From The Telegraph
"Before the war there were 320 Adolfs registered in England and Wales, but the name became less popular in the years following the conflict.[No kidding?]
[...] The website also uncovered other unusual naming trends, with 10 babies born in Lancashire in the late 19th century given the name Fish Fish, and at least one registered with the full name Fish Fish Fish..."
Showing posts with label genealogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genealogy. Show all posts
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Who is down there?
A few weeks ago we located the grave plots of my Uncle Roderick and Great Grandmother at Witton Cemetery in Birmingham. What we asked the Cemetery to do though was to check the records and confirm who was in the plots. We thought both had 2 occupants.
It was confirmed that this plot contained my Great Grandmother Rose Ellen Grant and also George Henry Walter John Grant . Both passed away during World War 2.
The second plot details showed however how old hand written records can be troublesome. Uncle Roderick was listed as Robert Roderick (middle name first) and my Great Grandfather Stephen Morris was listed as being Stephanie!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Taking back the family origins a lot further
Previous family history investigation has been along my grandmother's mother's line delving into the Morrises and Genners which of course took the family history trail to India. As recounted in the comments to this post the trail goes cold in the early 19th century. Next step is to investigate my grandmother's father's line, the Grants. Luckily some other family members have already been investigating this.
My uncle has given me a copy of a family tree taking the Grants back to the mid-17th century at least. The family seems to have come from around Eynsham in Oxfordshire (the earliest known ancestor appearing to be a Francis Evans born in 1654 who married a John Grant). The Genner/Morris line come from Gloucestershire so that firmly puts my roots in the south midlands anyway.
My uncle has given me a copy of a family tree taking the Grants back to the mid-17th century at least. The family seems to have come from around Eynsham in Oxfordshire (the earliest known ancestor appearing to be a Francis Evans born in 1654 who married a John Grant). The Genner/Morris line come from Gloucestershire so that firmly puts my roots in the south midlands anyway.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
How the Genners changed over time
An interesting website which i found earlier is National Trust Names. This uses census data from 1881 and 1998 and can show on a map the frequency of surnames being found in various areas of the UK. Unfortunately there is no option to view the 2 maps side by side... so i created my own charting the location of people who shared my ancestor's name Genner.
The darker the colour the more Genners there are! As can be seen in 1881 mid-Wales was a common place to find Genners and also the South West Midlands (where my ancestor Mary lived after leaving India). However the most common place was Southall in NW London (not that easy to see on the map). By 1998 many have moved out of mid-Wales with the Black Country being the most common area though also more to be found in the North East, and a lot now in southern Wales too. Many seem also to have left London.
So what can this tell me? Well a major question that remains unanswered is where did Richard Genner (Mary's husband) come from. The fact Mary went to live in Gloucestershire with her new husband Thomas Butler i thought was primarily because he came from Stroud (which is recorded on census returns i have) but perhaps Richard Genner also came from the area, maybe he knew Butler from before he joined the army. However there were also a lot of Genner's in the North East and his regiment was the York & Lancaster Regiment which would have recruited a lot of their men (though probably not all, it would be interesting to know if Butler was in the same regiment) locally. So basically this doesn't help much at all, however is interesting all the same!
The darker the colour the more Genners there are! As can be seen in 1881 mid-Wales was a common place to find Genners and also the South West Midlands (where my ancestor Mary lived after leaving India). However the most common place was Southall in NW London (not that easy to see on the map). By 1998 many have moved out of mid-Wales with the Black Country being the most common area though also more to be found in the North East, and a lot now in southern Wales too. Many seem also to have left London.
So what can this tell me? Well a major question that remains unanswered is where did Richard Genner (Mary's husband) come from. The fact Mary went to live in Gloucestershire with her new husband Thomas Butler i thought was primarily because he came from Stroud (which is recorded on census returns i have) but perhaps Richard Genner also came from the area, maybe he knew Butler from before he joined the army. However there were also a lot of Genner's in the North East and his regiment was the York & Lancaster Regiment which would have recruited a lot of their men (though probably not all, it would be interesting to know if Butler was in the same regiment) locally. So basically this doesn't help much at all, however is interesting all the same!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Coming up blank with Genner
I have been searching on Find My Past using their search of military records to see when i could find when Richard Genner died as previous searching has indicated he probably died between 1854 and 1861. However i couldn't find any record of him (or any Genner at all apart from Sarah Genner's baptism for which i already have a copy of the certificate).
