In search of the family

  ALICE ESTHER EMMA PITTS 1903-1978   Permission required to reuse photograph. . I have started to write this blog post many times but given up on each occasion. My immediate family’s relationship with my grandmother was not the easiest. She was not the happiest of ladies and had become increasingly bitter as the years past. But there are many circumstances within her life that could have contributed to this, my own memories of her are not the happiest. But to counterbalance this when speaking with my cousins that met her have fonder memories. Alice was the 2 nd child and eldest daughter of William Richard Pitts and Eliza nee Deaney born on the 29 th Jun 1903. Until I began researching my family tree, I was unaware that ‘Granny’ was 1 of 7 children, being aware, only of a younger brother Bill, who I remember visiting in his grocery shop in Rickmansworth. My mother, however, vaguely recalled Granny mentioning a sis...

BRANCHING OUT. This week/month I am writing about how branching out, helped me obtain an image of 2x Great Grandfather. My father was an only child and his parents seperated early in his life, leaving his mother embittered throughout her life.  I am sorry to repeat myself here, if you have read my other blog posts where I have mentioned this, but my father really didn't talk about his family and childhood very much. I can hear him now, brushing away any queries, describing them as 'a rum lot.' Talking and meeting with various cousins over the years has helped me understand more about the dynamics within the family. Discovering these cousins, I had obtained images of my grandfather, his parents and of course the wider family. Amongst family photo's I discovered pictures of my father as a child with his mother, his grandmother (my 2x Great Grandmother) on the occassion of her second marriage,but there was a gap - my 2x Great Grandfather:  WILLIAM RICHARD PITTS. I have pre...

 SARAH ANN PITTS 1883-1952 I am related to Sarah in two ways. She was the sister of my Great Grandfather William Richard Pitts but she also married Charles Deaney, the brother of my Great Grandmother Eliza Deaney. Sarah was born on the 2nd February 1883, the eldest daughter of Thomas and Esther Pitts nee Jackson. She was baptised at St Johns, Coln St Aldwyns Gloucestershire on 4th March 1883, the family were living at Swyre Farm Cottages, as an Agricultural Labourer, it would be reasonable to assert that Thomas was working at Swyre farm at this time. As Thomas and Esther moved around the Cotswolds as work took him, so Sarah moved too. By the 1891 census, Thomas and family were living in Aston Blank also known as Cold Aston, living and working at Aston Blank farm.  The next documentation for Sarah is in 1901, but not the census, I have been unable to identify her there, but on 22nd June 1901, Sarah married Charles Deaney in Brentford Middx. Whilst I have been unable to find Sar...

 JAMES DEANEY 1863-1885 This weeks title offers an opportunity to write about any number of individuals in my family. Some committed crimes, others were the victims of crime. As 'Taggart', a Scottish TV detective, would say: ' There's been a Murrdur. '  Jane Youell, a cousin of my Great Grandmother, was murdered by the lodger, who was then hanged.  Prior to this Jane's father was imprisoned for 'embezzlement. As you can imagine this is a long story in it's telling, so one for another day There have been several charges and imprisonment for 'Bigamy', including my Great Grandfather, who also appearred to spend more time in Prison for going AWOL and desertion from the Army than he actually spent in the military itself. But, this week,  I have decided to write about how a young man's day poaching rabbits ended with ultimate punishment. This is a long repetative article but appears to follow the coroners court comprehensively. BUCKS HERALD 5 th S...

  Having already written about both pairs of my paternal blood GREAT-GRANDPARENTS. I decided to look at my ancestors who reached a 'great age'.  Although there is no-one who has reached 100, there are several who have reached their 90's. My adoptive Grandmother died aged 96. I am eternally grateful to her doctor who identified 'old age' as the cause of death, with heart failure as a secondary cause. For me, there is something reassurring when you see 'old age' as it implies a life lived rather than disease endured. My Great Grandfather's second wife reached the age of 98, but I am focusing on my 2x Great Grandmother ANN DEANEY nee DEAN , who reached the age of 99. * Note the surname Deaney is often interchanged with the name Daney and documents may be found under either spelling. For the purpose of this blog and ease of reading all sunames are identified as Deaney. ANN DEAN 1855-1954    Ann was the 2nd of 10 children and eldest daughter of William ...

Music is a constant feature in my family history and there are a number of suitable people that I could write about, not least my father, who won a scholorship to the Royal College of Music, London at the age of 11. My paternal Great Grandparents were all members of the Salvation Army so many of them and their children were members of their local Salvation Army band. But for this weeks 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks I am going to write up my 2x Great Grandfather Thomas Pitts. As many of us in the UK discover, our mid 19th century ancestors are Agricultural Labourers or Ag Labs. So we follow them through their descendants baptismal records and the census returns. If we are lucky we may discover them in the local Newspaper, maybe winning a ploughing cup or perhaps being convicted of poaching as they try to put food on their families table. But I am fortunate enough to have an ancestor who over the years has featured more and more online for his social pastime of being a member of the Sherborne...

This is the story of my Great Grandparents, who experienced so much loss within their lives, not least the death of 4 sons before reaching adulthood and ultimately their marriage to each other. WILLIAM RICHARD PITTS , the eldest son of Thomas and Esther Pitts of Sherborne Gloucestershire, b. 11 Sept 1876 married ELIZA DEANEY , the daughter of Frank and Ann Deaney nee Dean of Holmer Green, Buckinghamshire b. 5 April 1878. From the agricultural rural areas of English countryside by 1900,William  had found his way to London, probably to obtain work. On thE 4th August 1900 William and Eliza were married at Eliza's local parish church in Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire. Little Missenden Church British History Online                                                                               ...