I attended the Yorksgen gathering in 2010, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also found gems amongst the other people there,including Christine, Janet, The Marlboroughs, Gillian, Margaret and Lorna, whose husband I can just picture tramping around Scotland.(Hope the weather will be good to him). Apologies to those I've missed. My memory is not what it should be, but you were all gems. On the 'record' gem side of things - I had an inkling that one of my Great Grandfathers had been a Lay Preacher, though only from a rumour.While searching through records in Beverley I discovered the original Deed which recorded his appointment as a Trustee of the Wesleyan MethodistChapel at Breighton. (Which is where I was born) This Great Grandfather was named John William Rhodes, and the document is dated 14th July 1894.Another of the Trustees appointed on the same Deed was Joseph Robinson, father-in-law of John William, and my Great Great Grandfather.Prior to this I had no idea that they had been appointed to those positions, and all I knew of the Chapel was seeing the concrete slab that it had been built on.Another Trustee named was a Mr. Halifax-Smith, and I knew one of his descendants, another Mr. Halifax-Smith, still involved with Chapel, in Bubwith. The lovely Staff were able to photo copy the document for me. Another Gem, was discovering that ancestors of mine had been next door neighbours to one of Christine's ancestors. We saw the maps in Wakefield Records Office. These are among the "hidden Gems" waiting to be discovered, and which would never be found on a computer.I would encourage everyone to attend at least one of these gatherings in your lifetime. Pamfrom Sunny Queensland where summer has just started. > Today's Topics: > > 1. gems in archives (CHRISTINE WILLOTT) > 2. Re: gems in archives (pauline alden) > 3. Re: gems in archives (Lin) > 4. Newspaper Snippet Extracts (Tony Cheal) > 5. Re: gems in archives (D J Kay) > 6. Re: gems in archives (D J Kay) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2014 09:29:51 +0000 (GMT) > From: CHRISTINE WILLOTT <[email protected]> > Subject: [YORKSGEN] gems in archives > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: > <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Hi > I need to encourage as many of you as possible to come to the Yorksgen holiday in August for some if not all the time so I thought I would start a thread (I hope) on gems to be found in archives. > Here is my first one. I had been told my a cousin that a great uncle was a gardener possibly at Newby Hall near Ripon. Some years ago I contacted Newby Hall and found that their archive was lodged at WYAS Leeds. One Yorksgen holiday I took myself off there. On going through their catalogue I found the gardener's notebook. Lo and behold my Stephen FOSTER had been a gardener there. He had kept the records. I found weekly entries for several years relating to the work done in the garden, the weather conditions and the wages paid to the gardeners. The date was in the run up to WW1. They started with 4 gardeners and by 1914 there were 3. In the years that I saw Stephen never had a pay rise. As he was paid the most, I presume he was head gardener. > This level of info is unlikely to go online. It was great getting to read it and to touch the notebook that Stephen himself had kept. > My next objective is to visit the actual gardens. > Has anyone else got any gems? > If anyone is interested in coming to the holiday, please contact me not the list. > Thanks > Chris > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2014 11:23:55 -0000 > From: "pauline alden" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [YORKSGEN] gems in archives > To: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Newby Hall Gardens are really impressive and beautiful > > pauline alden > 13 swann street > York YO23 1AF > -----Original Message-----