Saturday 30 November 2013

Weekend Cooking - Nigella Christmas

Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends,…
I am cheating ever so slightly and writing this post in January! Just before last Christmas I caught on the television the end of Nigella Christmas the TV programme. I was inspired with one of her recipes and had to watch. Whilst watching, I reached for my iPad and located Nigella's website

A few weeks later I was in the library and wondered if they had the Nigella Christmas book in. They did and what a whopper as I carried it home.

I spent a few hours reading and enjoying the recipes and pictures. The text is quite like Nigella having a conversation with you, it is like welcoming an old friend. There is a degree of familiarity and I liked that.

Back to the book. The book is a delight. It oozes quality and it is simply one of those books that says pick me up and buy me!

Chapters in the book
  • The more the merrier 
    • Cocktails, canapes & manageable mass catering
  • Seasonal Support
  • Come on Over
    • Stress free suppers
  • The Main Event
  • Joy to the world
    • Christmas baking & sweet treats
  • All wrapped up
    • Edible presents & party preserves
  • A Christmas brunch for 6-8
  • A bevy of hot drinks
  • Dr Lawson Prescribes......
    • Stockists
    • Acknowledgements
    • Index
Over the coming weeks I am going to share a few recipes from this delightful book. You can create an account on Nigella's website and book mark some recipes.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by BethFishReads

Book of Me, Written by Me, Prompt 14

Today is week 14 of what is going to be a 15 month project. Each Saturday, at around 12.30am UK time I will release the prompt for that week's Book of Me, Written by You.

If you are new here, welcome! The details, background flyer and Face Book link to the Book of Me can be found HERE

This week’s prompt is – Special People and is a follow on from last week.

If you had to hold a dinner party and could invite a maximum of 12 special people who would you invite?
           
You CAN include family in this time. Perhaps they are ancestors you have never met or people that you know/knew

What meals would you serve and why.

Perhaps include the recipe or a photo if you decided to actually cook the items!

The video is over at the YouTube Channel


Thursday 28 November 2013

Share a Memory Contest with Dear Myrt

Dear Myrt +DearMYRTLE is hosting the 2nd share a memory contest..

If you want to hear about the contest. The watch this week's Monday with Myrt - the details are at the top of the hour. Here is the video - be quick though the contest ends 30th November 2013!

As part of the discussion, DearMyrt (+DearMYRTLE )  talked about milk. I shared an early memory about visiting the milk depot with my Grandmother, where she had called in to see my Grandfather, who worked for Unigate Dairies at Guildford. I relived that moment - the smell of the milk, the noise of the machinery and the milk bottles clanking together as they moved on the conveyor belt. I can still remember that smell of milk, as if it was yesterday and even now dislike milk, and especially warm milk.

My Grandfather worked for Lymposs & Smee diary, who were a well known Guildford based company. The picture here, shows an early milk bottle from the company, this dates to around 1930.

After my Grandfather returned from military service in 1946 he returned to Lymposs & Smee. The company itself did not fair especially well. as they
went into Voluntary Liquidation in 1955 and from what I have been able to establish were acquired by the Home Counties Dairies, which effectively became part of Unigate.

Unigate themselves was the result of a merger between United Dairies and Cow and Gate who were another well know Guildford business.

Here is the Voluntary Liquidation notice from the London Gazette 22nd April 1955.

"LYMPOSS and SMEE Limited.
(In Voluntary Liquidation.)
NOTICE is hereby given, in pursuance of sections 290 and 341 (1) (b) of the Companies Act, 1948,that a General Meeting of the above-named Company will be held at Central Buildings, Guildford, on Tuesday the 24th May, at 2.30 p.m. for the purpose of having an account laid before the Members showing the manner in which the winding-up has been conducted and the property of the Company disposed of, and also of determining by Extraordinary Resolution the manner in which the books, accounts and documents of the Company and of the Liquidator shall be disposed of. A Member entitled to attend and vote at the above Meeting may appoint a proxy or proxies to attend and vote instead of him. A proxy need not be a Member of the Company.—Dated this 19th day of April, 1955. (255) G. M. LYALL, Liquidator."


Since last week, I have often thought of that early memory and today, whilst Mum was here asked her what else she could recall, and through the course of the conversation, she suddenly announced that sometimes on his day off, he would take Mum to work with him, when he called in to see his colleagues. This would have been the early 1950's. Mum then relived that memory of the noise and the smell of milk. How wonderful is that?

At this time, it was traditional to have a job for life; and after 25 years to be given a watch by the employer. Those days of long gone, but as my Grandfather approached 25 years of service, Unigate changed the rules and made it 30 years. Well he achieved that and was presented with the watch; a watch that I now have. Just after he was awarded with his watch they changed the rules and reduced the time period back down to 25 years..

When he first started working at the dairy, he worked in the dock area. This was where the vehicles that had collected the milk from the farms would be. The milk was in churns and it was tipped into a devise that processed the milk to make to fit for human consumption. He then moved onto the bottling section. Here is where the processed milk was obviously bottled. His job was to ensure that the bottles were filled and aligned properly ready for capping and then moved into crates before being dispatched with the milkman for delivery the next day. At the time of his official retirement in March 1973 he was a foreman, making sure that the chaps worked and went for lunch at the right time and so forth.

In March 1973, as he approached his 65th birthday and retirement, he was asked if he would stay on a few months and work to cover another foreman's shifts as that chap was sick. My Grandfather agreed and then worked in part of the business called "the dump".

