The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 51 No.4 | March 2025

Hampshire Family Historian The

Volume 51 No.4 March 2025

Journal of the Hampshire Genealogical Society

“Hello 2DP this is Mr Tranter speaking” – See page 166

Also inside this Issue Hampshire 'Strays' from Guildford • A Long Way From Burghclere • Tracing Miss Daisy

PLUS: Around the groups • Hampshire Records Office • Research Room

Hampshire Genealogical Society

HGS OFFICE , Hampshire Genealogical Society, Hampshire Record Office, Sussex Street, Winchester. SO23 8TH Open Tues, Wed and Thurs 10am-4pm This address should be used for all post to the society and officers Registered Charity 284744

Telephone: 07769 405195 Email: society@hgs-online.org.uk Website: http://www.hgs-familyhistory.com

PRESIDENT Dr Nick Barratt

OFFICE MANAGER Sue Stannard Email: office@hgs-online.org.uk

CHAIRMAN Tony Sinclair Email: chairman@hgs-online.org.uk

BOOKSTALL Fiona Ranger Email: bookstall@hgs-online.org.uk

VICE CHAIR Kay Lovell Email: vicechairman @hgs-online.org.uk

MEMBERS’ INTERESTS Keith Turner Email: membersinterests@hgs-online.org.uk RESEARCH CENTRE MANAGER Lorraine Whale Email: researchmanager@hgs-online.org.uk EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND TRUSTEES: Phil Brown Terry Gilmour Kay Lovell

SECRETARY Jane Painter Email: secretary@hgs-online.org.uk

Tony Sinclair Sue Stannard Keith Turner Angela Winteridge Steve Cull (Co-opted) Forbes Johnston (Co-opted)

TREASURER Email: treasurer@hgs-online.org.uk

Jane Painter Fiona Ranger Ann-Marie Shearer

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Terry Gilmour Email: membership@hgs-online.org.uk

GROUP ORGANISERS – See Group Reports Pages

SUBSCRIPTION RATES (From 1st April 2025) E-Membership £15 (Worldwide) UK Membership £20 (Paper Journal) Overseas Membership £25 (Paper Journal)

EDITOR Stephen Pomeroy Email: editor@hgs-online.org.uk

This journal is designed and laid out by Grey Cell Studios Southampton Telephone 023 8023 5780 Email: info@greycellstudios.co.uk

Hampshire Family Historian The

Contents

Editorial

146

by Stephen Pomeroy Chairman’s Letter

147

March 2025

by Tony Sinclair HGS News

150 153

Vol 51 No.4 • ISSN 0306-6843

Alton’s Mills – book review

Hampshire 'Strays' from Guildford by Joan Stephens A Long Way From Burghclere

154 156

by Christopher Farrand Tracing Miss Daisy

160

by Rod Cross Members’ Surname Interests 163 “Hello 2DP this is Mr Tranter speaking” 166 by Jacky Searle

Page 166

Deadline Material for possible inclusion in the June 2025 Family Historian should be received strictly by 19th April 2025 . All contributions are, however, appreciated as early as possible. The deadline applies to regular features only. Disclaimer The Hampshire Family Historian is the official publication of the Hampshire Genealogical Society. Material is copyright of the Society and may not be reproduced without written permission. The Hampshire Genealogical Society does not accept responsibility for personal views expressed in this publication, or in any articles. Submission of material The editor welcomes articles, feedback, letters or searchers requests for the journal. Text should be typed in black, with illustrations if appropriate. Send to the HGS Office at the address on the inside front cover marked for the attention of the editor. Please enclose a SAE for return of any photos or other items. Items can also be sent by e-mail to editor@hgs-online.org.uk as Word documents. In this case please send any photos or illustrations as separate image files rather than embedded in the document. You can have them in the document to indicate where they should appear or use placeholders. Images degrade when they are imported and resized when embedded. HGS reserves the right to reproduce submissions in publicity materials and on the society website. Please ALWAYS include a telephone contact — and if a member your membership number. To comply with data protection requirements please state what contact details you want printed in the journal or website, e.g telephone number and/or e-mail and/or address.

Page 156

HGS Roles and Responsibilities

168 172

Local Group Programmes

Surnames Featured in this Issue 183 Portsmouth City Local History Centre 188 News from the Hampshire Archives 189 Membership IBC 2025 Annual General Meeting BC

145

Editorial

Message from the editor This will be the last journal produced by Clive at Grey Cell and predecessor versions of the company. I am not sure how long Clive has been doing this for us, when I took over as editor it was Clive I dealt with. The earliest journal I have is 2007 which Clive produced under the company name Acadia, so a good job over many years often coping with us sending in last minute changes including this journal. So a big thank you Clive. In this issue Christopher Farrand writes on the problems of tracing your family when you are researching the Smith family. The article contains some ways in which you can try this by looking at families and names, census and death certificates. This is helped in the USA as death certificates include the details of parents. Jacky Searle’s article although not directly related to tracing ancestors does remind us that the memories of relatives are important and help provide the extras to build up a picture of the family. Rod Cross writes of researching his great aunt and the importance of talking with older

Joan Stephens has extracted some Hampshire ‘strays’ from the Surrey Births and Baptisms held by TNA. Stephen Pomeroy Editor

relatives. This led to international collaboration to complete the details.

