53 years ago today

Memorial to Newton Henderson at grave of wife Mary Phyllis

My great granduncle, Newton Henderson, died in Long Beach, California on 13 June 1959. Uncle Newt was born in Amble in Northumberland in 1874. He and his sons emigrated to USA after the death of his wife, Mary Phyllis Thornton. Although his grave is in California there is a memorial to him on his wife’s grave at Amble West Cemetery. When I was a child my granny used to take me with her regularly when she went to place flowers on this grave on behalf of her American cousins.

Greatest tank battles

Discovery channel have a programme on today entitled “Greatest tank battles”. It has started with the very first use of tanks at the battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916. Fascinating to watch as that was the day my great uncle Edmund Webb was killed on the Somme.

Family history through the alphabet – E is for Evidence

E is for Evidence

It took me far too long to learn the importance of evidence and of documenting my sources as I find them. This was partly because I found the formal documentation of sources in my tree software rather daunting. I now realise that even though I hopped over the formal documentation to start with that I could have saved myself a lot of extra work if I had at least used the notes section to jot down where I had found my information. The benefits of hindsight. Hopefully some day I will catch up with myself.

E is for Evans

E is also for Evans. Not a pedigree line for me, but nevertheless an important branch on my tree. My grandmother’s sister Jane Ann Turner (Auntie Jean) married a Welshman, William Daniel Evans in 1924. They lived in Swansea and had two boys born in the 1930s. Although I knew Auntie Jean from her regular visits to Northumberland I never met any of her family and have no idea whether her sons are still living or whether they had children. Too many Evanses in Glamorganshire for that line of research to be easy. Would love to hear from any of her family, so if you are one of her descendants reading this please drop me a comment and I will get back to you.

If you would like to know more about this alphabet challenge take a look at Family history through the alphabet.

58 years ago today

William Spears died on 7 June 1954. William was the husband of my grandmother’s big sister Mary Henderson. William and Mary had 8 children and since these cousins were quite close to my granny I can remember quite a few of them and their families from my childhood.

Norwegian Constitution Day

Norwegians dressed in bunad parading in front of the royal family on May 17th. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

17 May is a public holiday in Norway to celebrate the signing of the Norwegian Constitution at Eidsvoll in 1814. A fantastic day when people dress up in their bunad (national costume, with local variations) and have parades and games. If you would like to know more about what folks get up to take a look at Norwegian Constitution Day.

This gives me an opportunity to mention that I actually have a handful of Norwegians in my family tree. The Hanson family of Lynemouth, Northumberland are “cousins” of my Granda Webb. Henry Hanson, born in 1879, was a Norwegian seaman who married Elizabeth Doleman in 1902. His father was also a Norwegian seaman named Hans August Hanson. I am still struggling to tie in the paper trail from the Dolemans and Hansons to my grandfather, but I remember being taken to visit the Hansons at Lynemouth when I was little and am sure they belong to us somehow.

Sidelines

It is very easy to get distracted from the main lines of research and shunted off on to sidelines, but it is also fun. My Scottish relatives are currently intriguing me with a question as to whether their Greig lines might have a connection to Edvard Grieg. A hop over the North Sea and a variant spelling, but not impossible as he did have Scottish forbears. Perhaps unlikely though as there were many Greigs in Scotland at the time. Nevertheless a fun theory to dabble with.

Another marriage for Gabriel Hall?

A new found contact yesterday has suggested that my 5x great grandfather Gabriel Hall may have had a previous wife before my 5x great grandmother Hannah Hunter in 1765. We are currently looking into whether the 1748 marriage between Gabriel Hall of Elsdon and Jane Hedley refers to the same Gabriel.

Adam Cracket / Adam Crackett

As part of my QA of all the Cracket and Crackett entries in my genealogy database I plan to tackle each first name and reconcile the count and details back to census and BMD records. This should help me to resolve duplicates and connect the dots where there are currently some missing links. To make the task easier I am starting with some of the less common names. If I can confirm them first then their parents and children should fall into place more easily. I picked Adam Cracket / Adam Crackett as the first name to try this exercise. Take a look at my Crackett/Cracket page if you are interested in any of the 6 Adams I found.

New 2nd cousin-in-law

I have now found a new second cousin-in-law who I am hoping may be able to help me to figure out whether any of my living Spears or Smailes relatives have a treasure trove of documents from my Webb line hidden away in a cupboard. Maybe one step close to finding the clue that will knock down the brick wall behind Robert Webb and Edmund Webb.

Children of William & Isabel Cracket

I have now identified 6 children for my 3x great grandparents William Cracket and Isabel (Isabella). Places in Northumberland for their baptism and birth include Lowick, Kyloe and Rock. Since one of the children has the middle name Gowans this gives a possible lead to follow in tracing Isabel. More information can be found on my Crackett / Cracket page.

(This is the catch-up post for Friday 13th April when I missed my postaday. I am not caught up for all the days I missed due to the Easter period and hope to keep up the tempo of posting daily from now on.)