The dump was where the fresh and clean bottles would arrive all wrapped in plastic. Here they would be processed - sterilised and cleaned before being sent across to the main dairy building. He worked here with another chap, whose name Mum can not remember, but like my Grandfather he was about to retire. My Grandmother always maintained that there was something about the plastic that had caused some issues, as for some reasons's cigarettes that were lit in the general area would frequently go out and the plastic had a "funny smell". Whatever ever the issue this chap and my Grandfather both passed away on the same day - 20th July 1974, my Grandfather at 9am and this chap at 9pm, both of lung cancer. Curious.

Whilst Mum could not recall the name of other man who passed away she could recall some of the colleagues:

  • Bill Nicholson - A manger 
  • Ron Atkinson - Foreman, who had a very bronchial chest and was the reason my Grandfather stayed on after his retirement in March 1973.
  • Ernie Weller - Manager
  • Mrs Weller - wife of Ernie who worked in the office and whose maiden name was Chambers
  • The chap who passed away in July in fact lived next door to the dairy.
The Roots of Lymposs & Smee, go back further than the 1930's as this picture shows.


Here they are referred to as Lymposs and Son. 

This firm operated from two dairies in Guildford, addresses at High Street and Woodbridge Road. Lymposs and Son eventually merged with another diary to create Lymposs and Smee.

The address of Woodbridge Road was still connected to Unigate in the early 1970's as this where the location of "the dump" was.

So, from a question posed by someone several thousand miles away it triggered a memory that I had and a memory, almost identical to mine, that my Mum had. I had already done some research into Lymposs and Smee as part of my Guildford and District collection and as part of my understanding of my Grandfather's early life and war years, which you can read on George's War.

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Sepia Saturday 205 - They are Good Sports in Surrey!


This week on Saturday Sepia I am going to go along with the sports theme.

By coincidence I had an email yesterday that talked about the Ellis family of Elstead in Surrey and several other associated names.

This morning whilst in the bathroom I recalled the first photograph I am going share here, as I thought I would share the photograph with the person who emailed me yesterday, then I spotted the theme for this week. Some things happen, by coincidence, but does it exist or is it destiny? What a deep question and all before lunch!

Elstead Football Club 1911
So here are the team, left to right

Standing Row - Herbert ELLIS, u/k, u/k, William BIAS, George WARNER, Alfred NOVELL, Guy BOVINGTON, Sandy TILSON, u/k, Henry ELLIS, Lewis NOVELL, u/k.

Sitting - first 3 u/k, Hubert HARDY, Jack BOND


Guildford Football Club 1905

Back Row - Left to Right - R.G.Harris, R. Jupp. A.Tyrell, W.G. Bridger, A.J.May, S.W. Turner, L.Green

Front Row - Left to Right - A. Groves, M.Avery. L.C. Ede, F.Luck (captain), C Ellis, W. Rossiter, Alb Giles


Wanborough Cricket Team - circa 1920
Sadly no one from this photograph of a Wanborough cricket team can be identified - I date this about 1930.

Sunday 24 November 2013

Global Genealogy

Regular readers of the Anglers Rest blog may remember that I mentioned at the end of the summer Global Genealogy.

Well, in case you don't or your new here (welcome)! I am going to tell you a bit about the idea and what the catalyst was.

It all started with a genememe hosted by +Jill Ball. As I answered a set of questions, which you can read HERE,  I vaguely floated the idea that genealogists are friendly, supportive and absolutely get the value of social media. I also said that genealogists are truly breaking down the barriers of time zones and brick wall by embracing not just the social media of today, but by collaboration. The coming together of like minded people across the globe using social media as a platform to educate, embrace, collaborate and share friendships and whatever else takes your fancy.

I then developed the concept which is as follows:

  • One Blog
  • A Blog post written each day by a different blogger
  • The only criteria is that the content of the blog post must be about one (or even all) of the following
    • Genealogy
    • Historical
    • Local History
  • You can use this platform to mention your Society or a genealogical event or alike.
If you are interested please leave a comment or drop me an email using the subject line of Global Genealogy to
juliegoucher@GMail.com
Created using E-Mail Icon Generator

If you have already stepped forward, thank you . I have all those details and will be in touch in due course with the devised blog details and schedule.

Closing date is 20th December 2013

There will be a introductory post on 31st December 2013 and the Global Genealogy blog will launch 1st January 2014

Here is an opportunity to take part in a genealogical, historical  and social media extravaganza

So, what are you waiting for?

Saturday 23 November 2013

Book of Me, Written by You, Prompt 13

Today is week 13 of what is going to be a 15 month project. Each Saturday, at around 12.30am UK time I will release the prompt for that week's Book of Me, Written by You.

If you are new here, welcome! The details, background flyer and Face Book link to the Book of Me can be found HERE

This week’s prompt is – Special People / Iconic People

If you had to hold a dinner party and could invite a maximum of 12 special people who would you invite? 
           
You can NOT include family in this – the special people could be famous or historical people. What made you select the people that you chose? What questions would you like to ask them?

What meals would you serve and why?

Perhaps include the recipe or a photo if you decided to actually cook the items!

The video is over at the YouTube Channel

Friday 22 November 2013

Christmas at the Homeplace by William Leverne Smith

christmas1.png
Earlier this year I was asked by Dr Bill, a fellow contributor to the In-Depth Genealogist magazine if I would review a book in the Homeplace Series. I was delighted to, and you can read that review HERE.

A few weeks ago I was delighted to be asked if I would review the latest in the series, a festive tale. What follows is some details about the book, the author and a trailer video before my review.

About the Book
Vision to Action Publishing announces the release of "Christmas at the Homeplace," by William Leverne Smith, aka, Dr. Bill, a resident of Hollister, MO, on October 25, 2013, at Amazon.com with the print edition, Kindle edition to following shortly.

