Hi Rosie and Howard, At last I get a chance to pen a fuller reply to your most interesting reply of last week. Firstly a full transcription of the fragment of the letter that was passed on to me by Jean Browse. Begin Quote " ....... and I am enclosing a photograph of the two of us which was taken in September 1946, when I was on demobilisation leave prior to restarting in business it was taken at the front door of our house, so you can see I have altered a lot since I last wrote and I am now just over six feet. I will write to my father and ask him if he can remember either his grandfather's or great-grandfathers name, and if he does I will let you know the ......... With [kindest regards] to you both. Yours very sincerly Jack Blaxall of 6 Clydesdale Rd, Wallasey, Cheshire. [Different handwriting] >From his fathers letter father name William grandfather Henry great grandfather Isaac family traced to registers at Worlingworth. " End Quote Your description of the letters history (as below) is spot on I feel, the reference 'since I last wrote' indicates there was a series of letters and so this one may have been a couple of years later (say 1948 perhaps). As it came from Jean Browse (who is very closely related to the Rev. Arthur William (he was her husbands uncle (hope thats right Jean !!)) it is certain that it would have been addressed to him. > Now to the letter. Jack W. Blaxall was Flight Lieutenant in the RAF, and was stationed at Mildenhall during WW II. After the war, he and Dorothy (nee Harrison) settled at 6 Clydsdale Road, where he bought the house together with his in-laws. They moved into 77 Seabank Road in approx. '55, where Dorothy still resides. Dorothy says that in about '46 Jack received a letter from a Rev. Blaxall, (apparently a cousin of John Baden's?!) who was a missionary in Africa, poss. South Africa. He wrote asking them to travel to Congerton, where he was going to be preaching, so they could meet. However, transportation was awkward for them and they never suceeded in going to meet him. Jack wrote him to tell him, and this may be the letter in question. [A Rev. Blaxall testified in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in front of Bishop Tutu, (possibly his son??!)]. Howard found the this last tidbit on the Net last year, (apparently the Rev. Blaxall was on the good side; he had been imprisoned by the apartheid regime!). Now to trace the family back a bit. We know John Baden Harold was born 5 May 1901, and from the letter his father's name was William. This would put William born probably around the 1870 sort of mark. If we look to the 1881 census which (magnificently) has been indexed by the LDS we indeed find a William Blaxell (although its a Blaxell spelling don't worry about it, in Worlingworth in 1870 it's a Blaxall misspelt by the enumerator !). This William was age 17 in 1881 and hence born around 1864. His parent was listed as Henry Blaxell age 46 (hence born about 1835) and a sister Elizabeth age 19 (hence born 1862) but no mother. There is however a burial record of Elizabeth (Blaxhall this time !) who died 4 Nov 1880 at Worlingworth, and considering there was a marriage of a Henry Blaxall to Elizabeth Rose in Sep Qtr 1859 at Worlingworth this must have been William's mother. There may actually have been another couple of children Isaac and Harry born in 1859, but I need to check that. To go back to William for a bit. The information that John Baden Harold had a brother killed at the Somme gives another interesting piece of information. There is a record of a William James Blaxall Private 20567 in the 8th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment who died on Tuesday 28th February 1917 age 19. His parents were William and Bessie Blaxall, of Worlingworth, Framlingham, Suffolk. He is buried at the St Sever Cemetry Extension just South of Rouen, which according to the write up on the war graves commision site was a cemetry connected with the many hospitals around there, so it may be that he was actually seriously injured at the Somme and died later in hospital. (The other Blaxall Arthur George who died 30th August 1916 who Geoff mentioned would I believe have been a 2nd cousin to William James, and was actually the brother of an elderly Blaxall (Reginald Francis) who, I was told only last week, has now gone into an old