I have been working hard on my Ancestry family tree input this week, and the last day or so concentrating on the Hobbs. Normally all you find are names and dates - trying to find stories about folk is more difficult, though you can get the gist of some stories from the census listings and parish births (some vicars kindly put "b.b." - base born - others though go for the jugular and write "bastard" or "illegitimate" - when your parishioners are illiterate, it matters not if they are judgemental.) Or you can tell from the time between the marriage and the first baby's birth that the couple "had" to get married, but not much more from parish records than that, unless the vicar has given a specific house when they aren't just "village".
Anyway, some time ago I came across a snippit which related to a relative of mine - not direct ancestry as he was the nephew of my 4 x g. grandfather, but let's say perhaps his horsey genes were in the family and that's where I got them from!
From Raffaty's Chats (I have High Wycombe Society org.uk written beside it but can't find the internal link now)
"At No.64 resided quaint Sam Hobbs, horse dealer, dairyman and a noted hunting man, a shrewd original witty character, who would rise at 3 o'clock to milk his cows so as to turn out for the meet at 11 o'clock. Describing his noted cream, he recommended it as an excellent substitute for skim milk (!)"
In the 1841 census he was noted as being a Baker, and his son George was a Sawyer. Both names appear as family names in my family tree and the Victorian ones all seem to be Sawyers, so a family trade. Another son of Sam's, Frank, worked as a Job Master at the Three Tuns pub in the town, which hired out horses for carriage and riding, and he clearly had plenty of experience of horses from his dad's dealer's yard.
Our neighbouring farmer kindly offered to take down a diseased and half-dead Sycamore tree for us this afternoon - he gets plenty of firewood in return. The neighbours are very kind.
Unfortunately, he confirmed that the alternative but less desirable Pylon route is even closer than I feared - barely 50 yards away and in front of the stables. Whilst the bungalow next door and a period house down the hill will be closer, I don't know how they can plan it so close to properties, especially when they could avoid them entirely (especially if they went across the edge of the Eppynts). Praying a) they won't use this route and b) they will be forced to bury it anyway.
I agree censuses are a good source for information and sorting out ancestors and relationships, but so are County Record Offices.Upon request I have received some in-depth information on my ancestors and have been able to put flesh on many old bones.
ReplyDeleteYes, now Tam works for the Archives dept, she has to deal with all sorts of requests. So many of my ancestors, particularly Devon ones, were just Ag. Labs. and so don't have much of a record in the community, and not even a headstone as the wooden one they got when they were buried, is long gone.
DeleteThat pylon route sounds a bit worrying, not only for the view but don't they make humming sounds?
ReplyDeleteNot just humming, possible health risks (depending on what links you read!) and the effect on the value of our property.
DeleteIt is incredible to think that horses did all the heavy work, the fetching and carrying and personal transport for millennia until the arrival of the railways and then the invention of the internal combustion engine. I am making slow but steady progress on the De Reya family - who leased the very old house next door from the Leconfield Estate and came down from London to hunt. They even presented a silver cup to the horticultural society of which I am the temporary holder. I think I won it for my perennial display. We have the Spring Show in less than two weeks - goodness knows what there will be in the garden to exhibit. The pylon pathway is also unbelievable. My experience of these things is that they always start with the very worst scenario (which is usually the cheapest option for them) and eventually back down to a more acceptable proposal thus making them appear altruistic. Sign all petitions, attend the public meetings but try not to worry BB - easier said than done I know. We’re off for a walk this morning and then I will scrub some more greenhouse glass (I bought a bottle of Jeyes fluid yesterday as someone said it was much more effective than washing up liquid at removing grime and algae) and plant a row of 10 Charlotte potatoes. I’m trying to pace myself as I’ve got the stones for the driveway arriving on Tuesday and I’m not as young as I feel! Hope you’re having a lovely Mothering Sunday. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteLet's hope you are right with the worst scenario case. I mean, we are the non-preferred choice but the first choice goes right past and close to the holiday homes. That said, the occupants are only there for a week - we're here all the time! Interesting to do some research - keeps the brain cells ticking over.
DeleteI hope you soon got used to the pong of the Jeyes Fluid!
Also hoping your son deals with the stones for the driveway. I know what you mean about not as young as you feel though right now I feel 90 and not 70!
"His cream was a good substitute for skim milk" doesn't sound like a very good advertisement for the cream, does it.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest daughter was for a time, quite caught up in researching ancestry. She researched her husband's family as well and found a high wire artist who went off to Australia to entertain the gold miners there. Owing to her short skirts on the high wire, she made a lot of money from very grateful gold miners, and even had a gold mined named after her. She retired to Brazil with her illegitimate son.
I think it was tongue in cheek and he didn't think much to people who wanted skimmed milk!!
DeleteGosh, some interesting characters in your daughter's husband's family. My husband's grandfather once had a shave in a lion's cage, purely for the money they offered.
LOL. That's hilarious!
DeleteI had two cats who'd play like yours, and it almost always ended in a fight! I know quite a lot about my ancestry, thanks to cousins on both my parents sides who did research. Some Welsh and English, and a lot of French. Its fun to have stories like yours, it gives such insight into their lives.
ReplyDeleteOh these two fight plenty! And they fight DIRTY too! At the moment I have so much on paper I am trying to get it on line so I can clear a corner of the pink bedroom of the research paperwork collected during the last 30 years! When we were on holiday I used to spend a day or two on research in the local Library, going through newspapers etc. Scarborough was one I was quite familiar with.
DeleteRe family stories: I've found the archived local papers at newspapers.com to be a wealth of information about my home town through the decades, from the late 1800's onward. Some of what appeared in the neighborhood columns [composed and mailed in by a local 'correspondent'] reads like pure gossip. Still, in a few cases I found details that tied elusive families together. I was blessed early on that a local paper made their back issues available online as a free resource. Don't you find that when you are digging up family 'roots' these people won't let you sleep?
ReplyDeleteI looked it up - I get a weeks' free research, but have to sign up to £49.99 a month after that - it's connected to Ancestry. Not being made of money I will have to try and find a free version! Pure gossip is just what family historians need.
DeleteIndeed, my mind goes round and round with these names and what they did - and suffered - in their lives. My g. grandmother who had 9 children and lost 7, and the g.g. grandmother who lost all 3 of her children within a week - two on the same day. You just cannot imagine it these days.
I've found similar deaths in those generations--I suspect epidemics such as diphtheria or typhoid, even a bad bout of an enteric/gastro ailment causing dehydration in young children. Losing children was sadly so common.
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