the 1911 census, George & Jane are listed as having had 12 children, with 8 still living.  You can look back at my opening sentence and see that I still haven't found the twelfth, although I assume said child is the fourth death.  Mind you, I have also discovered that there were two Emily Wesley's born in 1881 in Stretham - and I chose the wrong one to follow!!

On the positive side, G&J's daughter Edith married William Parker, Rose married William Asplin and Sarah married Robert Nightingale; son Albert married Annie Chapman. Horace, alas, gets a mention on my website in the Great War deaths page.

Amusing note to end on: Sarah & Robert Nightingale named their daughter ...... yep, you've guessed it ... Florence.  Poor child!

More soon.

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