Don't Forget the Midwife ... Some useful Sources

Nurse Elizabeth Phillips

Where a village like Preston is well covered by a local historian with an excellent web site such as A History of Preston in Hertfordshire I am delighted as I can relax as there is no point in duplicating what is already online and I can simply point the visitor to the appropriate URL., and pass on useful updates via this newsletter.

Philip has just posted an interesting account of Preston's first midwife which makes interesting reading - and includes some interesting general information on childbirth and midwifery. It also highlights two useful sources of information I had not considered.

The first is that Ancestry have now included some information on midwives to add to there collection of useful sources.

The second relates to the Hertfordshire Cohort Study - which is a major clinical research study based on the finding of records of births and early infancy for children born in Hertfordshire between 1911 and 1939. Records were kept of child's name, data and weight at birth, together with weight at one year, vaccination history and first school at five, and some other detail, and this can now be related to what happened (and in many cases is still happening) later in life. Similar records were probably kept elsewhere but have not survived, while most, but not all for Hertfordshire have survived. I remember, many years ago, there was a news article in the Hemel Hempstead Gazette about the discovery of a book of old maternity records which had been saved from ending up in a skip and how useful they would prove to be. However I had not realized how important they were.

None of my immediate family are part of the study as my mother was born in Hemel Hempstead in 1908 and while I was born in St Albans in 1938 the St Albans records have not survived - and in any case would not have included information on my weight at one year, etc, because my parents moved to SOmerset when I was 11 months old.

Of course the files contain medical information on living people so the detailed information, such as whether a child was breast-fed, is not yet available to genealogists but there are some interesting statistical findings.

Quite by chance the question of birth came up at the recent St Albans History Conference. Roger (who has previously corresponded with this site) asked a question, relating to Bernards Heath. I happened to mention I was born on the other side of the road, and he commented that he had been born at "Hazeldene" at about the same time. ... As it happens my son was born in a nursing home in Exeter but both my daughters were born at home in Tring, with midwife care and grandma (a trained nurse) available to help as necessary.

 So do you know whether your ancestors were born at home - or in a nursing home, or in a hospital, or did they go to their mother's house for the actual birth?

Review of "A History of Preston in Hertfordshire"

Philip Wray has done an excellent job in bringing together different aspects of the history of Preston, a tiny village near Hitchin. He first became interested when researching his ancestors and as his family tree grew he discovered he was a blood relative to almost half the villagers listed in the 1881 census. For this reason he expanded his interests to cover the whole village, and in 2007 he launched the History of Preston in Hertfordshire web site. He then ventured into on-paper publishing and has now ended up writing this book.

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February Report - Stats and additional updates

There has been a lot of email correspondence and other activities related to the site during February, complicated by the fact that I have moved all correspondence onto my newest computer - while the master web site has had to remain (due to software incompatibility) on my old system. The following is a summary of the more important activities that have not already been covered in this Newsletter.

Statistics

Activity on the main site and the newsletter have been comparable with recent years, but the number of emails I have received appears to have gone up. The only disappointing thing is that while there have been over 230 visits to the "Donations" page there has not been a single donation into the online collecting box for the mentally ill in Hertfordshire. 

New Book - A History of Preston in Hertfordshire

Philip Wray is in the process of getting this book printed for distribution mid February. He says that advanced orders have already exceeded the planned print run - but he will be increasing the number at the last moment.  The are extensive details of the book online and if you want a copy you should contact Philip ASAP. Philip is a highly competent local historian, and the Preston web site is one of the best historical village web sites in Hertfordshire. If you have any ancestors in the village I am sure that it will be excellent value for money at a price not exceeding £15 (plus post and packing).

A History of Preston in Hertfordshire

Was your ancestor in a Benefit Club?

Benefit clubs, which became common in Victorian times, were a way that working class families could put a few pennies away for use in a rainy day. Philip Wray has posted an excellent article on his Preston website - which is a very interesting read - even if your ancestor did not come from Preston, Herts.

Recent Correspondence Report

Help Desk

Since the middle of the month I had problems with updating the main web site and where appropriate changes relating to the following items will appear there as soon as the problem is resolved.

While there have been less posts directly to the Newsletter recently this is because I have been heavily involved in "quickie" correspondence on the following subjects:

Find My Past: Several transcription corrections to census returns submitted and accepted. (Catchside -> Catcheside; Lateiner -> Latimer; King -> Tring; Barlow -> Barber) Do you report errors when you come across them?