Hollister, MO, October 25, 2013 -- "Christmas at the Homeplace is the fourth book in "The Homplace Saga" series of historical fiction family saga stores set in a rural river valley in the southern Missouri Ozarks near a fictional western branch of the Current River (NW corner of Shannon County). Set in 1996, the story has a "homecoming for Christmas" theme affecting members of the extended families of the central characters. "The Homeplace Saga" series

Will they all be home for Christmas? For the first time since their father died, Karen (Bevins) Winslow is expecting all her children in Oak Springs for Christmas 1996. This Christmas of homecomings offers some surprises as "The Homeplace Saga" continues. Will Staff Sergeant Travis Inman arrive home from Bosnia in time to see his baby daughter for the first time at Christmas? Will a life-long friend of the Winslow family move to Oak Springs permanently? Does Peter have a son? The boy's mother insists he does. How would this change the inter-generational dynamics in the family businesses in the Oak Creek valley of the southern Missouri Ozarks? Learn more by reading this latest addition to this continuing family saga.

Also, follow local veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Bevins and her young lawyer friend, Brian Kirk, as they temporarily lay aside their personal family history and genealogy research to work with City Librarian Judy Watson and others to form and create an Oak Springs Historical and Genealogical Society. Their hope is that by reaching out to the community they can locate additional local historical records on their families back to the first settlements in 1833 when Jennifer's McDonald ancestors were among those first arrivals in the valley. Learn what else occurs, before Christmas, as Jennifer and Brian devote their full attention to this new set of activities.

Book Trailer



About the Author
.
billwhitehat300.jpgWilliam Leverne Smith was born and raised on a Midwestern farm. A passion for family history and genealogy studies provides background for his writing.
He and his wife live in a cabin in the Missouri Ozarks.

When blogging and writing non-fiction projects, he goes by Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith, on such blogs as Dr Bill Tells Ancestor Stories, Dr Bills Book Bazaar, and others.
http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
http://drbillsbookbazaar.blogspot.com/

The Review

Whilst I have read an earlier published book in this series, it is quite possible to read and get into the series from this book.

The characters are easy to get to know and I found that I was looking forward to catching up with the characters.  This is a story, not just of family at Christmas, the interactions with kin, but also the responsibilities of running a family trust and the formation of local historical society.

I found that I need to start reading again from the beginning of the series, so that I can get a sense of timeline. That is not the fault of the book and author, but simply how I typically  read and process books that are part of a series; I love to read them in order!

I enjoy this series and this book was a welcomed addition. There are relatively few genealogical type mysteries, so when one comes along it is always nice to read. What is really nice is when the book is part of a well created series, such as this one.

Book Details
Publisher: Vision to Action Publishing and CreateSpace
Format: Trade Paperback - 6x9 - 154 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1493510405
ISBN-10: 1493510401
Available from Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk

Thursday 21 November 2013

Hitler's Furies by Wendy Lower

The new book involves information from archives which revealed some women were as guilty as the menAbout six weeks ago I wrote this post, Where Ever the Road Leads, prompted to do so having read an article in the newspaper about the book shown here.

I was therefore interested to come across a podcast of the author being interviewed, which I have embedded here.

Very interesting and thought provoking.


Wednesday 20 November 2013

Tuesday's Tip Update - More on Evernote

Evernote icon
Yesterday I shared a post about using Evernote for email storage. Today I am going to share something that I learnt over the weekend, and I was simply delighted!

I typically use Evernote for the purposes I described yesterday from my laptop. You can read that post HERE.

Over the weekend I opened the Evernote application on my iPhone and which immediately alerted me that as an O2 (UK mobile phoned company) customer I could upgrade my Evernote account to Premium for a year, completely free of charge.

I did ponder if it was a hoax, but I was logged in to Evernote and my phoned must somehow of spotted that the carrier was 02, although I was connected via WiFi. I can not explain how my phone and Evernote knew, but they did!

I hit the upgrade button and within a few moments received a verification text message and I was indeed upgraded to a premium account with the expiry of 14 Nov 2014. I was so delighted that I tweeted o2 & Evernote because I think we live in a culture where we declare bad service and rarely comment on the good and genuine.

A quick look at the O2 website has this banner - if you click the link (above) you can read all about the offer. There is details about Evernote and this is a genuine and useful offer from a UK mobile provider. It does not say on the page how long this offer is available for.(Edited 21st Nov - according to the O2 Priority Moments application the Evernote offer has 3 months left)

As I said yesterday, I was more than happy with the free account and now with this free upgrade I can explore the extra opportunities of Premium Evernote. The cost of Premium is not prohibitive to me, £35 a year (or £4 a month which can be used for a few months if you are working on a specific project that might involve you over running the free data limits).

If you are an O2 customer and you have been undecided on the benefits of the Evernote premium account for the cost of zero you can upgrade. Absolutely free of charge. There is no additional lock in to O2 beyond any original contracts - I think this even is available for O2 pay as you go customers. It is so rare for any business to provide not just a valuable and useful offer, but one that lasts a full year.

I have not been compensated for this post by either O2 or Evernote. I am simply a happy and delighted customer.

There are some great Evernote resources out there....

Evernote Website
+Evernote (Google Community)
+Evernote (Unofficial Google Community)
+Evernote in Genealogy (Google Community)
Evernote on YouTube

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Tuesday's Tip - Evernote and Saving Emails

A few weeks ago I shared that I am a One-Note girl - you can read that post HERE. In that post, I mentioned that until I had upgraded my laptop I had used a mixture of OneNote and Evernote.

Now, having upgraded my laptop and migrated to Office 365 I went full time to OneNote...bliss!, I transferred the notes from Evernote and then created a folder in Evernote called Archive and slid those notes into that folder. I did that because I often recall things via event.

