A post for help on an Essex local history group peeked my interest this weekend, regarding a giant brass plate unearthed in a Benfleet garden. It’s inscribed “To Dr. & Mrs. George Simpson, Senior Medical Officer, Calr. From Mr. & Mrs. Magnus A. O. Williams, Calr. In affectionate remembrance. Hold ye the good – define it well. 1934”. Could I discover who these people were?
During the 1980’s my grandfather Steward Jackson HICKS was a Jack the Ripper researcher, or “Ripperologist” as they are known in the trade. I knew nothing of his grisly hobby until after his death in 1993, and decided now was the time to find out more.
Ontario Genealogy Facebook group member “JM” asked for help deciphering the maiden name of the groom’s mother on a wedding certificate, the groom being one George Edward Frank SPEERS.
Intrigued by a photo of a gravestone slowly being swallowed up by a tree for Anne MOSELEY, the fourth wife of Henry MOSELEY, I decided to find out more. What I found was a man who had suffered many tragedies in his life, with the loss of three young wives and three of his children. Sadly, the only tree Henry left behind is the one now growing through his grave.
A message left by Jackie Morrey on a Facebook genealogy page about her Great Great Grandfather Morris ASHMORE got me intrigued, so I decided to investigate.
Using census and electoral records I have been able to trace the occupants of 7 Tennyson Road from 1899 (two years after it was built) to 1939 (three years before it sustained serious war damage and was rebuilt), so more or less covering its existence in its original form.
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.
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.