Of course he may not have died in service but left the Army and died afterwards. No marriage records came up either. I searched on Jenner too but also no joy.
Of course he may not have died in service but left the Army and died afterwards. No marriage records came up either. I searched on Jenner too but also no joy.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Fire! Murder! Revenge!
Having access to various online newspaper archives i have been trying to see if any of my ancestors have appeared in print, for example if Richard Genner loss in combat was listed. So far i haven't found anything like that but i did find a rather interesting story involving a "Richard Genner" back in 1811. I don't think he is a relation, though you never know. My Grandmother always said she was related to Dr Jenner of smallpox fame.
In the "Hull Packet and Original Weekly Commercial, Literary and General Advertiser" is a story entitled "Extraordinary Case" and it recounts the news that the sons of the respected farmer Richard Genner of Mayersfield, Sussex found a letter in the road addressed to their father. The letter was titled "Fire! Murder! and Revenge!" and threatened to destroy the parson's and churchwarden's homes and the farms of the area. The sons said they saw the letter being dropped by the Reverend Bingham after he had given a service in the parish and was on horseback to another.
We then read that Bingham's home caught fire and that he blamed the foresters for it. However investigators found his explanation of intruders suspicious and placed some men nearby to keep a watch on Bingham and in doing so they found he had a hidden room at his home where all his papers and other valuables were being kept safe. Bingham was committed to trial for fraud. A later newspaper article reports that he was also indited with writing the threatening letter to Jenner.
Sounds like an ideal plot for a BBC period piece to me.
In the "Hull Packet and Original Weekly Commercial, Literary and General Advertiser" is a story entitled "Extraordinary Case" and it recounts the news that the sons of the respected farmer Richard Genner of Mayersfield, Sussex found a letter in the road addressed to their father. The letter was titled "Fire! Murder! and Revenge!" and threatened to destroy the parson's and churchwarden's homes and the farms of the area. The sons said they saw the letter being dropped by the Reverend Bingham after he had given a service in the parish and was on horseback to another.
We then read that Bingham's home caught fire and that he blamed the foresters for it. However investigators found his explanation of intruders suspicious and placed some men nearby to keep a watch on Bingham and in doing so they found he had a hidden room at his home where all his papers and other valuables were being kept safe. Bingham was committed to trial for fraud. A later newspaper article reports that he was also indited with writing the threatening letter to Jenner.
Sounds like an ideal plot for a BBC period piece to me.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tracking down Richard Genner's demise
As i have already found out in my ancestry research my great-great-great-great grandfather (is that the right number of greats?!) Richard Genner was a private in the 84th Infantry regiment in the middle part of the 19th century, serving in India. This i discovered from the baptism certificate of Sarah Ann Genner dated 1854. However his wife, Mary, appears in the 1861 census living in Stroud and married to someone else. So we can assume Richard died sometime between 1854 and 1861. (Divorce was an option but was pretty unlikely for the time and the people involved.)
The 84th Foot was involved in the Bengal rebellion in India in 1857 which i have been tracking using online archived editions of the Times newspaper. A 14th July 1857 news snippet for example mentions part of the regiment going to the fort at Cawnpore. This was later the scene of a siege and massacre at the hands of Nana Sahib. Of course it doesn't mean Richard was involved in this battle as only part of the regiment was deployed there. Although some casualty lists are given in the Times so far i have been unable to find his name, the lists tend to concentrate on officers anyway and Richard was only a private! There has been a book published on the history of the regiment so perhaps that may give some more information. I am continuing the investigation anyway, i suspect this will be a long-term project.
Although i am interested in the circumstances of Richard's demise i am more interested in where he came from and Mary Genner's origins too. On the census she listed her birthplace as "Madras" so perhaps she was the daughter of Europeans in India, maybe her father was a soldier too. Finding out where Richard came from would be very interesting. His regiment (York & Lancaster) indicates he could be from the North.
