January 2010
Apologies for the long break in updates! Didn't have time for research, then
had new pc and so my old software didn't work. Tree updates to follow….
Marsh News.
Lots of people (ie “new” relatives) have got in touch and given me
new information that I have added to the tree. Of course some new relatives
have been born and sadly some have passed away. I have also made some progress
with my Grandma Martha Goodwin's ancestors.
Gerrard News. My cousin has been infected by the family research bug and
we have been visiting
His mother was admitted to
There is an Annie Bowmar (born Kirkby 1867) who tempted us for quite a while
but she married William Scothern (
Family lore says that Thomas Henry was brought up by another family and it
seems he immediately and permanently dropped his mother's name. He is aged 4
lodging with Thomas and Elizabeth Bacon's family at The Hill, Kirkby in
Ashfield in 1891.
We have had more success with Grandma's (Mary Elizabeth Naylor) family so that goes back to James Naylor
(1802-1840) now – but my cousin has been busy and I have updates to get
from her soon.
October 2004
Marsh News.
Goodness, how time flies! Not really done any research, but have had a fine
time meeting "new" relatives.
We are not barbecue fans, but we live in the old village Blacksmith's house -
comlete with forge in an outbuilding which we have restored enough to use for a
large barbecue - very good for larger gatherings of friends!
In August we invited lots of Marsh relatives over for a "bring and
barbecue". 31 people and a dog were the result (See pic.) (I will
supply names on email request).
I printed out the tree to display, in 2 parts as it proved to be nearly 13 feet
long (!), and printed name labels for us all so we could sort out who was who -
this was a great success. People kept coming up to me to report another arrival
of relatives - asking who they were, I could only say that we would have to
ask!
Old friendships/acquaintances were renewed after up to 40 years and new
friendships made. It was amazing how many people lived near each other without
knowing.
Since then I am sad to report that in September Jack Wain passed away, we went
to his packed funeral in Rotherham and as a result met Laurie Wain, his wife
and girls - coincidentally discovering mutual friends even tho' they live in
the south.
As my eldest brother Ian is visiting from Scotland at the end of the month we
have decided to go out for lunch - and there's no point in going in a small
party when the Marsh clan could be invited - so there's another gathering on
Nov 1st (info on request), it won't be as big - and someone else is doing the
cooking!
December 2003
Marsh News.
Not long after I updated the site in November, I had an email from another
"new" relative Karon Hollis who is descended from Elizabeth Marsh, a
sister of William (who married Ann Stringfellow) my Great Great Grandfather,
she is therefore my fourth cousin!
I did not know any details about Elizabeth, but now the tree shows that she
married John Dove, their grave is in
Sutton cemetery. They had 8 girls and 5 boys so that has stretched the tree! I
was rather interested to find that 2 of their daughters and one son married
siblings named Wass, that must be an unusual occurrence! Also, one of her
Grandsons married a Hannah Vardy - we already have a girl of that name marrying
into the family. Karon has given me some nice photos but I haven't had chance
to put them online yet.
Then I finally plucked up courage to phone an "Eric Marsh" in the
phonebook to see if he was my Gt Uncle Brit's son. He was! We had a nice
conversation about the tree - he had tried to do one but failed because of
having lost touch with relatives. He has kindly filled in loads of details for
us - so an even wider tree now!
We are now missing the descendants from only one of Thomas and Mary Ann's
children - Doris. Her only son Tony Mumford has not been seen for some years.
Any ideas? He went to Swanwick Hall Grammar School - but has not registered on
friends Reunited.
November 2003
Marsh News.
The most exciting news is that I have been told of a Marsh
I found the baptism record of my 2 x Great Grandfather William Marsh proving
him to be the son of John and Mary Marsh.
Unfortunately there does not seem to be any relevant surviving documents
regarding Mansfield Union Infirmary (workhouse) where Amy Marsh was stated in
the cemetery register as having died in 1916 (see comment in February) However
I completed the search through the register which covers 1897 to 1938 but only
found one additional family member.
I have started to look through the Marshes in Sutton in the 1901 census - it is
now indexed by surname and found some additions which are on the census page. I
found Thomas and Linney Yates and was able to add another three children to the
one I had from Lynne Weston. Trouble is the two eldest are stated as Thomas'
Stepsons and have the name of Marsh. Are they Linney's illegitimate children or
someone else's? Another mystery! I now have another John William Marsh in
addition to my Grandfather, they were born in 1889 and 1890, also a John W born
in 1874, popular names!
Gerrard News. I have been busy this summer, but I visited the archives
again recently, and had more fruitless efforts to find more about Grandad
Gerrard. In the 1901 census I found a Thomas Gerard living with Edmund and Anna
Voce at 3 Earl St Nottingham, he was stated to be a nephew and that he was a
collier of coal. I will need to do the Voce tree to eliminate him and
surprisingly (to me) there are lots of Voces in Nottingham.
