Week 34 update: I’ve jumped to a whopping 584 people on my Ancestry tree which is a huge jump for me. It’s been a while since I sat and wrote an update so I can’t remember where all these people came from.
The best discovery I found was being related to Benjamin Bond Hopkins who married three times and owned Painshill in Surrey at some point. Painshill Park is open to the public and is one of the best examples of the English Landscape Movement.
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Posted in blogging
I’ve joined a few Facebook groups for Irish family history as I am keen to explore my Irish roots more. I read a tip about searching Irish parish registers online so spent an hour searching the Catholic records for Macroom. Catherine Caroll was born in Macroom, Cork in about 1857 so I wanted to find a baptism record for her and find out the names of her parents. The parish registers have been microfilmed and are now available online, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find anything yet.
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Posted in Ireland
I have missed a few updates due to the summer holidays. We have been lucky to have had a few trips away but that doesn’t mean I have forgotten my family history. We even managed t0 squeeze in a quick trip to the pretty church at Birdham in Sussex to see where some relatives got married back in 1827.
I have been slowly plodding away and downloading my documents. Somehow I have 553 people on my tree, which is a major jump from the 512 people in Week 19! Not sure what happened there.
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Posted in research tips
Yesterday we visited the pretty parish church of Birdham in West Sussex. We were camping in the area and I remembered we had a connection with Birdham which is just outside of Chichester.
The parish church was dedicated to St Leonard until about 1900 but is now dedicated to St James. In June 1827 Thomas Mansel married Selina Leigh, witnessed by Catherine Elizabeth Mansel (some relation to Thomas Mansel) and Benjamin Leigh (brides’ father).
Fortunately the church was open so I was able to go inside.
The 14th century nave.
The 16th century West Tower.
It is a very pretty church and I was happy to be able to go inside.
On the 24th November 1829 there is a baptism entry for their daughter Alexina Mansell. Unfortunately her mother Selina Mansel died shortly after, an entry of burial for her exists in the register for Newchurch of the Isle of Wight on the 3rd December 1829, stating place on death at Birdham, Sussex. There is no entry of death for Alexina Mansel but as there is no further record of her I presume she also died around this time.
I’m not sure what would have brought the family to Birdham. Thomas Mansel had his occupation listed as Commander Royal Navy in 1829.
Posted in Mansel family, Sussex
My mum told me that my grandfather worked as an errand boy for Sargents shop in Swindon, this was before he started his apprenticeship at the GWR Works around the late 1920s. The only mention I could find for Sargents was in this online article from the Swindon Advertiser: https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/4057692.on-the-verge-of-a-fresh-start/
The writer stated: Funnily enough, our Villett Street salon was formerly Sargents garden tool shop and the Catherine Street salon was their main tool store.
I’m not sure which shop my grandfather would have worked at. Sadly neither street survived the town planners and the Brunel North Car Park.
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Posted in Swindon, Winchcombe family
Another week rolls by with me still giving my hard earned cash to Ancestry!
Progress this week includes the certificates I ordered arrived so I was able to add some more details to my family tree (current people tally is 512). Unfortunately I made a hilarious typo when I applied for a Probate record – I put the year of death as 1068 instead of 1968 and my search was returned as not found (unsurprisingly). The place must be run by robots but I now have to place the order again, this time without the typo.
As I was downloading records I discovered a little more about my Leigh family and came across a few new to me records which specified an address. Previously the place of residence was just listed as Knighton but I found a burial record for Elizabeth Wavell (the mother. of Elizabeth Leigh) which named Knighton Mill in 1816. Then I did a quick google search and found a document on The National Archives website entitled ‘Bargain and sale and release of the manor or lordship of Knighton alias Knighton Gorges’ in 1823 (AC/90/50/15). This listed Upper Knighton water corn mill and millhouse (21a.) in occupation of Jeremiah Urry Wavell who I’m hoping is a relation. The Wavell family also occupied James’s or Mapleton Closes (20a.) and Lands called Harts Ash (50a.). It was good to see the family mentioned in documents and also pin down a place.
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Posted in Isle of Wight, Wavell family