The 84th Foot was involved in the Bengal rebellion in India in 1857 which i have been tracking using online archived editions of the Times newspaper. A 14th July 1857 news snippet for example mentions part of the regiment going to the fort at Cawnpore. This was later the scene of a siege and massacre at the hands of Nana Sahib. Of course it doesn't mean Richard was involved in this battle as only part of the regiment was deployed there. Although some casualty lists are given in the Times so far i have been unable to find his name, the lists tend to concentrate on officers anyway and Richard was only a private! There has been a book published on the history of the regiment so perhaps that may give some more information. I am continuing the investigation anyway, i suspect this will be a long-term project.
Although i am interested in the circumstances of Richard's demise i am more interested in where he came from and Mary Genner's origins too. On the census she listed her birthplace as "Madras" so perhaps she was the daughter of Europeans in India, maybe her father was a soldier too. Finding out where Richard came from would be very interesting. His regiment (York & Lancaster) indicates he could be from the North.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Relatives i never knew
Some photos have come into my possession (along with some copies of certificates and documents) of a relative of mine (well that is not 100% certain but it is fairly safe to guess that they are as the photos were together with one of my great-grand mother). The problem is, no one knows who they are. Well no one i can ask know anyway. The photos are pre-WW2 i would have said and i suspect could be taken in the 1920s perhaps or even earlier. Of course if you can identify the people let me know.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The American connection
As i mentioned before my Great-Grandfather Stephen Morris was listed on someone's family tree on the Ancestry.com website. What is interesting is that Ancestry user was in the USA and looking at the full family tree it does seem i have some American relatives i never knew of before. Stephen's son Albert (hence my Nan's brother) had a daughter who married into the Read family from Staffordshire and their son is married to someone from the Hays family who hail from Alabama, USA so perhaps Mr Read (or his parents) emigrated to the USA. Unfortunately the website does not give details of living people (for identity security reasons no doubt) so i don't know the names of these fairly distant relatives.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Beginning to research my family tree
My Dad started the genealogy thing a few years ago and i have always been meaning to join in the effort and try and get going with it. Unfortunately he died before i got the chance, anyway now my current OU course is over (exam result in December) i thought i would finally get started. Luckily my Nan's sister's son-in-law back in the 1970s hired a researcher to look into this already so i got a head start with some old census results and my great-great-great-great-aunt's baptism certificate (actually not 100% sure i put all the greats in there, my papers are at home) which is interesting as she was baptised in Jackatalla in India which nowadays looks like this.
My great-great-great-great grandfather Richard Genner was a private in the 84th Infantry regiment serving in India, i'm assuming this is the 84th Foot (York & Lancaster) Regiment which was in India at the time. A few years later my great-great-great-great grandmother Mary was, according to the 1861 census, living in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire married to a retired sargeant Thomas Butler. I'm assuming Richard died in India (divorce is a possibly but pretty unlikely i would have thought considering the time) and Mary re-married Thomas, perhaps in the same regiment. The regiment fought in the Sepoy rebellion and lost a lot of soldiers.
To go back any further i'll need to try and get Richard and Mary Genner's birth certificates though this could be problematical. Anyway a trip to the archives at the British Library must be planned for next year. Now to explore some other branches of my family tree.
My great-great-great-great grandfather Richard Genner was a private in the 84th Infantry regiment serving in India, i'm assuming this is the 84th Foot (York & Lancaster) Regiment which was in India at the time. A few years later my great-great-great-great grandmother Mary was, according to the 1861 census, living in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire married to a retired sargeant Thomas Butler. I'm assuming Richard died in India (divorce is a possibly but pretty unlikely i would have thought considering the time) and Mary re-married Thomas, perhaps in the same regiment. The regiment fought in the Sepoy rebellion and lost a lot of soldiers.
To go back any further i'll need to try and get Richard and Mary Genner's birth certificates though this could be problematical. Anyway a trip to the archives at the British Library must be planned for next year. Now to explore some other branches of my family tree.
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