I then had pretty much a free Evernote account vacant for use. The one thing that I do like about Evernote is that I can forward emails to my account.

I should mention that I have been using a Yahoo facility. About 10 years ago I created a private Yahoo group that allowed access only to me. It was a hidden group and should anyone on the off chance stumble across it they had to be approved by the moderator for entry, which of course was not going to happen!

That has, up until now worked well, but I have become increasingly concerned as to the security of such a site. I therefore made the decision that I would transfer all those archived emails across to my Evernote account. Thus giving me a bit more control.

How to find your email address for your Evernote account
  • Open Evernote
  • Select Tools
  • Select Account Information
    • Here you will see your email address - this is based on your username with random details +Evernote 
Sending emails to Evernote
  • Firstly I created a folder called Emails
  • I then made this folder my default folder 
    • I did that because I only use Evernote for emails, but if you were going to a mass session of forwarding emails you could make your folder default before you start forwarding and then switch it back again afterwards.
  • Select the email that you want to forward - it works fine with Gmail. 
    • In the to line add your Evernote email address
    • In the Subject line add @ notebook and the name you have called your email folder, so mine is @notebook emails
    • If you are going to use tags then add the appropriate tag - mine is #email
  • Then click send.
  • The email should arrive in the folder you selected with the tagline you selected.
At the end of the year I will rename my folder called Emails to Emails 2013 and then the current year, which will be 2014 will have emails into the emails folder. I will do something similar for the previous years. I do not see a reason to break the years down into months because the search function works fine.

I have one of the free accounts. I do not believe that I will use more than my allowance of 60MB in a calendar month, and whilst I am archiving material from the Yahoo site, I will work in blocks to ensure I do not use over the allowance, if I think I might I could pay to upgrade, as the cost is not prohibitive.

Now I am sure someone is thinking, why not simply archive emails in Gmail? Well, I don't because in the past I have been to enthusiastic at deleting emails and thus deleted many that I thought were safe!

I guess I am a belt and braces kind of girl!

Screenshot of how my Evernote is laid out
There are some great Evernote resources out there

Monday 18 November 2013

In Search of Leo Muller

A week or so ago, I came across this article, in which the author, Eric Muller explained that he was trying to discover the exact fate of his late Uncle, Leo Muller, in Europe during the Holocaust.

Apart from feeling dreadfully sad at the article, not in terms of Eric writing it, but sadness of the fate that his Uncle suffered and then the further, morally wrong issue that arose when someone contacted Eric when he made a video explaining what he was seeking and why.

I will share the video here, because with the power of social media I do hope that Eric receives what I desires and thus his family can have a degree of closure.



The video is in German, but if you visit this link and click on transcript you can read in English what Eric is asking.

I am not connected in any way to Eric, although I did drop him an email. I simply wanted to share the video and article with my readership.

Sunday 17 November 2013

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Round Up!

Over the last two weeks I have shared fourteen photographs, one each day of someone who I thought should be acknowledged for the contribution they made in respect of King (and Queen) and Country.

We started out at the beginning with these two collage pictures, which I have merged into one collage - a collage within a collage!




I hope you enjoyed the individual posts. I am in the midst of planning and structuring my posts for 2014, given that we commemorate the beginning of the War to end all Wars.

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Fourteen

This photograph was among some family photos that I acquired through the late cousin of my Grandfather, Ivy Sheffield. She had several of William Arthur West in South Africa during the Boer War, including one of him with another unknown and young soldier.

I know nothing of this young man, not his name, his regiment or from where he came from. It seems rather fitting to end this two week Remembrance event with an unknown soldier, representing the many men who died with no known grave.


Saturday 16 November 2013

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Thirteen

I have been to Canberra and the Canberra War Memorial several time. I last visited in October 2012 and you can read about that HERE

This is a photograph of the wall of rememberance. The N.L. Ludlow is of interest. He is the brother to my Cousin's maternal Grandmother.

Whilst there is no family connection between me and Norman Lachlan Ludlow, over the time I have spent in Australia I have got to know my Cousin's grandmother, known as Grandma, although I have always called her by her Christian name. As she is still living she I shall refer to her as F.

Image taken from Norman's Service
Record at The National Archives
of Australia
As luck would have it, Norman's service record is on line at the National Archives of Australia. Norman was 21years old when he enlisted in 1940 in New South Wales. Sadly, Norman did not make it home, he died, a Prisoner of War in Thailand of disease recorded as Dysentery or Malaria in July 1943.

This is somewhat interesting, given that I spent quite a while in the section of the Museum relating to the service personnel who were Prisoners of War of the Japanese during this period.

Even though many years have passed. His details were shared with his Great neice and his great great niece and his sister still has a photograph on display.



Should be a Tuesday's Tip! - Google Plus and Blogger

A few days ago someone commented to me via a blog post that by upgrading Blogger profiles to Google profiles it meant that some people who had chosen no to do that could not leave comments on blogs. Judy Webster very kindly checked for me and she was right. I was a little irritated as I do not want to stop people who choose not to alter their Blogger profile from leaving comments. I value those comments & the friendships that have been formed from blogging.

I need to dig around a bit more and find a way around this issue, if there is a way, but in the meantime, I have opened up my blog commenting to everyone including anonymous and switched on moderate comments. It is not perfect, but does sort the problem in the immediate future.

Meanwhile, I came across this, initially shared by
http://www.plusyourbusiness.com/beginners-guide-google-plus/


It caused me to ponder,  is Google really as scary as people think? And do the benefits outweigh the negative issues? It strikes me that Google want to have users embracing interaction and collaboration, yet are in some ways being short sighted.

