I'm looking for the John FOX family, who I know lived at 10 Clarendon Road in Eccles from at least 1921 to at least 1926, based on letters written during that period with Clarendon Road as the return address. (That address no longer exists.) John FOX and his wife, Bessie (Elizabeth) nee ANDREWS, were first found, surprisingly, in the 1900 Denver, CO, census, boarding with Bessie's recently widowed mother. Bessie, b. May 4, 1869, had emigrated in 1890; John, born in May, 1872, had arrived in 1897. John shows his occupation as "chemist". Bessie and John were married in Denver September 20, 1899. (Did they know each other prior to emigration? Did John follow Bessie in order to capture her hand?) Their eldest daughter, Betty (Elizabeth?) was born July 21, 1900 , I would imagine also in Denver since Bessie would have been awfully close to term at the time of the census. Another daughter, Jessie (Janet?), was born, I'm guessing approximately 2 years later, and I'm guessing back in England. In 1907 John writes from West Africa on AKROKERRI (ASHANTI) MINES, LIMITED letterhead that in another 4 or 5 months he will be starting home again, and he vows that this will have been his last trip to West Africa. He mentions that a 22 year old brother is with him (and he says "a" brother, rather than "my" brother), so I suspect he had more than one brother; unfortunately he doesn't mention the brother's name! (The brother is working in the cyanide plant.) He also writes "both our little girls are going to school now" and says he had received a letter from "little Jessie" a few days before. (It was nothing but numbers, some written backward, which makes me think she was in what in the US is called kindergarten, and therefore would have been 5 or 6 years old.) And he says Bessie seems to be getting along all right, although he imagines she is lonely with both girls in school, so clearly she and the girls are back in England (or at least not in Africa with him). The Ashanti Mines letterhead is confusing, because Ashanti (with offices also in London) is a gold mine, and family legend is that John was with a company that had asbestos mines in South (not West) Africa. Also according to family legend John was one of the first to fly over Victoria Falls, which we have as yet been unsuccessful in verifying. (John also apparently has a sister named Kate; Bessie mentions her in one of her letters.) Betty marries a Percy Gandy, probably in the summer of 1926; at least that was the plan, according to Jessie's letter of Feb., 1926. Percy is allegedly with the British Foreign Service, and supposedly the last heard of them was from Capetown, So. Africa. Again it's a guess, but I would think he would have been born around 1900 like Betty, give or take a couple of years. With the exception of Bessie, who I've found with her birth family, I've been unable to find any of these folks in the IGI via familysearch.org. But even without any direct knowledge of the players perhaps SKS can help me figure out where at least John and Bessie may be buried. I would assume John would have been a member of the Church of England and that Bessie would probably have originally been Presbyterian but would (also probably) have joined John in the CE. If I can locate the cemetery and obtain dates of death, perhaps I will also be able to obtain death notices that will provide a trail for the daughters. Based on their dates of birth I would guess John's and Bessie's deaths might have occurred in the late 1930s or 1940s; Bessie, from the tone of her letters, wasn't in particularly good health, but since I never knew her I can't say either that she had a particularly bad time of it or "Oh, that was just Bessie." I was able to locate my Scottish ANDREWS cousins via a posting on the "Memory" page of the Kilmarnock Standard. Is there a newspaper with a similar page in Eccles? Any help will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance.

