My Family History and other stuff !!

Remembered

2010-11-14T17:48:00.002Z

As this is a time for rememberence I thought I would list some of the members of my family tree who died during the Great War.

86449 Pte Lewis George Ellis KIA 4th November 1918 Sambre Canal Sebourg France
31385 Pte George William Grainger KIA 4th November 1918 Sambre Canal Sebourg France both of 9th Battalion Sherwood Foresters

Cheetham

2010-08-25T19:55:00.002+01:00

I'm off to the archives tomorrow to try and solve the origins of the CHEETHAM family. So far I've traced them to Whatton in the Vale. Here's the thing, I have an ancestor whose father and mother were Joseph and Mary CHEETHAM of Nottingham. There are several Joseph and Mary CHEETHAMS any of which could be a candidate. Somehow I have got to winkle out the right couple.
I'm going to search the Electoral Registers for the WW1 years to see if the Alfred CHAPLIN I have in my tree ever lived on Gregory Boulevard. If he di it will link him to the John CHAPLIN I have found in Grantham, and thus solve a 100 year family mystery.
Still have one lost child of my Great grandmother to find. I found from the 1911 census that she had two children that were born and then died before my grandfather was born. I managed to find one of them, Arthur, born and died in 1904 baptised at St Nicholas Nottingham. I am going to recheck the register again in case I have missed something.

Wills and Probate

2010-08-22T19:44:00.002+01:00

After finding 5 family members on the National Probate Calenders on Ancestry UK I have ordered them in the hope that they might enable me to further some of the investigations I am following at the moment.

One in particular, I am hoping, will provide a link to my lost great grandfather, John Quarrel Chaplin. I have found a John Chaplin on the WW1 Pension Records living and dying in Grantham after the war had ended. His next of kin was Alfred Chaplin living at Gregory Boulevard Nottingham. Both Johns were born in Bermondsey, as were both Alfreds. Both Johns had a brother Alfred, who lived in Nottingham. Both Johns were born within a couple of years. So far so good, but I want to find more evidence, thus ordering the will. I am hoping there might be a few more names I recognise which might bring it all together.

Also ordered copies of papers from the University concerning Francis Cheetham of Flintham Nottinghamshire, my 4xgreat grandfather. These will show me which land in Flintham they owned and later sold to the Thoroton Hildyard family who lived at Flintham Hall.

Family History

2010-08-19T18:29:00.005+01:00

I have finally managed to add my family history research to the oldmeadows web site. It's only in its basic form at the moment but I hope to fine tune it in due course.

Several visits to the archives and new information available on ancestry uk has enabled me to add a few more people to the family tree.

I've just ordered 5 wills from the probate office, one of which I hope will help me to finally discover what happened to my great grandfather, John Quarrell Chaplin.

John was never spoke of in the family after his split from my great grandmother but I think I may have traced him now. I just need to find positive proof of the link that I am 99% sure of.

Using information from the Manuscripts and Special Collections Department at Nottingham University I have discovered that a direct ancestor was a landowner in the village of Flintam, Nottinghamshire.

I have ordered copies of the documents and hope to have all the information within a few weeks.

Went to a Paleaography workshop at Nottinghamshire Archives earlier this week. An hour well spent. I would have liked it to have been a little longer though.

The story of Mary Yale has not developed any further for the time being. I hope to continue the research in to her family soon.

Thanks to a message on Facebook from Jeff Beeson, I was able to pass on the location of the plaque from Turney Brothers with the names of the workers killed in the Boer War. For those interested the plaque is at the Industrial Museum at Wollaton Hall, along with several other items rescued from the old building.

Busy week ahead

2009-05-27T15:14:00.003+01:00

I've had an email from a lady who thinks she could be related to two of the children in the Victorian Album I have put on the website. I have emailed her copies of the two pictures and I am awaiting her reply.
There have been over a thousand visitors to the site since it was updated last month. I am now working on the Family History pages with a view to getting them online sometime next month.
I have sent in a contribution to next months Evening Post Bygones. The edition will be about Nottingham's old schools, so I have sent in a few of my memories and a few photographs from the family collection.
There is still no sign of the Memorial Plaque from the old Turney Brothers building, although the article in question has now been written and put on the web. I don't know if the lady writing the article is still searching for it or not.

Web site update

2009-04-09T13:39:00.002+01:00

I have been working on the old Meadows web site for the past week or so. I have now got to the stage where the main site will be ready in a couple of days. The extras will take a little longer to sort out but hopefully by the end of the month it will be finished.