peoples home just down the road in Eye. Alas, his memory has gone (so I am told by his daughter), so no chance of some local knowledge there I'm afraid, but he would have been a young lad in Worlingworth when William and Besie were there !. Arthur George has a commemorative plaque in Tannington church, which is the next parish to Worlingworth) Anyway, the GRO confirms William James as born in the Sep Qtr 1897 again Hoxne Registration district. I'm not so sure on the Alice, there was a Bessie Emma born Dec Qtr 1900 but alas dying in Sep Qtr 1901, another Bessie (this time Bessie Frances) was born Sep Qtr 1902, these are very likely to be sister's of William James and John Baden H. Maybe Bessie Frances was later known by "Alice", or as Geoff points out there was an Alice born 1910 at Hartismere, that would need some further delving. So now back to the previous generation. Henry who married Elizabeth Rose as we have said was born about 1835 according to the 1881 census. Thanks to the Suffolk Family History Society the 1851 census is also indexed and we find a Henry aged 16 in it being the son of John and Keziah, John aged 60, Keziah 48. So as I say, I think the letter is wrong in listing Isaac as John Baden H's great grandfather. The Isaac that Geoff referred to (born 23 Jul 1837) is Henry's brother so is not possibly the one, and although John (who married Keziah) did have a brother Isaac, he died age 1 so could not be him. So Isaac was certainly a strong family name at that time and maybe one that John Baden remembered and mistook for his great-grandfather. As its getting late now, I'll have to pen a part two for the generations back from John and Keziah but to recap:- John Blaxall m Keziah Mayhew ] Henry m Elizabeth Rose [ William m Bessie ? [ John Baden Harold m Dorothy Seaton etc. Hope you are all well. Best Regards. Carlton. On 27 Jun 99, at 13:55, Delie R. Cerutis wrote: > Dear Carlton and Geoff, > > Here goes....just spoke to Howard's mum and have more info. Tidbits in > addition to the mystery of that letter fragment from 6 Clydsdale Road, > possibly. > > John Baden Harold Blaxall met Dorothy Seaton at Belfast Castle, where she > worked as a parlourmaid. He worked on the Liverpool-Belfast Ferry, and > retired as Purser in the late 50's. Probably in the early 60's, he left > Laura Ingham and ran off with a Margaret X; we don't know her last name, > since she took on his name, causing a scandal. (He lived with her and her > mother in Hull where he finally passed away in '69? '70?; the families of > George and Roy and probably Kevin (John's son with Laura) would not know > any of this info because of the bad feelings and hush-hush). In the > interim, he and Margaret had a Pub at Rochdale and later he also worked as > a steward at a couple of different golf courses in Speke and > Northumberland. > > Margaret died at Jan 2 '98 at the age of 82 in Cramlington, > Northumberland. She always told people she had 4 sons, no one ever saw > them, so she may have been talking about the 4 boys of John's (of which > all except for Jack, didn't want anything to do with him). Howard knows of > this because he recognized an old address of his grandfather's in a list > of Blaxalls and wrote to her. A neighbor of hers answered and told him > that Margaret had had a fall and was dying in Hospital; she wanted to know > if Margaret had a family, as she always talked about 4 boys. Laura Ingham > also passed away several years ago as well. According to Howard's mum, > Laura was the daughter of a Norwegian sea captain who was lost at sea. > Laura was brought up in the Blue Coat School in Liverpool. > > John Baden also had a sister Alice and a brother ________? who was killed > at about 17 at the Battle of the Somme. According to Howard's mum, Alice > was out around Norfolk way. She has no idea of John Baden's father or > grandfather's names. > > > Well, happy sorting. Hope this info helps a bit. > > Cheers, > > Rosie and Howard Blaxall > > P.S.- Burns C. Blaxall, who was/is? in Colorado at the Univ of Colorado > Health Science Center (Burns.Blaxall@UCHSC.edu)came from Calgary, Alberta. > His family emigrated from Maldon, Essex. I don't know if I told you all > about this, but he and Howard are in a very similar line of pharmacology > research...eerie, maybe genetics determines what you like??!! >