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27 Sept 2015

Lost a Tombstone, gained Death in a Lake: Harris family of Crowan

We have
Francis Harris baptised 1818 at Crowan, son of Francis and Ann
 - living 1841 at home in Wheal Clowance, Crowan with parents age 20
Francis Harris baptised 1818 at Camborne, son of Francis and Honor
- living 1841 at home in Camborne with widowed mother and siblings age 20

One of these is living at Stokeclimsland in 1851 and marries as a blacksmith in Plymouth 1852, producing children at Calstock.

For a long time I thought this was my Crowan man as his brother had married at Stokeclimsland in 1840 and also had Calstock connections.

But the discovery that there were two men named Francis, both sons of Francis, cast severe doubt on this.

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Francis Harris, baptised 1818 at Camborne, married in Plymouth 1852 to Jane Trathen, lived for a time at Calstock and returned to Camborne to finish his days as a miner.  This makes sense really. However, this means we lose Francis and Jane's daughter Fanny from the tree whose exploits as Mrs Bowden of Tombstone, Arizona, are worth viewing.

The clinching evidence is that this Francis, who was living with the Pearce family, likely his mother's relations, in 1861, had a daughter Eliza Pearce Harris in 1868. This does suggest he was the Camborne man.

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So, what happened to my Francis Harris? Well, he drowned in Lake Nicaragua in about 1852*, victim of greedypants Cornelius Vanderbilt's money-making scheme to save two days' travel-time across central America, for gold miners and others who wished to reach California by sea. (Vanderbilt was great-grandfather of Churchill's unhappy, wealthy, friend Consuela.) An image of the route is available, below.

This certainly explains why none of our chatty, friendly, Harrises in Wales could tell us owt about Da John's brothers and sisters. Francis and John had six siblings that died at birth, and just two others survived (Mrs Scandling, a childless lady across the state border from Wisconsin's Hazel Green, and James Harris husband of Annie Hodge so far untraced.) There is a small chance James remarried in Nova Scotia and came later to Wisconsin.

My rationale for linking Francis to the watery end is that the Francis Harris age 31 in the 1850 census of Grant county, Wisconsin, was almost certainly Cornish. We know this chap's bride, Philippi Rowe, was from Crowan and this ties in very nicely. It is possible but unlikely, that the marriage record of 'Philip Rowe to Frances Harris', 1847, will tell us more. The couple's grandson relates the Nicaragua tale at the end of his own life, in 1957.

*Francis's estate was probated at Grant county, Wisconsin 1854 (images available at Ancestry.com), with his address given as Hazel Green (formerly Hard Scrabble!)





20 Sept 2015

Crowing over new Jen: untangling 1780s baptisms in mine-boom Cornwall

My hapless forebear Francis Harris made the genealogical error of witnessing the wrong wedding. He was invited along to the wedding of his wife Anne's sister Elizabeth Jennings and also, in the same year to the ceremony of another Elizabeth Jennings, doubtless related, though quite how is so far unfathomable. This was in the year 1809, at Crowan Parish Church, Cornwall.

The problem is compounded by the fact both Elizabeths have parents called John and Anne, and for good measure both had sisters called Anne as well.  They were born in consecutive years (1785 and 1786), marry as stated, in the same year and place, with very similar witnesses and have children with no distinguishing names. Harrumph!

By thoroughly shaking the tree, and running both Elizabeths to ground - in Stithians a central mining village and Tywardreath, a settlement a good way along the coast, I capture their ages at burial. This will be crucial.  Although it turns out both ladies were the right age to be buried at Stithians, the younger lady would have nearly three full years on the clock too few to be underground at 69 at Tywardreath. Tywardreath lady was assumed to be from the younger set of parents as this made her sister to Mary and the younger Jennings children... Because the younger Jennings children were born after one Mother Anne had died, and it had to be the elder Mother Anne as the younger Mother Anne was the one with known siblings' names that matched some of these younger children... And Mary's granddaughter later (eighty years later) is a visitor with Tywardreath lady's son John... And we can be certain of that relationship because John's will names as a sister a widow-woman whose children Tywardreath lady is guarding in 1851 as her 'grandchildren'. This is backed up by the parish registers which record the baptism of the likely future Tywardreath lady as child of the 'junior' parents.

So, by elimination, Stithians lady is from the elder (my) set of parents. And the parentage of John Jennings baptised 1792 can now be resolved. He marries at Stithians in 1821 (coincidential location? I don't think so). Then a dozen years later, after having been forcibly removed from his eventual home of Mabe, he names a daughter Elizabeth Oppy Jennings [destined for Donkey Hill Mine], this being derived from the married name of Stithians lady. If he was as I suspect, orphaned age three, and was living at Stithians in maybe his teens and certainly his twenties, then this sounds likely to be his homage to Stithians lady, who is a much better fit to be his sister than Tywardreath.