I can only talk from my perspective. I like Google and their products, I like the way they are attempting to really push collaboration, interaction, engagement and development, because in this age of technology there really is no excuse to not be informed, involved and part of something our ancestors could not have, and probably didn't comprehend.

I am going to be really general here - people got on boats, either as free migrants and maybe they waved to friends and family as the boat/ship started to leave the waters of the homeland. Perhaps those people got on the boat wearing shackles and was terrified at what was to happen to them.

Either way, they got on a boat and sailed off to a new life, miles from their homeland. Knowing, in the main that communicating with their family and friends was no longer (or probably not) going to be possible. There was no email, phones, letters perhaps if they could write, then it took months to arrive. If it arrived, perhaps someone had to be found who could read the letter to them, someone had to help compose of a response.  You get the picture.

I have just taken part in the monthly hangout for the Guild of One Name Studies (www.one-name.org) the on line meeting was free (apart from our time) and was represented by members from USA, Canada, England, Spain. All possible with the technology of Mr (or Mrs) Google.

The initial thread is located HERE at Genealogy Leftovers - If people do want to merge the accounts, you can un-merge them, as long as you do it within the specified time limited - from memory 60 or 90 days, but Google does tell you at the point of merging!

Final points.

We are naturally programmed to interact with people we know, either we have met them in real life or we have interacted with them either via blogging or mailing lists.  We have a whole set of memories (probably) being told "do not talk to strangers".

Google+ focuses on the people we DO NOT know, but we might benefit from knowing based upon our common interest(s). The people that we have a common interest with, such as genealogy are placed into circles. I am not sure if that is obvious or not, but thought it worth mentioning. Thus I share my genealogical data, comments, interesting posts and so forth with my genealogy circle and my Guild of One Name Studies circle, pharmacy with the pharmacy circle, books with the book circle. I have at least four people in all three of those circles! So people in more than one circle is okay too!

I am not an expert, but I learnt and embraced Google based upon hints and tips from another Google girl (+Tessa Keough) so by way of paying forward if someone want assistance of has a question drop me a message, email or leave a comment.

Book of Me, Written by You, Prompt 12

Today is week 12 of what is going to be a 15 month project. Each Saturday, at around 12.30am UK time I will release the prompt for that week's Book of Me, Written by You.

If you are new here, welcome! The details, background flyer and Face Book link to the Book of Me can be found HERE

This week’s prompt is -  The year you were born
  • What happened
  •  Historical
  • Films
  • Music
  • Books
  • Television
  • Or use any other historical (well known or otherwise) event
This week's video is over at the YouTube Channel

Friday 15 November 2013

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Twelve

This is the document that relates to Edward Ellis, born in Geelong Victoria Australia the son of Frederick Ellis (1845 - 1914) and Sarah Ann Newton (1851 - 1923) on 3rd March 1882 and was one of 14 children.  All of Edward's siblings were born in Australia, but his father, Frederick had been born in Elstead Surrey in 1846 and was 8 years old when his parents migrated as free settlers to Geelong in 1854 on board the James Baines.



As I typed the above I realised that I really didn't know too much about Edward and my family history software had not been updated, so I pulled out the Ellis folder. Back in 1991, I had located various bits of information about Edward and here are those details:
  • Born at Mount Duneed 3rd March 1882 and Baptised at the Wesleyan Church in Geelong 6 June 1884.
  • A tuber player in Geelong Harbour Trust Band circa 1913.
  • He enlisted at Cootamundra, New South Wales on 20th July 1916 and left Australia on 9th November 1916 on board The Benalla. (Service number 2804)
  • He disembarked in Devonport (Plymouth Devon England) on 9th January 1917.
  • He proceeded to France on 30th September 1917 and was wounded in action (left leg) at Rouelles in August 1918. 
  • He was discharged in England in January 1919 and returned to Australia on board The Karoa.
Having read the above in the file some obvious questions sprang to mind:

Questions:
  1. What was the significance of the Wesleyan Church? Why not a C of E Church?
  2. What further details could I establish about the Harbour Trust Band
  3. Why did he enlist in Cootamundra? It is some distance from Geelong, but is mainly farming territory. Ironically, I have been to both Geelong and Cootamundra!I spent about a week in Geelong last year and visited the various graves at Mount Duneed.
  4. He was disembarked in Devonport, only about an hour from here in the car. What other records exist in the UK?
  5. Locate Rouelles in France
  6. Did he know of or remember his English heritage and roots? Did he venture to Surrey to meet any of the family?
  7. Where did his life take him upon his return to Australia? 

The In-Depth Genealogist - Digital Magazine - Issue 10 - OUT NOW!

Picture
The next issue of the free digital magazine is available NOW!










You can read my Introduction post HERE and you can follow the column by visiting The In-Depth Genealogist website and subscribing via email or via twitter and Facebook.

This month's Across the Pond column is about The Great War.

Happy reading & researching!


Thursday 14 November 2013

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Eleven

Today's picture is staying with my late father in-law.

Yesterday we saw his recognition for taking part in the Arctic Convoys during the second world war. We know from his medals that he was in Palestine in 1949.

By 1960 he was a sergeant in British Army. The first picture here gives us the date. There is no date on the second photograph.

These are actually hanging in my mother in-laws hall and therefore I can not tell if there is any details on the reverse of the photograph. 

There would have been hysterics had I suggested we look at the back! 

We can date his army dates to at least two years earlier, 1958 because we have this photographDerek Goucher June 1958
My father in-law on his BSA motorcycle, when he was stationed at Blandford Camp in Dorset in June 1958. He bought the motorcycle for £250.00.


By the time my father in-law marries my mother in-law in 1971 he has left the army. We have no idea of his service record for the army and the Ministry of Defense have confirmed that he will have two separate numbers, one for his navy service and one for the army service and the two records never join.