Flamstead

William BURCHMORE and his wife Hannah DOLLING of Flamstead are my great great great grandparents and are part of the complex web of cousin marriages described in Who is related to Who? Joy (who must be a distant cousin of mine) writes that she has an In Memorium brooch with the centre containing the plaited hair of Hannah Burchmore. I have written to her asking for a picture of the brooch and will be digging out some information on her Bates ancestors from my 1980s research on the Burchmore family and their farming relatives. At the same time I discovered that a set of photographs of the extensive plot of Burchmore graves at Flamstead have not yet been documented and have put this on my "To Do" list.

ELBORN, Hertfordshire area, 19th Century: In 2008 Kym had asked about the distribution of the surname Elborn and its variants and it turns out that the name normally seems to be confined to Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire plus smaller numbers in adjacent counties. Now Mara is seeking a James Elborn, who turned up in Maryland but was born in 1769. Checking the online indexes show only one James Elborn baptism within years of 1769 - at St Albans. So it looks simple - but a little additional research shows it is another case for Right Name, Wrong Body? For instance there appear to have been four other James Elborns living within 30 miles of St Albans of about the right age, one of which married in St Albans and another turns out to have been born in 1769 (from age at death).More work needs to be done before I do a full report but so far no birth/baptism records have been found for these four other James!

GILBERT, Bishops Stortford, 1902-14: Bruce provides an update: Seems my grandparents (perhaps NOT/NEVER married!?) used the surname GILBEY on arrival in Sydney, and technically my father's birth surname, and death, has been recorded as GILBEY. And ... he came from Bishops Stortford !!!. Now, ain't that a tonic?

A. E. Nichols, Photographer of Luton: Arising out of my posting linking W. H. Cox of Luton and St Albans with Ricardo Studios, St Albans Anthony commented: Another Luton photographer with WWI photos was A. E. Nicholls. Tales of Gustard Wood has pics of the FMS Hospital at Blackmore End, Gustard Wood, and convalescent soldiers. (See postcard}  The 1911 census brings up an Albert Ernest Nicholls photographer then at Potton Beds as a visitor. I can find no other records that match but perhaps your trade directories might help? There is a Luton postcard on Flickr. He later added: He may have had friends in Herts as in 1901 he was with his parents at Albert Villa, Albion Road, St Albans. Profession greengrocer on own account at home. He seems to have been a jack of all trades. By the way there are some quite detailed accounts of the FMS Hospital at the National Library Singapore site.

R. N. Salaman

SALAMAN, Barley, Early 20th Century: Susan has provided a useful online account of Redcliffe Nathan Salaman (1874-1955) in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society.

St Faith's, Hexton: Brief note on Rootsweb.

Napsbury Hospital: I responded to a query on rootsweb with links to pages on the Long Stay Hospitals of the St Albans Area and to Napsbury Hospital as a Military Hospital.

Paper Making at Nash Mills, circa 1770: Ed Papenfuse, Archivist for the State of Maryland, wrote: Are there any records relating to the Blackwell papermill?  We have many examples in our archives that closely resemble the crown/posthorn/GR watermark that Tom Gravell identifies as being a water mark of the Blackwells.  The examples we have are on correspondence from London and trade records and believe that the paper may be from the Blackwells and was purchased by a London Firm, of Wallace Johnson and Muir in partnership with a Mathew Ridley and imported into Maryland between 1783 and 1787/8.  Any information about the Blackwells and papermaking by them would be very much appreciated as would any suggestions as to where I might find examples of their watermarks. I passed on a couple of references to Blackwell papermakers from the 18th century Militia lists, and suggested that Ed contacted The Paper Trail and the Kings Langley Local History Society.

Preston: Philip is writing yet another article and I was able to help him on the subject of poor relief. I will post details of his article here when it is published.

Electrical Engineering Works, St Albans, 1940s: Correspondence on Rootsweb including pointing out that most "electrical engineers" listed in trade directories would now be called electricians, and would not have a works big enough to employ a millwright.

The Hospital Committee

Waltham Cross Hospital Committee:  Carolyn writes: I found the exact same photograph in an old trunk.  The man seated on the front row second from the right with a dark moustache is Edward Sewell of Waltham Cross.  He was my great grandfather.

