Hi Dewhurstophiles, More info on my father James Frederick Dewhurst: Born May 1, 1910 in Herne Hill, London Grew up in Dulwich Village, London Worked in an around London until WWII Served in British forces in Europe Met my mother Ida Greta Birgitte Tvies in Germany and moved to South Africa, c. 1947 Moved to Vancouver, Canada 1953 Still trying to find out more about his parents. Regards, Chris Dewhurst

> 1) Where are you today, actually, geographically? Licking County, Oh (Central Ohio) > 2) What are your DEWHURST lines? Margaret Dewhurst/Duehurst, married November 2, 1692 in NJ to Thomas Clarke. (Hi cousin, Gordon Bonnet) > 3) How long have you been researching? Nearly 14 years. > 4) How did you get interested in family history? My great grandmother and grandmother. I also remember going to a couple family reunions when I was about 7 or 8 years old. > 5) Where are you stuck? Same as Gordon on the Dewhursts, I'm stuck at Margaret. The worse is my surname line, Johns, I'm stuck in 1882. > 6) Can you take your Dewhurst line "back to Adam" - show us! Naw. > 7) How can we best pass along our interest in family history to > forthcoming generations? I try to pass on to my children and mostly my grandchildren that so and so are related to us, or that our ancestors lived in this part of the county or they are buried in that cemetery. I also try to pass on the history that is related to our county and perhaps when they are older they will become more curious about these things. > 8) Anyone willing to share some good interview questions or techniques to get our elders to tell all? Wish I had done much more of this when they were still living. > 9) What are your favorite DEWHURST research internet links? This is the one. > 10) Anyone know of books written on the DEWHURSTS? None -- Bill Johns, member of Licking County (Ohio) Genealogical Society Library Staff Volunteer - LCGS e-mail = lcgs1@juno.com Visit the LCGC Web Site at: http://mocin.licking.oh.us/libraries/lcgs/index.html Visit the Licking County USGenWeb site at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohlickin/ Visit my Home Page at: http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/j/o/h/William-A-Johns/index.html and at: http://pages.prodigy.net/billjohns/Home.htm

Hi Chris, I suspect we may be able to help you with a tad more info. If you could at least "dig up" the names of James' parents and where they lived, it would help. Also, did James emigate somewhere or stay in London? If he emigrated, where and when? The more info we gather, the more we have to draw from collectively! Thanks for your post. Jana Chris Dewhurst wrote: > This is my father, who unfortunately passed away in 1990. I'll have to dig > up more info on his parents. I have never had much contact. He also had a > brother that apparently went to New Zealand and wasn't heard from again. Any > connections out there? > > Regards, > > Chris Dewhurst, > Vancouver, Canada

This is my father, who unfortunately passed away in 1990. I'll have to dig up more info on his parents. I have never had much contact. He also had a brother that apparently went to New Zealand and wasn't heard from again. Any connections out there? Regards, Chris Dewhurst, Vancouver, Canada

Hello all, This is a copy of information I received from Nicholas Dewhurst: nb. Yorkshire spelling usually Dewhirst. Lancashire=Dewhurst. Dewhurst= Dew, hurst= Old or middle English= Hurst= wood, Dew= the damp. The family that lived on the damp side of the wood. Often the west or south west side due to prevailing wind conditions. Many Dewhursts in the Ribble Valley and Rossendale. Important division between the Catholic and non catholic branches of the name.See divisions in the local cemetaries. Whalley Abbey. Accrington.Clayton le Moors.Billington. Blackburm and smaller villages. Catholic side of the family supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Joined his Armies at Preston on the march south. Rewarded by permission to wear the Stewart tartan.Own family branch traced to the UpperRossendale as hill farmers in the C14. Suggest your avoid commercial Book of Dewhursts. A rip off. See Coat of Arms in books of British Heraldry. Jana

Hi all, I have just requested that a bulletin board be created for the DEWHURST surname with GenForum. They say others must request the bulletin board as weel in order for it to be set up. Soooo, if you would each go to http://www.genforum.com/new.html and fill out the request form, we will offer ourselves another avenue of resources! Thanks, Jana BTW, WE ARE UP TO 15 MEMBERS - DON'T BE SHY - START POSTING YOUR INFO! LET'S GET THIS LIST GOING... YOU GOTTA GIVE TO GET BACK!