The Manchester Evening News has a "looking for people" page in the Saturday edition. You can find their website at : http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ the page you need to email is the In Touch page which is part of the letters page the email address is postbag@men-news.co.uk . They also have a version online and a full page in the paper itself. Hope that this is of help? Also the local free paper "The Advertiser" sometimes has requests from people on their letters page. Their site address is www.salfordadvertiser.co.uk and the email address is salfordadvertiser@gmwn.co.uk The Advertiser is delivered free to all homes in the Salford, Eccles, Swinton areas. Although number 10 Clarendon Rd. no longer exists there is still a part of Clarendon Road still standing. They knocked part of it down to accommodate a motorway. The school (Clarendon County Primary as it is now called) is still there. Hope that this is a bit of help to you Cheers Sheila ----- Original Message ----- From: <Katlvr9999@aol.com> To: <ENG-LAN-ECCLES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2002 9:54 PM Subject: [ECCLES] FOX family > I'm looking for the John FOX family, who I know lived at 10 Clarendon Road in > Eccles from at least 1921 to at least 1926, based on letters written during > that period with Clarendon Road as the return address. (That address no > longer exists.) > > John FOX and his wife, Bessie (Elizabeth) nee ANDREWS, were first found, > surprisingly, in the 1900 Denver, CO, census, boarding with Bessie's recently > widowed mother. Bessie, b. May 4, 1869, had emigrated in 1890; John, born in > May, 1872, had arrived in 1897. John shows his occupation as "chemist". > > Bessie and John were married in Denver September 20, 1899. (Did they know > each other prior to emigration? Did John follow Bessie in order to capture > her hand?) Their eldest daughter, Betty (Elizabeth?) was born July 21, 1900 > , I would imagine also in Denver since Bessie would have been awfully close > to term at the time of the census. > > Another daughter, Jessie (Janet?), was born, I'm guessing approximately 2 > years later, and I'm guessing back in England. > > In 1907 John writes from West Africa on AKROKERRI (ASHANTI) MINES, LIMITED > letterhead that in another 4 or 5 months he will be starting home again, and > he vows that this will have been his last trip to West Africa. He mentions > that a 22 year old brother is with him (and he says "a" brother, rather than > "my" brother), so I suspect he had more than one brother; unfortunately he > doesn't mention the brother's name! (The brother is working in the cyanide > plant.) > > He also writes "both our little girls are going to school now" and says he > had received a letter from "little Jessie" a few days before. (It was > nothing but numbers, some written backward, which makes me think she was in > what in the US is called kindergarten, and therefore would have been 5 or 6 > years old.) And he says Bessie seems to be getting along all right, although > he imagines she is lonely with both girls in school, so clearly she and the > girls are back in England (or at least not in Africa with him). > > The Ashanti Mines letterhead is confusing, because Ashanti (with offices also > in London) is a gold mine, and family legend is that John was with a company > that had asbestos mines in South (not West) Africa. Also according to family > legend John was one of the first to fly over Victoria Falls, which we have as > yet been unsuccessful in verifying. > > (John also apparently has a sister named Kate; Bessie mentions her in one of > her letters.) > > Betty marries a Percy Gandy, probably in the summer of 1926; at least that > was the plan, according to Jessie's letter of Feb., 1926. Percy is allegedly > with the British Foreign Service, and supposedly the last heard of them was > from Capetown, So. Africa. Again it's a guess, but I would think he would > have been born around 1900 like Betty, give or take a couple of years. > > With the exception of Bessie, who I've found with her birth family, I've been > unable to find any of these folks in the IGI via familysearch.org. > > But even without any direct knowledge of the players perhaps SKS can help me > figure out where at least John and Bessie may be buried. I would assume John > would have been a member of the Church of England and that Bessie would > probably have originally been Presbyterian but would (also probably) have > joined John in the CE. If I can locate the cemetery and obtain dates of > death, perhaps I will also be able to obtain death notices that will provide > a trail for the daughters. Based on their dates of birth I would guess > John's and Bessie's deaths might have occurred in the late 1930s or 1940s; > Bessie, from the tone of her letters, wasn't in particularly good health, but > since I never knew her I can't say either that she had a particularly bad > time of it or "Oh, that was just Bessie." > > I was able to locate my Scottish ANDREWS cousins via a posting on the > "Memory" page of the Kilmarnock Standard. Is there a newspaper with a > similar page in Eccles? > > Any help will be GREATLY appreciated. > > Thanks in advance. > > > ==== ENG-LAN-ECCLES Mailing List ==== > Have you used Tree Tops? > The Free FAMILY TREE & WE'LL MEET AGAIN SERVICE > http://freespace.virgin.net/tree.tops > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >