Gendover Week 2: Goals and Interviews

Photo by Nomadic Lass, available under a
Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence. 

Thomas’s post regarding week two starts by asking us to go back to where it all began. For me it began properly when I broke my wrist at the gym on the 23^rd of July 2006. I didn't remember the exact date, just that I really liked the gas and air I was given, morphine didn't help the pain, and I called my then boyfriend a gnome; he was a gym bunny. Luckily for my records my mother recorded the date on my immunisation record card so I’ll not forget it.  I was signed off work and bored out of my brain, the physiotherapist had told me that I wasn't to use a computer keyboard but she’d said nothing about a laptop. My wrist was kept flat so I figured what they hell ….

The first thing I did was look up my birth entry on the GRO index. I quickly moved onto the indexes for the rest of the family and joined Ancestry.co.uk. Shaky leaf fever then set in. When my dad got home from work I’d drawn up a tree back to my great grandparents (I was very lucky to have known three of my great grandmother’s) and my dad started telling tales of the family. 

My Taid then found out what I was doing and he had my nana go and find all the old documents she could; they came in a shoebox and I spent an evening scanning them.  I was told tales of a great grandfather (how many times great I didn't know, and I'm not sure my Taid did either!) who was a tailor and said he was ‘going to London to buy some fabric’, never to return. But Wait! He was seen by another relative who was a merchant seaman some years later when they were docked in South Africa but before contact could be made the runaway great great did another runner!

And then there was the tale of the great grandfather who had owned some substantial property in Holywell, only to lose it all in a game of cards.

How exciting, but how likely? Could these tales be proved? Unfortunately the last of my great grandmother’s (and whose family all these stories related to) died in 2004 and my biggest regret is not taking the time to record her stories. She was 99 when she died. God Bless.

Even back then I knew I wanted to find out more about my family. Where did we come from? Are we as Welsh as we like to think we are? Why did we stop speaking Welsh? Without realising it I had set some of my first Research Goals, but they had a wide scope, and as I didn't realise what I was doing it wasn't very organised.

So my Research Goals for now are:

1.	Re-evaluate link back to George Rice Price PARRY. This is the gentleman who supposedly ran away to London / South Africa. Although this is a do-over because he is a long-standing brickwall the line has been done-over previously. I wrote a blog about him and my hunt – it can be seen here. Maybe you have some views on my evidence gathering and analysis. This time I will focus on the documentation; What does it tell me? What is missing? Have I missed anything?
2.	Did ‘my’ PARRY family own property in Holywell, Flintshire, Wales. A research plan will be constructed around this. The first step of which will be to confirm the ancestry.
3.	The PULESTON connection; How does Mary PULESTON relate to the PULESTONs of Emral, Flintshire, Wales, if at all. A research plan will be constructed around this. The first step of which will be to confirm the ancestry.

The other two parts of this week focus on Interviewing:

Photo by Eelco, available under a
 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence © Eelco Kruidenier 2005

I have never taken the time to formally interview myself or any member of my family. I’ve asked leading questions whilst the beer has been passed around, I’ve arranged to meet up with cousins with the primary reason being genealogy, but I’ve not really thought about what I should ask, or if I should digitally record it. All my previous tales from the family have been scribbled down on scraps of paper, different notebooks, typed up as it’s been spoken.

Sure I’ve taken along the pedigree and family tree to show (and hopefully jog memories), but my questions have been vague and rambling. For example, it took me ages to locate the GRO index for my auntie because I didn’t know she had a middle name. I’d asked my mum “so who are the family members, what are their names and approximate ages?” but I’d never thought to sit her down (away from distractions) and ask a structured set of questions that would help to lead her down memory lane. Instead we ran all over it backwards, forwards and ended up in the bushes somewhere eating biscuits and drinking tea (distractions you see).

So my task this week, and I hope my cousins and immediate family members will participate once it’s finished, is to design a questionnaire which will extract information about the family. It needs to be concise enough to cover the basic birth, marriage(s), death and burial information, but also have enough give to capture any family tales that may provide hints and clues to unlocking brick walls.

