RootsChat.Com

Hi Janene,
                Good to hear from a second Ledsam family member. Also good to see where the Salt name came from. I don't have a huge amount of information, but am willing to share anything I have. There are many documents relating to the Ledsam family in Birmingham Archives, including I think a pamplett about the ownership of Weoley Castle. I see you are in Oz, I would be interested to hear which generation travelled out.

Kay
 

Well 1 out of 3 is a start!! Most odd really. Bearing in mind that the daughter (Sarah Jessy) died 1st, then Anne Maria the mother (3 years later),finally John the son, I cannot fathom why there is a memorial erected to the mother only.  It makes no sense that these 3 lived together all their lives & yet the surviving son had a memorial made to his mother only?
    Anne Maria married Josiah Allsop MD Birmingham & had 3 children with him. He died 1832.
    Anne Maria remarried George Howell 1836 & had a daughter Mary Ann 1838
    1841 Anne Maria is calling herself Alsop, but daughter Mary Ann is Howell & George is absent.
    1851 Anne maria still Alsop, Mary Ann & George not to be seen again, assume they died?
So, surprised to find Anne Maria buried as 'Annie Marie wife of Josiah Howell MD Birmingham'! I suppose John would have been a man of few words (a trait handed down to the present day!), but you'd have thought when he & his brother saw the mistake they would have got it changed! Surely if she wanted to be known as Alsop for her last 47 years, she would have wanted Alsop on the stone - & why no mention of the sister? Most odd.
   

Hi Colin & Oliver,
                         Just to let you know that I have received a personal message telling me that Pickards Pink Pages were online- on there I was able to see an index of the memorial inscriptions that does include Alsop & Howell.  From that information I was able to order the relevant fiche from BMSGH for just £1 plus p& p - what a bargain! So now I just have to wait for the postman!
    Thank you all, would never have found it without your help.
Kay

Thank you Colin. It is good to be reminded that Ann Maria was registered as Howell, I'd forgotten that! I think George Howell must have died in Jun qtr 1842 & their daughter Mary Ann in 1845, but Ann Maria reverted to the name of Alsop although her previous husband was Allsop.
   I have checked the Key Hill Cemetary records, not sure about Whittall St., but my reason for thinking that they are buried at St. Mary's, Selly Oak is that they were connected to the Ledsams (Ledsam donated the land for the building of St Mary's church). John Alsop is known to have spent a lot of time on the Ledsams estate.
   Thank you for the details of the Birmingham History Forum, I might try that.

Thank you Colin for your help, the date is useful to know. I thought they might be buried in the churchyard because they were connected to the person who donated the land for the building of the church.  When I visited the archives some years ago, I was unaware of the connection & annoyingly spent my time looking for them in graveyards and cemetaries near where they lived in Edgbaston.
     I will try to keep the change of County in mind, such things are useful to know & I was unaware of it. The trouble with sporadic dips into family history I find is that sometimes you don't make best use of the tips & information, as little things get forgotten even tho' they might be the key!
Many thanks,
Kay