In search of the family

PERRY FAMILY PHOTO Having completed the 52 Ancestors challenge in 2021, many of the stories within those themes show how I identified many of my ancestors and those I have yet to authenticate the identity. So for this weeks theme I thought I would talk about the first photograph I received of my paternal family taken around 1931/2. As the photograph has been passed amongst the family so names have been  agreed and suggested. Looking at other family photo's, some other names can be guessed at and through knowledge of family deaths and relationships other may be attributed but not necessarily correctly. So working from left to right, on the back row, of 5 men, I can identify:- ?Percival David Perry ?Ernest Perry My Grandfather Maurice Frederick Perry Hubert Jay Leslie Mark Perry not visible on this copy of the photo but on another there is possibly Edward Perry and why Percy and Ernest may also be in this photo. The middle row of women and children:- Dorothy Jay nee Perry My Grandmot...

This is not the story I would have chosen to write. But I am mindful of the subject and that this man's behaviour was such that it affected members of a generation that are still living. The man in question is long dead, but he is not here to defend himself and therefore I am using personal experiences and comments from others. So there is no named person in this story and I am writing from a personal perspective, with minimal detail and information. The gentleman is question was bought up by his grandparents as their own, when their unmarried daughter gave birth to him whilst unmarried. His adoptive siblings, therefore his blood Aunt's and Uncle's were unaware of his parentage and that he was not in fact their brother. There is a story that he too was unaware of his place in the family until he was called up to serve in the 2nd World War. But this is not the reason that I would consider him as an 'outcast'. His adoptive mother was said to have described him as ...

CONSEQUENCES OF  SUNSTROKE!    I have written about this within a biography of my Great Grandfather, but amongst many of his great Grandchildren, this story still brings a wry smile and amongst those not so interested in the family history this is a story that sticks in the memory. When I asked my cousin if I could refer to her story in the 'Out of Place' theme her immediate response was 'don't forget the relative who got married (again) whilst suffering from sunstroke.' Well, on that occassion, I felt her story took preference, but when I saw this weeks theme, OOPS, I just couldn't resist retelling this story as a stand alone. My Great Grandfather, George Arthur Perry 1855-1935 married Jessie Pope, his (as I believe at this time) 2nd wife on 3rd January 1881 at the John Knox Presbytarian Church, Newcastle upon Tyne. Meanwhile on a trip to the London area, to find accommadation for his new wife and himself, George found himself marrying again, bigamously, under ...

  JOAN EDITH PERRY  1932-1999 Joan Edith Perry was the middle daughter, of three, born to Percival David Perry and Milly (Millicent Lillian) nee Daines, on the 4th Dec 1932. She is the niece of my Grandfather. Joan is one of those spinster women, who's story intrigues me, whilst I have found some documented evidence of her story, I know, from family stories, she was a lady that was much travelled. I believe she was part of the Girl Guide movement during the 1940's/50's and trained as a primary school teacher in countries such as India and Afghanistan. The first evidence of Joan's travel adventures is when she appears on the ship manifest of the Empress of France (Canadian Pacific line), on the 8th Jun 1956 sailing from Liverpool to Montreal, Canada. At this time her occupation was a laboratory assistant.   www.liverpoolships.org Her cabin would have been similar to this:   www.liverpoolships.org Tourist class 2 berth cabin. The next documented evidence is not until 1...

OUT OF PLACE Having completed the 52 Ancestors challenge in 2021, I have already written several stories of Ancestors who were found in some unexpected places within their own stories. Examples include: How and why did my 2x Great Grandparents go to live in Chile in the 1840's? 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Mothers Day (mypynthdev.blogspot.com) What was my Grandfather doing in Sierra Leone just before the war? 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 27. Free. Another family mystery! (mypynthdev.blogspot.com) When I saw this weeks theme I wondered who to write about. Yes, there are some ancestors who would fit the criteria, but I wasn't motivated, at this time, to write about them. Then at 3 o'clock in the morning (I agree there is no hope,) I had a lightbulb moment and thought about some of the interesting stories that my generation of descendants have, my second cousins, so the family relationship charts identify. I am fortunate in finding many interesting stories within my wider ances...

I have already written about my favourite photograph, whilst taking part in the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks in 2021. This was a photograph of 3 generations of my adoptive Grandad's family, His 2 sisters, his mother and one of her sisters and his Grandmother. 52 Ancestors, 52 weeks Week 4 Favourite photo (mypynthdev.blogspot.com) So for this years theme, I thought I would share this photo from my adoptive Grandmother's family. I really like this photo as it is so much a photograph of it's time. 2023: Favourite Photo:            HOLIDAYS IN MARGATE (1930's) Margate- Chas and Dave 1983 chorus:-  Down to Margate Don't forget your buckets and spades and cossys and all Down to Margate We'll have our fill of jellied eels at the cockle stall Down to Margate We'll go on the pier, and we'll have a beer aside of the sea Down to Margate You can keep the Costa Brava, I'm telling ya, mate, I'd rather Have a day down Margate with all me family. written by Chas Hod...

