In search of the family

  CURIOSITY On reading this weeks theme, my initial thought was that 'curiosity' was a fundamental part of my 'family history,' journey. The stories I have uncovered all stem from personal curiosity, or in my case, 'dog with a bone-itis' to find out more. A list of dates for births, deaths and marriages are all very well, but my interest is trying to establish how these people lived. So which of my ancestors or their wider families is the subject of this weeks post. Well, so many of those 'interesting' ancestors have already been written about, but a few days ago I thought, I wonder if anything has been added on-line about..... ? So this is her story. STELLA CECILIA RUST 1874-1908 Stella was the youngest child of Thomas Parker Rust, a General Medical Practitioner (G.P), and his wife Mary Muir Rust nee Randolph. Whilst she and her siblings were born in London, where her father was working as a surgeon, in later years in partnership with his father in law,...

  REVEREND GEORGE STEWART HITCHCOCK 1866-1922 B.A. D.D. S.S.D.  illustration from The Vicar of Bray opera www.wikipedia.org George Stewart Hitchcock links to my Pye family ancestry, he married a widowed Edith Louisa Miskin nee Pye in 1914. Edith was the youngest sister of Marian Pye, who I have previously written about under the theme 'Work'. I have chosen to write about the Rev Hitchcock under the theme 'Changes' as he was a clerical man who changed his denomination no less than 4 times (3 different denomination) and is perhaps why in a newspaper obituary was described as a modern (c1922)  'Vicar of Bray'.  The  Vicar of Bray  is a satirical description of an individual fundamentally changing his principles to remain in ecclesiastical office as external requirements change around him. The religious upheavals in England from 1533 to 1559 and from 1633 to 1715 made it almost impossible for any individual to comply with the successive religious requ...

  On the Farm    Hadlow Castle and Tower www.thehadlowtower.co.uk Most of the castle was demolished in the 1950's for building materials  The tower remains and has been renovated and converted to accomodation. There are so many stories I could write under this heading. Like most people, I have a number of Agricultural Labourers within my ancestry. Some have won prizes at local Agricultural Shows for ploughing matches and others have been rewarded for having the 'largest family in the area who have not relied on Parish relief. A large number of my Pye ancestors have been 'gentleman farmers. A daughter of these 'Gentleman farmers' married Henry Seymour Tett, head of a Kent company that made farming implements including threshing and hop washing machines. There are also links between the Pyes and the Avelings. Thomas Aveling alongside Richard Thomas Porter, went into partnership and developed a steam engine, developing an agricultural locomotive engine for threshing, p...

 MARIAN PYE 1861-1936   It may appear a little strange for me to chose a Victorian lady for this weeks theme of work. No less so when you discover that she was the daughter of the Gentleman Farmer Henry Pye, the so called King of the Hundreds and an innovator in his own right. But such men as Henry can be relatively easily researched using internet search engines, whereas someone like his daughter disappears into the ether and needs a bit more of an effort to discover her story. Those of you who may have discovered my family history stories may have noted that I have labelled some of my posts:- 'All the single ladies', this weeks 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks story also comes under this category. Marian Pye was a spinster with no children, who's story would get lost in time but like other ladies I have written about, Marian has a story of her own to tell. As I write each of these posts I review all the information I may have and look to see if there is anything new that may have...