As I unravel his military service I shall share the information. One day next week I shall explain how to call (and pay for) a request for second world war military records.

GenChat - 13th November 2013

Yesterday Jen over at Conference Keeper hosted another fascinating round of #GenChat at Twitter This time the discussion point was geography.

Now there were a series of questions and I might not have noted them all down in the order they were presented. Apologies for my slackness, I was trying to keep up with the Tweets!

What is Geography?

When I went to school geography was about exploring places and what happens there, why and how and when. All those key questions that really we are, or at least should be applying to genealogy. Geography gives us an opportunity to explore the location of our ancestors, how they lived and worked. It enables us to break through those lists of names and dates and drill down to a depth of more detail.

Understanding Border Changes over time

This is really important. It might be a simple case of a town essentially being in a County. I have a family member who lived in Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire. The town has also been in Oxfordshire. That border change might influence our ancestors lives for lots of reasons. In some cases, towns on the borders of various Countries can overnight find themselves in another Country - look at Countries such as Italy and Switzerland.

At this point there were various resources listed and therefore I am simply going to present them here, at this point I have not had chance to explore them all

Using Gazetteers

There are various opportunities to access these here are a few ideas
  • Google Books
  • Local Museums and Archives
  • Historical Associations
  • Archaeological Societies
  • Specific archives - mining might have some general information
  • GENUKI - UK
  • The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers - fabulous, but expensive!
  • Centennia
  • Ordnance Survey
  • Animaps
  • Google Maps

What else can you do to understand changes?

Again this is about getting down to the basic roots of a specific place. 
  • What sort of trade was there? 
    • Industrial
    • Rural/Farming
    • Mining - coal, tin
    • Canals
  • Transportation - railway town?

Do you use Timelines to understand your geography?
  • When did events happen?
    • National, 
    • Local
    • Global
  • This enables researchers to get a sense of time and place within their geographical research area - this could be things like
    • Religious changes/Persecutions of religious groups = migration pattens
    • Results of wars
      • First World War
      • Second World War
      • Post Second World War - Israel, Palestine, Korea, Vietnam for example
      • Yugoslavia
  • Monarchy/Presidency
  • Economy

Researching at County level
  • Understanding terminology - Hamlet, village, town, township, county, state etc
    • Wikipedia
    • Family Search Wiki
    • Local Societies
    • Tourist information centers and resources

Political Boundaries - based on natural elements
  • Flood plains
  • Rivers
  • Earthquakes
  • Typhoons
  • Bush fires
  • Other Disasters
    • Perhaps a disaster has left a monument  - example - Lockerbie Bombing 1991 This event created not only the monument, and a link between Scotland and the US, but Lockerbie has changed as a result.
Look at the location through the eyes of your ancestor
  • Transportation  - no highways - walked across the fields
  • Who did they work for?
    • Who owned the land - deeds, land records, tithe maps
    • Some agricultural labours moved location because of the land owner
Accessing copies of archives? Have you just visited with no agenda?
  • Can you obtain copies easily of material?
  • Is there a catalog
    • Is it reliable or hidden gems!
Other references
Khan Academy

Using GenChat
I have to say I rather like GenChat - tweeting for an hour, in sort bursts and this can create a 21st Century conversation! - sharing of information and URLS. This event was held at 4pm UK time which is brilliant, and I hope that more UK participants join in and share ideas and resources.

Here is the GenChat Schedule so you don't miss out on the fun!

Sepia Saturday - 203

For this week's visionary prompt of standing in doorways, I thought I would share this image


The picture is of my Great, Great Grandparents Henry Harris (1843-1929) and Caroline Harris nee Ellis (1844 -1935). This photograph was taken on the occasion of their 60th Wedding Anniversary in 1924 and was taken at Wanborough Surrey. 

The photographer was my late Great Aunt, Rose Marshall nee Butcher (1900 - 1994). Caroline was apparently a bit of a stickler and though nothing of smacking her Grandchildren if they misbehaved, whilst Henry was a "sweet old thing" according to my Aunt. I asked if she could recall an example. This is from my journal what she told me back in 1990 -

 "Old Sam Marshall came across to tell Mum (Annie Prudence Butcher nee Harris) that the Boys (Dick, George (my Grandfather), Arthur & Harry) had been scrumping again from the apple tree."

When I asked what happened to the boys - 

"The boys came home, all sweetness and light and Mum asked where they had been? They were vague and said the fields. When Mum asked if they had been over to Sam Marshall's they said they might have been. Mum, was not deterred. I wish you boys wouldn't. Do it again and you will get what for. What did you do with the apples? Oh we ate them was the reply, then one of the boys said, why do you want us to get you some? I don't recall which of them said that, but they were all sent outside. Later they came in for tea and Harry said he was sore, when Mum asked why he said Granny. Old Grandpa was listening in, he shook his head and said but those apples are nice, aren't they?"

The background is the Sam Marshall was a local farmer, and was in fact related to Caroline through marriage. Her sister Maryanne married Jim Marshall, the added complication was that the Marshall family were already connected to the family prior to that marriage and things were further complicated when in 1931 Rose married Maryanne's Grandson Ernest.  Something that Caroline disapproved of and my Aunt always vehemently denied.

Taking part in Sepia Saturday


Wednesday 13 November 2013

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Ten

This picture has hung in my in-laws hall for at least the last 15 years or so. Just recently I had cause to look a bit closer at it and take some photographs.

What does this signify? This was given to my father in law in recognition of his contribution during Second World War whilst serving in the Royal Navy. He was present on HMS Byron and took part in the Arctic Convoys.