Well, after falling by the wayside in 2022, I aim to return to writing posts related to my personal family history. After reviewing some of 2021 posts, I also aim to reduce the number of times I write, 'HOWEVER.' I think it may have been somewhat overused. Perhaps I need to keep a thesaurus handy!   Week 1. I'd like to Meet. Thinking on a genealogical level, my first thought was, Auntie Dorrie-the keeper of family stories, the sister of my Grandfather. But looking at this choice realistically and from my own research, perhaps she would not be the most reliable of storytellers.  I'd also like to chat with my Grandfather and ask him so many questions about his life, so much of which I only uncovered through military records and ships manifestos. But from the point of view of current 'Mysteries of my family history,' I think I would like to meet my mother's birth mother, my biological Grandmother, who sadly died in the 1970's. Lillie May Kent 1920-1976  Li...

FUTURE   Well firstly, I did it:- 52 stories in 52 weeks in 2021, some weeks were harder than others but over half of the posts were stories of my ancestors lives and about half again relate to the social history within those lives. Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for providing the prompts for these posts, they have certainly concentrated the mind. So where will I go with my family history story in 2022. I have signed up for next years 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, but I thought I would only post on weeks relevent to ancestors who's stories I have yet to write up . I see, however, that there is now a monthly theme and this may be the way I go with writing up these stories. Nevertheless there are many more people with stories to write about and hopefully others ready to be discovered. Having committed to writing weekly posts, it has encouraged me to write regularly. One big advance, will hopefully be, that I can perhaps move further forward with my Mum's birth family. We know her mothers...

  MUM'S CHRISTMAS MEMORIES. For this weeks post, I thought I would share a couple of my Mum's childhood memories of Christmas, just after the war. One of those memories was the Christmas she awoke to find one of her presents was a cabinet her father had made for her. Her father was a carpenter by trade, at the time working for the Bank of Egypt in London. She was delighted with this, alongside the other gifts she had received. But when her parents joined her in they pointed out that there was another present on the shelf of the cabinet. When she opened this it was her first watch. Christmas was an extended family affair and on Christmas Day, Mum, her parents and her Grandfather, Charles William Howe (1876-1957) were joined by her mother's sister and husband, Alice and Joe Scott (Alice Howe and Joseph Scott) and their 2 children Robert Anthony (b.1937), known as Tony and Lavinia Ruth(b.1939) known as Lyn or Vinia. Her father's friend Herbert Alexander Gray known as Dick ...

  LINES This is another week when I was unsure of what to write to interpret the theme, but after consideration, I decided to write about, where I 'draw the line' when writing about my my Ancestors. Some of us have family stories which can be unsavoury or difficult to write or read, does this mean we should not write about them? I am somewhat perturbed at recent global events that have suggested the rewriting, erasing or changing of history, because they are unsavoury in todays social climate. I do not countenance much of what occurred historically, but to sanitise or erase it does not allow us to learn from past failures and mistakes.   But to counter that arguement, that's all well and good but if these circumstances had touched my life would I be so arbitary in this statement. So this is where I draw the line. If the event  occurred in the dim and distant past, I would relay the story in a hopefully sensitive way. However, as I have discovered within my own family...

  HOMEMADE This theme made me smile, because of my immediate memory is of my Mum and her knitting needles. She was a prolific knitter, when we were growing up and I even remember her knitting on the beach. Look at any family photo's of us as a family growing up and at least 1, if not all of us will be wearing one of Mum's Jumpers/Cardigans etc. Even today, aged 81, she still knits, although for short periods only as various arthritic pains occur if she overdoes the knitting. This photo of my Grandparents, Doris Ruth nee Howe 1908-2005 and Frederick Samuel Carden 1908-1986 on their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1985, shows my Nan wearing a knitted skirt and cardigan and my Grandad a knitted pullover, all knitted by my Mum. As a secondary nod to 'Homemade'. I thought I would add a note about my other hobby:- hand embroidery and as the homemade face masks I embroidered to send to friends for Christmas 2020. The top mask is a slightly different design as the recipient suffe...

  FLORENCE STEWART PERRY nee ANDREWS 1882-1957 Kindly shared by JP If you have read any of my previous posts you will have perhaps noticed, I write a lot about the women in my tree. In the most part this is because many focus on the males in their tree, their occupations, their military service etc, but there are often 'strong' women beside them, caring for their children, managing on what money may or may not be coming in and often undertaking sideline home work which was so badly paid. One of those women was my Great Grandmother Eliza Pitts, but I have already written about her under the theme, 'Loss'. So today I am writing about another lady, the wife of my half Grand-Uncle, Florence Stewart Perry nee Andrews wife of John Arthur Perry. When writing his autobiographical journal, 'By Devious Paths' John A. makes this dedication:-  Dedicated to the constant and faithful companion on my Pilgrimage, 'By Devious Paths MY WIFE. Writing this I am well aware that ...