Thomas has mentioned using Family Group Sheets for his family interviews, and they appear to be central to his planning and tracking of research. Whilst I agree they are very useful for the genealogists I think they can be quite terrifying to the uninitiated. This is why I don’t, and won’t be using them as part of the interview phase in their current form.  I use an Excel based Family Group Sheet, which you can access here via GoogleDrive if you so wish. Feel free to amend, use, or suggest alterations to your hearts content. I like using the spreadsheet because I can hyperlink the families easier than in a word processor or .pdf document, although one problem with hyperlinking is that once you move the files the links need re-attaching.  When I’m out and about I tend to take print-outs with me, but again it depends how many loose sheets the archive or library will allow you to take in with you.

Help I have a Brickwall - PARRY

My longest and tallest brick wall concerns my 3^rd great grandfather, George Rice Price PARRY.

I first found mention of George on the birth certificate of his son, Thomas Rice Price PARRY. Thomas was born on the 3^rd of October 1837 in Holywell, Flintshire. His parents were listed as George Rice Price PARRY, tailor from Holywell, New Road, and Ann OWENS.

Note Ann is listed as Ann OWENS not Ann PARRY previously OWENS so I don’t think they were married.

Using this I was able to locate the family in 1841 living on New Road in Holywell. (HO107/1413 Book 7 Folio 20 Page 32 lines 1 to 4)

As you can see George and Ann were not born in Flintshire, and the estimated birth date for George is 1816 ± 5 years.

Again, using Thomas in the search I found the family living in Chester Street, Holywell (HO107/2500 Folio 250 Page 2)

The family has grown, and you can see that George is shown as George R P Parry, a tailor who was born in the Isle of Mann around 1813.

In 1861 George is found in St. Asaph workhouse (RG9/4297 Folio 27 Page 3)

He is still married, and the rest of the family are not in the workhouse with him. Again his place of birth is given as the Isle of Mann, this time the estimated birth year is 1810. 

When I discovered that he was in the workhouse I contacted Flintshire Record Office. Steven Davies, archivist, provided me with the following information:

He first appears on Wednesday 7th March 1860.  His full name is given as "George Rice Price Parry", classed as an "old and infirm man" for dietary purposes, given the number 14-1 and admitted by the order of Thomas Griffiths. 

The cause of seeking relief is "bad eyes" and the parish responsible for his relief is Denbigh.  His first meal on admittance was supper.

He discharges himself on 16th April 1860 and is described as "of good character"

He is re-admitted on 16th January 1861.  The details are the same though he is now written as "George R P Parry" and the cause of relief is described as "blindness". 

He discharges himself again on 22nd April 1861. Then he is re-admitted again on Saturday October 26th 1861.  Again the details are the same though the cause of relief is "Bad Sight" - so the earlier blindness was not permanent or maybe was exaggerated by the workhouse records.  This time he is admitted by order of the Overseer of Denbigh. 

He again discharges himself, on 14th November 1861.  There are no other 1861 entries. There are no other family members mentioned in all of this. 

In 1871, for some unknown reason, I found George living in a boarding house in Bradford, Yorkshire. (RG10/4461 Folio 68 Page 18)

He is recorded as ‘George R P Parry’ so I’ve got the right man, but is describing himself as a ‘widow’, whilst Ann and the rest of the children are still living in Holywell. However, she is also describing herself as a ‘widow’, so perhaps it was a ‘poor-mans’ divorce. There is a family rumour though that he ‘ran off to London to buy cloth and was never seen or heard of again’. He is shown as a tailor, born in the Isle of Mann in about 1810.

This is the last I’ve found of him on census records.

I couldn’t locate a marriage for George and Ann (having used Freebmd to search for George PARRY and OWENS / OWEN from Sept. 1837 to Dec 1871 all counties / all districts), nor could I locate a likely death entry on the GRO.

So I went back to the beginning. As the only three constants were

Name: George Rice Price Parry

Occupation: Tailor

Place of Birth: Isle of Mann

I focused my search on finding a baptism between the years 1810 and 1816 in the Isle of Mann. Thanks to the help of some rootschat-ers a possible baptism was located in the parish registers of St. Matthew, Douglas. There was only one problem. As you can see below the name of the child was George Rice Price OWEN.

He was the son of John OWEN and Ann, who was baptised on the 11^th of September 1812. A rootschat member who is well versed in parish registers from the Isle of Mann had a look at the entry and told me that, in his opinion, the parents were not married. If they were the image ought to have contained the mother’s maiden name. There are no other baptisms for children with a father called John OWEN or OWENS

So

I’m 99% certain that George Rice Price PARRY started life as George Rice Price OWEN. However, this in itself raises questions.

