The baptism of my ancestor James BINDING in Lympsham records that he was the 6th illegitimate child of his mother, Sarah. I suspect the vicar didn't confine himself to writing down his comments, because number 7 was baptised in nearby Hutton! Marion

Hello Marion, What a miserable vicar. Wonder if he would have written the same comments if he was baptising a royal... M-m-m, Edna - Ottawa Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marion" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 8:50 AM Subject: [Bulk] Re: [B&D] interesting comments from records The baptism of my ancestor James BINDING in Lympsham records that he was the 6th illegitimate child of his mother, Sarah. I suspect the vicar didn't confine himself to writing down his comments, because number 7 was baptised in nearby Hutton! Marion ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

While looking for my great-grandfather George Knight (1842-1924) I came upon this entry: 1891 Census #6095972 for Portsea RG12/862 fiche No. 4 George KNIGHT is listed on "Duchess of Edinburgh #87432 Portsmouth 149 passengers - local passenger traffic Portsmouth 6/4/91 off Harbour Pier Name of Chief Officer or Master: Obadiah Orange Lemon I kid you not! Edna - Ottawa

This chat about information from church records reminds me of something I copied out from the register of Newington, Kent. Oct. 16,1785, Burials, Hannah Morgan. This woman received alms of the Parish about 16 years and at her death it was currently reported and generally believed that she was in posession of about £500. A sad instance of hypocritical duplicity. Henry Friend Curate. Seems impossible that any old woman could save that much money in 1785. However, Henry Friend wrote it up in the Parish Register for all to read. Kathleen in Toronto

Hi Edna, I too have found the old Parish Church Registers to yield some very interesting information apart from the usual BMDs. One vicar in a Devon parish I came across had written a lengthy account  in 1726 entitled "Touching the Green" which set out the games which were allowed on the Green by the Church and things which were forbidden such as digging a pit for the sawyer plus an account of a game which had ended in a brawl when the ball had been thrown over a hedge . He also added his comments to accompany various deaths such as the accidental death by drowning of two of his young parishioners when he noted "the loss of two fine young men"  When an older member of his flock had come home from the village pub, fallen over his front doorstep and incurred a fatal injury  the vicar wrote, rather caustically I thought,that the doorstep had long been there. It made me wonder if he had cause to remonstrate with the man on previous occasions about his drunkenness!  Janet

Hi Janet, Lots of information was written in the margins, remember one about a woman falling out of a tree, probably picking apples and Children drowning in the stream. Certainly adds to the usual BMDs. The Vicar sounded very "sympathetic" didn't he? (;-)) Edna - Ottawa Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janet Cuff" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 12:55 PM Subject: Re: [B&D] Memorandum in Meare Parish Church Register Hi Edna, I too have found the old Parish Church Registers to yield some very interesting information apart from the usual BMDs. One vicar in a Devon parish I came across had written a lengthy account in 1726 entitled "Touching the Green" which set out the games which were allowed on the Green by the Church and things which were forbidden such as digging a pit for the sawyer plus an account of a game which had ended in a brawl when the ball had been thrown over a hedge . He also added his comments to accompany various deaths such as the accidental death by drowning of two of his young parishioners when he noted "the loss of two fine young men" When an older member of his flock had come home from the village pub, fallen over his front doorstep and incurred a fatal injury the vicar wrote, rather caustically I thought,that the doorstep had long been there. It made me wonder if he had cause to remonstrate with the man on previous occasions about his drunkenness! Janet

Makes you think doesn't it! We have it pretty good, and that is an understatement . Thank you for posting. Cathy

Some time ago while viewing the LDS film, I saw Written in the Parish Church Register at Meare: Memorandum - After prayers of Thanksgiving for the glorious victory obtained by the Allies over the French commanded by Buonaparte in person June 18, 1815 at Waterloo in Flanders on Sunday July 23, 1815 a collection was made for the benefit of the brave soldiers who fell in the Battle, which amounted to £3.11.7 and at Godney Chapel on Sunday July 30, 1815 £1.6.0. (This was totalled) £4.22.7 signed by W. Phelps, Curate. Memorandum - After a sermon which was preached X by the Command of his Majesty George the 4th and by the authority of the Lord Bishop of the Diocese in aid of a Fund to relieve the distressed manufacturing Poor of this Kingdom a collection was made amounting to the following ?vizt. Collection at Meare £5.10.7 3/4 Godney Chapel 1.4.6 ( totalling) £6.15.1 3/4? ) X on Sunday February 11th 1827 (signed) W. Phelps, Vicar of Meare Thought these were interesting. Edna - Ottawa Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year