Have your Query published in the journal. Please email it to: searchers@hgs-online.org.uk

146

HGS News

Chairman’s Letter Before I begin, I really would like to wish you all a (very) belated Happy New Year! I do hope this year so far has been good for you. For your Society, the New Year started off as a very challenging one in relation to our continued search for a Treasurer. However, not unusually, the situation changed rapidly soon after I submitted my original draft of this Chairman’s Letter to the Journal Editor. Writing during the last week of January, it appears that we do have a new Treasurer in the offing after all. Alongside our search for a Treasurer, we have also been reviewing how we actually record our finances, especially with a view to ensuring our Working Practices can easily be picked up and carried forward by any new postholders, namely the new Treasurer and the Bookkeeper already working with us. However, moving on to something else I need to tell you: I have reached the decision, extremely reluctantly, that I can no longer devote sufficient time to the role of HGS Chairman that it deserves. Consequently, I shall not be seeking nomination for re-election as a Trustee at the next AGM on June 17th 2025. Obviously, if I am no longer a Trustee, then I cannot be an Officer of the Society either. I have explained my reasons in full to the Trustees and other HGS Volunteers and, therefore, the Society will be looking for a new Chairman to be nominated from the membership and, subsequently, to be elected by you when the time comes in June this year.

A new Chairman should be easier to find than a new Treasurer, I would suggest, because no particular skills are required to carry out the role I have performed for the past nearly two years except, maybe, the ability to motivate a group of people or individuals to get things done for the Society and its members’ benefit. A copy of the Job Description for HGS Chairman is printed elsewhere in this issue. If you believe you have those skills, please get in touch and discuss it with the Vice Chair or me, both of whose contact details are on the inside cover of any recent Hampshire Family Historian, our Journal. The new Chairman, plus the new

147

HGS News

Treasurer and at least one other Trustee will need to be elected by you at our next AGM set, as I have said above, for the evening of Tuesday June 17th via Zoom. Holding the AGM via Zoom proved very effective last year, allowing as it did for members around the country and, indeed, around the world, to take part. This means that, in effect, HGS Trustees could volunteer remotely from elsewhere in the country and even from somewhere else in the world, because more of our meetings are being held via Zoom. Perhaps you might like to give that some serious thought? For statutory purposes, the ‘calling papers’ relating to our June 2025 AGM are set out elsewhere in this issue of our Journal, The

Hampshire Family Historian. It’s that time of year again! With my remaining time in office, I am endeavouring to complete all the tasks I decided to achieve between April / June 2023 and now. In my final Chairman’s letter to you in the June 2025 issue of this Journal, I hope to set out what those achievements have been so that any incoming Chairman and Trustees can see they’ll have a lot less catching up to do in the future than the present Executive Committee / Trustees / Volunteers have been through to get where the Society is today. With my very best wishes for a healthy and

happy Spring and early Summer, Tony Sinclair Chairman, HGS

If you change your home or email address, could you please let me know. If you don’t, I’ve no way of contacting you. Thanks, Terry Gilmour membership@hgs-online.org.uk A Plea From Our Membership Secretary

Have your Query published in the journal Please email it to: searchers@hgs-online.org.uk

148

HGS News

News from the HGS Office

On 5th November we moved into our extra office space on the 2nd floor of Hampshire Archives. All our sales stock is now in this office, and we have a new printer there which makes it much easier for the sales team to process orders. At other times, this room is in regular use for HGS meetings. Moving the sales stock to the 2nd floor and gaining some extra storage space in the basement has allowed us to make better use of the space available to us. We have all been keeping fit whilst moving things around between three floors. On December 11th we had our annual Volunteers Open day, which was well attended and included a brainstorming session looking at ideas for how we might develop our society over the coming year. The various roles in HGS were well represented. Aside from our office, sales and help desk volunteers, we had members and group leaders from several area groups, members of the project team, and eight of our Trustees in attendance. I do not have space to detail all the ideas that were discussed but there was certainly no lack of enthusiasm or willingness to adopt new innovations.

Aside from that, the start of 2025 has seen everyone busy gathering the information needed to prepare the end of the year accounts for 2024. In the absence of a permanent Treasurer this has become very much a team effort with everyone taking advice from Ann-Marie Shearer who stood down as Treasurer at the last AGM but remains a Trustee. The good news is that we have recently found someone who is willing to stand as Treasurer at the next AGM. Over the last two years, we have made great progress towards working more efficiently and effectively. However, you will read elsewhere in this Journal that we now find ourselves needing to elect a new Chair of our Society when we hold our AGM in June. Also, some of our current Trustees will be standing down at the AGM, so to ensure the survival of our society, we urgently need to hear from members who may be able to assume these roles. As always you can contact me for more information on our office phone number 07769 405195 or email office@hgs online.org.uk Sue Stannard HGS Office Manager

For all the latest news visit… www.hgs-familyhistory.com

149

HGS News

Annual General Meeting

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 51st Annual General Meeting of HGS will be held via Zoom video-conference at 7:00pm BST on Tuesday 17th June 2025 to transact the following business. 1.Minutes of the previous meeting To be agreed and matters arising 2.Reports and Accounts To receive and consider the accounts for year ended 31 December 2024 and the reports of the Chairman and Treasurer. 3.Auditors To appoint Messrs Morris Crocker as the auditors. 4.Appointment of Charity Trustees To appoint a new a Chairman

To re-appoint Mrs Kay Lovell as Vice Chairman To re-appoint Ms Jane Painter as Secretary To appoint a new Treasurer To re-appoint Mrs Ann-Marie Shearer as a Trustee To re-appoint Mr Terence Gilmour as a Trustee To re-appoint Ms Susan Stannard as a Trustee To re-appoint Mr Keith Turner as a Trustee To re-appoint Miss Angela Winteridge as a Trustee

The Society’s Constitution states that the Executive Committee shall consist of not more than 13 members. All 13 members of the Executive are then Trustees of the Society as per the Charity Commissioners’ rules. Further nominations for the Executive Committee must be received by Friday 16th May 2025 and should be made in writing by post to The Secretary, Jane Painter, Flat 4 Watersedge, Bridge Street, Wickham, Hants PO17 5PX or by email to secretary@hgs-online.co.uk The Charities Act, 1992, Section 45(1) lists the following persons disqualified by law from standing as trustees of Charities: Persons under 18 years old. Undischarged bankrupts. Any person who has previously been removed from trusteeship of a Charity. Persons convicted of an offence involving deception or dishonesty unless the conviction is spent.

