tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85561980349547183722009-12-09T00:03:38.852ZIt is said that there are only two lasting bequests we can give our children - one is roots, and the other, wings. I am here only because of the lives of countless others before me, and this is my journey to discover who they were - and who my children may become.Pandanoreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-45228894807474650862008-10-22T21:29:00.008+01:002008-10-23T00:08:54.432+01:00

Listen, it's half-term, so I hardly have a minute to myself - and when I do, it's all I can do to sink into an armchair with a bottle of wine after the children have gone to bed.My dear friend Trac has asked me to do something for her; and I hereby promise to deal with this on my next post. Because it needs a post of its own.But first I need to relate the story of my visit on Friday to Cheslyn

Pandanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-85009203858467224102008-10-16T18:33:00.009+01:002008-10-16T19:14:55.544+01:00

Adrian, I so wish I could have been there for you today.I'm surrounded by the airy descent of yellow leaves that were vibrant green when you were still here, and huddled against the chill of the autumn that you knew you would never live to see. I still can't read your words to me, although I will always treasure them. I hope you know that you made so much difference to me, and that I'll do

Pandanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-22542617135360515342008-10-07T16:24:00.008+01:002008-10-07T20:08:18.679+01:00

It's finally got to me. Here I sit on a dull Tuesday afternoon with broken glass in my throat, lungs on fire and a tissue up each nostril to stem the flow. It's not a pleasant sensation or sight. Who gave it to me? Was it my OH, the children, my friends or my enemies? Because just about everyone I know has already had a cold this autumn.Succumbing to a cold is a bit like childbirth - although

Pandanoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-45363109280695568182008-09-22T18:33:00.009+01:002008-10-05T10:30:06.422+01:00

Last week I was contacted by someone who thought that he and I might share a distant ancestor. The ancestor in question was certainly distant - his name was Cyprian Shorter and his son Herbert was my great grandmother's grandfather. Cyprian was born in 1803, and was registered in the censes as being a shoe- or bootmaker from a parish called Cheslyn Hay in Staffordshire.'Cyprian' is an unusual

Pandanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-49579908670510392472008-10-04T10:18:00.012+01:002008-10-04T11:49:55.173+01:00

I have thought a great deal about whether to publish this post.But in order for this blog to accomplish its original mission (ie to help my children understand where they came from), I must be honest.I was contacted this week by a gentleman who shares a distant connection with me through the Dodford Inn family. He had been researching his family in the Bromsgrove newspaper archives when he came

Pandanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-18765016923911440402008-09-23T20:27:00.024+01:002008-10-02T23:52:47.787+01:00

William (aged six) really made me laugh yesterday. My OH had just accepted my offer of a cup of tea, and William piped up: "Daddy, why is Mummy your servant?"In fact, I am currently servant to all of the men in my house, William included. And as the children get older it's getting harder and harder to keep up with the pace.As soon as one room is cleared of detritus, the men move in and dedicate

Pandanoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-84980012720524024172008-10-02T19:07:00.010+01:002008-10-02T23:48:28.800+01:00

This is kind of the Second Pass of the Elephant. It's harder than the first part where you can be so free and easy: you have to start being decisive and properly laying down paint in the right places, or it won't work. The worst thing about this stage is that the painting can begin to lose its 'life' - the energy that is somehow encapsulated in the piece when it has all its promise, right at the

Pandanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-51300908666859293342008-10-02T10:07:00.001+01:002008-10-02T10:55:33.360+01:00

Monday was Ben's birthday, and this year he definitely knows what it's all about. He opened his presents in less than four minutes and wanted me to put them together, but as it was a school day this was somewhat impossible.As anyone who has anything to do with children will know, there is a corresponding and inverse relationship between the time it takes to unnwrap and build a toy and the time it

Pandanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-40791094981963250882008-09-28T14:10:00.002+01:002008-09-28T14:14:44.604+01:00

Reader, I adored him.

Pandanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-49063543869485698272008-09-27T18:35:00.005+01:002008-09-27T18:53:22.491+01:00

Hooray! My blank canvas is no more a blank canvas. It now has an elephant on it.Now, why is this a big deal? Well, because I have never painted an animal before now and I just didn't have a clue whether I could do it.This is what's called the first pass of the painting, where the tonal values are created. After that you can add colour.When I'd finished this, I sent a picture of it to my OH's

Pandanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-32356667937099558912008-09-14T10:34:00.014+01:002008-09-15T00:59:39.450+01:00

Industrious and intelligent boys who live in the country are mostly well up in the cunning art of catching small birds at odd times during the winter months. So, my young friends, when you have been so fortunate as to succeed in making a good catch of a couple of dozen of birds, you must first pluck them free from feathers, cut off their heads and claws, and pick out their gizzards from their

Pandanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-59974962153944967732008-07-19T23:09:00.002+01:002008-09-14T23:46:14.091+01:00

Got back at about 5.00pm this evening from a wonderful week in Fishguard. It was just a golden week from beginning to end, although the weather was hardly what one would describe as 'clement'.We did some of the usual things: trekked along the parrog to the pebble beach; had a picnic on Newport Sands, cowering behind the windbreak clad in clothes that the rest of the world could only describe as

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-12617729471312467852008-09-10T20:35:00.008+01:002008-09-10T21:22:21.181+01:00

