RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Northumberland => Topic started by: JenB on Tuesday 21 March 17 16:49 GMT (UK)
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Sadly Brian Pears died at the end of February.
Brian was very well-known as a local historian here in the North-East. The extent of his researches is touched on here https://brianpearsblog.wordpress.com/
He maintained the Rootsweb Northumbria list for many years, and tolerated no messing about at all!
He also looked after the Northumberland pages on Genuki to a very high standard. Indeed the Towns and Parishes section was held up to other volunteers as a prime example of what can be achieved http://www.genuki.org.uk/org/helpus final paragraph.
Local historians in the North-East owe him a great debt of gratitude.
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Whilst I don't, personally, have any connections with Northumberland, it is always sad to lose those people who have done so much for their particular area. :'( Commiserations to his family.
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Brian, I never met you, I never even personally corresponded with you ... but like most researching North Eastern ancestors, I owe you a large debt of thanks for your detailled and fastidious work over the years. GenUKI continues to be an essential resource and it's only necessary to look at the comparative sketchiness of the pages for some other counties to realise the amount of work that must have gone into creating and maintaining the Northumberland and Durham pages.
Thank you so much and condolences and best wishes to your family.
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He'd been very poorly for some time which is why genuki have been looking for someone to maintain the Northumberland site. Big shoes to fill whoever takes it on.
Christine
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Very sorry to read this news. I had a few email exchanges with Brian and really appreciated all the work he did for the benefit of others.
R.I.P. Brian
Boo
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Thank you, Jen. I hadn't heard of Brian's death, a real stalwart and a great miss for all his contributions over the years.
Pat
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That's sad news. :(
I'm sure I have him to thank for many of the records I found relating to my Northumbrian ancestors.
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Jen
I've had time to read the links now, very interesting to put a face and a history to a person's name that one has known for so long. Thanks so much.
Pat
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Brian helped a lot of people to research their family history.
The link to "Smith Family Memorabilia" half way down his website page is the story of my uncle George, killed in Germany a month before the end of WW2.
Alan.
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That is sad news indeed personally I am indebted to him for his massive
contribution to the many pages he contributed to and for his in depth historical knowledge
I met him once briefly many years ago
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Thanks JenB for notification, very sad news :(
I have to say I too have been very grateful for the help/info. from 'genuki.bpears' for a lot of my Northumberland ancestors.
I didn't know BP nor was I ever in contact with him but may he 'rest in peace' as I found his site to be an invaluable resource indeed.
Annie
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Very sad to receive this news and so late.
I always intended to get in touch with Brian to say how grateful I was for the well-researched and reported information generated by him. His personal stories were intriguing. With my ancestors from Allendale I often wondered whether we were related. What an amazing contribution he has made.
A huge thank you Sir!
RIP Brian Pears.
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Very sad to receive this news and so late.
I always intended to get in touch with Brian to say how grateful I was for the well-researched and reported information generated by him. His personal stories were intriguing. With my ancestors from Allendale I often wondered whether we were related. What an amazing contribution he has made.
A huge thank you Sir!
RIP Brian Pears.
Don't know if you are aware but Brian did put part of his genealogy on the web
https://web.archive.org/web/20060813123835/http://www.bpears.org.uk:80/Ancestors/
so that may answer the question of whether you are related.
This site is part of his larger site
https://brianpearsblog.wordpress.com/
I did contact Brian once about some of the people he had on his site to see if he could help distinguish a few people with the same name. He was not able to (not close enough relatives of his) but when I sorted it out I did contact him again giving the explanation and the proof. It was good to be able to give him something after all the help he has given people
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Many thanks for the links.
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I didn't know him, but like countless others, I am indebted to him for his information. The man was a marvel.
God Bless you Brian Pears and may you rest in peace.