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Topics - peakoverload

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1
Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition / Whats the name?
« on: Tuesday 24 January 23 14:17 GMT (UK)  »
I bought this CDV the other day as I'm researching photographers in the area but I also noticed that this one appears to have the name of the sitter on the back of it.

I'm really struggling to read any part of it and wondered if anyone here could.


2
The Common Room / How To Track House Number Changes?
« on: Wednesday 26 October 22 16:55 BST (UK)  »
I'm researching the street I grew up on and it's history is quite long and extensive. Since it's origins of a dirt track through a forest to the present day the street has gone through 3 name changes. During the same time period, the houses on the street have been renumbered 3 times, two of which have occurred since the street was given its current name in 1867.

I'm trying to research specific houses and businesses and whilst some of the houses also have names that have lasted to the present day, which makes tracking them much easier, businesses often just give a number. Very occasionally I can work out what the number of a house would have been in say 1870 and therefore work out what the number of a business was 4 doors away but it's a very long road!

I'm presuming that the local council must have some kind of record of when the buildings were renumbered but would they keep a record of what every building number was and what it then became and what would such a document be called?

It's also not helped that the road falls across the boundary of two councils with one side of the road being one council and the other side being another!

3
Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition / Whats the name?
« on: Monday 24 October 22 22:30 BST (UK)  »
I have an old cabinet photo that has a name and date written on the back of it.

It looks like it says:

Miss E D'abil 1899

However D'abil doesn't seem to be recognised surname. Dabil is but it doesn't seems to be of Indian origin which doesn't match the person in the photo.

Anyone else have an idea what the name is?

Excuse the crude photos but my scanner has packed up


4
London and Middlesex / W J Wright - Photographer
« on: Monday 24 October 22 11:06 BST (UK)  »
The other day I bought a Cabinet Card by a photographer called W J Wright and would like to find a bit more information about him as his studio was on the same road I grew up on.

The photo I have actually has the name of the sitter and the date, 1899 and gives the details of photographer as:

W J Wright, Grosvenor Studio, Church Road, Upper Norwood. It also says that he was a Silver Medalist in 1893 at the National Exhibition.

I did find a report in a local newspaper that suggests he was still in business in 1922 at the same address, but apart from finding his name mentioned in lists of known photographers and dozens of examples of other photos he took, I can't find out much else.

Can anyone recommend where to search?

5
Essex Resources & Offers / What/Where Could I Search?
« on: Sunday 23 January 22 20:01 GMT (UK)  »
I've hit a bit of a brick wall regarding my 3x GG, William Foster in that I know a hell of a lot about him except one key thing, where his wealth came from. Or at least where the money for his initial investments came from.

William was born 1816 in Witham to John and Martha Foster. John was a cordwainer at least from 1814 (the earliest mention of his occupation from a baptism of his daughter) and was in Witham until some time in the 1830's. In 1841 he is in Rayleigh and he dies in 1850.

As a cordwainer I wouldn't imagine he was particularly wealthy. Not necessarily poor but not the kind of wealth that would explain his son's success. John was born in Coggeshall 09/01/1784 and it looks like his family were in Coggeshall from around 1690/1700. As I only have parish records to go by I don't know what his parents or grandparents did for a living. I do know that of his brothers and sisters that survived, one was a blacksmith and another was a cordwainer as well. So I'm guessing that the family had probably been in that trade for a few generations.

So there is nothing to say wealth here. This is why I can't understand how William became so wealthy and seemingly started to amass his fortune very early on. By today's standards he would have been a millionaire and owned many farms, businesses, houses, shops and held every office in the town of Leigh except that of mayor.

As I say, William was born 1816 but the very first record I can find for him, other than his baptism, is in 1840, aged 26, when his 'large fine sailing boat, the Morning Star' is wrecked in a hurricane. Clearly he's already has enough money to own such a vessel. Shortly after this, he owns at least 3 pubs, all the toll roads in the Rochford One Hundred, becomes a coal merchant, is elected director of the Witham Permanent Building Society, owns most of the farms on Canvey Island etc etc etc

What I'm trying to work out is how on Earth the son of a shoemaker becomes so wealthy so quickly. Clearly he had a head for business which presumably meant he was well educated and certainly he was extremely well spoken and intelligent. So how would a shoemaker afford to send his son to a school like that? I can't work out whether John, the father, had made some money in order to set he son up in business or whether William essentially struck gold on something.

William was also one of 8 children, at least 5 of whom survived. One would also enter the pub trade, another would marry someone in the pub trade but none came anywhere near close to the success of William.

Can anyone think of records or things I could search for that might shed some more light on either the life of his father or on William between his birth and 1840

I've tried the British Newspaper Archive, the ERO (searching for him and the house he built), the National Archives. I've tried to find trade directories and post office directories but none I've found are early enough and whilst William is mentioned many times, I've only found one or two in later life of his father.

