Sidetracked again ....

Wondering what or who to write about yesterday, I thought I'd use the new Calendar page on my website.  A choice of William Wade, George Debney and George Blaydon; I discarded the two Georges and went for Mr Wade.

He belongs to the "Langford" side of my ancestry, being the son of Edward Wade & Phebe Bigley, born in Chatteris.  And I didn't have much about him.  So I set to, websites on every tab, and discovered him marrying (Mary Hurry), having children (11:7:4, according to the 1911 census) and ultimately dying in Peterborough in 1925.

However, as often happens, I didn't stop to actually tell you all about him.  Having discovered seven children (remember: 11 born of the marriage, 7 still alive, 4 died), I wanted to find out who the "still alive" ones were.  So far, I have proved that Harriet (born 1878 in Warboys, married Charles Baxter) was in Goodyer's Yard, Peterborough, in 1911 with husband and five children; Minnie (born 1883 in Peterborough, married George Ashpool) was in North Street, Stanground; and Hannah (born 1887 in Peterborough, married Charles Carley) was in Henson Street, Peterborough.

Add to those three, their sister Ethel (born 1892 in Peterborough) who was "assisting mother" at home in 1911.  So we're up to four.  But, if Ethel was born in 1892, where was she in the 1901 census?  

And what happened to Caroline (born 1894 in Peterborough)? Seven years old in 1901, she would be old enough to be out as a "GSD" (general servant domestic) by 1911 ..... can I find her?  How many different ways are there to spell "Wade"?  Or Caroline?  Doubtless, I'll have a better idea later today!

And did William, the only brother, marry Louie Apthorpe in 1909?  Probably more than one William Wade in Peterborough at that time ...!  

All this really is to say that I set out with good intentions ..... but, hey, better late than never ...?

More soon.

Foreign Parts

OK, so I'm not terribly keen on the new layout of FamilySearch most of the time but today I simply love it!  I've found India ....

Well, I knew India exists, obviously, and I also know that some of my rellies soldiered out there.  But today I discovered someone marrying out there, having a child out there and, by inference, dying out there (his young bride marries again, three years after marrying him, and is listed as a widow).

Jaazaniah Culpin, for t'was he, was born in Ketton cum Tixover, Rutland, in 1824, the youngest of the eight children of John and Ann and was christened in the parish church.  And that's all I knew about him, until today.  I'd thought that his unusual name would help me keep track of him ...... yeah, right, I was quite naive back then!  I have to think about how to spell it so I don't imagine it appears the same way twice.

Anyway, I'm very pleased to have found him and his son, named after him poor boy, but then he dies so soon .  Not unusual, I appreciate, but my experience has always been that the wife dies first!  Still, being a soldier was undoubtedly an occupation which was hazardous to health so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Let's hear it for FamilySearch .... and I'll try harder to like the layout.

More soon.

All over the place

Yep, that's me - all over the place again.  

I've finally entered into the database some newspaper articles which I transcribed over a year ago ..... can't rush a good thing, I think!  These were about Vic Martin, late of the parish of Girton, who was a West Ham legend and played in the White Horse Cup Final, as well as for England.  Seems it had occurred to the villagers of Girton that some manner of remembrance was required and they duly erected a plaque, appropriately enough at the football club.

And I've also been following a friend's distant relative who I discovered, in the words of Mark Knopfler & James Taylor, "sailing to Philadelphia" (great song, by the way).  Once I'd switched my remaining brain cell on and realised that Philadelphia is a town, not a state (I have some fairly dumb moments), I went off to the central library and settled down in front of Ancestry.com for an hour "in the USA".

Only one problem ensued ..... how can someone be christened, in a different country, before they claim to have been born?  The index of West Yorkshire Births & Baptisms, on ancestry, gives a christening which is a good six months before he admits, on the US Federal Census on 1920, that he was born.  Good trick if you can do it!

On the positive side, and almost nullifying the above problem as far as I'm concerned, is that three of the family applied for US passports ..... and therefore there are photographs!!!!  Excellent!

So now I'm going to go and enter all this data before the golf comes on.

If the golf comes on ..... it didn't half rain up in Inverness yesterday.

More soon.

The fourth estate down under

The roof's on at Wimbledon and the rain is thundering down here too, complete with celestial fireworks.  Just another summer's day in Britain!

Anyway, I'm going to continue my praise of the Australians and their Trove newspaper site.  Go to: http://www.trove.nla.gov.au to see what I mean.  I have had just *so* much fun with it!

The latest discovery was one of quite a few detailing the life and loves of one of the Pioneer families of Western Australia.  Not within my tree, alas, but no less fascinating for being antecedents of one of my friends.  I'm deliberately not mentioning names at this point because the "latest discovery" was three articles questioning whether one of the sons had actually abducted a young girl .....

Quite heart-rending, actually, as the girl herself was an orphan who was being treated badly by the woman who had taken her in. The first article rather suggested that the young man was a peeping tom, as well as a child abductor, but I recognised other names and realised he was just looking to see if his sister was at home!

In the end, all charges were dropped against him, although I feel sure he was warned to be more careful in future!  Sadly, I don't recall whether the girl's life improved ....

My strawberries and (free) cream are calling to me.

More soon.

It was all going so well ....

Good morning from a pleasantly damp Cambridge!  Maybe the weeds will be pull-up-able soon .... ?

Anyway, this morning I have been Culpin hunting again.  Thanks to a discovery via Google (btw look at today's Google page, it's brilliant), I found that Richard Culpin (1831-1912) moved to Cheshire and begat a number of little Culpins there - excellent!!

And then, because of another search, this time on Find My Past, I came back (as it were) to Titchmarsh, near Thrapston, to William Culpin and his wife Lizzie (nee Quince) at the time of the 1911 census.  There they were, in Chapel Street, with their children - seven - plus one grandson and I saw that they'd had fourteen in total, losing one prior to the census.  That's quite impressive, in my book, to have so many children survive and I was really pleased for them.

Until I read down the page on the database ..... and saw that fate, in the shape of the Great War, had decided to redress the balance somewhat.  Eldest son William, already in the Army in 1911 and a Sergeant in the Northamptonshire Regt by 1914, was killed in March 1916; third son Edward, a 14 year old farm labourer in 1911, also joined the Northants and was killed on 5th November 1918. Just six days before the Armistice.

For some reason my brain then brought forward the line from Albert & The Lion: What, waste all our lives raising children, to feed ruddy lions ......

More soon.

Anyone for tennis?

Yep, it's that time of the year again ..... tennis from Paris.  And, because of the dry weather this year, it also means an early viewing in this house of British strawberries!  And they're gorgeous.

And I deserve them after spending almost an entire day putting together a document containing "all the Culpins I have got".  May not sound very difficult but it meant combining two files - the family Culpins and the "stray" Culpins - and then putting them into alphabetical order within their names.

A mere 75 pages of A4, I just need to print it now.  For ease of use, I may well take it to a local printers' shop and get them to print and spiral bind it; that way it'll also last longer.

If any Culpin researchers out there would like a copy, just email me.

More soon.

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.