1.       Why did George change his name from OWEN to PARRY?

2.       Where did his parents come from? In the major online sources of Manx history, there are no established OWENS or PARRYs on the island at this point in time.

3.       When and how did George come over to Wales, and how did he come to settle in Holywell?

4.       Why did he move to Bradford?

5.       Despite not being able to find a marriage record, did George and Ann OWEN marry?

6.       Where and when did he die?

If anyone can give me a clue as to an answer for any of the above I’d be grateful. Also, as I’ve no idea where to go from here all suggestions are welcome……

One Wrong Turn...

On my way home from work tonight I stumbled into a conversation on Twitter between @carlplage and @kmwebott about the joys of following the wrong route. This got me thinking, not about the many wrong branches I’ve followed but about the reason why it appears there’s not been much progress on my own family tree. Now as you know I’ve just started the STEERS ONS and you may think that this is the reason but you’d be wrong. This is why....

On the 28^th August 2010 I went to the London Family History Centre at Hyde Park to look at the parish registers and Bishops Transcripts. One of the records I found there was the marriage of Robert DAVIES to Elizabeth JONES. Their marriage took place on the 15^th September 1900 at St. Mary without Walls Parish Church, Handbridge, Cheshire.

Photo taken from Microfilm.
Marriage record for Robert DAVIES & Elizabeth JONES

Now I know that this is the correct marriage certificate as I have their son’s birth certificate. Their son was Edward John DAVIES and my Great Grandfather. I have mentioned him previously on this blog, most notably in Wordless Wednesday, Tombstone Tuesday and Sunday’s Obituary posting.

Edward’s birth certificate shows that Robert was a Coal Miner and his mother was Elizabeth JONES. Edward was born 22^nd December 1900 in Ewloe. Ewloe is not that far from Handbridge so it’s not surprising they went “over the border” for their quick wedding.

I purchased Edward’s birth certificate in 2007, back when I’d only just started out on this adventure so my instincts hadn’t quite developed and I was still making mistakes. 

Back then I found Robert, Elizabeth and Edward on the 1901 census (RG13/ 3378 Folio 29 Page 49), living in Dury, Flintshire. Dury is part of Mold and Buckley district and this area includes Ewole so I had the correct family. Robert gave his age as 29 (born approximately 1872) and stated he was born in Hawarden.

So I followed them back to 1891 (RG12/3223 Folio 71 Page 23), and this is where it all went wrong. The Robert DAVIES I thought was my relation in 1891 was a 14 year old living in Salford, Lancashire in about 1877. His birthplace was given as Wales and his father Samuel was a coal miner. Well I went on a merry trip down this gentleman’s line tracing it back to a William DAVIES born about 1822 in Pentrefoelas, Denbighshire.

Needless to say when I got my hands on the image of the marriage in the parish register for Robert and Elizabeth and saw that the groom’s father was blank I had to go back.

Luckily by this point the 1911 Census had been released by FMP and I used the computers at the Hyde Park FHS to obtain a copy of the family, who were now living in at The Chemistry in Saltney, Flintshire. Robert gives his age as 38 (born approximately 1873), and tells that he was born in Hawarden and has been married for 10 years, further supporting his marriage being in 1901.

So next on the list was to order up the birth certificate for Robert (that was my wishful thinking, maybe he didn’t know his father, maybe he disowned his father... and other such fanciful ideas). I was very lucky in knowing that he was born in Hawarden as this falls within the registration district of Chester. I searched births for Robert DAVIES in Flintshire between 1871 and 1873 using FreeBMD and came up with two possibilities, the first in Q2 of 1871 and the second in Q1 of 1873. I used North Wales Free BMD to confirm the birthplace as Hawarden (listed as a Sub-District) for these two entries. Robert gave his age as 27 when he married in 1901, which puts his birth in 1874 although in the census of the same year his age is given as 29. He was older than his bride so I believe that the census age is more accurate. With this in mind I ordered the birth certificate from 1873.

This certificate gives his mother as Hannah DAVIES, widow of Peter DAVIES, formally DAVIES. However the father’s name is left blank. Again.

