Names in a newspaper......

I *should* be editing a book about the boys of the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys who died in the two world wars but I found this note, made a couple of years ago, and felt it was time to publish the names here.

It's extracted from an article in the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal of 4th June 1859, and I've listed the Ely names.....

THE CHORAL FESTIVAL AT ELY

In our last number we stated that we should probably punish the names of those members of the various choirs of the diocese who took part in the musical services at the Choral Festival at Ely last week.  We now redeem our conditional promise by printing the following list:-

ELY CATHEDRAL

Treble: Henry Macrow, Francis Woods, Charles Ling, Thomas Wilson, George Great, Thomas Kempton, Henry Bowles, Charles Levett, Arthur Jackman, William Macrow, William Barnard, Charles Cropley, William Goldsworthy, John Raby, Richard Chappell, James Goodbody, William Henry Hope, George Morgan, Joseph Ling, Charles King, William Levitt.

Alto: Messrs Charles Ling, Jesse Skelding, George Bickley, Albert Markwell.

Tenor: Messrs John Meacham, Richard Cross, G F Jackman, Benjamin Powell, Henry Hazell.

Bass: Messrs Thomas Kempton Snr, Jabez Jackman, Frederick Helmore (master of the choristers), Thomas Kempton Jnr, Owen Yarrow, Lister Jackman.

ELY TRINITY PARISH

Treble: T Atkin, R Atkin, J Bull, F Bull, R Chapman, E Cross, T Fenn, W Layton, T Negus, x Gotobed, x Jervis, R Bonnett, E Cuttriss, H Toombs, x Cooper, x Woodroffe, Emma Askew, Betsy Fisher, Mary Ann Cuttriss, Harriet March, Sarah Ann Dalliday, Mary Cooper, Mary Ann Murray.

Alto: George Legge, Luke Cornwell, Robert Macrow, x Barber.

Tenor: Messrs Richard Toombs, William Toombs, Fyson Toombs, George Porteous, Charles Barratt, Thomas Cropley, Charles Morgan, Albert Lion, John Bull, James Greaves.

Bass: Messrs John Kempton, F Kempton, W Wilkinson, George Houghton, Albert Jackman, John Marsh, John Moore, John Toombs.

Hope it helps someone somewhere.....

More soon. 

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.