Name of the week

So there I was, just searching around for some distant Culpins and I found a lady with the rather stunning name of Emmeline Euphrosyne.  Apparently she, Euphrosyne, was the Greek goddess of good cheer, mirth and merriment so .... not much for the lady to live up to!!  I'm quite impressed with the name and I went to school with a Tryphena.

The other impressive find of the week was again on the distant Culpin side and involved a couple called Wallace and Mary Thoday.  They married in 1909 and had a small child by the time of the 1911 census, when they were living in Cambridge.  

Wallace is listed as a Demonstrator in Botany, Cambridge University and his wife as Fellow & Lecturer in Botany, Newnham College.  Newnham, by the way, is one of the few remaining women's colleges.  I wasn't sure whether the Fellow etc bit referred to husband or wife; I consulted one of my friends who suggested it might have been possible for Mary to be the Fellow so, point taken on board, I then went to the Newnham website.  And there I noted the email address of the college archvist.

On the basis of "if you don't ask ......", I sent her an email asking the obvious question and, within two hours, got a superb response telling me that Mary had been a student at Girton college (at the time, also a women's college) and that she became a Research Fellow at Newnham in 1909.

So, a "big up" (as the kids say) to the Newnham College Archivist for her kindness and her rapid response.  And let's hear it for Mary Thoday, nee Sykes, my first female Fellow!

More soon.

EUREKA!!

What a cracking time I'm having, in a genealogical sense!  More people reading this blog and taking the trouble to email me .... most chuffed with that.

And, best of all, I've just found my great-great-great-great (that's four greats) grandmother!!!!  To be fair, I've known for a while that her name was Bridget and that she was born in Leith (according to the census and they're never wrong, are they??).  But, as I've probably said, the chances of my finding her without a surname were somewhere between "slim" and "fat".

Until today that is.  

I have been searching on the Family Search beta site (see https://beta.familysearch.org/) and there she was ..... Bridget Turnbull, wife of Thomas Brown and mother of Walter Brown, Thomas Turnbull Brown et al.  Bless them for giving Thomas, their eldest (and new to me) his mother's maiden name as a middle name - it's something I would always encourage as it makes it sooooo much easier to link children to the right family that way!!

One of my faithful followers will shortly read this and smile (I hope) in recognition of a conversation we had over lunch this very day on just this subject.

Right, I'm still bouncing with joy and I'm going off to do some more searching while my luck is in.

More soon.

Where are they hiding?

Firstly, a belated happy birthday to Rambling Genes. Yep, my little blog passed the two-year mark earlier in the week .....and they said it would never last!

So, to mark this momentous occasion ...... I'm going to complain. About the 1911 census. Or, rather, my complete inability to find a particular family therein.

All I really want to do is find the Williams family, comprising John Charles (Jack), his wife Elizabeth (Lilly) and their children John & Violet. Mother and children born in Hampshire, father in Brixton. Violet Lily Pinckney Williams, to give her full name, was born in Southampton in 1910.

I have enough info on them to find them ..... But they resolutely hide from me. I shall spend the next few days searching for every known variation of their surname!

More soon.

New people

Well, I'll be ...... what an interesting couple of days I've had.  A couple of new contacts bringing forth masses of information to be sucked into the database.  Much fun!

Firstly I was contacted, through this very blog, by Val from Australia, who turns out to be related via the Debneys who emigrated in the 1850s.  Val has a very comprehensive tree which she has made available to me so I can gradually introduce you to some genuine Australians ...... stay tuned!

And another new contact who, like me, is a great-great-grand-daughter of Millice Campbell Culpin.  This contact, who shall remain anonymous, also brings info to the party.  Excellent stuff.

Welcome to both of you and thank you for reading the waffle I put out!!

Today, in the course of looking for something else, I have discovered two more files about the Culpins.  Again, I had filed them "somewhere safe" ..... you'd think I would have learned by now!

So, I'm going to read them now and see what I've been missing.

More soon.

Most appopriate ...

Just meandering through the London Banns & Marriages Index on ancestry and I noticed:

Frederick Purle, of full age, bac, bowyer, of 4 Fletcher's Row ...... you couldn't make it up!

Well, it made me smile ....

More soon.

So far, so good

So it's 10:10:10 .... and no computer virus has hit us (that I know of).  And I had to search for hours to find any sort of anniversary in my files involving 10th October.  

The results included my first cousin 3 times removed, Ann Murfitt, who was christened today in 1841 and then disappears after 1851.  To be fair, I suspect that I found a choice of Ann Murfitts and gave up.  First one for the "To Do" list.

Then I found Susanna Garka, third cousin 3 times removed, who was also christened today, but nine years later than Ann; she went on to marry Robert Bullard in Godmanchester and have three children.  Her trail runs down in 1891, so plainly I found her a bit easier to track!

Add to the "Christened today" list Emma & Alice Lowton, sisters, who were born in Landbeach, daughters of John & Elizabeth (nee Wayman).  You will unsurprised when I tell you that they are related to me twice - first cousins 4 times removed and second cousins 3 times removed.  And they were removed to the southern hemisphere, arriving in Melbourne in 1853.  When I say "were removed" I don't mean to imply a lack of choice on the part of their parents . . . . there is no suggestion that their emigration was anything other than voluntary!

And finally, as Cyril Fletcher used to say on That's Life, let me introduce Hannah Sparkes, my fourth cousin 3 times removed.  Born today to Edgar & Jane (nee Webb) in 1882 in Herringswell (Suffolk), she went on to marry John James Lloyd in 1905.  I need now to find the couple in the 1911 census ....!

So, not a bad turnout after all.

More soon.

Gotta love them ....

So, here we are; it's definitely autumn - I have conkers in my pocket to prove it.  In the pocket of my waterproof, that is.  And the sun is shining, to give us an idea of what we're going to be missing for the next few days, I think!

This morning I was living up to the title of this blog and "rambling" around the internet with a cup of tea beside me, when I came upon the familysearch beta site.  If you have a look here ..... https://beta.familysearch.org/ then you may well be lucky, like me, and find something new.

I have to admit that searching for the name Millice Culpin makes things easier as, let's face it, it's not the most common name (either of them, let alone together) in the world.  And what did I find, I hear you ask ....

New Zealand Immigration Passenger Lists 1871-1915, Wellington (inwards) 1891 (Jan-Jun): Culpin, Millice, surgeon, adult, bound for Brisbane.  Complete with: Culpin, Mrs and six offspring: Florence, 19; Millais, 17; Rose, 13; Clarence, 11; Ernest, 9 and Rose, 7.

Just as I was mentally grumbling about the lack of ship's name I remembered that I *know* the ship's name.  Dredged up from the depths of memory is "New Zealand vessel Ruapehu".  Result!

I must acknowledge that I had no idea the Mormons (for 'tis they) had all this information - but I'm pleased to find it.  I shall search again later.

Onwards - alas, the washing won't do itself.

More soon.