Birth Certificate Extract
GRO: 1874 Q1 Chester, 8a 427

When I received this birth certificate I realised that I couldn't trust my work from when I started. At the very least it needed to be checked and sources clarified. It also dawned on me that my tree was only kept on Ancestry. This was not good practice as I could only add to it for as long as my subscription stays current!  As my tree was only on Ancestry, this was the only place where the sources were stored, I hadn't downloaded ANYTHING.

And so began my re-vamp.

I decided that I needed to have

• A fully sourced tree both online and offline. 
• Copies of all sources i.e. census returns, military records, baptisms [photographed from microfilm where possible], marriages in parish registers [photographed from microfilm where possible & save on certificate costs], burials [again photographed from microfilm where possible], GRO index’s etc. etc. 
• Family Group Sheets filled out for each member on my tree. Pedigree Tree’s for all main lines that can be linked into the family group sheets. (For this I use Excel and Hyperlinks)

Now that doesn’t sound like too much work does it? Well I’ve been doing it for two years and I’m still only on the PARRY’s.  

It takes time to go back through ALL your research and it’s frustrating when you see glaring mistakes like that mentioned above. It’s still not certain that I have the right certificate; I’ll have to order the other to be sure and then see if I can tie up the family on census records but at least this time I know that and I’m not going to go hurtling down a branch and get splinters along the way!

So I am still doing work on the tree, I may not have made any advances backwards for a while but it’s because I’m making sure what I have is correct. That’s much more important than having traced my ancestors back to the medieval period or into Royalty, if it’s wrong then what’s the point?

I’m doing the PARRY’s at the moment (my paternal great grandmother’s line). I think they’re the largest family within my family and the only reason I’m on the PARRY's is because I happened to be speaking to a cousin when all this began and they gave me some info.

So to all you genealogists out there, newbies or seasoned amateurs 

DON’T FORGET YOUR SOURCES.

Wordless Wednesday: My Family

WDYTYA Live 2011: Merchant Seamen Records

The first talk was by Janet Dempsy. She focused on what records are available at The National Archives (Kew) and pointed out that the records are for ALL personal serving on Merchant ships (women crew).

The prefix BT stands for Board of Trade. This is the Board responsible for collecting the rather patchy records. The records should be regarded as Employment Records, rather than the Service Records we would associate with the military. 

• 1835 to 1857 These records were systematically collected. 
• 1857 to 1918 No records remain. 
• 1918 to 1972 Records exist but they are no systematically collected in all instances and the records have been split into three groups;

1. 1918 to 1920 
2. 1920 to 1941 
3. 1941 to 1972

The National Archives website has a useful overview of the information available and it can be found here; 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-subject/merchant-ships.htm?WT.lp=rg-5766

The main records are;

BT98 1747 to 1860. Agreements and Crew Lists, Series I. This provides Crew Lists for the Ships. However their survival is limited and will more often just provide the Master’s name.

BT100 1835 to 1999. Agreements and Crew Lists, Series III. This provides Crew Lists, with log books where they survive, for celebrated ships. 

BT112 and BT119 1835 to 1844. Register of Seamen, Series II. This record set is split into two parts. Part 1 (1835 February 1840) was arranged numerically and an index to this is found in BT119. Part 2 (December 1841 to 1844) was arranged (mostly) alphabetically by surname. Again this is indexed in BT119/28. 

There are NO RECORDS for the period between February 1840 and December 1841. 

BT113 and BT114 1845 to 1854. This is when the “Ticketing” System was in place. BT113 is arranged by Ticket Number.

BT113 may also hold records of Navy seamen as a ticket was required by ANYBODY who was working on a vessel.

BT114 provides an alphabetical index to the Register of Seamen’s Tickets, but it is not complete as some Ticket Numbers have no further information.

BT116 1853 to 1857. Register of Seamen, Series III. This collection starts in October and is indexed by Surname, Forename. If you do not know the Seamen’s Ticket Number it is possible to find it in this collection, and cross reference with BT113.

Using the Ticket Number you can find out what Ship was sailed on at either; www.findmypast.co.uk/specialist.jsp (Crew Lists 1861 - 1913) or at http://www.crewlist.org.uk/

BT120 1835 to 1836. Register of Seamen, Series I. An alphabetised list of Seamen.