Heath Farm, Watford, early 20^th century: In 2010 Justin asked about a family photograph album he gad found that contained interesting pictures of this farm and the unknown family who lived there. Mary-Anne now writes: Our family the Phillips owned the house.(my father's grandfather Alfred Phillips bought the house although we are not sure of the exact year).  Justin mentions pictures of Mabel and Violet and holidays in Jersey.  Alfred had five children Mabel, Violet, Reg, Cyril and Alfred.  I spoke to my father (who is now 85) and he confirmed that these two ladies were his aunts and that they lived in the house for most of their lives.  The house was eventually sold to developers in 1970s.  Mabel Brunton was widowed in the first world war and never remarried.  The cottages attached to the main house were also lived in and my stepgrandmother Kath Spur lived in one of these. ...

Other Queries: I have had a couple of very general queries from complete beginners - who appear not discovered any of the major genealogy web sites or any "How To" books. They get a friendly letter directing them to suitable sources - and where relevant suggest one birth or marriage certificate they might find it useful to buy, in order to get them started.

Please help the Mentally Ill

The Genealogy of Ebeneezer SCROOGE: In the last five weeks there has only been one donation to the mental health charity this site supports, which suggests that many people asking me to help them with their family history are related to Scrooge. Running this site is hard work and I have many other calls on my time. If I stopped running the site and donated what I spend to keep it going to a charity the charity would be better off at this rate. If I help you, failing to donate is rating my time as worth nothing and I could be doing other things to help the charity.

The Ruins of Minsden Chapel, near Hitchin

Usually if you ancestors were married in a church the building, although perhaps much changed, is still there. But if, for example, your ancestors were include George Lyle, who married Susanna Hanscombe in Minsden Chapel in 1737, or Enoch West, who married Mary Horn the following year, all you would find if you visited the spot are ruins. I have just posted a detailed account of the history of Minsden Chapel, (which was in the parish of Hitchin, but is now in the parish of Preston) which was published in 1913. 

The chapel has attracted the attention of poets and the article ends with a poem describing the ruins written in the early 19th century which begins.

No pomp of art, no jewelled shrine,
No tombs of gilded splendour shine
     In Minsden's lone remains,
Nor Parian marble's vivid glow,
Nor mimic works of art that show
    The sculptor's faultless pains.

An even earlier poem, written in 1750, sometimes applied to other ruined churches, such as the one at Thundridge, includes the lines:

Is this the place where numerous footsteps trod,
Where living votaries fill'd the house of God?
Where the full chorus of the sounding choir
Bade one loud strain of prayer and praise aspire?
How silent now the desolated spot,
Its paths untrodden and its use forgot!

A mystery involving the Darton Family of Temple Dinsley, Preston, near Hitchin

This advert appeared in the Bedford Times in August 1854, and is typical of the kind of sales when someone gives up farming. He is selling the crops in the field, the livestock including horses, cattle, sheep and pig, and the agricultural equipment  you would expect to see around a working farm. He is also selling off surplus household furniture, suggesting a move to a smaller house. Perhaps, you think, Thomas Harwood Darton, of Temple Dinsley, Preston, was retiring, and if you check the records he died 4 years later, but at the early age of 46.

On its own nothing too out of the way until you realize that his grandfather Jospeph Darton probably died in his 40s; his father Joseph Darton died aged 40, and his sons died at the age of 33 and 37.

So was it a co-incidence or was there a genetic weakness on the male line? To be honest I don't know - but when you are researching your family tree it is always worth looking for the out of the ordinary - and you never know what you will find.

Animal Pounds at Preston and elsewhere

The Pound at Flamstead End

Philip has added an excellent page on the former pound at Preston - and as a result I have updated the relevant page on this site.

Biographies of Preston WW1 Soldiers

Philip has alerted me to the fact that on the Preston site there are biographies, often with photographs, of the soldiers from Preston who died or survived the First World War.He added that his uncle, Ernest Wray was the first man from Preston to die on the battlefield. I have added a link on my Preston page..

One Place Studies - North Mymms, Preston and Therfield

If you are very interested in the people who used to lived in the place where your (or your ancestors) live you may want to set up a one place study. Sites are intended to include transcripts of censuses and other lists relevant of genealogists. Currently there are three such studies running for Hertfordshire (all accessed from the relevant palace page on this site) .

• The excellent Preston web site is run by Philip Wray and contains extensive indexes and much historical information.
• The long menu to the left on the Therfield site run by Martin Hagger reveals a wide range of transcribe goodies that makes me wish I had an ancestor with connections in the village.
• The North Mymms site contains the contents of many books relating to North Mimms and much other historical information - but does not include (as far as I could see) any census or other transcriptions of lists of names of the former inhabitants.