Harriet alert!

With all due respect, there isn't much happening in my family file today so I thought I'd ramble about my recent researchings, brought about by looking for something to ramble about!

So, let me introduce you to Harriet Furniss, the wife of Harold James Culpin who was my 1st cousin twice or three times removed. That's not me being vague, he really was related to me twice - because both of his parents were related to me before they married; for those of you who weren't taking notes, his mother was Lydia Freeman (my gt-gt-grandfather's sister) and his father was James Culpin (my gt-grandmother's brother).

Anyway, back to Harriet. I got mightily confused about this lady because she was also Harriet Braybrook. I know now that she was born Furniss, in Bourn, and married Frederick Braybrook in 1910. He & Harriett had three sons and a daughter before he died in 1916 (during, but not of, the Great War). I believe that F&H's daughter died as an infant, but at least two of the sons grew to old age.

Harriet Braybrook, as she was, married Harold Culpin in 1921 in the St Neots area. Two daughters were begat of this marriage before Harriet died, in the village of Therfield, in 1949. She was buried in Fen Drayton and the report in the Cambridge Independent Press caused me to do a lot more searching.

These subsequent discoveries included the info that Haz and Haz's elder daughter Betty (1921-2002) married Thomas Hays; their younger daughter Marjorie (1924-2004) married Kenneth Hadden. But these marriages paled into insignificance (no offence intended, ladies) when I finally found the Hannah family who were named in Harriet's funeral report. The "children" are still living so I shall give no more details, but I was mighty pleased to lay that conundrum to rest . . . er, so to speak!

But, a few more of that line of the dynasty to find so you'll have to excuse me while I go back into search mode.

More soon.

A man of Kent

A trawl through the database brought forward a few anniversaries on 4th April but the one that caught my eye was a newspaper report from the Oxford Journal (I think, it came via someone else and I may not have transcribed that bit perfectly). Before I launch into it, let me introduce you to one of those mentioned:

My g-g-g-uncle William Staden was born in Sundridge, in Kent, in 1813, the eighth of nine children of Thomas & Sarah (nee Dodd) and joined the army as a young man. But not for long . . . . thanks to the Manchester & Lancs FHS, I was able to find that his name came up in the Army Deserters (1828-1840) database.

It appears that he was in the 11th Light Dragoons and, presumably, decided he didn't like it. His trade is listed as "Coachman" so I presume that was his civvie job (altho', as ever, I'm open to opinions).

Then William disappears for a few years - although I might have found in 1841 but I have no point of reference and the info is not enough to claim him - and reappears at the Cavalry Barracks, in Norwich, in the 1851 census. Back in the Army?? I suppose it's regular work. In 1864 he married Eliza Searle in Windlesham, Surrey, and together they bring up Eliza's daughter Clara. A farm labourer in Lewisham in 1871, he's moved . . . er . . . up in the world by 1881 when he's become the valet to Colonel Peel, an army pensioner.

But then, we come to that 4th April anniversary and the newspaper: under the heading "Suicide of Colonel Peel", it transpires that the said Colonel, formerly of the 11th Hussars, shot himself whilst severely depressed. William, his valet and servant, had the misfortune to be the one to find him. If you're eating, I'd look away now . . .

"Wm Staden, servant and valet to the deceased, stated that Colonel Peel seemed nervous and spoke but little on Wednesday morning. He rose shortly after eleven o'clock, and did not go out for a walk at one o'clock as was his usual custom. Just before four o'clock in the afternoon witness entered his room and found him dead, with a pistol-wound in his forehead. He was reclining against a chair, and near his body was en open despatch-box containing his will and other papers. The box was bespattered with blood. His right hand grasped a double-barrelled pistol, and his finger was on the trigger. One chamber of the weapon had been discharged and the other was still loaded."

Don't you just love "bespattered" - they didn't mince their words, did they!

Anyway, after that bit of excitement, William and his wife Eliza removed themselves away from the posh bits of London (Westminster) back to West Ham/Poplar and remained there until William's death in 1894. Eliza, together with granddaughter Minnie, moved even further out of London, back to her old stomping ground of Frimley, in Surrey, and she died in the Farnham area in 1925. I've just discovered that Minnie married Samuel Abbott, a fireman, in 1902 and was living in Shepherd's Bush in 1911.

Minnie is, of course, no relation to me whatsoever, being William's wife's granddaughter, but I still like to know what happened to her.

More soon.

Is this a spanner I see before me?

Good morning! Before I launch into Hot Cross Buns and chocolate, I thought I'd share an intriguingly well-placed spanner thrown into the Culpin-works by a new correspondent.

The lady in question discovered the grave of Mary Culpin in West Deeping in South Lincs and rightly questioned the info she found on my website. After a bit of corroboration (long word for this time of the morning), I agreed and will shortly publish the corrected version, with one Mary, now re-allocated to a different set of parents, marrying *Robert* Mears (not Thomas); and, incidentally, this suggested that the Elizabeth who married Mr Mears' witness Robert Webb was probably Mary's sister . . . so I swapped her over too. Hope you're paying attention, I shall be asking questions later.

All this happened in the Huntingdonshire village of Elton (the marriages, I mean, I didn't nip off there to do the changing around) and Maggie (my new correspondent) noticed not only the early death of a Mary who I had getting married, but also the helpful hint that next door (in the graveyard) was someone named Boyall. This pointed to the correct Mary as her both her sister and brother married Boyalls. The clues are all there, if only we link them together!

So, many thanks to Maggie, not only for her clues and info, but also for taking the trouble to find me and pass on the info. It's very exciting that she found my website - a bit of a thrill that I've made it onto Mr Google's radar!!

