Children's Names can be important clues. Goodman of Rickmansworth

Rickmansworth

Help Desk

Gilliam had a problem - which is in many ways a common one. Her research had got back to the later 18th century and only available evidence, the 1851 census, suggested that Thomas was born in Wiltshire. A thorough search of Wiltshire registers proved negative and Gillian wondered if perhaps he might actually have been born in Hertfordshire. I drafted a detailed reply based on this idea, and gave suggestions and leads which anyone with a similar problem might find useful. 

However one of the many children baptised in Rickmansworth was named in a different way to the others and I wondered why. This took me back to the tiny village of Rushall, in Wilts. But this was where the census said (after adjusting spelling) Thomas had been born.  Two leads from Hertfordshire back to the same tiny Wiltshire village, coupled with an unusual local Wiltshire surname, cannot be a coincidence ... and in the village there was, at the time Thomas was born, an active General Baptist Meeting House. While I may not have identified Thomas's parents by name it seems very likely that they were Baptists - and probably no direct record of his birth/baptism survives.

[Click Here for full details].

Genealogists' Magazine - December 2013 - Burial Records

SoG

I have just received the latest copy of the Genealogists' Magazine, The Journal of the Society of Genealogists.

It contains a useful article on UK Burial Records on the Deceased Online Web Site which lists many municipal cemeteries including the following from Hertfordshire.

• Kingshill Cemetery, Berkhamsted (1947)
• Heath Lane Cemetery, Hemel Hempstead (1878)
• Woodwells Cemetery, Hemel Hempstead (1960)
• Tring Cemetery, Tring (1894)
• Bury Green Cemetery, Cheshunt (1855)
• Ware Road Cemetery, Hoddesdon (1883)

The Hoddesdon Cemetery includes burials re-interred from St Monica's Priory.

There is an article on the Society of Genealogists Apprentice index, produced in 1920 and now being put online, which includes some apprentices from Hertfordshire.

Other articles don't relate to the county but I really enjoyed reading about Dr Thomas Smethurst, The Richmond Prisoner, which has some interesting twists at the end, and I was interested to discover the army pensioners were sent to Western Australia from 1850 to act as guards to some of the last prisoners to be transported.

More about Willian (now part of Letchworth Garden City)

Places

Willian

Graham has kindly pointed out an error on the Willian page relating to the different ways the name has been spelt in the past - and I have used the opportunity to improve the quality of the above early picture of the church, and to add another description of the village from the 1930s.

Hodgkinson of Shantock Hall, Bovingdon

Help Desk

Bovingdon

In September I has a query from Saul about Shantock Hall, Bovingdon, the home of Benjamin Outram Hodgkinson at the time of the 1851 census, and in reply I provided maps and other information. I have now has a contact from Wilf, who has been researching the Hodgkinson family for about 50 years, which I have passed to Saul. I was very busy in September and I now find I had forgotten to post details of the update on this Newsletter - so here goes  [More Information] 

Potters Bar Trade Fete, 1910

Pictures

I have just acquired this somewhat damaged photograph of the Potter Bar Trade Fete of 1910. One name is given but the figure is not identified. If you had ancestors living in Potters Bar, particularly if they were in trade, you may be able to identify the,

I have not investigated it, but I would guess the fete was an annual affair.

Booklet about the Tring Home Guards (2nd World War)

It is always worth checking the local newspapers of the towns you are researching, as many of them print heritage articles.

The Military

For instance the Hemel Hempsted Gazette has a weekly Heritage page and details often appear on its web site.

This weeks offering describes the activities of the Tring Home Guard during the Second World War. It is based on an informative booklet produced by the Tring and District Local History and Museum  Society.