from Edna - Ottawa --- Christmas Day in the Workhouse George R. Sims (1903) It is Christmas Day in the workhouse, And the cold, bare walls are bright With garlands of green and holly, And the place is a pleasant sight; For with clean-washed hands and faces, In a long and hungry line The paupers sit at the table, For this is the hour they dine. And the guardians and their ladies, Although the wind is east, Have come in their furs and wrappers, To watch their charges feast; To smile and be condescending, Put pudding on pauper plates. To be hosts at the workhouse banquet They've paid for -- with the rates. Oh, the paupers are meek and lowly With their "Thank'ee kindly, mum's!'" So long as they fill their stomachs, What matter it whence it comes! But one of the old men mutters, And pushes his plate aside: "Great God!" he cries, "but it chokes me! For this is the day she died!" The guardians gazed in horror, The master's face went white; "Did a pauper refuse the pudding?" "Could their ears believe aright?" Then the ladies clutched their husbands, Thinking the man would die, Struck by a bolt, or something, By the outraged One on high. But the pauper sat for a moment, Then rose 'mid silence grim, For the others had ceased to chatter And trembled in every limb. He looked at the guardians' ladies, Then, eyeing their lords, he said, "I eat not the food of villains Whose hands are foul and red: "Whose victims cry for vengeance >From their dark, unhallowed graves." "He's drunk!" said the workhouse master, "Or else he's mad and raves." "Not drunk or mad," cried the pauper, "But only a haunted beast, Who, torn by the hounds and mangled, Declines the vulture's feast. "I care not a curse for the guardians, And I won't be dragged away; Just let me have the fit out, It's only on Christmas Day That the black past comes to goad me, And prey on my burning brain; I'll tell you the rest in a whisper -- I swear I won't shout again. "Keep your hands off me, curse you! Hear me right out to the end. You come here to see how paupers The season of Christmas spend;. You come here to watch us feeding, As they watched the captured beast. Here's why a penniless pauper Spits on your paltry feast. "Do you think I will take your bounty, And let you smile and think You're doing a noble action With the parish's meat and drink? Where is my wife, you traitors -- The poor old wife you slew? Yes, by the God above me, My Nance was killed by you! 'Last winter my wife lay dying, Starved in a filthy den; I had never been to the parish -- I came to the parish then. I swallowed my pride in coming, For ere the ruin came, I held up my head as a trader, And I bore a spotless name. "I came to the parish, craving Bread for a starving wife, Bread for the woman who'd loved me Through fifty years of life; And what do you think they told me, Mocking my awful grief, That 'the House' was open to us, But they wouldn't give 'out relief'. "I slunk to the filthy alley -- 'Twas a cold, raw Christmas Eve -- And the bakers' shops were open, Tempting a man to thieve; But I clenched my fists together, Holding my head awry, So I came to her empty-handed And mournfully told her why. "Then I told her the house was open; She had heard of the ways of that, For her bloodless cheeks went crimson, and up in her rags she sat, Crying, 'Bide the Christmas here, John, We've never had one apart; I think I can bear the hunger -- The other would break my heart.' "All through that eve I watched her, Holding her hand in mine, Praying the Lord and weeping, Till my lips were salt as brine; I asked her once if she hungered, And as she answered 'No' , T'he moon shone in at the window, Set in a wreath of snow. "Then the room was bathed in glory, And I saw in my darling's eyes The faraway look of wonder That comes when the spirit flies; And her lips were parched and parted, And her reason came and went. For she raved of our home in Devon, Where our happiest years were spent. "And the accents, long forgotten, Came back to the tongue once more. For she talked like the country lassie I woo'd by the Devon shore; Then she rose to her feet and trembled, And fell on the rags and moaned, And, 'Give me a crust -- I'm famished -- For the love of God!' she groaned. "I rushed from the room like a madman And flew to the workhouse gate, Crying, 'Food for a dying woman!' And the answer came, 'Too late.' They drove me away with curses; Then I fought with a dog in the street And tore from the mongrel's clutches A crust he was trying to eat. "Back through the filthy byways! Back through the trampled slush! Up to the crazy garret, Wrapped in an awful hush; My heart sank down at the threshold, And I paused with a sudden thrill. For there, in the silv'ry moonlight, My Nance lay, cold and still. "Up to the blackened ceiling, The sunken eyes were cast -- I knew on those lips, all bloodless, My name had been the last; She called for her absent husband -- O God! had I but known! -- Had called in vain, and, in anguish, Had died in that den -- alone. "Yes, there, in a land of plenty, Lay a loving woman dead, Cruelly starved and murdered for a loaf of the parish bread; At yonder gate, last Christmas, I craved for a human life, You, who would feed us paupers, What of my murdered wife!" 'There, get ye gone to your dinners, Don't mind me in the least, Think of the happy paupers Eating your Christmas feast; And when you recount their blessings In your smug parochial way, Say what you did for me, too, Only last Christmas Day."

