A Sampler made by my Great Great Grandmother

The Sampler made in 1806 by Frances Finch, of Swaffham, Norfolk

205 Years ago my Great Great Grandmother was nine years old - and hard at work with needle and. thread to produce a lovely sampler. The colours have faded a bit but it shows a high degree of skill. I recently found it in a cupboard, where it was stored to keep the light off it, and it reminded me that I had somewhat overlooked my own ancestors recently. So I have posted a short biography of Frances Reynolds, nee Finch, and will be making a New Years resolution to try and produce a page on an additional ancestor at leat once a month during 2012.

Some Xmas Holiday quickies

Over the Christmas period I have been involved in various social activities - including cooking the Christmas Dinner - and this is really a summary of some of the recent activities relating to my web site which did not justify a blog page in their own right. It also includes older less urgent queries which needed tidying up before the end of the year.

• Alan wrote asking if I had succeeded in identifying the location of Britons Camp, St Albans, and says he has some military pictures that might be relevant to this web site.
• Ann has added a further note about William Walby - and links his aunt to the Cyclist's Rest at Essendon.
• Anthony came up with another patient at Harpenden Hall, Elizabeth Wilhelmina Galliers Swinton, and I have also made some minor edits.
• Barney sends me his new email address - he is quoted on one of the earliest pages on the web site - The Dangers of Internet Genealogy and also kindly provided a 1855 photograph of Gaddesden Place.
• Cindy's William Burchmore ancestor lived in Hertfordshire at about the same time as my William Burchmore acnestor, but they are two different people. I gave her some general advice about her problem and suggested some general topics on my site which might help
• Gary (from HALS) wrote to say he was researching Private Hertfordshire Mental Asylums for the chapter of a book - and added the surnames of some patients mentioned as being at Harpenden Hall. I forwarded the email to Antony - who used the information to provide details of two more patients.- Mary Debary and Gayford Manning Bare.
• Gerard asked about the software I used to edit photographs such as the Fire Engines at St Edmunds College - The main tool was the "histogram Equalize" tool in Paint Shop Pro. 
• I contacted Janet about a possible article for the Walkern History Society web site. 
• Jean wrote to say how she had been distressed by visiting a relative at one of the long stay hospitals in the St Albans area, a few years ago. [Not for publication as it involved patients still living.]
• John has some comparatively modern memories of Ardeley Bury and rather than add them to the existing page on this site I suggested he might consider posting them on Hertfordshire Memories.
• I contacted Lottie about the possible purchase of more Stagenhoe photographs.
• I contacted Peter about historic material being published in the Potten End & Nettleden Church Newsletter
• Phil has recently acquired a draft text by Edward Lawrence, entitled "A Hertfordshire Man Remembers." Edward was born in 1902, possibly at Little Amwell and  the draft was written in the early 1960s. Phil is considering transcribing it to make the text more widely available, but wanted to know if it had already been published. I know of nothing and suggested that he contacts HALS. 
• Stephen contacted me via Genes Reunited about a Phipson couple who married in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire, in 1668 who happens to be a very distant cousin of my wife. In 1988 I published a computer produced book - A Phipson One Name Study - which is now out of print - and I have suggested that the tries to see a copy through his nearest LDS Family History Centre. An exchange of emails shows he is in touch with someone who is more up to date on the family than I am.
• Tom's relative may have died in Hill End Hospital in 1908 and if he is lucky the records may be at  HALS.
• A message was sent to the Essendon Parish Council web site to ask them to update their link to this site.

Why didn't Jane Philbey pay William for work done?

Folio 81, W. Brown's Accounts

William Brown's  account book  (folio 81) shows that while he staked out land for sale, Jean Philbey of the Green Man public house in Tring appears not to have paid him. This is one of the interesting facts that emerged when Colin asked about Philbey, Tring, 1840-1864. It also emerges that the Mrs Jean Tompkins and Mrs Jane Philbey mentioned in TOMPKINS, Tring, late 18th/early 19th Century are one and the same person and owned land in Gravelly - where many houses were built in the mid 19th century.

[It is propose to input more of William Brown's accounts in 2012, with analysis of selected pages.]

Farming at Libury Hall, Little Munden

A very nice discovery - a postcard of bringing in the harvest at Libury Hall

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..

The Essendon Pages have been updated

The Essendon pages have been upgraded as part of the plan to improve the layout of small town and village pages, with the inclusion of a dedicated menu, and extra external links. This will make it easier to slot in new material as it becomes available.

Wigginton War Memorial & Revised Village pages

When posting pictures of Wigginton's War Memorial I decided to upgrade the Village pages by adding a proper menu, adding some modern photographs of St Bartholomew's Church and linking in the pages on Champneys and the Cow Roast. Some additional external links have also been added.

St Bartholomew's Church

Wigginton War Memorial

Other War Memorial Pictures

    

H V Leménager - An early Hertfordshire Photographer

Henri Victor Lemenager (1822-1912) was born in Paris, but came to Bushey to teach French in a small private school, married and started a family. The date of his earliest family is not known but by 1866 he was described as a photographer In 1870 he provided photographic illustrations for a book on Rickmansworth, and by 1872 had moved to 16 High Street, Watford. However in 1887 he emigrated to the United States.

I illustrate the biography with four carte de visite, each mounted on a different printed card and I am looking for more information to put the backs into date order.

A Flaming Boxing Day Surprise.

WARE Hertfordshire postmark 1907 on a faded interesting RP but untitled

The above advert appeared on ebay just before Christmas. Just because the card was posted in Ware doesn't mean that the picture was local to the Ware area or even from Hertfordshire. While the RP (real photograph) was very faded the architecture was clear and there appeared to be some people milling around. I thought it might make a possible mystery photograph for this web site - as some of you might recognise the building. So I put in a bid and won it for less than £2 (including postage). 

     The card arrived with the last batch of Christmas cards before the holiday. During a break in activities I slipped back to the computer to give it a quick scan - and put the digital image through the Paint Shop treatment. 

     And I became really excited when I discovered what the people were looking at ...

To find out what I found look below the fold.

It was a real Aylesbury Duck ...

9.30  on Christmas Day

13.00 on Christmas Day

14.00 on Christmas Day

Menu: Roast Aylesbury Duck with Carrots, Brussels Sprouts with Sweet Chestnuts, Red Cabbage with Apple, Asparagus Tips, Onion, Roast Parsnip, Roast Potatoes, Pigs in a Blanket, Chestnut Stuffing, my own special Orange Sauce, and Gravy made from the Duck Giblets. The slices of Orange were a last minute addition using fruit already in the kitchen.

100 years ago Aylesbury was renown for its ducks - and I am sure that my Aylesbury ancestors would have often eaten them. Now there is only one farm which still produces this lovely bird. On Friday we picked up our bird from a nearby village shop and this morning my wife and her sister set off to church leaving me to do all the cooking - in a small kitchen where I had never cooked before.  Much to my surprise I got everything timed to perfection and the only problems were that the stuffing stuck to the tray and we forgot the onion - which had been cooked inside the duck.