RootsChat.Com

Thanks for your message. I did check my profile, and my email address was on there? I'm afraid my brain's not working properly at the moment - the last message you sent, there was no click to reply button - never mind, I expect I'm doing something cack-handed, as we say in East London. We've wondered about this son being illegitimate, but it had never bothered the family before! We wondered whether a) he was handicapped in some way (wouldn't necessarily have been put on Census), or b) maybe his Mum had a vision of 10 kids before she was 30, and couldn't cope.  That would have made me run away. My Stephen Reade, born 1787 - I'm suspecting he made a prior marriage (or not, as the case may be), as his son Stephen was born in 1813 when he was 26 - and some years before he married. I've got numerous ancestors who had several kids before they married, or just had the kids and didn't bother marrying at all - my Mum said it had to do with them being 'rural'!! The bad news I got was a bit worse than a death itself - we've been told to wait for one. I get all the nicest family jobs. Doing this is keeping my mind off it, thank you very much. I shall try and get back on here again tomorrow, so if you think of anything, just hit send.  londongirl

Were they your Harding ancestors? My Mum's family had pubs coming out of their ears - sadly, none got passed down this way

Thank you - I wasn't going to ask anything that personal; I think the word these days is 'sensitive'. I've been doing the family history for years but only found this site a short time ago. Can you see any links between your Hardings and mine? I also have South Stoneham in my tree - small world. If only I'd known all this when I lived in Winchester..... have you any idea how to search for pub records? My Hardings apparently owned one in So'ton, have been told it was lost during Blitz but no one can remember the name. The 'sensitive' subject I wanted to mention was the eldest son of my gt.grandmother Caroline and her husband Charles Thomas. A cousin and I discovered him (as you do) on the Census, living with his Read grandparents; the oldest members of the family have been very cagey, suggesting that they'd never heard of him, then that there had been 'rumours he existed', now they maintain silence! Anu suggestions where to go next? 

If I had any money, I would leave you some in my Will - thank you!! My 3 z gt.grandmother was Elizabeth Harding, 'keeps a cow and farms land', born Boldre but living Beaulieu Rails. She had a son called Samuel and a daughter called Eliza, she (Eliza) married James Read, and had at least two daughters (Elizabeth and Caroline) before he got fed up with the farm, or living with his mother-in-law, or both, and they moved to Millbrook. Caroline was my gt.grandmother and, believe it or not, there are relatives in their late 90's who remember her.

Stephen Reade (born 1787, farmed 4 acres), was living with a housekeeper on the 1861 Census.  His son was also a Stephen, married to Mary and living Bouverie Green, Beaulieu in mid - late 1800's; on the 1871 Census, my gt.grandmother Caroline is staying with them. Stephen and Mary also had children William and Sarah - but then, didn't everybody?? Perhaps this Sarah was named after her grandmother?If I find one more Elizabeth or Sarah, I'll scream.

And you know the weirdest thing about your reply? When Caroline was 18, she got married - to a Charles Edward Thomas - Thomas is my maiden name. the Thomases were settled in Millbrook/So'ton. Perhaps the families already knew each other. Is this an email that can be read by everybody, or just you and me?