James Dewhurst married Francis Elizabeth Paget late in the last century. There were three children:- Robert Paget Dewhurst married Francis Millington. The other children were named Walter and Bernard. I have no record of what became of them or their descendants. Robert Paget Dewhurst had four children: Robin who was killed in the FWW, Margaret, James Paget Dewhurst and Ronald Hugh Dewhurst. James Paget Dewhurst had a son Charles Dewhurst who lives in Wrexham, North Wales and a daughter Susan Alban-Davies who lives near Farnborough in the South of England. Margaret became Margaret Brindley and has a son Giles Brindley of some fame in the medical arena. Ronald Hugh Dewhurst married Torquilla McLeod Lawrance and had two children, Diana Marise Pierce, and Roger Hugh Dewhurst (myself) now living in New Zealand. Diana Pierce had two children David and Sally. Both have children. I would appreciate information on the ancestry of the James Dewhurst referred to above and to the descendants of Walter and Bernard Dewhurst. Comment on the ancestry of William Paget who married Eliza Manby would also be appreciated. Charles Dewhurst of Wrexham is carrying out research on the family ancestry. perhaps someone living nearby with useful information might care to telephone him. --++Roger Dewhurst++-- ****************************** 26 Kaska Road, * Politicians, like * Hamurana, * babies' nappies, need to * RD2 ROTORUA, * be changed frequently, * New Zealand. * and for much the * Tel. and fax. * same reason. * +64 7 332 3484 ****************************** Mobile telephone http://wave.co.nz/pages/dewhurst +64 25 819 547 dewhurst@wave.co.nz

Here are my answers! > 1) Where are you today, actually, geographically? Upstate New York, north of Ithaca. I grew up in Louisiana but have lived here for six years, where I teach high school science in a little village. > 2) What are your DEWHURST lines? I have one, and she's a mystery -- I'm hoping someone has found her and will be able to help me. Margaret Dewhurst, b. ca. 1675, m. November 2, 1692 in Elizabeth, Essex Co., NJ to Thomas Clarke, son of William Clarke of Scotland. I'd love to find out where Margaret was born and what her parents' names are. > 3) How long have you been researching? I've been a genealogist for about 20 years. I only found my Dewhurst connection about eight years ago. > 4) How did you get interested in family history? My grandmother always used to tell me about her family -- hearing all of those old names gave me the bug! > 5) Where are you stuck? On the Dewhursts, I'm stuck at Margaret. I'm stuck a lot of other places on other lines, too... :-( > 6) Can you take your Dewhurst line "back to Adam" - show us! Boy, don't I wish! > 7) How can we best pass along our interest in family history to > forthcoming generations? I've got two sons, 10 and 7. I don't try to push the genealogy stuff on them, but I show them the old pictures, and share some of the stories I've heard (like the time my grandfather, who was an insurance salesman, accidentally drove away from the house of a client with a large dog which had climbed into his car through an open window. It was at night, and he was on a deserted country road, and he heard a noise in the back seat; he glanced in the rear-view mirror in time to see the dog sit up and peer over the seat. My grandfather almost died of cardiac arrest then and there.) > 8) Anyone willing to share some good interview questions or techniques to get our elders to tell all? Can't help here. My problem was getting my grandmother to _stop_ talking. > 9) What are your favorite DEWHURST research internet links? This one! > 10) Anyone know of books written on the DEWHURSTS? Nope, sorry. Looking forward to hearing from others on the list... Cheers, Gordon Bonnet <abonnet@clarityconnect.com>