150

HGS News

5.Members Proposed Resolutions Proposed resolutions should be sent to the Secretary by Friday 16th May 2025. Should any such resolutions be received a revised agenda will be posted on the HGS website by Sunday 25th May 2025. 6.Any other business To deal with any matters raised at the meeting. All reports and other papers will be posted on the Society website prior to the AGM.

By order of the Executive Committee of HGS. Jane Painter – Secretary, 1st March 2025

Membership subscription changes

Membership subscription rates will change on 1st April 2025. Dear Members, As you know, HGS is a registered charity, run entirely by volunteers who greatly value your membership and aim to deliver a good service. It won’t have escaped your notice that costs have been rising everywhere and, unfortunately, HGS has not been immune to this trend. In particular, printing and postage costs have increased significantly and, as a result, we have taken the decision to increase our membership fees for those of you who prefer to receive printed copies of our quarterly journal, “The Hampshire Family Historian”. The fee for those of you who choose to read our Journal online will not change; the basic membership fee, which has not increased since 2012, remains at £15 per annum. The new rates will take effect from 1st April

2025 and are as follows: • E-Membership - £15 (Worldwide) • UK Membership - £20 (Paper Journal) • Overseas Membership - £25 (Paper Journal) If you wish to continue receiving a hard copy of your Journal, please ‘opt in’ by letting our Membership Secretary know when renewing your membership. If you pay by Standing Order, or have a recurring payment set up on your credit card, you will have to make sure you update your payment. If these are not updated then it will be assumed that you wish to become an E Member and no longer receive the Journal by post. We are grateful for your ongoing support and understanding in this matter. Regards

The Chairman and Trustees Hampshire Genealogical Society

151

HGS News

How to Register for the AGM

On page 150 you will find the formal notification of The HGS 51st Annual General Meeting to be held by Zoom videoconference at 7:00pm BST on Tuesday 17th June 2025. Members wishing to attend should apply to the Secretary, Jane Painter, by any of the methods listed below. Details of how to log in to the meeting, together with a password allowing access and a voting card, will then be sent out to all attendees via email. Email: AGM2025@hgs-online.org.uk Post: The Secretary, HGS, Flat 4 Watersedge, Bridge Street, Wickham, Hants PO17 5PX Registration closes at 5:00pm BST on Sunday 15th June 2025.

Free access to FindMyPast to end?

In January we learnt that Hampshire County Council is considering withdrawing free access to FindMyPast (FMP) at Hampshire Libraries and Hampshire Archives from March 31st, 2025. As FMP is regarded as providing the best coverage for UK family history research and includes unique indexes provided by Family History Societies across the UK, We have written to Hampshire County Council expressing our concern. A final decision will be reached in February which will be after this Journal goes to press,

so please check our HGS website for any updates. Hampshire Libraries and Hampshire Archives have both said they will keep HGS informed. At present Portsmouth Libraries are continuing with both Ancestry and FMP. Currently records held at Portsmouth History Centre are only on FMP. So, members would need to visit any of the nine Portsmouth libraries or take out a personal subscription to FMP if their family are in the Portsmouth Area.

152

HGS News/Book review

HGS Bookstall

We would like to extend our thanks to all our members who we met during this year at the events we attended. Events that the bookstall will be attending in 2025. 15th March 2025 The Family History Show,|Severn Hall, Three Counties Showground Malvern, Worcestershire WR13 6NW 29th March 2025 South West FHF Really Useful Family History Show, Kinson Community Centre (Pelhams), Bournemouth, BH10 7LH If you live near any of these venues and would like to help please contact me, we would like to meet you and would appreciate any assistance. Updates to the events can be found on our website. Fiona Ranger, bookstall manager email: bookstall@hgs-online.org.uk If you live in Hampshire and know of an event where we might consider having the HGS bookstall, please let me know.

Alton’s Mills

This new book about Alton’s Mills covers the mills along the River Wey between the source and the town boundary - Orps Mill, Kings Mill and Anstey Mill - as well as other mills in the area - tan mills, the windmill and Amery Steam Corn MIll. Then a quick look at Neatham Upper and Lower Mills, Mill Court Mill, Froyle Mill, Issington Mill and Bentley/ Binstead Mill. It is full of interest and facts and costs £3 + £1 P & P and can be obtained from Goldfinch Books, 24 High Street, Alton or from Jane Hurst, 82 The Butts, Alton GU34 1RD janehurst1@gmail.com

153

Member’s article

Hampshire 'Strays' from Guildford

Extracted Hampshire residents from the Guildford, Surrey, Wesleyan Register births (Z) and baptisms (bp) 1828 to1837 TNA Film no. RG4 /2716 and RG4/2208 Wesleyan Methodist records, do not include other Methodist denomination’s records. 1828 CHAPMAN , Sophia dau of David and Jane (dau of John and Jane TEE ) of Rams Hill, Petersfield. Shoemaker. Z 5 May, bp 26 May. 1829 WAITE , Ann White, dau John and Ann (dau of James and Sarah MARINER ) Buck Moor, Petersfield, Husbandman Z 25 April, bp 24 May NEALE , Samuel, son of George and Mary (dau of Thomas and Hannah NORMAN ) of Stroud Common, East Meon. Hants. Day Labourer. Z 24 Sept. bp 27 Sept. 1830 CHAPMAN , Robert, son of David and Jane (dau of John and Jane TEE ) of Petersfield, shoemaker. Z 2 January, bp 14 February PINK , Olive, dau Thomas and Mary (dau of Thomas and Mary MARSH ) of Petersfield, Z 17 Dec. 1829, bp 25 April 1830 HURT , Louisa Emily, dau of William and Sarah (dau of Thomas and Ann BAKEWELL ) of Petersfield, Z 26 May bp 1 June TIREDGE (no name entered) of James and Elizabeth (dau of Thomas and Sarah HOBBS ) of Hants. Labourer. Z 12 March bp 26 April 1831 CHAPMAN , Maria, dau of David and Jane (dau of John and Jane TEE ) of