Goodwin news. In the 1881 census my Great Grandad John Goodwin age 15
was living with his Mum (presumably remarried) Ann Bowmer and 3 step sisters. I
have found a record of a marriage 07/06/1870 at Duffield, Derby between Ann
Goodwin and Benjamin Bowmer. It states her father as being William Simpson so
knowing her maiden name now I can have another look for John and Ann's marriage
which I couldn't find under the Goodwin name for some reason. John Goodwin is
himself supposed to have married twice so it must run in the family.
June
2003
Early in May, I had a surprise email from David Roebuck who had found the
website and said he was a distant relative of mine. Sure enough, his great
great grandma was Harriet Marsh, so our common ancestor is John Marsh who was
born in 1807 - our 3 x Great Grandpa! Subsequently David's sister Ann has been
in touch and has enabled me to add loads of descendants of Harriet.
David also kindly sent me a photo of Harriet and four generations of her
offspring which I had already seen in a newspaper cutting from Lynne Weston -
see the photo gallery page. I sent it to Lynne and found to our mutual
amazement that Lynne and David have known each other for many years and live
almost opposite each other, not knowing they were related!
David has subsequently sent me some more photos and they are also on the
Gallery page - I will add more later.
A couple of weeks ago I had another "Marsh meeting" - this time I had
the pleasure of meeting Margaret and Celia Marsh, two of my Gt Uncle Horace's
daughters, and Valerie, one of his Granddaughters (her Mum was Connie Marsh)
We had a fine chattering time having lunch at Belton House and Margaret kindly
brought some photos etc for me. I also learned that I have gypsy blood!
Margaret and Celia say that my Great Grandma Mary Ann Marsh was a gypsy,
certainly her marriage entry states her father's occupation as "Traveller
(deceased)" but previously I had not known whether that referred to a
travelling salesman. Maybe that's why I can't find for certain her birth
certificate!
February 2003
I had a productive day at the record office on 7th February, and on the Sunday
we had the pleasure of meeting Jack and Andrew Wain - we enjoyed that immensely
although it was their fault that we met them at the Boat Jumble at the
Showground and ended up spending money!
Following up on last time's discovery of George Wain marrying Matilda Marsh, I
tracked them down in the 1881 and 1891 census, they were living in Quarry Yard
Sutton. They had moved from there by 1901 so I didn't find them (no surname
index, only a street index). So I now have some at least of their children. See
the Marsh census pages for details.
Jack and Andrew have expressed interest in chasing up their Wain tree to see if
there is a relationship between the 2 Wains.
I also tracked down Jack's Mum (Doris Marsh) and Dad's (Jack Wain) marriage
entry - 19/12/1925 at St Mary's Sutton, Jack already knew his Grandad's name
but I hadn't got it.
I had to get the actual register from the archive so whilst ordering that I got
the one for my Mum and Dad's marriage - and discovered that her cousin Roy
Allcock got married immediately before them - yes on the same day, 14th Feb
1942. His brother-in-law James William Neil Shaw was a witness and he signed
all his names!
For interest, I looked at the fiche record of the earliest Marsh marriage that
we know about, Matthew Marsh marrying Alicia Hardwick on 25th April 1734. It is
nothing like the official records that we get later - handwritten in what looks
like a small unlined book.
I can't remember what specific death made me get the archive book of the
cemetery records out, but it was very productive - it runs for so many years
that I didn't have time to finish it! It began in 18 something, but I started
looking from 1915 and got to 1937. Amongst a load of unknown Marshes I found
the following interesting ones:
Thomas and Mary Ann's offspring:
Amy Marsh aged 18, 25/10/1916, strangely her abode was given as Mansfield Union
Infirmary so more investigation required here.
Charles Henry Marsh - at last, I had been told he died age 16 so couldn't find
him, he was 20 and was buried 26/04/1919. Maybe he was a victim of the 'flu
epidemic at that time.
Mary Ann herself - pleased to have found her, she was buried 27/3/1922 age 58.
John William & Martha Marsh's son James Stanley (ie would have been my
Uncle) who I thought came between my Mum and Rene but was buried age 6 months
1/12/1923 so was the youngest.
Edith Marsh and Robert Allcock's daughter Lily who was buried age 7 on
8/11/1927. I had her dates wrong but I'm sure this is her since the address is
the same as Roy Allcock's when he got married (see above) and her age is the
same.
So - some corrections and loose ends tied - a good day's research!
Hopefully, Rene's son Tony is going to look in the old copies of the local
paper for details of some of these entries for me.
Gerrard News (or lack of!)
I had sent off for what I hoped was my Grandpa (Thomas Henry) Gerrard's birth
certificate. Since the birth I found was registered, the registration districts
had been split and amalgamated, so the first reply was that they hadn't got it
-try Liverpool.
Now I have a reply from there which says they found the birth I asked for - but
that the baby died aged one day....
3 possible conclusions:
His birth wasn't registered.
His name wasn't Thomas Henry (or just Thomas) Gerrard
His birthday wasn't what he said it was.
Also I suppose that it wasn't indexed correctly so I can't find it.
Hmm more thinking required.