Hi all, 1) Where are you today, actually, geographically? Bergen Co, NJ - though I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. My husband who is actually the DEWHURST grew up in the Bronx, NY. 2) What are your DEWHURST lines DEWHURST from Blackburn, Lanc, ENG> Chorley about 1816> Lowell, MA about 1840 > NYC about 1860 > Brooklyn, NY 1875... 3) How long have you been researching About 27 years. 4) How did you get interested in family history My oldest daughter had a Girl Scout project - to draw a family tree. At the time, my grandmother was still alive and we called her up and got a lot of answers (of course, NOW I know that there were many more questions we should have asked.) My daughter and the Girl Scouts went on to other projects, but I was hooked... 5) Where are you stuck I'm stuck in 1700s in Blackburn. James DEWHURST was born then, but I cannot find him. I'll have to dig out all the details. It's been a while since I worked on these guys. There never seemed to be many interested in the surname until now. 6) Can you take your Dewhurst line "back to Adam" - show us! Not likely - but, I do have a copy of pages written about Blackburn history that tell a lot about the earlier Dewhurst family. I'll look for that too. 7) How can we best pass along our interest in family history to forthcoming generations By freely sharing our information with others who are interested in the family. I will not, however, submit the info I've collected to any company that will charge others to see what it says. Nor will I just "publish" my family on the net. I'm interested in the EXCHANGE of information - not in providing my whole chart for someone to add to their own. 8) Anyone willing to share some good interview questions or techniques to get our elders to tell all Haven't found any winners - mostly luck - I think. 9) What are your favorite DEWHURST research internet links ?? 10) Anyone know of books written on the DEWHURSTS? As I mentioned above - Believe it was written by Abrams - and is The History of Blackburn. I'll look. Of course there's always the "Book of DEWHURSTs" by that well known company in Bath, OH <G> Quite a few years ago, I was in contact with a Roger Dewhurst of CA. We attempted to put together a DEWHURST USA Association. We were in contact with quite a few people at the time, and I have a lot of letters and charts about DEWHURST families in this country. Some of them are extremely interesting reading. The association never got off the ground and I've lost contact with Roger. I've also collected a lot of Census info that doesn't fit with my family - and other stuff pertaining to the name. I think we'll have a lot to talk about in the weeks to come. Terry / Glen Rock, NJ