Petersfield, Shoemaker, Z 6 August bp 30 August. RICHARDSON , Jane dau of William and Jane ( dau of James and Ann ALLAN ) of Petersfield, Grocer. Z 3 October, bp 28 October. 1832 NEALE , Frederick, son of George and Mary (dau of Thomas and Hannah NORMAN ) of Langrish, East Meon, Hants, Labourer Z 3 November, bp 7 November. 1833 HARDY , Mary Maria, dau Thomas and Maria (dau of Joshua and Susannah TURNER ) of Petersfield, taylor, Z 8 February bp 10 March. TRIBE , Ann dau of William and Ann (dau of Willam and Mary GREGORY ) of Petersfield, ostler. Z 10 March bp 26 April. DEADMAN , Maria, dau of James and Harriet (dau of John and Ann PARR ) of Hawkley, Hants. Z 21 June bp 21 July CHAPMAN , Caroline dau David and Jane (dau of John and Jane TEE ) of Petersfield, shoemaker Z 17 August, bp 13 September. RICHARDSON , Mary dau of William and Jane (dau of James and Ann ALLAN ) of Petersfield, grocer. Z 3 August bp 13 September. NEALL , Stephen, son of John and Hannah(dau of James and Sarah MARINER ) of Weston, Buriton,Hants. Blacksmith. Z13 October bp 6 December. 1834 LOYDE , Elizabeth, dau of William and Hannah (dau Henry and Elizabeth KNIGHT ) of Rake, Liss, Hants. Z 22 February, bp 23 March.

154

Member’s article

JEWELL , Mary Ann, dau of Thomas and Mary Ann (dau of William and Ann HOWARTH ) of Petersfield, Z 14 September 1833, bp 19 May. KNIGHT , Alfred, son of Richard and Mary(dau of Daniel and Mary SHAWYER ) of Liss, Hants. Z 8 November, bp 14 December. 1835 CLARK , Matilda, son (in mistake for dau?) of Thomas and Lucy (dau of Thomas and Mary HOBBS ) of Liss Sussex (sic) labourer, Z30 May, bp 21 June. PARKER , Charles Frederick, son of Frederick and Ann (dau of George and Elizabeth NEWMAN ) of Petersfield, labourer. Z 8 June, bp 3 July. DEADMAN , Harriet, dau of James and Harriet (dau of John and Ann PARR ) of Hawkly, Hants, grocer. Z 16 May, bp 7 June. 1835 MASON , Ann dau of Henry and Sarah (dau of Eli and Helen TAYLOR ) of Weston, Buriton, Hants. sawyer. Z 5 September, bp 4 October. COLLIER , Titus Close, son of John and Eliza (dau of John and Ann ADAMS ) of Street, Petersfield, Wesleyan Minister Z 24 July, bp 25 October. NEALL , James, son of George and Mary (dau of Thomas and Hannah NORMAN ) of

Langrish, East Meon, Hants, labourer. Z 23 November, bp 3 December. 1836 HARDY , Elizabeth, dau of Thomas and Maria (dau of Joshua and Susannah TURNER ) of Petersfield, taylor. Z 12 April, bp 22 May. KNIGHT , Henry, son of Richard and Mary (dau of Daniel and Mary SHAWYER ) of Liss, Hants, Labourer. Z 17 August, bp 26 September. FAIRMANER , Fanny, dau of Frederick and Sophia (dau of William and Dinah TODMAN ) of Liss, Hants. Shoemaker. Z21 October, bp 18 December. 1837 INWOOD , Elizabeth, dau of Richard and Ann (dau of John and Hannah HOLDER ) of Petersfield, carpenter. Z 16 January, bp 12 March. DEADMAN , Jane, dau of James and Harriet (dau of John and Ann PARR ) of Hawkley, Hants, grocer. Z 23 June, bp 15 July, aged 3 weeks 2 days. RG4/2208 1837 FIELDER , William, son of James and Fanny, of Liss, Hants. Bp 27 August aged 3 weeks and 6 days. Joan Stephens HGS Member #11111

Are you looking for that elusive family history book? Or one on local history? Perhaps we can help – contact Fiona at bookstall@hgs-online.org.uk

155

Member’s article

A Long Way From Burghclere

My paternal grandmother’s mother Susan Amelia SMITH was born in Fayetteville, Onondaga County, New York in 1852. Her death certificate in 1917 gave her father’s name as Henry F. Smith and that he was born in England. No information beyond that had been handed down. With the surname Smith to work with, looking for traces of her Smith family origins in England seemed a very daunting challenge. When I finally got around to seriously trying to research her origins, it took me along an extensive trail of breadcrumbs. Before even being able to track Henry’s birth in England, first I had to track his life in America. From his daughter Susan’s marriage in 1874 at the seminary in Wisconsin where my great grandfather John Hagerty EICHBAUM was studying for the ministry, I was able through the census records to find her family living in a town nearby the seminary. I found the key to following Henry was to follow the list of children in the family. By following Henry and his wife Rose and their children who, except for Susan, fortunately stayed close by their parents, I was able to trace Henry to Minnesota, where he moved after Wisconsin and finally to Washington State on the Pacific where he spent the last 25 years or so of his

life, dying in 1907 at Hawks Prairie in Thurston County at age 83. His death

certificate told me that his father’s name was Joseph and his mother’s name was Sarah RALPH . Armed with his parents’ names and his birth year of 1824, I began to look for his birth record in England, but found nothing I could work with. There were just too many Joseph Smiths to wade through. I was also not able to find a record of his arrival in America. I then turned to the New York State census records for the year 1855, the closest after the date of birth of his daughter Susan. I was able to find him listed there in DeWitt, Onondaga County with his wife Roseanne (or Rose) and their five children Sarah E., Melissa, Mary E., Susan A. and George H. The census recorded him as being born in England. But I still didn’t know when he arrived in America. Did he come alone or did he come with other family? I began to look for his parents in America. Looking in the U.S. Census for 1850 for Ononodaga County, New York – the county my great-grandmother was born in – I found a Joseph P. Smith in DeWitt, age 50, born in England along with his wife Sarah, age 51, also born in England and nine children William

Henry F. Smith baptism

156

Member’s article

(29), Henry (26 – hence born in 1824), Georgina (25), Thomas (22), Robert (21), Jonathan (19), Sarah (18), George (17) and Alonzo (14). All the children but Alonzo were born in England. So I began looking for a Smith family in England with similar names. I focused on Georgina as being the most distinctive. I finally found a Georgina born in 1825 in Burghclere, Hampshire. The age fit and her parents were Joseph and Sarah. I then went down the list of children and found each one, born in Burghclere, and their ages matched the ones in the U.S. Census. The last one born in Burghclere, George, was born in 1833. Alonzo, who was born in 1836, was the only child born in America, so this told me that the family had arrived in America sometime between 1833 and 1836, but I still have not been able to find their passenger arrival record. Henry’s mother Sarah “Ralph,” according to his death certificate, turned out to be Sarah ROLFE, born in Kingsclere and christened 21 October 1798, the daughter of William Rolfe and Elizabeth ROZIER who married 17 August 1789 at Kingsclere. Joseph Smith (his correct middle initial was probably T, perhaps Thomas after his father) was christened 13 May 1798 at Burghclere. His parents were Thomas Smith and Jane TANNER , who married 8 February 1796 at Burghclere. Joseph Smith and Sarah Rolfe married at Burghclere on 18 October 1821. Henry’s

Henry F. Smith

baptism record told me that Joseph was a labourer. In America he was a

Henry F. Smith death certificate

157

Member’s article

farmer in upstate New York. I have been intrigued about whether his emigration in any way was tied to the agricultural unrest in the early 1830s. As an agricultural labourer, passage for Joseph and Sarah and their eight children must have been a financial challenge. I suspect that they must have received some assistance from either family or charitable sources. Having not been able to find any record of their arrival in America between 1833 and 1836, I suspect they may have travelled first to Canada and made their way across the border to upstate New York. Joseph died 20 May 1876 on his farm in Manlius, Onondaga County, New York as did Sarah, who died in 1888. Most of their children seemed to have remained close by as farmers. Henry, however, had the wanderlust. In 1849, Henry joined the gold rush to California, leaving his wife and two young daughters behind in New York. He sailed from New York City on the Ship Eugenia in January 1849 bound for Vera Cruz, Mexico. It appears he was part of a group of 14. From Vera Cruz, the party crossed Mexico by land to San Blas on the Pacific coast, where they boarded the Ship Mary Frances to Mazatlan and there changed to the Ship Antonia , for San Francisco. They reached San Francisco 23 days later on 25 April 1849. From San Francisco the party headed by schooner to Sutter’s Landing near the gold fields. Not much is known about Henry’s experience in California. He appears to have returned to

New York two years later. An article appearing in the Weekly Pacific New s for 1 May 1851, quoted an article appearing in the Rochester (New York) American in which “Mr. Henry F. Smith, who returns now after an absence of two years, bought this ‘young mine,’ and says he was offered $150 for it in Panama, by a gentleman who desired it as a rich specimen. It is the richest ‘deposit’ that we have seen in many a day, and we are convinced that California is no longer a myth.” Henry F. Smith’s return home is confirmed by the birth of his daughter Susan Amelia in April 1852. Henry’s obituary in the Olympia, Washington Morning Olympian of 17 November 1907 further confirms the information under the heading “Pioneer of 1849” that “he came West from New York in 1849 and settled in California where he remained several years. In 1882 he returned West and came to Washington to reside. He was married in 1846 before leaving New York for California.” Joseph and Sarah must have maintained communications with family in England, which in turn encouraged other family members to emigrate from Hampshire. Joseph’s brother Jonathan (I think this is likely the same Jonathan Smith of Burghclere I found in the Quarter Sessions Records on the Members’ Only page, showing that he had been sentenced to 3 months under the Game Laws in 1822 at age 24) and his wife Mary Ann SOPER and their 12 year old daughter Ann arrived in New York on 14 June 1837 aboard

158

Member’s article

the barque Hercules from London along with Mary Ann’s brother David Soper and his wife Eliza BUTLER and infant daughter Jane. It is not clear what happened to Mary Ann Smith and her daughter Ann. Jonathan appears in the 1860 U.S. Census working on his brother Joseph’s farm. It is not clear either where David Soper and his family may have moved to. At least one member of Sarah Rolfe’s family also emigrated to America. The U.S. Census records in 1880 that she was living in Fayetteville, New York, following the death of her husband Joseph Smith, with her nephew Charles Rolfe, a shoemaker, his wife Sarah and two sons George and Charles, all born in England. Charles would have been either the

son of William Rolfe and his wife Ann or the son of Samuel Rolfe and his wife Hannah FISHER . Both William and Samuel would have been brothers of Sarah Rolfe. Both had a son Charles baptised at Kingsclere in 1830 and 1831 respectively. As for Joseph T. Smith and Sarah Rolfe, I have been working to trace their ancestry. That of Sarah Rolfe’s is relatively easy, but the name Smith continues to be a challenge. It is not clear who Joseph’s father Thomas Smith’s parents were and in what year he was born. Any additions or correction would be gladly received.

Christopher Farrand HGS Member #15911 cpfarrand@sbcglobal.net

HGS Office – Open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10am to 4pm

B3420

B3047

Stockbridge Road

WE ARE HERE

Station

B3049

P

A272

Sussex Street

North Walls

Jewry Street

B3420

Durngate

B3049

B3330

B3040

Wales Sreet

Romsey Road

St Georges Street

P

The Westgate

Friarsgate

River Itchen

B3040

High Street

Bus Station

King Al fred’s Statue

Railway

Southgate Street

Hampshire Record Office Sussex Street, Winchester Hampshire SO23 8TH

Town Hall

Winchester Cathedral

St Cross Road

P

B3330

B3335

159

Member’s article

‘What could I do? What could I do?’ wailed my grandfather William CROSS to his parents after his attempts to remove his younger sister Daisy from the London bound train at Colchester Station had ended in failure. It was 2nd August 1912 and a 21 year old, Daisy Alice Maud Cross was travelling alone intent on reaching Canada. Her journey had started at her home town of Ipswich and was much against her parents’ wishes. As their eldest son was working down the tracks at Colchester at the time, they had instructed him to intercept the train when it stopped and to remove his sister by whatever means possible. However, despite being just 4 foot 10 inches tall, Daisy had resisted all her brother’s efforts and continued her journey to London and thence to Liverpool Docks. Here, she boarded the ‘ Lake Manitoba ’ and 10 days later disembarked in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A three day train journey on the Canadian Northern Railway followed until she reached the end of the line in Alberta where she had previously arranged her accommodation and work as a chambermaid in a small hotel. This was all I knew about my great aunt. There were apocryphal family tales about the winter snow being piled so high she couldn’t open her front door and of wolves roaming the back garden seeking food but nothing of any substance. Daisy never returned to England and her role in my family history remained incomplete. It was then I recalled the oft-heard lament amongst amateur family historians wishing they’d asked more questions when they had the chance but now had nobody left to ask. Tracing Miss Daisy

Fortunately, in my case, there was someone. Uncle Harold Cross was 95 years old and living in a care home in the town of Felixstowe, overlooking the North Sea. He was my father’s brother, the youngest of William’s six children and the only one still alive. As with many folk of advanced years, he couldn’t remember what he’d done the previous day but his mind was still sharp when it came to events long ago. I got into the habit of visiting Harold with a list of 10 questions, all family-related. These I would slip into the general conversation about the weather and the passing container ships and surreptitiously record his answers. I realised Harold was born two years after Daisy emigrated so wouldn’t have known his aunt personally. However, he never married and had lived with his parents till they died. There was the chance he might have picked up a few snippets of information about Daisy so I gently approached the subject. Harold revealed that the year after she arrived in Canada, Daisy had married a man named Harry BULLOCK and they had five children. When pushed further, Harold could only come up with a name I interpreted as Kit Cody. This he repeated several times. I knew the real name of the well-known frontiersman Buffalo Bill was William Cody and the internet revealed he had a son named Kit. I couldn’t see the connection. However, things took a sudden turn when I mentioned Kit Cody to my nephew Martin, also a keen family historian. Martin’s wife Clare is from Ontario and it didn’t take them long to discover Harold probably hadn’t meant Kit Cody at all but Kitscoty, a tiny settlement in Central Alberta. Was this the

160

Member’s article

breakthrough? I researched Kitscoty and found that the first settlers arrived in this wintery outpost in 1905. It officially became a village in 1911 when its first store opened along with a blacksmith’s, livery stables and a small hotel. Its population in 2021 had swelled to 852. The next task was to link Kitscoty to Daisy. She obviously wouldn’t still be alive and it is unlikely anybody would be old enough to remember her. However, she had five children so there was still hope. Detailing everything I knew about Daisy Bullock (née Cross), I wrote a letter and addressed it simply to The Town Office, Kitscoty, Alberta, Canada . It was the longest of long shots and I wasn’t anticipating any form of reply. Five weeks later, a letter in spidery handwriting dropped on the mat. It was from Evelyn LEIGHTON , an 84 year old lady, living in Edmonton. Way back in 1946, Evelyn had become Daisy’s daughter-in-law when she married Rod, Daisy’s youngest son. Rod had been Evelyn’s first husband. He worked as a trucker and had been a chuck wagon racer of some note. Sadly, he was killed in 1960 whilst competing in the Frontiers Day rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA. Newspaper reports tell how he fell from his wagon after it struck a marker barrel and he was crushed under the wheels of a following wagon. A memorial in copper was set up to him and six other chuckwagon racers killed whilst racing. It stands in the town of Ponoka, south of Edmonton. In 1961, the year after Rod’s death, Evelyn became Evelyn Leighton when she married Arthur who died just recently. Yet, somebody

Harry and Daisy’s wedding day

in Kitscoty had remembered the name Evelyn Bullock from some 50 years ago and had passed on my letter! Like many Commonwealth residents of British descent, Evelyn and her family had tried hard to research their roots. They had compiled a sketchy family tree but it extended no further back than Daisy’s grandparents James and Emma Cross and William and Sarah JOHNSON . I was able to provide more detail and help fill in the blanks. In return, I received the family tree emanating from the marriage of Daisy and Harry. In an instant, I gained 99 new family members!