So, after all this new Jen on the Jennings, and much impenetrable Crowing from the Crowan registers, we un-tease the puzzle. And present Anne, wife of the embattled Francis Harris, with two bright shiny (and productive) siblings: John Jennings granite worker of Mabe, and Elizabeth Oppy of Carnmenellis Wendron and later Crellow in Stithians town.

This proved a harder challenge than untangling the 1800s Roddas with the three couples of the same firstnames, being a generation earlier. Fortunately some elementary errors by Entropy and her cohort meant that firm clues were left lodged in the soil, so that the trail could be followed 215 years later, without prejudice.


(The picture had been further muddied by the presence of multiple James/Elizabeth Oppy and James/Elizabeth Holman couples in and around the right area. Fortunately the listing of whole families in the 1841 census, the giving of fathers' names in marriage records and the fact only a few events happened at Crowan, helped home-in on the correct couples in this next generation.)

The Real Hunted: Facebook finds spikes and hurls them my way

I have been watching the Channel four programme Hunted, a remarkable piece of enjoyable television showing people actually on-the-run.   I do not feel particularly worried about what the State are up to in my direction: as long as they are not employing temps to print out my case file by accident. I am much more concerned about private companies gathering information about me.

And now Facebook has already started growing spikes in a previously warm welcoming environment.  The tale begins with this family historian contacting people, legitimately I trust, but using the Bookface site as a medium.  To and fro go the messages. Mostly to, but occasionally fro. I have had some lovely messages on Facebook recently. After contacting people out of the blue to discuss their family history, I have received quality, warm, responses. This is comparable with the responses I have had by letter down the years.  (As discussed, maybe those days are gone, with the modern generation not inculcated into the ways of letter-writing.)

So far, so heart-warming.  Here is an exemplar quote 'Thank you for reaching out to us.' Did I know these people? No-yes. Do I know them now? Yes. Was it possible to have physically, or heaven forfend via email, have known these people in advance of the message - er, no, which is why I used social media for that purpose. One bloke replied to my random message with 'I'll tell my Dad he's got a new project apart from gardening'.

Today came a stark message from Facebook.  "You have been friending (Facebook term) people on our site who afterwards stated (in a licensed interrogation) that you did not truly know them." Apparently I should have Followed them (these are people educated pre-Harry Potter, they are Follower-free).

A sinister run of television adverts, purportedly showing people having friendly fun, with plenty of slow-motion purple woolly jumper running hugs and chortling kids in yellow wellies stamping in rainy puddles, ends with a Be the Best style message 'THAT is what friending means, you terrible users!'

The site thanked me for participating in the exchange, after questioning my motives, and giving me no choice but to remove some Friend requests from their list.   There was no Skip button or link.  At least Google has or had 'don't be evil'. Facebook like all self-righteous organisations and individuals, will end up limiting freedoms as part of their drive for personal freedom.

21 Aug 2015

Findmypast launch index to the probate calendars 1858-1959

Findmypast launch index to the probate calendars 1858-1959
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/probate-calendars-of-england-and-wales-1858-1959

My first thoughts are, goodness, I have been working for a month on an index to these records, does this totally nullify my project? On some reflection, I think being able to search the indexes for any text is a good, clever and simple idea. However, its use really depends on how well the OCR (?) data has been cleaned. If you are looking for a name, occupation or street address and the records have been partially mis-keyed, or even are recorded in an unfamiliar format (e.g. 1-2 St. John-villas, London-road east, Berwick, North Britain), you could easily miss them.

Good luck to anyone searching for someone named John James. The old WillFinder database at First Avenue House was notorious for being impossible to search for someone male of the James/ John/ David lastnames. The beauty of the Tom's Wills index which I am curating will be in the visible juxtaposition of entries, and the genuine ability to browse across parishes and across many entries referencing the same surname. For me, seeing the records in context is important and without genuinely being able to browse, a chunk of the experience is missing.

Will Findmypast move towards an experience similar to Ancestry's, where more data is given in the search results? They are assuredly mistaken about the list of 500,000 names. That is off by a factor of 20 if you only count the decedents, and a factor of over 50 if you include the spouses, heirs and solicitors. (On checking, they clearly mean pages.)

Should you wish to search for using an ambiguous keyword such as Bury, you may get surnames when you are looking for place and vice versa too. Below is an example of searching on Jones.
In the meantime, come and browse the old streets and byways of the probate indexes at Tom's Wills.