Hope you are not sick of me yet! Just figured if I start the conversation, you will all join in.... If you looked at my home page, you have the genealogy. Here is the anecdotal information supplied mostly by my grandmother, with some information from my father and my uncle: My ggrandfather James William was widowed at the age of 42 with 7 children. The chart shows twin girls, but Edith Emily died at the age of ten months. My ggrandmother, Ellen Elizabeth Reeves died of an infected tooth just months after birthing my grandfather, James Sidney in June of 1895. James William stayed in London working as a welder on cathedral pipes "around town." The family supposedly had a 200 year lease on a flat near Piccadilly Circus. His eldest daughter, Nellie, married the year after her mother died and lived in the area. Sons William and Arthur were drafted into service for the Boer War and both died in Africa, leaving my grandfather as the sole surviving son in the family. Around the turn of the century, the two older sisters went to the USA working as nannies. One of the daughters became pregnant out of wedlock, and the father of the baby did not choose to marry her. She lost her job. My ggrandfather decided to let go of the lease on the flat and come to the USA to help his daughter. This caused a family rift. All the daughters were upset that he had let go of the flat and had left the family furniture behind including possessions of their mother's that held sentimental value for them. There is a vague story about especially bad feelings over an ivory and onyx chess set that were never forgiven..... So, James William brought James Sidney, age 9, with him to Canada in 1903. This much we know for sure. There is also a family story about land in Edinburgh, Scotland that my ggrandfather may have sold or traded to get to the New Country. I have come to understand that he probably chose to come to Canada because as part of the British Empire, papers were not required for British citizens coming to Canada and my ggrandfather was in a hurry. The next part is where I am stuck and where I wish I had known to ask better questions.... Somehow, in transit from the Old Country to the New Country, the names of my ggrandfather and grandfather changed! James William Dewhurst became William James McPherson and James Sidney Dewhurst became Sidney James McPherson. One family story suggests it had to do with entry papers and the land in Scotland - perhaps the land was traded for a New Country work permit to someone named McPherson. Until this Spring, that story was good enough for me to wait until the "someday" came when in traveling, I could try to authenticate the facts. Then, in a purely random way, I learned that there was a ship named McPherson which was so named only between 1897 and 1907 and which traveled between the British Isles and the New Country exclusively. Now, I wonder if my birth name came from a boat.... and why was it important to change the names? One day, I hope to untangle this mystery... any help out there? William James' daughter was stronger (or more stubborn depending on how you look at it) than her father knew! She did not marry and proudly gave the Dewhurst name to her newborn son, Lawrence. Today, the two daughters of this son are the only remaining family members to use the name Dewhurst. As I understand it, one of these two daughters married relinquishing the name and the other did not. In any case William had no need to rescue this daughter. She lived on her own, later married and ran a boarding house most of her life. I met her son when I was 10 and liked him very much. He was introduced to me as Uncle Laurie and there was never any secret kept of his story. A couple of years before his death he wrote me to tell me that he firmly believed origins did not matter nearly as much as what a person made of themselves when they were alive. He lived a very good life. I have kept the letter. William James secured work keeping the organs in a convent in Canada where my grandfather could receive a Catholic education. This apparently was a promise my ggrandfather made to his wife upon her deathbed. She was supposed to be Irish Catholic from Ulster - I do not yet know if she or her mother was born in Ulster. More work.... A few years passed and the two moved to Salt Lake City where William supposedly built the pipes for the new Mormon Tabernacle. A letter of recommendation written by the Mother Superior of the Canadian convent refers to my ggrandfather as William James McPherson and gives him the highest praise as a worker. Back in England, Nellie Dewhurst Eastman-Hill had given birth to a daughter, Ursula. I do not have her birth date and we have lost contact with this branch of the family. There may be more children. Any of you have a link for me??? The surviving twin, Ethel Leah, was killed in a factory fire in London in 1908. The family had dwindled to five members from 10. In 1909, the other daughter became pregnant out of wedlock as well in New York and the father wouldn't marry her either. A baby daughter was born on Long Island. This daughter soon married another man who was willing to adopt her baby daughter and they moved to San Francisco, California. There they had another daughter. I have the names of both fathers, but no more information. I do know that no birth certificate exists for the first daughter. My ggrandfather decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area to be closer to his daughter. The two men settled in Vacaville, CA. where William James became a sheet metal worker and Sidney became an electrician. More time passed, politics began to heat up in Europe and WW1 began. William James was determined not to lose his sole surviving son to another war and was quite glad they had established new identities in this world. But, somehow it wasn't quite this easy... Sidney was found in this country. It was suggested to me that Nellie, Sidney's English sister gave his assumed name to the authorities out of spite for her father's choice to give up the flat. But, this is not authenticated information. Emotions can run high in my branch of the family. In any case, Sidney was drafted and put on a boat back to England. Here is where I really do not have the whole story. I know that somehow, Sidney jumped ship to avoid the war. I do not know where. He succeeded. He and my grandmother gave birth to three sons, all who served proudly in WW2. Between them are three sons and three daughters to carry on the family and embarrass the elders! These children so far have produced 11 more descendants of the Dewhurst line in the USA..... My grandfather died when I was 18 months old, so I have no first hand information. I did interview his cousin and much of my information comes from her. As yet, I am not identifying her generation by name until I have permission to do so from all the descendents of that generation. I am in the process of acquiring permission. The only other information I have is that my grandmother was very bitter to have lost all her own brothers in WW1 and though she never applauded his actions out loud to me, I got the impression that she felt he was right in his decision. I have very vague recollections of hearing this discussed when I was very small as a justified act. Later, the UK joined other countries in creating a "sole surviving son exclusion" to the draft and this is no longer a problem. I just know that had he not jumped ship, I nor any of the rest of my family would most likely be here to tell such stories! You can decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing! In 1937, my grandfather became a naturalized citizen of the United States and had our family name legally changed to McPherson. Anything I have said that any of them do not like will indubitably get corrected here! All who have computer skills have been invited to join the list. I am sure the word will spread. Remember, I said I like to work collaboratively..... OK!!!! Probably way more than enough from me..... YOUR TURNS!!! Let's get this list going! Jana Black Listowner, DEWHURST-L