BT165 1857 to 1972. Ship’s Official Logs. These often only survive if they have recorded items of note i.e. births, marriages and deaths at sea.

BT336 1893 to 1948. Registers of Changes of Master.

BT348 1921 to 1941. CR2 Cards. These are arranged by Discharge Number. CR2 Cards often show the Ship numbers the Seamen served on. To find the name of the Ship there is a list at www.crewlist.org.uk.

BT349 1921 to 1941. CR1 Cards. Alphabetically organised these records gave the “Discharge Number” that stayed with the Seamen through their careers. They were always being discharged from one ship to join another so they were not discharged from service. The Discharge Number can be used to find the Ship numbers in BT348

BT350 1918 to 1920. The records between 1913 and 1918 were destroyed. This set contains the CR-10 Cards of the Merchant Seamen. These are the record of their Identity Card being issued to them and due to the war all had portrait pictures attached as the Seamen were going on and off different ships.

BT351 1914 to 1925. Index of First World War Mercantile Marine Medals and the British War Medal. Alphabetised by surname. These medals did not need to be applied for. 

BT372 1913 to 2002. CRS 3 or Seamen’s Pouches. Arranged by Discharge Number within each series as follows:

Numbers (no prefix) = Various nationalities (mainly British)
A = India and Pakistan
BAR = Barbados
BG = British Guyana
B/HT = British - born in India
C/O = Bangladesh citizens
C or CAN = Canadian
E = Eire
F = Falkland Islands
G = Ghana
HK or Hong Kong = Hong Kong
I, Ind or India = Indian nationality
J or Jam = Jamaica
K = Tanganyika 

K/O = India or Pakistan
M or Malta = Malta
Mau = Mauritius
Nig = Nigeria
R = British seamen
S = Various (mainly British)
SA = South Africa
SE = Western Isles and Northern Ireland
SEY = Seychelles
SI = Singapore
SL = Sierra Leone
St L = St. Lucia
T & T = Trinidad and Tobago
Z or Zan = Zanzibar

BT382 1941 to 1972. This contains the CRS 10 Forms, or Docket Books. Everybody who went to sea during this timeframe will have had a Docket Book. The series is ordered alphabetically.

Abbreviations were used on these forms; some common abbreviations used were as follows:

MRNP; Merchant Navy Reserve Pool
AB; Able Bodied Seaman
EDH; Efficient Deck Hand
VG; Very Good
DR; Declined to Report
F; Foreign
H; Home

BT390 1939 to 1946. Merchant Seamen’s Service on Royal Navy Ships. This series includes Seamen’s Pouches of those serving on the Royal Navy vessels. It is alphabetised by Surname.

BT391 1944 to 1945. Merchant Seamen’s Pouches. This series detail the record of those Merchant Seamen who were engaged in the liberation of Europe (06 June 1944 to 08 May 1945). Alphabetised by Surname.

BT395 1946 to 2002. Database of World War II Medals issued to Merchant Seamen. This database can be searched via the National Archives website here. The search page also gives more information about the types of Medals, who was entitled to apply for the Medals and advise on how to interpret the results of the search.

T335 1939 to 1947. Second World Ward Merchant Navy Gallantry Awards. These are searchable via the National Archives here by Name of Individual or Name of the Ship. Details about why the award was given are also recorded. This may relate to actions dating from months or years earlier.

Podcast by Janet regarding Merchant Seamen Operational Records can be heard here

So Where Next?

I'm going to go back to Documents Online and see again if I can find any record of Arthur PARRY who was born in 1898 in Mold. According to family sources he served in the Merchant Navy during the war; I'm assuming that they mean the Second World War. There are many sources I didn't realise existed.

Thoughtful Tuesday

I've been kind of busy this week, but I don't feel like I've got anything done. This is mostly because although I've been doing stuff, I still have a load of things that need doing.....but I keep getting distracted.


So this week, I have sorted out my genealogy papers, and my lord there was a lot of them. This was me a couple of hours in:

Such fun! Two hours after that, and with a little "help" from my youngest ratties who decided to run off with my KEEP papers but left my SHREDDING file well alone, I finished organising. What it leaves me with is a lovely pile of KEEP papers that I want to upload onto the computer or at least type up.


