Sometimes you have to think outside the box. So that is what happened this week.
According to A Genealogical History of the Extinct Baronetcies of England by Burke, my 6x great grandmother, Mary Driver, was descended from the Moores of Kentwell Hall.
Basic research on the internet, however, had failed to substantiate this. So I decided early one morning this week to try some experimental google searches. I knew from parish records that Mary Driver had married George Cockrein in 1744 and came from Earl Stonham. So I threw the key words into Google to see what would come up.
To my amazement, I found a family tree that showed Mary Driver baptised in Earl Stonham in 1721, the daughter of Thomas Driver and Pleasance Sayer of Ipswich. How amazing!!! And even more wonderful, this family tree stretches back several more generations. I believe this link is correct because the dates and locations for Mary Driver work AND her mother is said to be Pleasance, and the name Pleasance carried down my family tree until the mid 1800s. Coincidental, but enough for me to stake my family tree on it!!
I have got in touch with Peter Driver and started transcribing some wills. The first one is William Sayer, grocer of Ipswich, who died in 1681 and the father of Pleasance. More on that in future blog posts. I have also downloaded a will of Thomas Driver but I am not sure which one he is yet. I will transcribe that one too, I am sure!
Happy Genie Dance as they like to say!! None of my FTDNA matches have the name Sayer or Driver in their lists - but we shall see there, too!
And a footnote, it was my Mary Driver's niece (also called Mary Driver) who married the Moore of Kentwell Hall! The Pesky Pogsons were talking up their connections again :-)
Sunday 22 June 2014
Sunday 15 June 2014
"My Dearest Boy..."
Last weekend I visited Mum and Dad. While I was there, I took the chance to scan some old family photos. My first post, with the picture of the Munro family in front of the verandah at Sunnyside, contained one of these photos.
Tucked away behind one of the photos was a letter from Viva Kathleen Reeder Munro (1878-1917) to her eldest son, James, my grandfather, on his eighteenth birthday. I can calculate the approximate date of the letter from this, about 26 December 1916:
Viva was staying at the Jubilee Sanatorium, in Dalby, Queensland, away from her family in Warwick. According to the notes on the letter, she was staying there in the hope she would recover from poor health. The Jubilee sanatorium had been established to commemorate the jubilee of Queen Victoria and successfully treated many consumptive patients. Unfortunately, Viva was not among of the lucky ones, and would eventually die from the effects of tuberculosis 18 months later.
Viva's first sentence: "Very many happy returns on your 18th birthday. I trust you will be spared strong and well to see your 81st". This was not to be. It is a sad irony that James himself would be admitted to the very same sanatorium in years to come, also suffering from tuberculosis. James died aged 52 from a weak heart, an inheritance from this illness.
What I have learned about my great-grandmother Viva from this letter? She loved her son - she calls him "Jig"! I never knew that this was his pet name. Viva was also creative, she tells James that she won first prize for the most original costume at the carnival. What was it? I have no idea and would love to know. The letter also refers to people who are unknown to me, "Pally" and "Auntie". And, most poignant of all, she talks about her health, saying she feels cooler and is starting to feel a bit better.
I am delighted beyond measure to have found this letter. All I know about James and Viva is what my mother has told me. They are both enigmas, all I have are photos. This letter is Viva's voice from almost 100 years ago. It tells me something about her, and her love for her family and her son. It is sad for me that Viva was away from her husband and children when this 18th birthday milestone took place.
James, my grandfather, preserved this document because it was treasured, maybe it was the last letter his mother ever wrote to him. You treasured this letter your entire life Daddy Jim. I am your grand-daughter and you never knew me. But I feel I know you a little better now and, like you, I will treasure this letter always.
(This post was inspired by Julie Goucher's Book of Me Project, topic #42, Handwriting).
Tucked away behind one of the photos was a letter from Viva Kathleen Reeder Munro (1878-1917) to her eldest son, James, my grandfather, on his eighteenth birthday. I can calculate the approximate date of the letter from this, about 26 December 1916:
(page 1 of 4)
Viva was staying at the Jubilee Sanatorium, in Dalby, Queensland, away from her family in Warwick. According to the notes on the letter, she was staying there in the hope she would recover from poor health. The Jubilee sanatorium had been established to commemorate the jubilee of Queen Victoria and successfully treated many consumptive patients. Unfortunately, Viva was not among of the lucky ones, and would eventually die from the effects of tuberculosis 18 months later.
Viva's first sentence: "Very many happy returns on your 18th birthday. I trust you will be spared strong and well to see your 81st". This was not to be. It is a sad irony that James himself would be admitted to the very same sanatorium in years to come, also suffering from tuberculosis. James died aged 52 from a weak heart, an inheritance from this illness.
What I have learned about my great-grandmother Viva from this letter? She loved her son - she calls him "Jig"! I never knew that this was his pet name. Viva was also creative, she tells James that she won first prize for the most original costume at the carnival. What was it? I have no idea and would love to know. The letter also refers to people who are unknown to me, "Pally" and "Auntie". And, most poignant of all, she talks about her health, saying she feels cooler and is starting to feel a bit better.
I am delighted beyond measure to have found this letter. All I know about James and Viva is what my mother has told me. They are both enigmas, all I have are photos. This letter is Viva's voice from almost 100 years ago. It tells me something about her, and her love for her family and her son. It is sad for me that Viva was away from her husband and children when this 18th birthday milestone took place.
James, my grandfather, preserved this document because it was treasured, maybe it was the last letter his mother ever wrote to him. You treasured this letter your entire life Daddy Jim. I am your grand-daughter and you never knew me. But I feel I know you a little better now and, like you, I will treasure this letter always.
(This post was inspired by Julie Goucher's Book of Me Project, topic #42, Handwriting).
Sunday 8 June 2014
Welcome to the Blog!
This blog is to record my family history searches for my family tree. "Hoops" stands for my family, "Mazes" for my husband's. There is lots to research on this journey.
This weekend I have been at Mum & Dad's. I have been scanning and uploading old family photographs using the best gadget I have bought this year, my Flip Pal!!
Lets open my blog with this one: the Munro family taken at their house Sunnyside, in Warwick Queensland c.1912.
In this photo are my great-grandparents, James Robert Duncan Munro and Viva Kathleen Milward Reeder, and their three children, James Robert Duncan (the boy standing behind the seated group and my grandfather), Alexander Norman and Kathleen Laura Munro. Also with them is Mrs Violet Field, their house-keeper.
This photo is poignant for me as it captures a moment in time before sadness would descend the family. Within 10 years Viva and Kathleen would be dead. Sunnyside is cruelly ironic.
I will try to keep up to date with this blog, recording my family history discoveries for posterity.
Welcome to the blog!
This weekend I have been at Mum & Dad's. I have been scanning and uploading old family photographs using the best gadget I have bought this year, my Flip Pal!!
Lets open my blog with this one: the Munro family taken at their house Sunnyside, in Warwick Queensland c.1912.
In this photo are my great-grandparents, James Robert Duncan Munro and Viva Kathleen Milward Reeder, and their three children, James Robert Duncan (the boy standing behind the seated group and my grandfather), Alexander Norman and Kathleen Laura Munro. Also with them is Mrs Violet Field, their house-keeper.
This photo is poignant for me as it captures a moment in time before sadness would descend the family. Within 10 years Viva and Kathleen would be dead. Sunnyside is cruelly ironic.
I will try to keep up to date with this blog, recording my family history discoveries for posterity.
Welcome to the blog!
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