Shake the tree and nuts fall out!

week 34 - newest discovery  My “ newest discovery ” is many more “Bigmore” relations. I have known for many years that the Bigmore family is huge and I had found people of this name in London but they didn’t fit in with my linage. (Or so I thought). I had a birth come up for an “unknown child” to my tree. I looked into it and searched the GRO etc and the mothers maiden name matched, it fitted a gap between siblings etc. So I added it and got more hints for the mans family and from him I have now added about 45 more “Bigmores” to my tree all in the London area. This “ newest discovery ” has been worthwhile looking into.

 week 33 strength I have previously written about strong people in my tree so I don’t want to re-do that. But I do have some distant relatives with the “strong” surname, so I am going to use those. William Strong was born in 1799 in Somerset, he is the maternal grandfather of wife of brother-in-law of 2nd cousin 3x removed (I said distant!) He had 2 wives and 4 children. Not much else is known on William as there were quite a few by this name in the same area. I do have other “strong” relatives who have married into the family.

 week 32 reunion I have never been to a family “ reunion ” and nor do I think I ever will go to one. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be something that my family have done. Many of my relatives don’t speak to each other or have lost contact over the years. The closest I have come to a “ reunion " is making contact with my Dad’s cousins after he had died and I found an old address book and informed them of his passing. The only thing that could come close to a “ reunion ” is family funerals as this is the only time that you seem to meet up with people, and then you don’t see them again until the next one.

 week 31 - flew the coop “ flew the coop ” is usually a saying linked to children leaving home, but as most did this its not an easy thing to write about. However, birds live in coops and I have a few families that have bird names so I am going to write about some of them. The Sparrow family are distant relations, the furthest person I have linked to me is George Sparrow born 1813, Holborn, London. He is the father-in-law of my 1 st cousin 5x removed. I don’t have much info on him except his wife and daughters names. The Starling family are linked on my maternal line, but again are distant relations. The furthest person of this name I have linked is Stephen Starling born 1706 in wood ditton Cambridgeshire, he was married to my 1st cousin 9x removed Elizabeth Haylock. The Robins family are again distant relations, the furthest person is Benjamin Robins born 1832 in Sussex. He is the father-in-law of my 2 nd cousin 4x removed. He was an Ag.Lab all of his life. With regards ...

 Week 30 - in the news Walter Morley and his wife Jessie Eliza Adams were “ in the news” in October 1966 for celebrating 60years of marriage, they were married 17 Oct 1906 in Paddington, London, England. Walter and Jessie are the in-laws of my Grand uncle James Gardiner Lackey. Walter was born 10 SEP 1875 Winfarthing, Norfolk, England to Edward and Mary. He was one of 12 children. Jessie was born 9 JAN 1885 Marylebone, London, England to Henry and Elizabeth. She was one of 2 children. They had 3 daughters – Jessie, Hilda and Eva. Walter started his working life as a grocers assistant, he later became a hotel porter and a shop porter, he wasn’t accepted as a soldier due to his feet. Jessie was a domestic sevant in her younger days. Walter died Oct 1976 aged 101years in Brent, Greater London, En...

 Week 29 birthdays “ birthdays ” everyone has one! It is the day that you are born and make an appearance in this world. A few years ago I did a write up on everyone who had the same “ birthday ” as me (January 3 rd ). I can’t remember how many people there were but it took ages to go through the tree to find them. I have always been lucky and spoilt on “ birthdays ” as it’s my special day and I have done the same for my children. But it makes you wonder how many people in my tree have been this lucky. I would guess not many. My Mum often told a story of how she only got a bag of beads for her “ birthday ” and her brother got much more items for his. For many people it would have been a normal day and they would have worked and carried on with daily tasks, for others further back they may not even have known when their “ birthday ” was which I find quite sad, but that is how things were.