No individual medal was every awarded to these servicemen, and it has only been this year that has been rectified. Medals are firstly, and quite rightly being awarded to those men who took part who are still alive, before moving to being awarded posthumously to their widows and families.

There is a Museum that focus' on the Russian Arctic Convoys HERE.

I had hoped to undertake a bit of extra research today. Sadly that has not been possible and thus this post is fairly short, but over the coming weeks I shall look at this closer, so please keep reading!


Sepia Saturday - 202

There was something about the prompt photograph that reminded me of a photograph of my Grandfather's Uncle.

In this photograph, Walter Butcher is standing in the fields at Wanborough with another labourer tending to the land.


Walter Butcher was born in 1874 in Wonersh Surrey and was the seventh child of a family of eight. My Great Grandfather, Charles Butcher was older having been born in 1869. Both Walter and Charles moved to Wanborough. Firstly Charles having met my Great Grandmother who was from Puttenham moved across the country roads to live in the area of his wife's family. He was later followed by Walter.

My late Great Aunt recalled Walter and from my notebook of 1989 she said "Walter was a mean spirited and weak man and nothing like Dad. (Charles) He had a tendency to follow and copy Dad, which frustrated and annoyed him"

I had heard this before from my another Aunt, and with that information I formed an opinion of Walter, and perhaps that was unfair; that was until I found this reference in the local paper.

Surrey Advertiser - 16th June 1917

"Cruelty to a Horse - Farmer heavily fined.


At the Camberley Police Court on Thursday, John Knight of Cobbetts Hill Farm was summoned for permitting a horse to be cruelly ill treated on 24th May. A lad in the defendants employ said that when harrowing grass seed, the horse fell into a hole, where it laid until the knacker came to take it away the following day. Walter Butcher, carter, father of the last witness, said he killed the horse after it had been seen by a Veterinary Surgeon. The horse had fallen down at work two or three times.

Inspector Jones R.S.P.C.A said he saw the horse lying in the field. It was in a very poor condition, very thin and very old. It had not got one sound tooth. The horse fell on the morning of 24th May, and it was killed on the following evening. It was too weak to get up. Mr Carter, Veterinary Surgeon, Aldershot, said he thought the horse was between 25 and 30 years old. He advised it being destroyed.

Lily Strickland employed at Cobbetts Hill Farm, said the horse had been regularly fed, but would not fatten. The Chairman, (Mr H J B Hollings) said the Bench considered the case an exceeding bad one, and defendant would be fined £5 including costs.

Walter Butcher a witness on the last case was summoned for ill treating a horse on 24th May, and James Knight was summoned for permitting such cruelty. Inspector Jones said Butcher was driving a pair of horses attached to a large roller. One of the horses had a large sore on the off shoulder, and was quite unfit for work. Knight was fined £2 and Butcher 5/-, the Chairman stating that no doubt he felt that if he refused to take the horses out he might lose his place."

From further research and numerous conversations with now deceased members of my family I am going to build a life profile of Walter. He married and the numerous complexities of that union has really meant that up until now I have not wanted to examine this part of the family further.

Taking part in Sepia Saturday, albeit, rather late in the week!

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Nine

This is a photograph of my late father in law. We can not be absolutely sure when he joined the British Navy, but he did, and served until at least 1949. 

We recently have been given his medals and that does reveal his service number, which means we can now call for his Royal Navy service record. 

Over the next few days I shall share a little bit more about him. We do have some other photographs which indicate the names of the vessels he served on with dates, so at least I can build a timeline while I wait for his service record to arrive.

My father in law was the son of a navy man. I did really want to include a picture of Ernest Goucher, but I can not lay my hands to one. 

My husband's Grandfather join the Royal Navy during the course of the First World War. He survived and in 1929, when my father in law was only 3 years old the family sailed to Canada. Ernest was involved in training some sea cadets in Petawawa, Ontario. The trunk that they took on their journey is in fact in my loft!

I can not be to sure when Ernest and his family; wife and child returned to England but Ernest certainly took part in the early days of the Second World War, which means his service records are at the moment unavailable until we complete the process of requesting for my father in laws. Over the coming week I shall share some details about the process of requesting military service records post First World War.

Tuesday's Tip - Commonwealth War Graves

Yesterday, I was reminded of the following video produced by Tessa Keough. I sat and listened again to the video and did a quick search for my one name study name of Orlando. I have done this before, and there are none, not too surprising as it is an Italian name.

However, I watched the video, and Tessa directs researchers to the obvious and perhaps neglected facility of advanced search, marked Filter Results on the left hand side of the page. I contemplated the uses that perhaps I had not thought of.



In the last box under filter research I added the details of the villages for which I am undertaking a one-place study - Puttenham and Wanborough. I then looked at Elstead, a village a few miles away. I shared the photograph of the War memorial on Sunday - you can read that post HERE.

I then wondered if the road which I am undertaking a one place study for would yield any results. A search for Walnut Tree Close, Guildford produced 9 results, all for the First World War.

Whilst that perhaps seems fairly obvious, it is sometimes the simplest and most obvious things that we neglect. I have looked at the Commonwealth War Graves site many times and not once searched in any way, other than by surname.

It is important to remember that if you are using the filter research box and insert a town or village that you do add addition information - such as the County. There are for instance, two Puttenham, two Wanborough's with North Wanborough being in Wiltshire and two Elstead's, and whilst there are perhaps differences in the spelling, it is worth looking a little closer at the detail.

So thank you Tessa for reminding me of the advanced search; and it is never too late to learn or be prodded to try something new.

Monday 11 November 2013

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Eight

This is a photograph of my Mum's first Cousin, who I will refer to as FT. Whilst FT is now deceased, he had an unusual surname and has left quite a few descendants. 