161

Member’s article

Kitscoty, Alta

I remained in touch with Evelyn until she died in 2015. Her niece Jackie then took up the reins and we continued to exchange family information until I was finally able to close the chapter on Great Aunt Daisy. It transpired that Daisy hadn’t moved directly to Kitscoty when she arrived in Canada in 1912 but to the small Albertan village of Carbon. She married Harry there the following year. By the time of the 1921 Census, Daisy and Harry, whose occupation was given as ‘rancher’ had moved to the wonderfully-named Streamstown with their three eldest children. From there they moved to Kitscoty where Rod was born in 1926. The final move was to the tiny village of Czar with a current population of just 248 and a motto ‘Where the cowboys reign’. Daisy died there and was buried in July 1966. She was aged 74. Harry died five years later. I wish I had known Daisy or ‘Little Grandma’ as she was known to her Canadian family. She must have been a remarkably feisty lady with the courage and strength of character to travel

over 4,000 miles alone by land and sea into the complete unknown. She was something of a pioneer, for three cousins rapidly followed her to Alberta along with her brother Percy who emigrated to Calgary in 1926. Remarkably, I would have known nothing of her story had it not been for a 95 year old gentleman in a care home in Felixstowe. His recall of the name ‘Kitscoty’ had first unlocked the door and by an outrageous slice of fortune

I had been able to open it fully. Rod Cross Member #14715

Czar – cowboy country

162

Members’ Surname Interests

Members’ Surname Interests Database

Please continue to check the members’ interests webpage at http://www.hgs familyhistory.com/research-resources/me mbers-interests/ for latest details and service updates that will be announced there first. Members’ interests are published quarterly in this journal. There is a restriction in each journal of publishing a maximum of 15 entries per person to keep the journal to a manageable size. Such a constraint does not apply to the database, however, so it is possible to add further interests - within reason! Updates to your surname interests can be made online by following the examples on the page or by post. It is also possible to remove redundant entries, and this is encouraged - deletions are not notified in the journal; they simply won't remain in the database. Updates should be BLOCK printed and submitted in the format used in the following section or as shown on the form on members’ interests webpage. The county Chapman Codes are published at least once in any yearly HFH volume and should be used when submitting interests, e.g. HAM for Hampshire etc. Please note that addresses published in this section refer only to members who have submitted their interests. All enquiries and queries concerning this section should be sent by post to the Research Centre at the HGS Office (address on inside front cover), or go to www.hgs-familyhistory.com/members interests-signup, or by email to

membersinterests@hgs-online.org.uk. N. B. Changes to email addresses will no longer be noted in the journal as many are already obsolete when published. Please contact the HGS Office for a member's current details if you encounter problems But please remember to inform the Membership Secretary (membership@hgs-online.org.uk) of any changes to either your current email or home address. In the following table the interests are in groups with the members details after the names they are interested in. Notes (‘1900’ given as example of ‘date’):

1900 + = after that date; pre 1900 = before that date; c 1900

= circa (about) that date (+/- 5 yrs);

C 20 = xx th. Century; parish a = area around parish

Remember that your addresses are your contact point, so keep them up to date.

If communicating by post remember that an SAE is essential these days, as not everyone has email. Please note that HGS cannot guarantee a response to any enquiry made of a member.

163

Members’ Surname Interests

Surname

County Parish

Date span Researcher

Member #

Baldwin Baldwin

HAM Odiham

1770+ Maria Watson 1700+ Maria Watson

16886 16886

HAM Bury Odiham

Barter Barter

WIL WIL

Whiteparish 1600-1780 Rodney Francis Whale 4449 Whiteparish 1600-1780 Rodney Francis Whale 4449

Bennett Coombs Coombs

All

All

1900-1960 Yvonne Febvre 1912-1916 Charlii Atkinson 1912-1916 Charlii Atkinson pre1950 Felicity McGowan

16875 16861 16861 16864 16865 16855 16849 16852 16871 16875 16875 16852 16735 16849 16863 16878 16865 16871 16867 16871 16854 15984 15984 16865 16871 16853 14688

HAM All HAM All

Crockford

All All

All All

Cutting

Trudy Mardon

Davis Davis

HAM All

1800-1850 Kimbra Thomas 1700+ Sharon Greentree

All

All

Dawkes Farthing

HAM All

Christine Millington

All All All

All All All

Frank Kennedy

Febvre Febvre

1938-1960 Yvonne Febvre 1938-1960 Yvonne Febvre

Foreman

HAM All

Christine Millington

Gain

HAM Minstead

Sue Lester

Greentree

All All

All All

1500+ Sharon Greentree

Gregory

1800-1860 Gary Adam

Hawkesworth HAM All

Becky White Hatch

Holdom All

All All

Trudy Mardon Frank Kennedy

Knight Lewis

All

HAM

1850+ Viv Leverington

Lowdon Mahoney

All

All

Frank Kennedy

HAM All

1855-1885 Andrew Duncan

Newnham All Newnham All

Arreton Arreton

Peter Newnham Peter Newnham Trudy Mardon Frank Kennedy

O'Brien

All All All

All All All

Pettet Pover

1890-1944 Stephen Shepherd

Primmer

Ham all

Ivan Hurst

164

Members’ Surname Interests

Surname

County Parish

Date span Researcher

Member #

Purkess Purkiss

HAM Minstead HAM Minstead

Sue Lester Sue Lester

16735 16735 16854 16854 16865 16855 16884 16852 15879 16853 16888 16855 16878 16812 16867