So here's my TO DO LIST, in no particular order

1. Type up / Scan in and upload handwritten notes on both STEERS and DAVIES families.
2. Put together and send off two discs of PARRY information to Haig 
3. Type up the family sheets for both STEERS and DAVIES families
4. Transcribe PULESTON wills (that I've had for a couple of years!)
5. In an effort to break down the STEERS brick wall gather as much information on the STEERS at the family history centre in London. Concentrating on Hackney, Islington and Lewisham.
6. Do at least two genebloggers posts in February

So this is what I need to do and I have to stay focused...hopefully this will help. I'll keep you updated on how I get on

Easily Excited?

I got my ticket yesterday for Who Do You Think You Are 2011 (WDYTYA2011) and I’ve booked myself into three workshops and a slot with “Ask the Experts”...now I have to figure out what to ask them.

I attended last year, on the Sunday and had a brilliant time but I didn’t attend any of the workshops and I decided that next year I would do it properly! So this year I am. I’m going on the Friday (day off work yey!)

The workshops I’ve booked myself onto are:

TNA- Merchant Seamen sea service records with Janet Dempsey

I know that one of my PARRY ancestors was a Merchant Seaman and I haven’t the foggist where to start to look for information about his career. I’ve read the leaflets and been to some of the websites but I’m still confused about what I can and can’t access, what was actually recorded and what, if anything I can find out from these records.

Stuck in London? Resources at the Library of the Society of Genealogists and Elsewhere with Elsie Churchill

I work in London. I live in Kent. Yes I’m a commuter and it took me a year, yes a WHOLE YEAR to realise that the Hyde Park LDS Centre is on my way home from work. The bus I get has a stop at Exhibition Road. Now I know it’s there I try to get there as often as I can.

I know that the SOG is based in London, I have been on their website and have a fuzzy idea of where abouts they are but other than this I don’t know what resources they have or how they would be of use to me. So I’m going to this workshop to find out.

Manx ancestry – genealogical research in the Isle of Man with Colin Chapman

I’m really hoping that by attending this workshop I’ll get some pointers about where I go next with my George Rice Price OWENS (PARRY). He’s the sod that started the PARRY line then disappeared without a trace. He’s the sod that I wish I could hijack the TARDIS for. Well him and his son who left his pregnant wife in the Poor House.  This workshop is for beginners so I should get lots of helpful tips and hints.

There’s quite a large gap between my booked “Ask the Expert” session and the final workshop so I may try to attend a few of the free workshops but I’ll more likely wander around the stall and spend my paycheck (the 25^th is my pay day; this probably isn’t a good thing!). At some point I’ll have to eat too.

So that’s one of the things I got excited about this week. 

The other is to do with my partner’s ancestry. The STEERS, not STEER or STEARS but STEERS. He very kindly gave me permission to run off and investigate his ancestry, I’m not sure if he was interested or just wanted some peace and quiet. Either way I’m doing it now. The family, at first glance at least on the PATERNAL side, appears to be firmly rooted in London, mainly (and rather oddly) in the East End; Hackney, Stepney and in the West; Islington mainly. However their origins appear to be in HULL. Unfortunately I can’t find any Birth or Baptism information on the gent from HULL, who lived in Islington and worked making “fancy mats” and as a carriage cleaner for GNR. It’s another infuriating brick wall. I also found a relation who was born in Rock Ferry, Cheshire; this makes him much happier because he’s a Liverpool fan and now uses that for legitimacy issues down the pub!

I’ll write more about the STEERS as I’ve had some happy discoveries thanks to ancestry’s digitalisation of the London Metropolitan Archives’ Parish Registers. 

Reflections on the First Week of January

I went back to Wales last week. Didn't go to the record office this time as I only went back for 6 days and didn't  think I'd have time.


I did manage to go and see my nana and tiad (thats Welsh for Grandad by the way) and bumped into my Uncle John and little cousin Orla. I say little but she's growing up really quickly. They were kind enough to pass on the memorial card for 1st Cousin x2 removed who died in April last year. That was taken home and scanned into the computer.


I also saw my grandad who let me borrow the WRIGHT family bible. All the writing is in the same hand so I think it was annotated after the events but the names are great starting points. It's a beautiful bible but so so heavy. Within the pages there were lots of pressed flowers too!

