Along with researching my own family, I also enjoy researching other peoples families and particularly like a challenge! I will quite often help other genealogists with specific problem relatives via forum posts, as well as setting my self much larger projects which are listed to the right.
There are benched dotted about Hadleigh Woods, which I will add as I come across. It will be difficult to create a map for them, but might try at some point!
Frederick CARTER was born Mar 1900 in Southchurch, Essex. He enlisted underage at 14 (almost 15) into the 10th Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own) in Mar 1915 and was killed in action on 3rd Sep 1916 age 16.
Harold Henry CALVERLEY was born in 1896 in Hadleigh, Essex. Shortly after war broke out, he enlisted as a Private into the Royal Fusiliers (London Regiment) 12th Battalion. He disembarked for France on 1st Sep 1915 and just 28 days later, on 28th Sep 1915, he was listed as missing in action. He was later presumed to have been killed on this date during the Battle of Loos. Harold was 19 years old.
Herbert John BUSH was born in 1885 at Rawreth, Essex. He enlisted into the Essex Regiment 2nd Battalion in Mar 1916 and was killed in action on 15 Oct 1916.
John Albert ARNOLD (also known as John Albert CLARKE), born in Islington, London, in 1899, enlisted twice while underage before joining the London Regiment for a third time. He died of wounds received during the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux on 25th April 1918.
Sidney Charles ALLEN was born 1894 and his brother James Edward ALLEN in 1896, both in Hadleigh. Sidney enlisted into the Royal Garrison Artillery (Anti-Aircraft Depot) in 1915 and died at Carisbrook Military Hospital 25th April 1918. James enlisted into the Essex Regiment (1st/9th Battalion) in 1914 and died 8th April 1919, the last soldier to die from the town.
The war memorial in Hadleigh, Essex was erected in 1922 and carved stone plaques around the sides contain the names of the 48 men of the parish who died during WWI. This project researches each of the men named.
Can researching the Bromham, Bedfordshire parish records for any mention of the surname MAYHEW help confirm the identity my 5th Great Grandfather John Mayhew’s parents?
Every day, we walk past and sit on park benches, many of which have plaques dedicated to departed loved ones. Recently, I realised that I had never taken the time to properly read these inscriptions. As both an artist and a genealogist, I thought it would be an interesting project to photograph each bench and research the lives of the individuals commemorated on them.
I received two messages from two different Ancestry members recently regarding a member of my paternal FULCHER family line and the maiden name of his wife, both wondering how I had come about it. I thought I had better take a look at see!
After looking over a little group ration books and similar items belonging to a Mrs Frances F Sansom FENN I began to wonder who she was and what I could find out about her.
There are fifty seven benches with plaques along Marine Parade between Vernon Road and Belton Way East.
There are thirty nine benches with plaques along Marine Parade between the corner of Thames Drive and Belton Way to the corner of Vernon Road.
There are twenty one benches with memorial plaques along Marine Parade between Tattersall Gardens and Thames Drive.
The parents of my 4th great-grandfather Christian BARNES (1771-1868) died in 1778 during the American Revolution when he was about six or seven years old. Various family trees state his father George BARNES (c.1746-1778) was a Lieutenant in the British Army, but no source evidence has been found as yet. Family legend also has it that Christian was taken in by the neighbouring STULL family who were most likely living in Schoharie, New York at the time. Can researching the head of the family Lathum STULL lead to any further clues on George BARNES, or where his son Christian was living between 1778 and 1797 when he arrived in Ontario, Canada?
Whilst researching the family tree of one of JCA’s closer DNA matches, I stumbled upon Marzella MCDANIEL and her son Benjamin living within a side branch MANLY household in 1920. I had not found Marzella in the 1920 census up until this point, and I was most curious to find out how she was related to the MANLY family and thereby possibly the ARNOLD line.
Up to this point I had not traced back from either side of my paternal 2nd Great Grandparents, Mary MITCHELL and Robert WHITE (on the BARNES side). I decided to look see if any more records had been added online since I last researched them.