"...they just lose their census." Or, if they are me, they do actually inadvertently 'dye'.Spent all day today simply cleaning and tidying the house - trying to tackle the utility room in particular. After the 'summer' holidays, it really is horrible in there. Various boxes of recycling compete in height with piles of clothes. Here sits the leviathan in-basket for dirty laundry: you could, if it

Pandanoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-61962328660974325002008-09-09T20:34:00.005+01:002008-09-09T23:20:07.886+01:00

It just shows you how careful you do have to be when using even the most official-looking documents.You may recall that I was trying to find the father of Jane Chapman, my great-great grandmother. I seemed to have his correct name - Henry Chapman - from her 1880 entry of marriage to Andrew Vance Speer. His occupation was listed as Optician.I also had her 1872 entry of marriage to George Gordon.

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-20168475221077416592008-09-08T23:16:00.007+01:002008-09-09T21:40:00.644+01:00

Unfortunately William broke his right arm today, falling off the school climbing frame - aptly enough, from the 'monkey bars'; so the afternoon and early evening was spent in Warwick Accident and Emergency. He was very brave indeed and even tried to convince me that it didn't hurt that much when I told him he had to go to hospital.There were only a handful of people in the A&E waiting room when

Pandanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-8069679429662886612008-09-03T17:57:00.007+01:002008-09-09T19:28:20.256+01:00

It's time to generalise a little.It's all very well starting a blog to deal with simply my family research, but (a) it probably isn't riveting reading and (b)I have a limited amount of time to research and the results are becoming harder to come by.And, I've promised Maggie my American friend that I will include other things too. So, starting from today, I shall be doing more blogging and more

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-69470375329286301462008-09-04T22:33:00.025+01:002008-09-08T23:23:05.625+01:00

Our future queen often occupies my thoughts.She is a natural beauty; there's no doubt about it. And when it was announced that she and the prince had parted last year in April I felt nothing but sorrow for her. To experience heartbreak is bad enough: to be seen to be publicly dismissed as she was (despite assurances that the decision was mutual), and to have to live for the rest of one's life

Pandanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-79450882313476208702008-07-26T11:51:00.000+01:002008-08-19T19:47:01.693+01:00

Hmmm. I'm a bit stuck.I'm trying to find an ancestor (Yates side) and I'm not having much success. He ought to be relatively easy to find - his name was apparently Henry Chapman, and he was the grandfather of my great grandmother. His name is on Andrew Vance Speer's wedding registration and his profession is listed as 'Optician'. You'd think it would be relatively easy to find him, but I

Pandanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-56418083313150260432008-07-03T11:54:00.000+01:002008-07-03T11:55:28.528+01:00

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-9214698016582367682008-06-19T00:17:00.000+01:002008-06-19T00:50:19.408+01:00

Now, at some point in my very distant memory, I remember being driven to Solihull, to sit for what seemed like an interminable length of time outside a large, suburban Victorian mansion. This may or may not be true, but I seem to remember that we had to take my grandmother there on some errand.And I remember driving into what seemed like a double, gravelled driveway; and on the left was this

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-83054137875302646392008-06-18T00:09:00.001+01:002008-06-18T00:36:40.327+01:00

Unfortunately I didn't have much time tonight to do anything as I had a friend over to chat and share a glass of wine, but just before she arrived I checked through the old GenesReunited tree belonging to a fairly distant cousin of mine - a third cousin actually, descended from James Dales. I was looking at his second wife, whose name was Ann Blunn, and I remembered Aunty Kath telling me that the

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-46853456388338712332008-06-16T22:14:00.000+01:002008-06-16T23:00:21.184+01:00

My goodness me, it's ages since I had anything of any interest to report.Since the last post we had a bit of a nightmare with William being taken ill on holiday and needing hospitalisation both there and at home. Then, just after William was discharged from hospital here, Ben decided to help himself to half a big bottle of Calpol from the fridge (I didn't have a clue that he could open the

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-17352448812245979642008-05-13T23:05:00.000+01:002008-05-13T23:55:27.677+01:00

I can hardly believe that only a couple of weeks ago, I was bemoaning bitterly that it just wasn't fair that I had no photographs to add to the tree.It is quite astonishing that only a fortnight later I have so many photographs, gathered together and lent to me by various members of the family to scan and include in the tree on Ancestry.com. And there these photographs will stay, electronically

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-835764071220834012008-04-30T20:48:00.000+01:002008-05-01T07:51:49.191+01:00

One bleary evening about two years ago I discovered - simply by googling Andrew Vance Speer, as I had done many times before - that he was listed in Burke's Landed Gentry, and my excited eyes ran greedily back over his forefathers to see just how landed his family once had been. As I scanned the pages back, I determined in a whirling and glorious moment that through AVS we were no less than

Pandanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8556198034954718372.post-54589871406645619502008-04-24T23:11:00.000+01:002008-04-24T23:43:37.755+01:00

To my delight, a new certificate arrived in the post today, and although I am engrossed in Vance family research, this was a very exciting development because it not only gives me a new generation of Lunts, and a new surname, but also a correction to part of the tree.The certificate in question was a copy of the marriage register for the aristocratic-sounding (but illiterate) Charles Lunt and

Pandanoreply@blogger.com0