On This Day in May........Tell us about your ancestors' anniversaries

[stonechat]

On this day in 1804 Mary Varnden married James Douglass at St Martin in the Fields in London.
They were both from Chertsey.

Mary was daughter of a yeoman and brickmaker and James was a (second generation) watch and clock maker.

They had 7 children, though only three lived beyond 25. They lived in Guildford Street Chertsey (currently a men's hairdresser)

Mary died in 1833, and James in 1835. James's clocks are still around

[Seoras]

On 17 May 1869 my great great grandmother Hannah Greer was born in Drumgelloch, Lanarkshire. Her father Samuel was from Ballinderry in Ireland. Her mother Mary was also from Ireland but as yet I don't know where exactly. She married twice, her first husband, my 2xG grandfather ended up in America. She had 5 children by him, though I strongly suspect the 5th was by her second husband with whom she produced 3 more. This second husband is proving hard to track down but I will crack it one day. Two of her three sons by my  GG grandfather died within weeks of each other during WWI.

On 17 May 1719 my 6xG grandparents James Wallace and Agnes Farier married in Kirknewton. However they had first been up before the Kirk Sessions and confessed to 'fornication before marriage'. Well what were a young couple to do before television. Their first 4 children were born in Kirknewton before they moved to Ratho where in 1767 their grandaughter, my 4xG grandmother Agnes was born. When Agnes married this broke my link to the Wallace name but it continued to be kept in the family and was one of my grandmother's middle names.

On 17 May 1772 my 6xG grandfather Robert Tweedie died at Muirhall in Lanarkshire. This was a farm and still exists as holiday cottages. He was born at Douglas in 1698, the son of John Tweedie and Jean Wilson, also farmers. He lies beneath this stone with several other family members.

[Lydart]

My maternal  grandfather, George Frederick Clark, was born on 15th May, 1877, so he’d have been 136 this week if my arithmetic is correct !   Born in North Stoke, Somerset, by the 1881 census he was in Bath, and 1901 Paddington, London, recorded as ‘a portmanteau maker’.   He served in the Boer War, and then WW1 in the Royal Artillery as a saddle and harness maker,  and horseman …. I have been told that those men were not in the trenches, but they did have to drive the horses with carts up to the front line to deliver ammunition and supplies, so he must have been under fire and seen some terrible sights. 
After returning from military service, he was unemployed for about three years in the early 1920’s, eventually getting a job in the post office, where he remained until retirement.
He fathered four children, and died in London in 1964.  I remembered sitting on his knee as a child, while he read me stories of heroes from history, which perhaps kindled my interest in the subject.
The photos are of him in the army, and his wedding photo.

[Lydart]

Bother .... try again to attach G'father

[quest40]

A recently found American cousin today.  In 1971 my third cousin 1 x removed, Earl Hoyt, died in Saginaw, Michigan, aged 66. This branch of Conquest descendants is still a work in progress.

[LizzieW]

I've been away for a few days, so I'm posting 3 days at once.

On 15 May
Frederick Pemberton my g.g.uncle married Elizabeth Houghton Caldwell at Manchester Registry Office in 1876

William Benson and Agnes Lomas my 4 x g.grandparents married at St Cuthbert’s Church, Aldingham, Lancashire in 1780.  He was 28 and she was 34.  It was her first marriage and I can only find 2 children of the marriage, my 3 x g.grandfather who was born in 1782 and another son born in 1890 when their mother would have been 44 years old.

Martin Batty my 5 x g.grandfather was baptised at St John the Baptist Church, Penistone, Yorkshire in 1709.  He married when he was 24 and his wife 22, but despite many searches I have only been able to find one child (my 4 x g.grandmother) and another possible one who was baptised a few miles away from where Martin and his wife were born and bred, married and died.  I can’t believe he only had one child, so I guess his wife must have had numerous miscarriages/stillbirths.