Here is a wonderful poem by R.L. Stevenson: http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/StevensonChristmas.htm Edna - Ottawa Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year

A good site: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_xmas.htm Edna - Ottawa Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year

We have been watching Victorian Christmas on TVO (TV Ontario) which is excellent to view farm life in those times. http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?702345467001 Looking through parish registers we often find money donated for the poor, widows of soldiers and during Christmas and holidays. (;-)) Edna - sunny and white Ottawa Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year

This doesn't sound like good news -------- Original Message -------- Subject: FFHS-NEWS Bath Record Office Change to Opening Hours Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:00:15 -0000 From: News from the Federation of Family History Societies The following has been issued by Bath Record Office: From January 2011, Bath Record Office will be closed to the public for the third full week of every month, for a trial period of 6 months. During these 'Collections Weeks' we will be carrying out essential cataloguing and preservation work. Full details and a list of closed weeks can be found on our website at www.batharchives.co.uk Roger Lewry FFHS Archives Liaison -------- Original Message ends -------- -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/

... http://www.davenapier.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mayors/mayorndx.htm Edna - Ottawa

Google Recollections H L Vowles Bristol Evening Post 1935 Will bring back memories... Edna - Ottawa Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year

Just in case users of FMP have missed it - these Summary Books are available on the Findmypast site as well. If you look at the original census image and click on "List" under Enumerators book images at the top you get the same page. They are very useful when used in conjunction with the household entries to establish the neighbourhood. It shows the position of unoccupied buildings as well which is very valuable for people looking at local history topics. One advantage that the Ancestry version has is that you can go directly to the next book page to get a quicker look at a whole area. Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charani" <[email protected]> To: "B+D List" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 1:22 AM Subject: [B&D] 1911 summary books on Ancestry > For those who haven't already discovered it: Ancestry have the > *summary* books available. > > These are not like the summary books we're used to though. They give > the head of household and the number of occupants and the address. > Some of the entries are muddled, eg Mr HARGREAVES of the Farmers' Arms > is given as Mr Arms HARGREAVES! > > For those who don't have access to the 1911 on FindMyPast, this is a > start. Ancestry say they will be releasing the whole of the census in > due course. They are doing their own index. > > Full story: www.ancestry.co.uk/home/new.aspx?o_iid=44806&o_lid=44806

For those who haven't already discovered it: Ancestry have the *summary* books available. These are not like the summary books we're used to though. They give the head of household and the number of occupants and the address. Some of the entries are muddled, eg Mr HARGREAVES of the Farmers' Arms is given as Mr Arms HARGREAVES! For those who don't have access to the 1911 on FindMyPast, this is a start. Ancestry say they will be releasing the whole of the census in due course. They are doing their own index. Full story: www.ancestry.co.uk/home/new.aspx?o_iid=44806&o_lid=44806 -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/

Thanks for this Nancy. It was a fascinating read. Best wishes Anne -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nancy Frey Sent: 08 December 2010 03:42 To: [email protected] Subject: [B&D] Saxon Queen & University of Bristol This article will be of interest to anyone doing medieval research, as well as those who like to keep up with what's going on at the University of Bristol. http://bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/7322.html Regards, Nancy Frey Newcastle, Ontario, CANADA OPC for Ansford & Castle Cary, Somerset Moderator of Yahoo! Catsash Hundred Group Moderator of Yahoo! Glaston Twelve Hides Hundred Group Moderator of Yahoo! NorthWiltshire Group Moderator of Yahoo! SouthWiltshire Group Moderator of Yahoo! WestWiltshire Group Moderator of Yahoo! FULFORD_North Devon Group Moderator of Yahoo! DAVIDGE Connections Group ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

The 1851 census has a Samuel Woolfrey who was born 1823 bristol living 20 Churchill Buildings St Phillip Jacob bristol confectioner 1861 Clarence road Confectioner 1880 Hotwell rd Confectioner 1891 Hotwell rd baker he was known as a Confectioner and Fancy bread maker Lorette --- On Sun, 5/12/10, Tricia <[email protected]> wrote: > > Also I know that confectionery was a Quaker trade, would > there be anywhere I > could find some sort of directory where these ancestors may > be listed?  I > have looked in various Trade Directories but have yet to > find confectioners > (or bakers doing confectionery in Bristol). > > I appreciate they may also be bakers but wouldn’t census > and various > certificates say 'bakers' as opposed to 'confectioners' if > they were both as > confectionery appears to be a side line of only SOME > bakers. > > > >

This article will be of interest to anyone doing medieval research, as well as those who like to keep up with what's going on at the University of Bristol. http://bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/7322.html Regards, Nancy Frey Newcastle, Ontario, CANADA OPC for Ansford & Castle Cary, Somerset Moderator of Yahoo! Catsash Hundred Group Moderator of Yahoo! Glaston Twelve Hides Hundred Group Moderator of Yahoo! NorthWiltshire Group Moderator of Yahoo! SouthWiltshire Group Moderator of Yahoo! WestWiltshire Group Moderator of Yahoo! FULFORD_North Devon Group Moderator of Yahoo! DAVIDGE Connections Group