Hertfordshire Newspapers online

Newspapers

While the British Newspaper Archive is a wonderful resource - and comes up with gems of information it can be very frustrating. I use FindMyPast to access it and if you get a "Nil" response it does not tell you that you are, for example, searching in a county for a year for which there are no newspapers available yet! It also does not remember which articles you have already viewed

The Archive is continually being updated and if you access it using FindMyPast you are regularly reminded that further newspaper pages have been added. There is a list of newspapers online and the current list has the URL 

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/cms/fmp/pdf/newspapers-coverage-060913.pdf 

which suggests that it is the list on 6th September 2013. The problem is that the list does not mark which papers have been updated since the previous list - so you don't know if there is any new material for Hertfordshire (including papers in adjoining counties which cover parts of the county). So here is a list of the current coverage - and I will post news of any updates I spot in this Newsletter.

Bucks Herald	Buckinghamshire	1833-1909
Cambridge Chronicle and Journal	Cambridgeshire	1813-1871
Cambridge Independent Press	Cambridgeshire	1839-1913
Chelmsford Chronicle	Essex	1783-1950
Essex Newsman	Essex	1870-1950
Essex Standard	Essex	1831-1900
Hertford Mercury and Reformer	Hertfordshire	1834-1868
Herts Advertiser	Hertfordshire	1925
Herts Guardian, Agricultural Journal & Advertiser	Hertfordshire	1852-1867
Luton Times and Advertiser	Bedfordshire	1856-1914
Morning Chronicle	London	1801-1865
Morning Post	London	1801-1900

I list two London Newspapers which start early - but there are many others which I am not keeping tracks of. In addition I have not included gaps in the sequence - for instance I recently discovered that the Buck Herald for 1854 is missing.

Does a 17c mirror link Aldbury with Royalty?

Help Desk

Aldbury

In the first half or the 20th century the Victoria & Albert Museum was given a magnificent late 17th century mirror that carried the (later) arms of the Duncombe family, and which had been in Stocks, Aldbury, for many years. Stephanie is trying to establish its provenance and asked if I could identify any member of the Duncombe family who was rich enough to afford such a piece. This is just the kind of mystery I enjoy - and I have found a possible route which could link the mirror with King James II or Queen Anne. [Read about it]

Charles Forscutt, an early Hertford Photographer

Charles Forscutt was one of the earlier Hertford Photographers who was professionally taking photographs by 1859 and continued at the Old Cross, Hertford, until his death in 1879. I have at last obtained an example of his portraits - an elderly gentleman with a beard and glasses.

[Information on other Hertfordshire Photographers]

Farming Family Marriages - The Horn Family example

Help Desk

About 30 years ago I spent a lot of time researching the complex network of marriages between well to do farming families, because so many of the marriages turned out to be between cousins. When I started this site I summarized a small part of it  as Who is related to Who? which demonstrates how complex such networks can be - and also what a wide area they can cover.

In 2001 Pat contacted me about one of the families on the edge of my research - the Horn Family of Handside Farm, Hatfield and some years later James provided more information. Now Barry has written with a summary of the Horn family background.

I decided that the original list of William James Horn's children needed updating an in doing so found the following marriage relationships between his children I had not spotted before:

Thomas Cox Horn farmed Chambers Farm, Shottesbrook, Berkshire. His first wife was Elizabeth Gertrude Low, daughter of William Low and Sarah Wells (Beadlow, Clophill, Bedfordshire), and granddaughter of Robert and Elizabeth Low (Beadlow, Clophill, Bedfordshire). His sister, Susan Horn, married Frank William Low (of Brides Hall Farm, Sandridge / Wheathampstead) who was the son of James Low andEllen Chapman (Farm House, Willian, Herts & The Hall, Great Chishall, Essex), and grandson of the same Robert and Elizabeth Low.

Thomas Cox Horn's second wife was Constance Harvey, sister of Mary Harvey, who married Thomas's brother, William Cooper Horn of Brickwall Farm House, Lemsford, Hatfield. Their parents were John and Frances Jane Harvey of Great Appleford Farm, Godshill, Isle of Wight.

These examples, plus the information supplied by Barry, suggest that the Horn family was part of a similar network to the one I was studying (which was based of Sandridge) but centred on Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire. There may well be other connections.