On This Day In August - Our Ancestral BMDs. Please join in with yours....

[LizzieW]

On 3 August   
William H Wright my g.uncle was born in Hull, Yorkshire in 1887.  He was at my parent’s wedding in 1939 but I haven’t been able to find out anything about him since then, although I haven’t tried very hard.

Sarah Hobson my 2 x g.gt aunt was baptised at All Hallows Church, Almondbury, Yorkshire in 1800.  Sadly  5 months later she was buried at the same church.

John Chapman my 6 x g.grandfather was buried at St Mary’s Church, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire in 1736.  Unfortunately, I know nothing about where he came from or when he was born.  I know he married a Mary Pegg in April 1722 and my 5 x g.grandfather arrived the following February.  I have no idea where Mary Pegg came from either, did they originate from somewhere in Lincolnshire or arrive from somewhere else?  Unfortunately, the parish records of the time don’t give any clues.  I do know John Chapman’s last child was born only 3 years before he died.  Assuming an age of 20-22 when the couple married, it would appear that my 6 x grandfather was only about 40 when he died.  I have found a marriage of a Mary Chapman to a John Coleman at St Mary’s Church, Pinchbeck in 1739, so I guess this could be my 6 x g.grandmother re-marrying and there are 2 baptisms for children born in 1741 and 1744 parents John and Mary Coleman.  What happened to Mary after this is still a mystery.

[quest40]

On 3 August 1899 a third cousin 1x removed, Lellah Myrtle Conquest, was born in Genesee, Michigan, USA.  She was the eldest daughter of Walter R. Conquest and Myrtle Anna Gould.

[Lydart]

My father, William Poplett, was born this day in 1907, so he'd be (quick bit of work on fingers !) 106 if he hadn't died aged 59 in 1968.   Goodness, that seems a long time ago !

He was illegitimate, but having discovered his mothers name I was able to whizz back to 1550 with his Pomeroy ancestors, so him not having a recorded father was of no consequence .... his Pomeroy ancestors are an interesting lot !   Family 'hearsay' suggests his father was Italian or Greek .... and I think this might be likely, as I have inherited an eastern Mediterranean blood type from him.

Like my mother, he was also physically handicapped, having had polio as a child, which left him with one short leg and a limp.   He won a scholarship as a youngster to go to art school (he was at the same school for disabled children as artist Ruskin Spear, who was his friend for many years) but by then being an orphan, he had to earn !   He was apprenticed to be a bespoke shoemaker  as a teenager, just at the time when hand-made shoes were being ousted by factory made shoes.   He became a carpenter; then joined the 'Air Ministry' before WW2, where he stayed until his death.   

I remember him most for his lovely sense of humour, and his skill as an artist ... he spent long hours entertaining me as a child drawing pictures for me.   I still have a few of them, but dozens got thrown away.     

Dad, I still think of you often ....  and am delighted your artistic skills have emerged in me and your grand-daughters !

[nanny jan]

Born today in 1908 in St. Lukes, London, a 1st cousin 1R, Thomas Hosler;  son of William and Elizabeth Mary Ann (nee Barham). I know very little about Thomas apart from his death in 1986 in London.

[LizzieW]

On 4 August   
Bruce Gilchrist my 3rd cousin twice removed was born in Pontefract, Yorkshire in 1930.  It was Bruce who got me more interested in family history, as he had traced the family tree of his 2nd g.grandfather (my 4 x g.grandfather) Charles Gilchrist from his arrival in Boston, Lincolnshire in 1798 from Scotland, to November 2005 – all branches and every descendant of Charles Gilchrist.  Not just BMDs but interesting newspaper cuttings, photographs etc. etc.  In fact the book he published, of which I have a copy, is available in the research room at Boston, Lincolnshire public library.

Agnes Smith my 7 x g.g.aunt was baptised at St Mary’s Parish Church, Dalton in Furness, Lancashire in 1678

Elizabeth Spraggett my husband’s 3 x g.g.aunt was baptised in Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire in  1777

William Benson my 3 x g.grandfather died in Ireleth, Dalton in Furness, Lancashire in 1841.  He was a farmer and his cause of death was consumption.

Frederick Pemberton my 2nd cousin once removed died in Warrington, Cheshire in 1985

Sarah Palmer (nee Howard) my husband’s 2 x g.g.aunt died in New York in 1849.  How she got there or what she was doing there I have no idea.

William Postlethwaite  my 4 x g.g.uncle died at Lindal, Ulverston, Lancashire in 1838

And also one of my daughters in law, Vicky, was born in 1967.  Happy Birthday Vicky.

[Seoras]

On 4th August 1863 my 3xG grandfather Daniel died in Edinburgh. The cause was peritonitis and he was only 34.
In 1870 my 3xG grandfather George married his second wife.
In 1843 my 4xG grandfather Peter died in Hermiston where he had been the village postmaster. I share a birthday with Peter and if things don't replicate at the other end I will post again tomorrow 

[quest40]

On 4 August
In 1870 my great uncle Edwin Arthur Conquest was born in Lambeth, the son of William Conquest and Louisa Crowsley.
In 1962 a second cousin 2 x removed, Walter Ralph Conquest, died in Michigan, USA.

[nanny jan]

Born today in 1880 in Kensington my gt.grandmother Ellen Mary Eliza Viney;  daughter of William and Catherine (nee Wakeling)......or was she......recent research suggests another father....possibly! She was baptised in 1886 but with a different father noted......Catherine had married in 1882 (not found a marriage to William Viney). Family tale is that Ellen was a cook who caught the eye of a wealthy, Jewish young man (Russian John of my avatar). They never married.Their first child was my grandfather. Russian John (on all documents "John Howard") died in 1924 and Ellen died in 1951; I was her first gt.grandchild. She went to her grave as "Mrs Howard" and appears on all the birth/death certs as "Howard".  She's not made researching easy!

[LizzieW]

On 5 August 
Mary Ann Mumby my 2 x g.g.aunt married Thomas Leighton at St Botolph’s Church, Boston, Lincolnshire in 1830

Robert Lightfoot and Jane Peat my 7 x g.grandparents married at Holme Cultram, Cumberland in 1702

Mary Hannah Cockett (nee Hobson ) my maternal gran(who was born on 17 June 1877) was baptised at The Albert Memorial Church, Collyhurst, Manchester in 1877.  Although I had found  the baptisms for my gran’s siblings, both younger and older in the parish records I couldn’t find one anywhere for my gran.  I decided that she was probably baptised at the same church as the sibling born before her and the one born after her, so I trawled through the records from June 1877 when she was born until I came across one for a Seth, with parents Seth and Alice Hobson, Seth's occupation a butcher and giving their address.  This was my gran’s baptism.  For some reason the parish clerk had written my gran’s father’s name down rather than my gran’s name.  As I knew my gran and her siblings I knew the only one called Seth wasn’t born until 1883.  Not only that my gran’s name is on a copy of a page I was sent from a family bible showing her baptism as 5 August 1877.

John Dye my 3 x g.grandfather died in Newton Flotman, Norfolk in 1861.  He was 76 and the cause of his death was Paralysis some months.  John was a butcher, which is interesting because until I started researching my family history, I thought all the butchers in the family were on my mother’s side of the family and came from Cheshire and some from Yorkshire originally.