Purvis Purvis

HAM Fareham 1851-1885 Andrew Duncan HAM Fareham 1851-1885 Andrew Duncan

Rothwell Sait/Saith

All

All

Trudy Mardon

HAM All

1770-1900 Kimbra Thomas

Smith Stone Stone Vollar Ward White Wort Wright Vincent

HAM Portsea Town 1884+ Leslea Linnett

HAM All

Christine Millington

HAM Emsworth

1924-2015 Nicholas Rose 1800-1940 Stephen Shepherd

All

All

HAM Hartley Wintney 1800+ Jill Cornwell

HAM All HAM All

1770-1850 Kimbra Thomas

Becky White Hatch

All

All

1900-1980 Jeanette Willard 1850+ Viv Leverington

HAM

Role of the Chairperson of a Charity A charity’s Trustees are the people who ultimately exercise control over, and are legally re sponsible for, the charity. The Executive Committee of the charity’s trustees should have a Hampshire Genealogical Society will need a new Chairperson to be elected at the AGM on June 17th 2025. Please read the Role Profile below and, if you feel you have the skills to be our next Chairperson, please contact vicechairman@hgs-online.org.uk New Chairperson for the HGS

Chairperson whose duties include: • Leading the Executive Committee • Ensuring smooth running of Executive Committee’s meetings • Promoting good governance among fellow Trustees • Providing supervision and support to the Trustees • Acting as a figurehead or spokesperson where required

165

Member’s article

“Hello 2DP this is Mr Tranter speaking” Some of you asked me for my feelings about the war years. I left the secondary school at the age of 18 not long before the war. My ambition was to be a teacher and I should have gone on to the next day the prime minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Munich to negotiate with Hitler. Later he flew back waving a piece of paper and saying we have secured peace in our lifetime. In fact, the peace barely lasted a year. Next year Hitler marched into Poland and on the 3rd of September 1939 Great Britain declared war on Germany. I was at the house of a girlfriend. Can you imagine a lovely sunny morning and the family sitting around the

municipal college, but we knew a war was imminent, and so I was keen to join the RAF. My mother wouldn’t hear of this and refused to sign the papers. You may be surprised but can you imagine that in those days you couldn’t make decisions like this for yourself until you were 21, but she eventually agreed to let me apply for the RAF volunteer reserve. In the meantime, I took a job as a cost clerk with a local manufacturer. It was at this time that Hitler invaded the Sudetenland, part of Czechoslovakia, and war seemed inevitable. Two of the departmental managers at the Works were part-time air raid wardens. One job they had to do about that time was to give out gas masks in case gas was to be used against us and they asked me to go along and help. You all know Somers Town (Portsmouth), well where Somers Town now is, where all those flats are, there were rows of small very poor houses. I shall never forget calling at these houses seeing the large families, and the poverty. As we fitted them with their gas masks, I wondered at the marvellous calm of these ordinary people in spite of their obvious concern for their many children. The babies, by the way, were put into a kind of enclosed carry-cot which had a little window in front of it so they were completely enclosed and safe from gas. At this time a plane was flying overhead while searchlights swept backwards and forwards across the sky looking for it. It was a practice but it all seemed very real and very grim. The

radio and then at 11:00am the Prime Minister made his announcement saying that from the time of 11:00am a state of War now exists between this country and Germany and Italy. We were all very quiet with our thoughts thinking of the unspeakable horrors that war might unleash. We were wondering what would happen to all of us individually. My girlfriend’s mother sat there and just cried very softly. At first little happened although we did hear that ships were being sunk. The worst thing perhaps was the blackout. No lights at all could be shown. If you opened a door and let out the light you would hear the wardens blowing their whistles and shouting and you could be fined for this. Cars and even bicycles had hoods over their lights allowing only a slit of light out. Getting about you can imagine was very difficult. Cinemas and theatres were still open, you could still go to the pictures. To keep up their spirits too people held blackout parties, taking turns going to each other’s houses, singing around the piano and so on. Friends were beginning to show up in uniform. Later we would hear that one of them, perhaps so-and-so, had gone down with SS Rawalpindi or some other ship. The following year in June 1940 came the Blitzkrieg. Holland, Belgium, France were overrun and Britain stood alone. It was a strange feeling. We couldn’t see how we would ever beat the

166

Member’s article

Germans. It looked like being a very long war. But everyone felt that however long the war lasted we would never give in, we couldn’t imagine that we would ever lose. The Battle of Britain began that August. Sometimes the fighters kept the bombers away, but sometimes they got through. One Saturday afternoon we were playing tennis white flannels and all. The air raid siren had gone but nothing was happening so we played on. Then, on the way home, coming down Copnor Road, people were standing staring at the sky, and we looked up and there were 50 Black cross grey shapes in close formation, just above our heads it seemed. With a swish bombs were falling. We threw down our bikes and dashed into a shelter. The ground heaved and shook, the noise was tremendous. People looked white and sick, we weren’t used to this. Daylight raids were short and sharp and nasty. When the night raids started I took my bed into the air raid shelter in the garden, and slept soundly through them. You may have heard that in London people used to take their bedding and used to go right down into the tubes, and as they walked through the tube stations, there would be hundreds of people lying on side just like maggots in a beehive. The worst raid was when I was fire watching in Nottingham, because we had to stay out on patrol to deal with the incendiaries. No running off to the shelters then. We could see vapour trails in the clear moonlight sky, and then the bombs rain down. You could hear the cries and screams. Soon the sky was blotted out with smoke glowing red from the many fires. How did we feel? Thoroughly scared. For the first 10 minutes I shook like a jelly ‘til the incendiaries fell clattering in the street. Dealing with them I forgot my fear. When the bombs screamed down we lay in the gutter,

hearing the crumps like giant footballs coming steadily nearer, praying that the next one wouldn’t crush the life out of you. There was at first a blue flash from the big bombs and then an eerie lingering orange and sulphurous glow. It was most uncanny. Beautiful in a way. Later that night a bomb dropped right outside of our headquarters. The commanding officer had just walked down and walked right into it. Later on as I was running down the hill to the telephone I saw what I thought was an old mattress lying on the pavement and I jumped across it, and again when I came running back I jumped across this funny old mattress lying there. Later on I was to find out that this was the body of the Continued on page 170

167