A German Watchmaker in Hemel Hempstead (Update)

The ever expanding British Newspaper Archive is always coming up with vital new information. A recent email about the family reminded me that some of the early years of the Hemel Hempstead Gazette had come online since the last update. I found this advert which, for the first time links Englebert directly with the Wurtenberg Guild of Watchmakers.

Read More about this Interesting Germany Family

Fehrenbach, Clock & Watchmakers of Bishop's Stortford

Following a query about this family of clock & watchmakers I have updated the Fehrenbach page on this Bishop's Stortford company by adding a picture of one of their clocks, details of a theft of clocks and jewelry, and two brief obituaries.

The Dining Room Clock at Christ's Hospital, Hertford

Clocks & Watches
		There is a very detailed account of clock that hung in the Dining Room at Christ's Hospital, Hertford, on the web site Early Clocks. The clock hung in the Dining Room from 1879 to 1985 and there are a number of photographs of it in position (including the one above from about 1899), together with information on the clock maker. More Information On Christ's Hospital

More on the Kimich Watchmakes of Hemel Hempstead

Clocks & Watches

Hemel Hempstead

Following a message from Jenny of the Anglo-German Family History Society I have updated the information on the Kimich family of Hemel Hempstead using newly available information from the British Newspaper Archives and parish register information that has recently appeared on FindMyPast. The most important change is that I have now established is a definite business link between Joseph Kimich, who died in Luton in 1858, and Engelbert Kimich who moved to Hemel Hempstead in 1861. In addition the parish registers have enabled me to tighten up on some of the genealogical information. It now seems that the family move to a house in Marlowes circa 1902 was a temporary move while the shop site on the Broadway was being redeveloped.

The Kimich's shops were in the new (erected c1905) buildings on the left.

Some people were always on the move ... but why?

Clocks & Watches

In the past most people lived in or near one place for all their lives - but it is important to realise that some were pretty mobile because of their work. Cindy had a simple question "Who was the Thomas Whitehouse this clock presented to?" and I was able to track down Thomas.

Census

What is of interest here are the locations where Thomas turns up. He was born in Staffordshire in 1856/7 and by 1861 his parents had moved to Worcestershire but he was with his grandparents in Carmarthenshire.  In 1871 he was with his parents in Warwickshire and in 1881 he was in Gloucestershire. He married in the Dudley area in 1884 (Worcestershire/Staffordshire) but by 1885 he was living in Baldock, Hertfordshire, where the clock was presented in 1890. However before the 1891 census he had moved to Norfolk where he stayed for a few years before moving to Staffordshire in time for the 1901 census, and then on to Lincolnshire for the 1911 census.  He had moved on (location not yet determined) by 1919.  He eventually died in Dorset in 1942. In each case from 1885 he seems to have had a fixed address and lived and worked there, with his family, for several years before moving on.

Can you work out what his occupation might have been before looking at Whitehouse, Baldock, 1885-1890 to find out.

A very busy time - News & Updates for Mid January 2013

Not only have I been busy with normal posts, after the break for Christmas - but there have been a lot of other things going on . Some of the following brief notes relate to comments, etc., made last year which have only just surfaced as unreported in an attempt to clear part of my 2012 mailbox.

There have been a number of improvement to familysearch recently and if you search for your non-conformist ancestors you may be offered a link to the BMDregisters.co.uk web site (associated with TheGenealogist.co.uk site), where you can see (for a fee) the original registers.

I have updated my Hertfordshire Wills page to include a direct link to the National Archives' very useful online guide to Wills and probate.

The WayBack Machine has been undergoing changes and now covers 240,000,000,000 URL and you can search the Web as it was from 1996 to about a month ago.This can be useful in chasing old genealogy and local history pages which have "vanished", sometimes because the person who maintained them has died, and their account closed. See latest blog report.

Tewin

Anonymous comments that "Henry Cowper married his cousin Maria Judith Cowper daughter of John Cowper DD Rector of Berkhamsted. Thus the poet and hymnist William Cowper (God works in mysterious ways, etc.) was his brother in law." Henry Cowper of Tewin (main site: Tewin Water).

When Kathy recently asked about James Thomson (born Scotland, from Watford in the First World War) I concentrated on the Hertfordshire end of the story. Anthony has now located a James Thomson who fits the bill, and who had an earlier Army career - See  James THOMSON, Watford, World War 1. Do you know any other soldiers with Hertfordshire connections who was on the HMT Prince Edward when she was torpedoed on the way to Gallopoli?

The spider which indexes my web site every Friday night to support the Search facility reported that at the beginning of 2013 it was indexing 4095 text pages  (This excluded my many index pages and menus).

Kevin Pangbourn added a comment to  A Rothschild funded trip to Canada (main site: PANGBORN, Tring, 1868-1906) about Frederick Pangbourn.

Dave Bower has written to add some reminiscences to the story of the Briden family of bakers of Bengeo.

John Martin is researching long-lost Hertfordshire Youth Hostels at Thundridge, Bishops Stortford, Buntingford and Puckeridge and I have provide him with high resolution digitized image of Mill House, Back Street, Thundridge (a Youth Hostel between 1931 and 1935) for the YHA archives which are now held at Birmingham University (online provisional catalogue) 

Anthony suggests the possibly mis-recorded name "Zigner" in census returns, reported on Israel Loveridge, Romany & Knife Grinder, should probably be "Elijah".

I had a surprising number of visitors a few days ago. Within a few hours of posting Census Humour the post was visited by 180 people! I was very surprised until I realised that the post mention a suspected dog called "Diddy Daddylum" and there is an American Rapper known by the name of Diddy!

I also got several other messages, which will not be reported here unless the sended provides more information. However it is perhaps worth commenting one was an example of a common problem among the people who ask questions - the inability to distinguish between HerTfordshire and HerEfordshire.

Subjects "C"

Clocks &
Watches

I have progressed with the task of adding the new format picture buttons to selected pages and, for example I have created new picture buttons for clocks and watches and cycling. See Subjects "C" for how this will be shown in the indexes.

I have also extended the Men at work page and made more links to it (but many more need making!)

Donations for the Mentally Ill of Hertfordshire

So far this year £80 has been donated electronically including a payment made directly to the charity rather than through the special collecting box. Thanks to those responsible.