WRIGHT Family Bible

As far as I am aware this is the only Family Bible that my family has, indeed it is the only one I have come across.


I spent one, very very hungover, day at Mold Library copying down all entries of WRIGHT, DARLINGTON and DUCKWORTH from the Parish Register Transcriptions that they hold (as published by Clwyd FHS). In doing this I hope that I wont miss any of this family because I can't get to the records. I hope to have databases set up for all my "main" pedigree lines.


I got to spend some quality time with my lovely brother and of course my folks too. My dad also took me out on the back of his XJ1200 around Denbighshire. I love going out on the bike, its bloody brilliant!

My dad (Colin) and I on the bike

Unfortunately I didn't get chance to go and see my cousin's Sarah, Paul and Laura or Laura's troublesome twosome. Neither did I get chance to go and see my Aunty Jenny a.k.a The Witch because if I call her Aunty she doesn't like it; apparently she's too young to be an Aunty. I also wanted to go to the Cemetery to visit my Nan and Great Grandmothers and to have a look in Overleigh Cemetery, Chester and Northop Road Cemetery, Flint for a couple of relatives.


On the plus side again I did talk again today to my 2nd cousin x1 removed Haig. I found him via ancestry's member connect service a couple of weeks ago. We exchanged information and he's going to send me some updates and I need to put a disc together for him and his aunty of all the PARRY information I have.


So basically this week has been lots of catching up with family (and drunkenly with friends - you know who you are), and doing the slog of the ancestry work.

Fun times.

New Year, New Goals

I've been inspired by some of the bloggers who I follow to record what my goals for 2011 are, this way I might actually achieve some of them!! So here we go:

• Blog at least once a week.
• Take part in more of geneabloggers daily prompts.
• Take part in at least 12 "52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy" Challenge.

Ideally the blog will be different to the daily prompt or the 52 weeks challenge but realistically I know this will be difficult to maintain.

• Complete my free genealogy course - Introduction to Genealogy

I only have one module left before the exam so this should be achievable.

• Keep up to date with the blogs I follow that do not have RSS feeds

I find the ability to RSS blogs brilliant, it helps me keep on top of them and allows me to read them at work (where blog sites are normally blocked).

• Make sure that my DAVIES, PARRY, WRIGHT, DARLINGTON, ELLIS and ROBERTS pedigree's are fully sourced

This is going to be the most time-consuming aspect, however it is also the most important. I started this about a year and a half ago, its taking a lot longer than I anticipated because I made mistakes when I started out. Its annoying but at the same time its the reason I went back to the beginning.

• To get to the LDS Centre at Hyde Park on a more regular basis and continue to do look-ups.

I really enjoy going to the LDS and being able to give back to those that have helped me with look-ups in the past. Feel free to request look-ups via the comments section or head over to www.rootschat.com where you can PM me, my handle is LazyLover. You can also get a lot of help from the other members if you're looking for UK ancestors.

• Organise my hard copy records and back them up digitally where possible.
• Ensure my data is backed up at least once a month.

For this I use a programme called BackUp4All Lite. It came free with Your Family Tree Magazine. Its a nice little programme but a little chunky. I will be looking for something a bit more user friendly.

• Keep in touch with newly discovered and discovered cousins and, where possible, meet up with them to share information.
• Put more ancestors on Lost Cousins.com

This is a brilliant website, if you get chance head over there. You never know who you may find.

• Get to the Flintshire, Denbighshire and Cheshire Record Offices.

This is difficult for me to do as I don't come back up North all that often and when I do I have to make sure I spend time with my living relatives! However I did make it to Flintshire twice last year. Before I attempt Denbighshire and Cheshire I have to get my lists in order so I know what I'm looking for!

• Attend Who Do You Think You Are Live 2011

I already have the Friday booked off work, I just need to purchase my ticket. This year I'd like to go to some of the talks, but I'll have to have a look at the schedule. 

and a non-genealogical one, but an important one for me:

• Not to get frustrated with things that I cannot control or change.

Ancestor Approved

After doing way too much housework and cleaning out my pet rats I sat down (finally) at the laptop and prepared to continue processing my baptism images. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see that dee_burris has given me the Ancestor Approved award. This came as a very pleasant surprise as I haven’t been blogging for that long and I wasn’t entirely sure that anyone would be interested in what I have to say...So thanks dee_burris, you’ve given me a reason to carry on with this.

