Geoffs Genealogy Update 11 September 2007
Tuesday September 11th, 2007 | Geoff
Last weekend we went for a short break in Carmarthenshire. We were encouraged to do this by the prospect of going to the Proms in the Park concert in Singleton park, Swansea on Saturday (8th September), but we also took the opportunity to visit my cousin – Pat, and her husband John. We stayed at our favourite B & B, enjoyed fantastic breakfasts and some lovely weather. Went to a couple of places we had not previously visited, and spent a fascinating couple of hours looking at antiques. Do you think we were able to resist temptation in the antiques shop? Of course not!
The concert was great. Aled Jones was the compere, and the performers included two fine sopranos – Natasha Marsh and Rosemary Joshua – as well as that fine euphonium player David Childs (and his dad). We had a smashing time – lots of great music played by the BBC Welsh National Orchestra, and lots of audience participation. There’s something about a crowd of Welsh folk in full voice!
There were many thousands of people at the concert on what was a lovely day. Absolutely excellent, and we hope that we may be able to repeat the experience (including the weather!) sometime in the future.
On the treeing frontI have received a lovely family tree from my newly found Archer cousin. I haven’t yet had time to study it in depth, but it is apparent that it will add considerably to my knowledge, as I had no previous knowledge of this particular line.
Our Archers are an interesting family. My Nathan was a printer in London (1793-1845). He appears to have died a most unpleasant death – I certainly won’t share the details of it with you – leaving behind a widow – Mary Ann (Stephens) Archer (1792-1885) and a daughter – Mary Ann Archer (b 1830). Mary Ann married a certain John Brown Smith. I have traced her on the 1881 census, living as a widow in Hackney, Middlesex, but have not yet managed to find out when and where she died.
Nathan’s parents were Thomas Archer (c1752-c1810) and Hannah Bide (c1760 – aft 1809). Thomas was a watch finisher. I have a note of his apprenticeship (1763) but – wouldn’t you know it? – it does not state his parents’ names. Hopefully we may be able to extend the line back in time a bit sometime soon.
Nathan had a number of siblings, and my new found cousin is descended from one of them – Thomas Archer (1786-bef 1870).
I’ll let you know how this research develops. As the records we need are likely to be held in London it is likely to be a fairly long term project for me.
Other than that I’ve reprised my Guyatt research and added a little more information. I had previously failed to find William Guyatt (bn c1823 at High Wycombe) and his family on the 1871 census. Now I know why. His surname was indexed on Ancestry as Geogatt. When I found him he was listed as a patient in St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. Where were his children? I thought. Well, they were indexed as Guryutt and living together in a household in Hackney. Trust me, the census entries do not look anything like the names in the index. It just goes to show, once again, that we need to think laterally and try every search method we can think of when we search for our forebears in indexes.
Farewell for now – and happy hunting!
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