Hi Malcolm Thanks for the email. We have been researching the Ashley surname and have had one large hiccup in the process. Our main search was to find information on our Great Grandmother Jane Maria Woodward Ashley (nee Shearer). Below is a brief breakdown starting with her grandfather. Woodward Family - Joseph Woodward, b. 1808 Gravesend Kent England d. 22 May 1860 aged 52. Married Jane Lawrence (d. 1900 Cape Town) on 11 Oct 1830 at St Helena. Children are Sarah Louisa Woodward b. Nov 1831 St Helena, (baptised 5 Jan 1832 St Helena) and Mary Elizabeth Woodward b. 30 May 1833 St Helena,( baptised 16 Jan 1834 St Helena) d. 1903 aged 70). Shearer Family -Mary Elizabeth Woodward married 26 March 1856 St Pauls Church Rondebosch Cape William Ferris Shearer (b. 1834 d. 1882 aged 48). They had 9 children of which Jane Maria Woodward Shearer is our Great Grandmother and is the line we are following. Ashley Family - Jane Maria Woodward Shearer (b.12 March 1859 Baptised 24 April 1859). Married 09 May 1877 Clement Walter Ashley (son of George Alfred Ashley) born 1856 d. 29 Nov 1888). 7 children were born from this marriage. This is where our researching gave us a jolt to discover that Jane Maria remarried and our Grandfather’s surname was not Ashley but Coomber and he had a brother of which we had no knowledge of at all. Coomber Family - Jane Maria Woodward Ashley married Harry Coomber 11 August 1896 in the Transvaal. According to the marriage certificate his age was 32 and his birth place was Sussex England. Two children were born from this marriage namely Edwin Langford Coomber (our Grandfather) b. 1896 d. 1928 and Lewis Woodward Coomber b. 1898 d. 1958. Action for the dissolution of the bonds of marriage was made by Jane Maria in 1903 (copies are in our possession). She then must have changed both her and the children’s surname to Ashley as both their death notices state surname Ashley. Whether this was done legally or not we don’t know. Copy of our grandfather’s death Notice (Edwin Langford Ashley) reads name of mother Jane Maria Ashley (widow) so we presume she was still alive at that time. Copy of Lewis Woodward Coomber’s death Notice reads (Lewis Woodward Ashley) and states mother deceased. Both Death Notices state place of death Pretoria. We have been trying to find a Death Notice or Estate Papers for our Great Grandmother Jane Maria Woodward Ashley using both the Surname Ashley and Coomber. All avenues tried have come back with no results. Unfortunately we have no idea where she was living, whether she left Pretoria and went back to the Cape where her immediate family were or even if she remarried although at the time that my Great Grandfather died she was 69 years old. So this is where we are sitting – the last piece of this puzzle unsolved. Thankng you Penny Hobbs(nee Ashley)   -----Original Message----- From: south-africa-eastern-cape-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:south-africa-eastern-cape-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Malcolm Stevens Sent: 03 December 2012 03:55 PM To: south-africa-eastern-cape@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ZA-EC] ELLEN STANTON - Death Certificates Penny Given your brick walls, perhaps I can help if you list your brick walls for us, plus perhaps your surname interests again? regards Malcolm On 2012/12/03 06:37 AM, Property Listing Association wrote: > Although I have not had much luck researching my family over the last few > years what would do without people like Ellen. Every email that comes > through I search hoping to find something and maybe one day will. We > cannot say thank you enough to those who tirelessly forward all this > information to us. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!! > > Penny Hobbs (nee Ashley) > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: south-africa-eastern-cape-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:south-africa-eastern-cape-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of > Tombi Peck > Sent: 02 December 2012 12:13 PM > To: south-africa-eastern-cape@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [ZA-EC] ELLEN STANTON - Death Certificates > > Goodness!!!! > You should be so very grateful to our wonderful Ellen for all her hard > work, not complaining about it! It's easy enough to delete emails you > don't want to read! > BECAUSE of the information Ellen has been supplying I have managed to > add several satisfying pieces of information into my file. > The rest of us are over the moon with this information.....it makes > searching for information so much easier!! > It's particularly valuable to those of us who do not live in South Africa. > Best wishes, > Tombi Peck > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Bennett" <david@burvest.com> > To: <south-africa-immigrants-british@rootsweb.com>; > <south-africa-eastern-cape@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2012 9:56 AM > Subject: [ZA-EC] ELLEN STANTON - Death Certificates > > > Without seeming to be ungrateful, I have in the past two days received > approx. THIRTY emails from ELLEN STANTON. > > Would it not be possible to have these entries condensed into just two > or three per day, instead of ten and twenty as has been the case recently? > > Thank you, > > David R. BENNETT > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SOUTH-AFRICA-EASTERN-CAPE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SOUTH-AFRICA-EASTERN-CAPE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SOUTH-AFRICA-EASTERN-CAPE-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message > > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOUTH-AFRICA-EASTERN-CAPE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message