1) I live across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco in a beautiful area where we have the luxury of finding beaches, mountains, deserts, lakes, sun to snow in no more than 4 hours (traffic willing!) 2) My Dewhursts can be found on my webpage http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Woods/2275/index.html let me know if you can help me add to it! 3) I have been sharing research with my cousin Nancy for close to 30 years - I started with interviews of Grama in the early 70's, Nancy picked up the job while she was at BYU and when I started having kids, we both dropped the ball awhile, now I seem to be able to spend time on it and she has her last new little one... BUT... she is getting a new computer next month so you should meet her soon 4) I am the eldest in my generation and I figured out in my 20's that I had the gift of being the one who had heard the "grown-ups" tell the stories when I was the only little onw. I also found out none of the rest of "the kids" kneew the stories. I thought they were pretty cool, so I started to record what I could. OH, wish I had known then what to ask!!! 5) I am actually more stuck on my Reeves grandmother who married my ggrandfather than on Dewhursts. I figure you'll all help here witht he Dewhursts! 6) NOPE 7) We have a "rogue's gallery" in our stairwell with copies of any and all direct descendents we could find. We often see our kids watch as we tell the stories of the photos to visitors - the kids look bored BUT I have overheard them repeat the stories, so I know it is in them... 8) You will soon learn I did not get 'em to tell all, but I do have a good set of interview questions, email me if you want a copy 9) so far, I have found us to be largely OFF the net 10) I have Coleen Dewhurst's bio and I understand she has a son in New York. I have no idea what her lines are - anyone???? gee does her son have an email address? One more post for my family story..... Jana

First of all, let me apologize to all of you who may have received duplicate invitations to join the list. I used http://www.infospace.com/info.go2net/index_ppl.htm and http://www.theultimates.com/ which are the two best engine sources I know... and, while I did try to crossref, it became nearly impossible after awhile. I sent out over 200 invitations. I hope we will get a good solid exchange going. I like to work collaboratively, so please feel free to email me directly at any time with suggestions and/or comments. My style is pretty casual, but I will seek to keep us sharing in the general arena of genealogically relevant topics. Anytime I see net links that might apply to the research efforts of list members, I will post them and I encourage you to do the same. As the list gets going, and archive will automatically be stored through Rootsweb. To search the surname-l archives, point your web browser to: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl This will take you directly to the page to begin a search. You will be asked for the name of the list followed by a "submit" button to click on. The next screen has examples of search words and a "Query" blank. Fill the blank with the word you wish to search for and then click on the "search" button. The next screen will give information about the search. There will also be a place to choose how to view the messages. Choose "Full" from among the choices. The messages should then appear on the next screen to scroll through. You can then go back and choose a different word and begin another search. Or you can experiment with the different choices on how to view the messages such as: From, To Message ID, Subject, content-type, message-body. If you have other surnames you are researching, you can go back and choose another surname List to search. I will create another post offering my family story and I encourage you to do the same. If you need some conversation starters, consider sharing any or all of the following: 1) Where are you today, actually, geographically? 2) What are your DEWHURST lines ( you can use the simple format for example: DEWHURST, Wm. Henry; 1816, Hackney, Middlesex, UK>Jms. Wm., 1852, Finchley, Middlesex, UK & Jms. Sidney; 1894, Finchley, Middlesex, UK>USA, 1903>Allan Arthur; 1920, San Francisco, CA, USA>Jana Lee; 1949, San Francisco, CA,USA, etc.) 3) How long have you been researching 4) How did you get interested in family history 5) Where are you stuck 6) Can you take your Dewhurst line "back to Adam" - show us! 7) How can we best pass along our interest in family history to forthcoming generations 8) Anyone willing to share some good interview questions or techniques to get our elders to tell all 9) What are your favorite DEWHURST research internet links 10) Anyone know of books written on the DEWHURSTS? Hope we all enjoy the list and happy hunting!!! Jana Black Listowner, DEWHURST-L

Looking for parents/birthplace of Margaret Dewhurst, b. ca. 1675, m. Nov. 2, 1692 in Elizabeth, Essex Co., NJ to Thomas Clarke. Any help appreciated. Cheers, Gordon Bonnet <abonnet@clarityconnect.com>

Hi All, I was so happy to see the new listing for the DEWHURST-L How many are here already? Our DEWHURST family came from Blackburn, Lanc, ENG. About 1815 they moved about a bit. Some (our line) to Chorley, some to Clitheroe, some to Glasgow. Around 1840 Richard James DEWHURST crossed the ocean and eventually settled in Lowell, MA . His father, mother and some siblings came to Lowell, MA a few years later. By 1865, there were branches of this line in Lowell, MA, NYC, and New Brunswick, NJ. I'd be happy to post detailed info (names and dates etc.) - but just wanted to get something on the list - to see how it goes. Terry / Glen Rock, NJ, USA