The award comes with a couple of requests:

1. List ten things that you have learned about your ancestors that surprised, humbled, or enlightened you.
2. Pass the award to ten other genealogy bloggers.

What I've learned:

1.       That you don’t have to go back very far in my family to find an English-man! My dad is, and always has been very proud to be Welsh. In turn I am also. He was shocked to find out that my great great grandfather and his grandfather; Franklin ELLIS was actually from Chester!

2.       My great grandmother; Mary Ellen DAVIES (nee PARRY), was a stout Victorian lady, whom scared the life out of me when I was little. A few months ago on a trip home I was told my one of my Aunts that I reminded her of this great grandmother. I’m choosing to take it as a compliment as she went through many hardships, she could not read or write as she was withdrawn from school to look after her siblings, of which there were many. She was an amazing woman really and I’m humbled that I have been compared to her. Oh and also a little scared too! 

3.       I wrote about my 5-year brick wall regarding a Mr George Rice Price PARRY previously: here. Well after much searching and help from people online at rootschat I found him. His name was actually OWEN. This not only surprised me but reminded me that we can take NOTHING for certain, not even what we have been told is true. 

4.       Another great great great grandmother; Ellen PARRY (nee HAYES) was abandoned by her husband, forced to go into the workhouse where she gave birth to a little girl. I wrote briefly about it here. The fact that an ancestor of mine could leave his pregnant wife to a life of destitution really quite upset me when it dawned on me what had happened. It made me very thankful that my family are still together and if anything like that were to happen I know that they would all pull together to support the family. When you start out on your genealogical quest you hope to find skeleton’s in the cupboard, but you want “juicy” ones, when you find something like this it is a shock to the system and it surprised me that someone could be so callous. Or I may be incredibly naive. 

5.       The old story that my PARRY ancestors once owned a Salt company in Holywell, which they sold to the PAXA Company for a small fortune has little basis in reality! The story that the proceeded were either (a) secreted by one of the sons and kept from the rest of the family or (b) gambled and drank away also have little evidence to support them. Stories about the drinking and gambling are probably true but whether he lost his families fortunes or not is unknown. Either way it caused a split in the PARRY family that still exists to some extent. 

6.       Similarly the tale that the PARRYs are related to Stanley of “Dr Livingstone I presume” fame is also a very very very tall tale. Where they get these from is unknown, they have loads that I won’t go into here but rest assured I’m not making myself popular by disproving them! 

7.       I was proud to find out that my great great grandfather; John HUGHES lived next door to Daniel Owen, a tailor and prolific Welsh author. I also wrote about it here. 

8.      When visiting the record office back home I had to go and a look-see at the original newspapers for a report on the death of a child; Albert PARRY (my great grand uncle). He had been killed by a traction engine when he was eleven years old. I found it fascinating going through the old newspapers and when I actually found the report I was shocked, saddened and amazed that the accident had occurred in the first place and that the family were able to pick themselves up and carry on. My great grandmother mentioned above in 2. was only twelve at the time. I transcribed the documents in a previous blog here. 

9.       We rolled down the hill. I come from a long line of miners, labourers and farmers. They suffered hardships and heartaches but still they got on with their lives. Without them I wouldn’t be here. Without them none of us would be here. So thank you to my ancestors and next time I complain about living conditions / snow / work etc. I’ll be taking a moment to consider everything they had to go through. 

10.   My granddad, bless his soul, knows that I’m researching my family tree and he decided that he would shred, yes shred some old documents he had. Now I know this is supposed to be a list about what I’ve learnt from my ancestors but I had to include this. I have learnt, from my living relatives two things; (1) Shredders are an EVIL invention and (2) You cannot stress enough to family members, especially the older generations, how much their “junk” could mean to you and your research.

2.  I'd like to present the Ancestor Approved award to these bloggers, in no particular order:

•             Adventures in Genealogy
•         Digging under my family tree
•         Geneageek
•         Lessons From My Ancestors
•             The Jones Genealogist
•             The Professional Descendant
•             History Repeating; The Family Tree UK blog
•             Tonia’s Roots; Family History and Genealogy
•             The Turning of Generations
•         From Little Acorns