6
The Common Room / Does Anyone Know Anything About Boats?
« on: Tuesday 18 January 22 14:52 GMT (UK)  »
A bit random but I've just found that my 3x GG who lived in Leigh-On-Sea, Essex had a boat/ship that was registered in the Mercantile Navy List 1848. Whilst he lived by the Thames Estuary he didn't really have anything to do with shipping but he was a seriously wealthy man who owned a lot of land and many businesses. The Mercantile Navy List doesn't give a lot of information but I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on the little it does?

It says that the vessel had the name Eleanor and was registered in the port of Maldon. It was 72 tonnes but no horse power is registered so must have been powered by sail. The only other information is that it had the Commercial Code Signals (whatever they are) J.P.F.C.

72 tonnes seems a tad large for a rowing boat ;) but equally its not a few hundred tonnes or more of larger ship.

I can't figure out why he would own a boat at a port some 20+ miles away unless it was to do with one of his many businesses. In 1848 he would have been a Victualler and a Coal Merchant. There is a family story that one day he came home and put a lump of coal on the table and said "that's from my coal mine". Obviously there are no coal mines in Essex but later he did build a house called Pittington House and the sister of his first wife moved up to very near Pittington, County Durham. Whilst he is not recorded as having anything to do with Pittington Colliery, I wonder if, as a coal merchant, he bought coal from the colliery and shipped it down to Essex on boats like this (Leigh didn't have a railway at this time, that didn't come until 1855 which my 3x GG campaigned for)? Probably clutching at straws and that a 72 tonne vessel is too small for this kind of thing but just curious if anyone knows anything that might shed some more light on the matter.

7
Family History Beginners Board / Electoral Registers Question
« on: Saturday 08 January 22 20:03 GMT (UK)  »
I'm trying to trace the history of the house I grew up in and it's not helped by the fact that the road it is on has had three different names and the house 3 different numbers.

I did find that in 1911 a William Eric Leigh Jenkinson b 1881 was living there at the then 65 Church Road, Upper Norwood. From other information I have been given but haven't confirmed, I believe he was living there until 1928 so I expected to find him on the 1921 Census. However, from what I can find, neither he, his wife Mabel Winifred Jenkinson b1887 or indeed the house at 65 Church Road is listed in the 1921 census.

However I have found both he and his wife on the electoral registers for 1919 to 1923.

It shows them being in the polling district of Farringdon Without (s) and has them listed under New Bridge Street. However it then has in brackets (abode 65 Church Road, Upper Norwood)

The full line therefore reads:

Polling District of Farringdon Without (S)
New Bridge Street
S3463 BP O Jenkinson, William Eric Leigh 15 (Adobe - 65 Church Road, Upper Norwood)

Why would they be on the electoral roll for Farringdon if they lived in Upper Norwood? Is this a case of them having a second home and Church Road wasn't their primary residence and so they just happened to not be there when the 1921 census was taken? Also does anyone know what the letters BP and O indicate?

8
Surrey / Surrey Trade/Post Office Directories
« on: Tuesday 04 January 22 15:07 GMT (UK)  »
Does anyone know where I can locate (online ideally but will purchase data CD's if necessary) post office, Kelly's, trade directories that cover Upper Norwood from around 1840 to as near to the present as possible. I'm trying to find information about private houses and businesses in the area known locally as 'The Triangle' namely Church Road, Westow Street and Westow Hill. In particular I'm looking for information on the house I grew up in on Church Road

So far I've only been able to find a few for 1855, 1878, 1891.

I've been given some information pertaining to my house and it's former residents which indicates that the information came from directories and in particular for 1861, 1864, 1865, 1866-1889 (maybe not complete), 1892 - 1898 (maybe not complete), 1902 - 1909 (maybe not complete), 1911, 1912 - 1928 (maybe not complete), 1930, 1932 - 1939 (maybe not complete), 1954.

I would like to see what other information is in these and any other directories for the area to build up a picture of the community through history.


9
Buckinghamshire / Two burials of same name exactly 1 year apart
« on: Monday 15 February 21 21:53 GMT (UK)  »
I'm tracing my 5xGG Robert Gray. I know almost nothing about him other than he was married to an Ann Allum whom he married in Great Marlow on 23/02/1778

They had 4 children:

Joseph Gray b1781
Ann Gray b1783
Sarah Gray b 1785
Hannah Gray b1790

I've no idea when Robert was born but have presumed it was around 1757 +/- 5 years in Great Marlow. Unfortunately there are two potential baptisms that match, one in 1757 and the other in 1759 and at the moment I've no way of identifying which is correct.

I'm also trying to find a burial for him and as it must be on or after 1790 I can only find two burials in Great Marlow that are possibles. However they match each other almost too perfectly and it makes me wonder if they are in fact the same burial but one has been miss transcribed.

In the record set England Deaths & Burials 1538-1991 there is a burial for a Robert Gray in Great Marlow on 19 Sep 1791

In the archives of the centre for Buckinghamshire Studies in the Bishops Transcripts (archive reference D/A/T/126/8) there is a burial for a Robert Gray in Great Marlow on 19 Sep 1790

What are the chances of there being two Robert Gray's in Great Marlow that were buried on exactly the same day but 1 year apart? Would you agree that this is more than likely a transcription error or that the date was written down incorrectly in the Bishops Transcript?


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