I do not know where this was taken, but it was taken in the early years of the second world war, say around 1940. I sent off for his war record for one of his descendants last year, and am awaiting a copy of it to arrive. FT was not one to talk about his war experiences, like many of his generation, but the contribution he made was huge and it is very important that it is recognised.

Born in Surrey England to a military man from Dodford, Northamptonshire. FT spent time in the Royal Navy before being demobbed at the end of the War. On the way home, the vessel experienced some engine trouble and pulled into port. Having been told that there was a delay of about six weeks FT pointed to another ship, asked where that was going. Upon hearing and approving of the destination he changed vessels and never looked back. 

Sunday 10 November 2013

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Seven

This photograph was taken on a really grey and miserable autumn day about 20 years ago.

It is the War Memorial at Elstead in Surrey, about 2 miles from Puttenham where the majority of my Great Grandmother's family hailed from.

My Great Great Grandmother was called Caroline Ellis. Born in Puttenham in 1844 the daughter of George and Prudence Budd.

My Grandfather's cousin always maintained the Elstead got it's name from the multiple Ellis families in the area, Ellis-Stead. How much of that is true I don't know, except there were multiple Ellis families and unravelling them is a genealogist nightmare. The same names keep appearing; so I have three George and Sarah Ellis' giving birth to children, with the same names around the same time. Nightmare to research!

The Ellis' on this memorial are in fact cousins of Caroline Ellis. I do have photographs of those named, but have elected to share them a little later on a project I have planned for 2014. However, this memorial is in fact incomplete. There was at least one more Ellis that gave his life and he is not named on the memorial.

I became aware of Amos Ellis a few weeks ago when I received an email from someone. I had up until this point not been aware of Amos, because he was not a direct ancestor. I felt so sad that someone can contribute so much and yet simply slip through the cracks.

So today, as I post late on Sunday and we roll across into Armistice Day it seems fitting to mention Amos and be aware that there are instances like this across the Country. Do we not owe it to these men and their descendants to put the matter right?

Saturday 9 November 2013

Book of Me, Written by You - Prompt 11

Today is week 11 of what is going to be a 15 month project. Each Saturday, at around 12.30am UK time I will release the prompt for that week's Book of Me, Written by You.

If you are new here, welcome! The details, background flyer and Face Book link to the Book of Me can be found HERE

This week’s prompt is Military

  • Did you join the military
    • Were you encouraged or discouraged?
  • Did a family member?
    • Regular or for a particular incident
  • Did you or your family serve overseas in the line of service either during a war or as a posting?
  • Any thoughts, photographs, memories relevant

This is a nice link in with the Remembrance Day Photo Collage Festival. 

The video is located on the YouTube Channel

Remembrance Day Photo Collage - Day Six

This post is about my 4th Great Grandfather George Ellis. He has lead me on quite a journey!

George Ellis was baptised on 12 June 1774 at Holy Trinity Church in Guildford Surrey, the son of James Ellis and Elizabeth Bridger.

George is located as an apprentice, which confirms that George at the age of 17 years, was apprenticed to Richard Fludder, a blacksmith of Puttenham for a period of 4 years, to learn the trade for his keep and a wage of 2/- weekly for the first year, 2/6 for second year, 3/- for third year and 3/6 for the remainder, but he was turned away without notice after 3 and a half years. 

We can therefore estimate the time he was apprenticed was from 1791 - 1794 or 1795. We know he joined the military in 1797, and that he was married to an unknown wife pre 1805 because when he marries Sarah Beagel in 1805, he is classed as a widower. 
Marriage to George's second wife -
Sarah Beagel 1805. St Mary's Guildford
Marriage to George's third wife  -
Sarah Virgo in 1824 at Holy Trinity Guildford,
who signed her name as Mary Virgo!

George Ellis left the employ of the 10th Hussars having served 20 years and 48 days and was discharged at Brighton Sussex.

Statement of Service  - 10th Royal Hussars,  March 1797 - May 1817
The National Archives WO97/45/38
Discharged in 1817 after serving 20 years and three months, injuries of
Stricture of Urethra, subject to fits and severe injury of the shoulder
The National Archives WO97/45/38
George is named on the Peninsular Medal Roll as receiving 4 clasps with the following particulars:
S & B = Sahagan & Benevente
V = Vittoria
O = Orthes
T= Toulouse
This looks like where George sustained the injuries that lead to his discharge three years later.

In the early part of 2010 I was searching The National Archives site and came across a reference to George Ellis, late of the 10th Light Dragoons in relation to a pension. When the document arrived I looked and for whatever reason didn't spot that although this document relates to someone else there is an insert in relation to George. Here is the full document.

Full document from the National Archives
with the insert relating to George Ellis 1819
The National Archives WO121/182/42
Insert relating to George Ellis.
Who still had not received monies from
the war pension in 1819.
The National Archives WO121/182/42
A further search at the National Archives revealed another reference
  1. WO121/182/42 (see film 134) - Records of Royal Hospital Chelsea - Certificates of service and related correspondence - with a mention of 11th Royal Veteran Battalion (see above)
  2. WO97/1184B/320 - Records of Royal Hospital Chelsea  - Miscellaneous - Served 11th Royal Veteran Battalion
An example of the dress worn by those in the 10th Royal Hussars

After George's discharge he returned to Puttenham, and I have a hunch that there is more unraveling and unearthing of documents to do; I have no proof that I can find anything more about him, other than a hunch, which I plan to explore.

Whatever he did, to fall out of favour with Richard Fludder before he joined the military is a mystery. On his death certificate he is recorded as being a blacksmith and the cause of death is "Exhausted Nature"

Death Certificate for George Ellis 1850.

Linkwithin

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