One brick wall gone

2008-04-26T14:46:00.003+01:00

Now that Ancestry uk have got most of the WW1 records on I have found out even more about James and Lewis George Ellis. I think I might even have found out what happened to John Chaplin, my great grandfather on my grandmother's side of the family. It needs a bit more research yet, however.
The research in to the lunatic, Mary Yale, is coming on apace. I've had some research done for me in Leeds, which has helped a great deal and helped me with some of the family members.
Quite by accident I have found the whole of Mary's family tree on Google Books. In a book called "The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal" I entered a search for Samuel Fenton the Leeds merchant and linen manufacturer, having an idea that he could be related to Mary Yale (ie her grandfather.)
Lo and behold, the whole family, including Mary's brother, William, who emigrated to South America in 1826.
I always had suspitions that Mary belonged to an influencial family, but here was the proof, and she was actually part, albeit minor, of the Royal bloodline.
I have been redundant now for 6 months, failing to find a job in the field I want to move in to. I have now decided that I will work self employed doing family history research for people in countries that make it hard for them to get to repositories in Nottinghamshire. More on that later

The brick wall is a bit shakey

2007-11-27T10:23:00.001Z

Since I last added to this blog quite a bit has happened. Firstly I was made redundant in September which has given me a bit of time to do some tidying up of all the information I have.
Recently the Ancestry UK site has added more WW1 soldiers to the database. I have found an extra 11 pages of information about my grandfathers service that I didn't have. This is prior to his time in the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry.
From what I can gather from the papers he was one of the young men that lied about their age when they enlisted. He gave his age as 19 years and 3 months when he enlisted 2 Oct 1915 when in fact he wasn't born until 28 Oct 1898 which means he was only just 16.
I also think I may have found out what happened to my grandmothers father. It seems that nobody in the family ever spoke about him after he seperated ffom his wife whilst my grandmother was only a year or so old.
I have found a soldier in the records with the same name, birth year, birthplace and also with a brother of matching name and age and living in the same area. This, however, is not enough information to match them up and the papers offer no further details.
This man is listed as previously serving in the Grenadier Guards so they are my next avenue of research. The record of all their men are kept in the Regimental Archives, so I have sent an initial enquiry and am awaiting an answer.
Resarch in to the lunatic Mary Yale is continuing as I have now paid for some research to be done in London ( chancery records ) to find out when and how she was considered to be a lunatic.
I am now also available to carry out family history research in the Nottinghamshire area so if you have any that needs doing, especially if you live out of the country and doing it yourself isn't financially viable, please visit the "research" page on my website at www.theoldmeadows.co.uk or email me at paul_ellis57@talktalk.net with your details

Quandries

2007-07-15T10:27:00.000+01:00

Found a few more ELLIS ancestors in London and Nottingham so I'll put them on Ancestry UK sometime today.
Not done any more on the Mary Yale story yet. Still looking at how to best add the family tree to the oldmeadows site. I want to make it easy for people to follow.

Holiday or will it be?

2007-06-29T17:53:00.000+01:00

I have just finished work for the week and have one or two little projects that I want to get started and a few more that I want to finish.
I have heard from the researcher re- Mary Yale and intend to go ahead with that project as soon as possible.
Family history wise I intend to visit Flintham sometime this week to see if I can photograph the graves of the Cheethams in the churchyard there. These are the ancestors I am furthest back with at the moment.
I want to start an ebay page to buy and sell old documents and letters (another of my interests) which I might also incorporate into the oldmeadows web site. I might also include old photographs and albums etc.

Web site update

2007-06-17T12:49:00.000+01:00

I have been working on the menu for the web site all weekend and think I have just about cracked it. Keep checking www.theoldmeadows.co.uk
to keep up with developments. Ive sent for an estimate for the research in to the papers of Mary Yale today so hopefully I'll get a favourable response some time in the week.

Tree on line

2007-06-16T13:23:00.000+01:00

Hi all,
I've just put the family tree on the web at Ancestry uk so anyone interested can look it up on there, although I'm not sure if you have to be a paying member. Those of you who aren't will soon be able to view it on the website at www.theoldmeadows.co.uk.
I'm still working on it but the menus are a bit of a headache.
I've had one or two answers to my email queries about Mary Yale and her family but nothing thats taken me any further, but it's early days yet.

Brick Walls

2007-06-01T17:49:00.000+01:00

Nearly everyone in family history circles come up to a brick wall every now and again. I have reached that point with my great grandfather, John Quarrell Chaplin. I have him on the 1901 census living in Nottingham but I can find no sign of his death in the BMD indexes. Similarly with his father, Thomas, I can find no record of his death.
On a brighter note I have found out a bit more about Mary Yale. The copy of the will of Isabella Fenton ties Mary in to that family as it mentions her as "my daughter, Mary Yale." I have to write off now to the archives in West Yorkshire to see if they have information that might help me.