Guess you know what I shall be looking into this weekend . . . . well, the forecast is for rain!

More soon.

Archie in the sky

A random entry for today, brought on by research following yesterday's rambling about the Watts family.

I mentioned that Louisa Watts married William Day and they had four children; I followed this family a bit further this afternoon (so to speak, I wasn't out stalking them) and found them in Perowne Street, Cambridge in 1901 and then, in 1911, just up the road in Emery Street. If my memory is correct, this particular street backs on to the Mill Road Cemetery so I guess they probably weren't troubled by noisy neighbours!

Moving on from that old joke . . . . . William Seymour Day, to give him his full name, was a printing machine manager in 1911, working for the Cambridge University Press; Sidney & Leonard, aged 24 & 20 respectively, worked for a Corn Merchant/Miller (of which more later) and third son Archibald (of the title) produced a first for my family file:

He too worked for the University - as an Observatory Assistant. Now this may not catch your eye as much as it did mine but I like the idea of him working in the Observatory. Not sure why, but it just struck me as unusual.

Going back to his older brothers; living off Mill Road as they did, it is entirely possible that they worked at Spiller's Mill near the Cambridge railway station. Particularly relevant today as the now-empty Spiller's buildings went up in flames early this morning. So hot was the blaze that it looks as though at least one of the two buildings will need to be demolished.

Guess that will pave the way for even more house building . . . .

More soon.

Watts in a name

Today's anniversary is from 1861. That's the year of a census, taken on 7th April; the American Civil War started and Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President; Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Prince Albert (he of Queen Victoria fame) both died.

From a slightly more personal perspective, this day saw the wedding, in Landbeach, of my first cousin four times removed. Ann Webb, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (nee Wayman) was born in the village in 1831 and she married wheelwright James Watts of Lode. Ten days later, when the census was taken, the couple were in Bottisham where their oldest daughter Alice was born . . . . . quite possible only a few days later!

The family's next appearance is in Stow-cum-Quy for the birth of their second child Anne - in November the same year. I'll pause for a second so everyone can count on their fingers . . . . I can only assume that there may have been some smoke & mirrors involved in the registration of Anne's older sister! For my own peace of mind, I will check again.

Moving on, Ann & James went on to have ten children in all, the majority of whom were also born in Stow-cum-Quy and, actually, seemed to stay in the village. By 1901, the family seems to have been involved in the running of the Post Office, with James as the Postmaster in 1911 after the death of his wife in 1907.

They were quite a prolific family, in terms of offspring. Alice married Albert Abraham, moved to Landbeach and produced ten children; Louisa married William Day and they had four children; James & Laura Richardson produced two daughters and a son; Ann & Jonathan Golding added another three; Tom married Eliza Wright - they rather lowered the average by simply begating one child; and Arthur married Holland Preston, producing the final four .

So, that's a total of 25 grandchildren for Ann and James, which is no mean haul, considering that I have lost track of one of their children and the youngest three - Minnie, Mack and Emily - weren't married by 1911.

I've just proved to myself (again) how useful doing this 'ere blog actually is; I hadn't seen the significance of the fact that Ann and James appear to have had two daughters named Ann (give or take an "e"). In my humble experience, it is unusual for parents to give two of their children the same name . . . . unless one of them (the older, I've noticed) has already died. Better check this one out then.

More soon.

What's in a name . . ?

I'm back . . . .

On this glorious morning in deepest Cambridgeshire I thought I'd introduce you to my third cousin three times removed William Garka. That's Garka, not Gorka, Gorba or Garha. And that's just the mis-spellings I've found today.

Anyway, William was born in 1848, son of William and Ann (nee Bullard) in the next door county of Huntingdonshire; in fact, in the county town itself. My info, before this morning, suggested that he married Martha Todd in 1871, but had managed to produce a daughter in 1870.

Before you all gasp in horror (as if, eh?), I was mildly puzzled as to how the supposedly born out of wedlock daughter was named Garka but plainly I didn't give it a great deal of thought. And then, whilst preparing for this entry, I did a bit of investigating. First of all I found the daughter (Rose) in the 1871 census in Great Staughton, listed as granddaughter, with a family named Burgess - more mild puzzlement.

And, of course, he'd been married before. Well, obviously. Children out of wedlock? Perish the thought.

So, step forward first wife Amelia . . . . Burgess. That explains the grandparents and, of course, the daughter named Garka born before he married in December 1871. And, strangely enough, Amelia was born in Great Staughton. Ever had one of those moments when everything started to click into place? This morning was such a time!

As you have probably guessed, Amelia died. In the June quarter of 1871. So, with a baby to care for, William did the only sensible thing - he married again. Quickly (in fact, probably the quickest I've known). At least he didn't follow the example of a few in the file and marry his late wife's sister!

I found William & Martha, with the aforementioned Rose (I did mention her, didn't I?) and two more children (William and Mabel) in 1881 and then I couldn't find them again. You'd think that with such an unusual name they'd be easy to find but, oh no . . . . see the possible variations of their surname above. So I went forward to 1911 and found them, still in Godmanchester but presenting me with another puzzle: the new census requirement to list the number of children of the marriage shows 5:3:2; i.e. 5 children born, 3 still alive and 2 died.

So, you'd think that I would have sighed at this point but no - more children to search for? Excellent. That's the thing about this hobby (did I say hobby? I probably meant "mild obsession") is the thrill of the chase. And then, once you've found them, the next bit is to turn them into real people, not just names on the page.

So, if you'll excuse me, I shall go off and do just that.

More soon.

Above the parapet

Hello . . . . just wanted to say that I'm still here but I've been a bit busy.

More soon!