Searching for Jones gives 57000 identical entries: http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/probate-calendars-of-england-and-wales-1858-1959?contents=jones

12 Aug 2015

Records from a Big Bank - details of unclaimed estates

These records are from a Big Bank. I was googling a new relative today (12 Aug 2015) when I noticed that they appeared in this enticing document called 'unclaimed accounts', published by the bank under the authoritative-looking URL of important-information/pdf/unclaimed-final-ac.pdf. How very interesting. It was definitely our guy, and contacting his grandson on Facebook got me confirmation of this barely an hour later. I went back and grabbed the names of as many people with British connections that I could to highlight them here. I understand that this bank has sold its unclaimed assets to a third party, in at least one country where it operates. More recent versions of this list do not include those listed below. These bank accounts could have been opened before 1982 (when Harare became known as Salisbury) and some were opened after 1974 (when the delights of Cleveland opened their doors). I think I would be annoyed as a relative if I was told the money had disappeared, so perhaps genealogists can help people look into this project?
go to www.haine.org.uk/wills/unclaimed.php

5 Aug 2015

Tom's Wills - the index to British wills

Announcing the presenting online of Tom's Wills - an index to British wills currently running from 1933 to 1935. Tom Chatley was arguably the first person to conceive of an index to the list of probates held around the country. These were in book form for many years. He began writing out the entries on a card index in the 1930s, and these finally made it to the printed internet page in 2015. It was his ambition to collect together the interesting addresses and info about the personal representatives. Now that can be shared so that you too can find your relatives. Tom had a particular soft spot for people in Wales who were otherwise completely stuffed. As looking for Joneses in Wales is really tough without an address, perhaps Tom's Wills can help you? It's online at Tom's Wills.

27 Jun 2015

The latest batch of searches on my site

mary priscilla sarah mead born wincanton 1856
son of george henry and mary ann barnes; husband of stella katie barnes of herne bay kent.
children of oliver creed of youngstown ohio
tobias rodda of crowan
loise m clark died burnham on sea probate
francis longden sheffield
intrusan valley long merrarap limbang fifth sarawak administration
greenditch farm chilcompton joan drewitt
haine alexander of england
oliver creed of youngstown ohio
mary agnes litchfield 1864-1949 mossley hill liverpool
haine
george bearne chapman
children of george pendleton creed
butcher charles pearce cornwall
gabriel baker southey
ronald john harris married i derby 1943
1901 mona cottages bath somerset
lowry pearsey solicitors
albert roy gillett probate
how to attach a rope corde lisse to a tree
gledhow terrace london 1881
queen victoria unwanted cheese
probate charles walter small december 1992
uriah maidment
sources for the life of charles haine hawkin
belinda drummond 28 edgedale road sheffield
frederick william matthews 1873
lillian davies 205 clydach road morriston
george barclay and richard hines
trustees of joan mary elliott 13 lowood lodge lowther terrace lytham lancs
cumnock terrace castle cary
joseph creedy wells somerset
the allen s of cockhill somerset
annie lambert gorwyn
lynderswood court
george william hoddinott bristol
jeanette phillips jane shilton
sydney pearce of bredfield suffolk death
john brine 1845 uk wine canton
john curnow baker
graham gale winterborne houghton
alice florence hambly bristol
roy hoskins leigh on sea
constance evelyn rayner 68 cranmer street long eaton
lillie langtry in southsea
elizabeth ann hanham 30 kings rise camberley
the diaries of a wessex farmer josiah jackson
eric ronald blackburn banbury road oxford
amelia brighton penzance cornwall
frederick holmwood peterborough
wilfred jacob golledge
edwin frank oxley probate
gatley hill house death

hayton by brampton charlton family
sale of weaners calves in hobhouse
william symes and ann haines west pennard
edward boden1743
tuberville family history monmouthshire wales
rachel jerrome
william symes west pennard england 1818
frederick trout chagford death
thomas perry wincanton
cecil turner east coker 2 skinners hill
john hunter cock
thomas and hannah haines west pennard
marshall family bodmin
william and mary symes west pennard
mabel taffs urmston
andrew sanger-davies
somerset gazette vyvyan jones
nancy boyce markethill
peter purchase yeovil
raymond welch malvern road bournemouth 1950
grace pearce 1798
feltham painter
bassaleg
edward augustus sydney west 1846 - 1926
john norris of hertfordshire 1390
sidney.rugg
marjorie vale will probate
william howells hill farm westbury shrewsbury 1897
mark britten congresbury dairy farmer
ditcheat bennett
leslie hynam smith
site haine online
hayton cumberland charlton family
banksia queen camel
oliver creed youngstown ohio\
eliza jane laver
allford badgeworth
joseph bowden twins 1880
symes west pennard
charlotte butterworth sandbanks
molly hoskins church farm upton noble
haine family tree
gifford england shepton beauchamp
richard rodda blewett
hearthstone farm derby statham
harriet smith norfolk 1800s
people in kimberley with the name stanley louw
reginald dennis fearn butcher derbyshire
uk 2may1947 susan mary loughborough
ston easton johnny peppard
northways marine villas 1963
james gibson of great whittington
history west bodden farm shepton mallet

Ten tricks to help your family history (for free!)

Here's some handy tips which I've gathered over the years to help me maintain my batting average of contacting two or three new cousins a month.  It's high time your research got even easier, too!

1. Hustle to get the modern day address you need for free


2. Match the marriage with the births


3. Make freebmd work for you - even when it's wrong


4. Leapfrog over that missing marriage


5. Confirm the name at birth before you do anything


6. Turn a death entry into an address


7. If it sounds right, it is Wright


8. Guess the name of the child


9. Try ALL the censuses


10. Pinpoint your Jones using local records to help