Surprises in family history


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Are you sure it's not Mr Pastry?

In an age when people were not constantly being asked for their date of birth, proof of identity, etc, they often became forgetful of how old they really were. My grandfather thought he was 2 years ol

Don't  think I'd  know where to start, searching my ancestry. I realise there are search sites but don't  they cost money? You see the on tv, the advert for Ancestry.com, just enter a name. It ai

5 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

You need to start much earlier than that, CT. I started as soon as I could speak. 

 

It was something I never thought about when I was younger. It was only when I got older that I started thinking about mystery relatives who I remembered from my childhood.

"Who exactly was Uncle xxxx?" or "Who was aunt xyz related to?". By the time I'd thought of the questions, there was no-one left to answer them.

 

And I'm not sure I would've had the enthusiasm to pursue the subject before it all become easier when it appeared online. I don't think I would've had the patience to do it in the traditional way.

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Although I  have lots of cousins with kids etc., I  only know where two of them live, one near Denby and her sister in Canada, so not much chance of going to see her. I  do see the younger one in Denby, when I  come up, but she is busy working. As for allthe others, especially  on my mums side, I  have no idea at all. Lost touch since I  was about 12. So it's  a no go. On my side, I've no idea how many nephews/neices there are. On wifeys side we are in contact with them although that's  only two.

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My mum's family lived in Lambley from the mid 1800s until around 1910. Prior to that, the line goes back through Kirkby in Ashfield, Bilsthorpe, Kneesall, Wellow, Ompton, Ollerton and Laxton in the 1600s. Many of the gravestones are still in those parish churchyards.

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  • 2 years later...
On 10/4/2019 at 10:40 PM, Beekay said:

Don't  think I'd  know where to start, searching my ancestry. I realise there are search sites but don't  they cost money?

You see the on tv, the advert for Ancestry.com, just enter a name. It ain't  so simple as that.

No, it certainly isn`t.  After 30 years trying to find my great grandmother, and her second husband, only knowing she moved to Nottingham, and didn`t know his name, I can testify to that.  I went down all the usual routes, searching electoral registers, deaths for her first husband, divorce, remarriages, and even Nottingham deaths.  Spent ages discounting possible candidates.  A lot of lateral thinking is required.  I found her, not by the usual route, but by researching people staying at the same address.  Plus they changed their names when they moved.  I was only able to confirm it was her via the 1939 register and their dates of birth.  Perseverance is the key lol.

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On 10/16/2019 at 7:08 AM, Jill Sparrow said:

Prior to that, the line goes back through Kirkby in Ashfield, Bilsthorpe, Kneesall, Wellow, Ompton, Ollerton and Laxton in the 1600s.

Jill, I had to look up Ompton. Lived in North Notts before we came to OZ but had never heard of it.

Laxton, I remember the three fields system of crop rotation from a visit there as a schoolboy, first recorded in 1635. I wonder if your relatives were part of it?

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A surprise and missed opportunity. Don’t know whether I’ve posted this before. About 20 years ago me and the missus went  on a touring holiday in Thailand and visited, amongst other places, the Death Railway and Kanchanaburi war cemetery in the North of the country. I noticed that the headstones commemorated quite a few Sherwood Foresters, but thought no more about it. Years later I was researching the wife’s family history and discovered that her 1st cousin once removed (I think!) was captured by the Japanese and worked and died on the railway. He is buried in Kanchanaburi war cemetery. 

(I think he’s your 1st cousin once removed as well, Col. Your grandad Jack’s nephew, Douglas Lawson Whyman. I’ve found a photo of his grave if any of your family are interested.)

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3 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Blink and you'd miss Ompton! Yes, my ancestors were farmers, so would have been part of the Laxton system.

I often pass through Ompton. There’s a 40 mph speed limit on the busy main road through the village. Some years ago an enterprising villager set up a spoof yellow speed camera in his garden beside the road. The local authority didn’t like it but couldn’t do anything. When I passed by yesterday it was still there but looking a bit faded. I’m sure it has a deterrent effect though.

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AG. A similar thing happened to me. In 1993 we went to NYC for the first time. Among many things we did, one was to visit Ellis Island. I had a great aunt emigrate to the U.S. in the 20's. My only living aunt had told Chulla and I, that aunt Alice came over here in 1927. Ellis Island was closed by then. After much research later on, we discovered Alice came over in 1923 and went through Ellis Island. I then sent for all her paperwork from there.  But,  as much as I had enjoyed touring the place, I would have looked at it through different eyes if I had known she had been in those same buildings. 

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The village of Ompton isn't very big but there are fairly modern properties there now. George Samuel Smith Ward, my Maternal great grandfather, was born in Short wood, Ompton, in 1866. His mother was of a prosperous family but one baby per year for ten years was more than she could take. Dead at 36. She is interred in the church yard of Holy Trinity, Lambley, where her family owned the mill and several farms.

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I knew the Hardy family when I was a child. There had been intermarriage between my family and theirs. I remember going to see a very old lady on a farm at Lambley. I have photos of them. I wish I had been older and able to ask more questions but I was taken there by Emily and George Ward of Garden Street on the strict understanding that I kept my enquires to myself!

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I used to go flying with John Hardy some years ago. He kept a Piper Cub at Tollerton. He was a member of 'The Flying Farmers Association' so he was able to drop into various obscure airstrips of fellow members. I have a recollection of flying into a turkey farm near Collingham! I've not seen him for some years although I notice his airstrip is still active when I occasionally pass by.

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Mary Kate Ward was the eldest of my great grandfather's siblings and the mother of Florrie Dickman. Florrie married William (Billy) Hardy and she was the old lady  I visited as a child. John is probably a descendant. I have photos of them in their Victorian finery.

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Jericho Farm is where I went as a child. Remember it well!

 

Florrie and Billy had two sons, William in 1912 and Robert in 1917. I don't know how old John is but he may be the offspring of one of those which would make him Florrie s grandson and Mary Kate's great grandson. He and I will be related in some degree.

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Florrie Dickman, later Hardy, on the left. Emily Smith, later Ward, on the right. This is Emily Ward of Garden Street. Smaller girl at the front Sally Ward and the child between Florrie and Emily is believed to be Henry Smith, Emily's younger brother.  Out of focus slightly but it's a large photo and it's behind glass.

 

It looks like a wedding group. Thanks again CT.

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5 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Florrie Dickman, later Hardy, on the left

The Dickman name features in my wife's tree . Though her lot came from Owthorpe and Hickling area.

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