Edwin Howard my husband’s 2 x g.g.uncle was baptised in Liverpool, Lancashire in 1842

William Bagshaw my 7 x g.g.uncle was buried at St Nicholas’ Church, Bradfield, Yorkshire in 1714

Catherine Hannah Sharp my 1st cousin 4 times removed was buried at St Botolph’s Church, Boston, Lincolnshire in 1838.  She was 3½ years old

James Uffindel my 6 x g.grandfather was buried at Holy Trinity Church, Haddenham, Cambridgeshire in 1734

On 16 May
Joseph Hobson my 2 x g.grandfather was born in Ingbirchworth, Yorkshire in 1813

John Pemberton my 1st cousin twice removed was born at Newton, Prestwich, Manchester in 1888

Edward Stanton my 5 x g.grandfather was buried at St Andrew’s Church, Heckington, Lincolnshire in 1805

On 17 May
Keith David Whittaker my husband’s brother was born in Sale, Cheshire in 1938.  He was his mother’s favourite following her marriage to a man who already had 2 young children.  When my husband arrived 5 years later, when his mother was aged 44, she was not best pleased and often told him she didn’t want him and that she’d only wanted one child.  Fortunately, my husband turned out to be a much nicer person than his brother.

Ann Day my 2 x g.grandmother was baptised at All Saints Church, Holbeach, Lincolnshire in 1816.  She married aged 24 and had 3 children, before dying when the 3rd one was born due to uterine haemorrhage.

Matthew Heaton my husband’s 2 x g.grandfather was baptised in Rotherham, Yorkshire in 1812

Bridget Holms (nee Smith) my 6 x g.g.aunt was baptised at St Mary’s Parish Church, Dalton in Furness, Lancashire in 1713

Phoebe Jane Stanton my 2nd cousin 4 times removed was baptised at St Mary & St Nicolas Parish Church, Spalding, Lincolnshire in 1839

[stonechat]

On this day in 1588, my 10 x great grandparents, Elizabeth Aynesworth and William Lambert married at Ramsey in Hunts.

Elizabeth was daughter of Richard, variously a Innkeeper, baker, Miller, and brewer
William Lambert was described at his burial as a fisher (eels perhaps?)

They had 10 children.

William died in 1609 and Elizabeth in 1622

[LizzieW]

On 18 May
John Day and Mary Ann Mutton my 3 x g.grandparents were married by banns at All Saints Church, Holbeach, Lincolnshire in  1815.  The witness was an Elizabeth Carter who might have been John’s married sister but I’ve not done any research to find out.

Agnes Benson my 2 x g.g.aunt married James Holmes at St Mary’s Parish Church, Dalton in Furness, Lancashire in 1839.  It’s probable that her sister (rather than her mother) was the mother of my 2 x g.grandfather, in which case Agnes wouldn’t be my 2 x g.g.aunt but my g.aunt! 

John Dye  my 3 x g.grandfather was born in Newton Flotman, Norfolk in 1785

Dorothy Middleton (nee Chorley) was baptised at Muncaster, Cumberland in 1806.  Her father was already 60 when he married her mother and she had two younger sisters before her father died aged 71. 

Charles Brand my 1st cousin 3 times removed was baptised at St Peter & Paul, Union Road, Bourne, Lincolnshire in 1856

Ada Benson (nee Wright) my paternal gran died at home in Harpurhey, Manchester 1951.  She was 67.  The cause of her death was carcinoma of the pancreas.  I have a photograph of her in hospital near Christmas 1950 with Father Christmas, she looks so thin and ill but was still smiling.  She went home because she knew she was dying and said the bed should be used for someone who could be cured.  We used to visit her every weekend (my dad obviously went to see her each day) and my memories are of this very tiny, wizened, yellow skinned lady lying on a bed in the front room of her terraced house.  So sad.

Catherine Dyke (nee Manton) my husband’s 4 x g.grandmother was buried at Budbrooke, Warwickshire in 1832

[quest40]

On 18 May 1872 my maternal grandmother, Louise Maude Mary Conquest was born in Kennington, London.  I never knew her, as she died before I was born, but it was a fascination with her name, Conquest, which started me on researching family history.

She married Samuel Robert Marshall in 1890 and had five children, from 1891 onwards - my mother was the youngest - her eldest brother was 21 when she was born.

Once I started researching the Conquest family, I was surprised to find that they originated from Bedfordshire, not London as I'd always assumed.