George Downer (1808-1864) and Mary Ann Stallard (1817-????). My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunt. George was baptised on 28 February 1808 at St John’s in Winchester, the son of Charles Downer and Ann Brent. He grew up in the city and then went on to have a successful career in the Royal Marines. Details of […]
Author: Stephen
Mary Ann Downer and my other Downer ancestors
Mary Ann Downer (1803-1891). My 3rd great-grandmother. Mary Ann Downer was the first of the Downer’s in my Finch family tree, marrying my 3rd great-grandfather William Ward. The Wards lived in Middlesex – present-day London – but my Downer family came from Hampshire. The surname is common in Sussex, the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, […]
Willoughby Staff and my other Staff ancestors
Willoughby Staff (?1803-1886). My 4th great-grandmother. Willoughby Staff was from a Norfolk family that married into the Greens. Their descendants were part of my paternal family tree, ultimately coming down to the Finches. The surname may have derived from the Anglo-Saxon stæf, which means stick or pole, and could’ve referred to people who worked with or […]
Edith Brent (1784-1871) and her soldier husband
Edith Brent (1784-1871), Charles Prigg (1782-1814) and Alexander McKenzie (c1786-1832). My 4th great-grand aunt and uncles. Edith Brent was born to Henry Brent and his wife Mary and baptised on 31 January 1784 at Holy Trinity Church in Wonston, Hampshire. The family continued to live in and around the village. She married Charles Prigg from […]
Ann Brent and my other Brent ancestors
Ann Brent (1780-1863). My 4th great-grandmother. The Brents came from Hampshire in southern England and married into the Downer family, ancestors on my paternal Finch line. The surname can derive from place names but may also refer to the Old English ‘brente’ meaning steep place – the location perhaps of where a family lived. View […]
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Philip Comber (c1606-1680) – merchant tailor of London
Philip Comber (c1606-1680), Elizabeth (????-1654) and Dorothy Hounsell (????-1714). My 9th great-grand uncle and aunts. Philip Comber was probably born in West Hoathly, Sussex, but baptism records for the parish survive only from 1606 so his birth year remains a guesstimate. His parents were Thomas Rivers Comber and Ann Burstow and he received £10 from […]
Sarah Comber and my other Comber ancestors
Sarah Comber (1682-1758).My 7th great-grandmother. The Combers were a long-established Sussex family, some prospered as landowners and sheep farmers, and family pedigrees were presented at the Heralds’ Visitations of Sussex in 1634. The surname probably derived from the occupation of combing wool, although a ‘combe’ refers also to a valley. Curiously, some members of the […]
Susannah Symonds (1832-1906) and her family of mariners
Susannah Symonds (1832-1906), Henry George Martins (1828-1857) and Charles Downing (1824-1883). My 3rd great-grand aunt and uncles. Susannah was baptised on 8 October 1832 at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to parents Charles Robinson Witchingham Symonds and Susanna Waters. She was still living at home at the time of the 1851 census and […]
Mary Ann Symonds (1791-1867), died after being scalded
Mary Ann (or Marian) Symonds (1791-1867) and Ralph Newby (????-1881). My 4th great-grand aunt and uncle. Mary Ann – or sometimes Marian – was born just a few months after the marriage of her parents – James Symonds and Frances Ann Witchingham – in 1791. She was baptised at Holy Trinity & All Saints Church […]
Frances Ann Witchingham and my other Witchingham ancestors
Frances Ann Witchingham (1773-1847). My 5th great-grandmother. Witchingham is a reasonably common surname in Norfolk and may well derive from the village of Witchingham, north-west of Norwich. Over time the name has been spelled in a variety of ways including Wychingham, Wichinham, Withingham and even Wichengim. View where the Witchinghams are in my current family […]
Hannah Holsworth and my other Holsworth ancestors
Hannah Holsworth (1791-1879). My 4th great-grandmother. Holsworth is a fairly common surname in Norfolk. Hannah, my 4th great-grandmother, came from the village of Salhouse and was the first by this name to join my family tree. She was born on 12 January 1791 to Thomas Holsworth and Ann Parfrey (see below) and was baptised in […]
Godfrey Weston and my other Weston ancestors
Godfrey Weston (1785-1862). My 4th great-grandfather. Godfrey Weston took advantage of a young woman and then tried to evade his responsibilities to her and the daughter he fathered out of wedlock… He was born on 14 March 1785 and baptised three days later at St Mary’s Church in Banham, Norfolk. His parents were John Weston […]
Ann Burley and my other Burley ancestors
Ann Burley (1775-1850).My 4th great-grandmother. She married into the Finch family. Ann Burley was the daughter of John Burley of Limpsfield and Sarah Goodman of Kingston, both in Surrey (see below). She was born on the 27 April 1775 and baptised on 3 June that year at St Peter’s Church in Limpsfield, where her carpenter […]
Elizabeth Wetherill (1713-1799?) – businesswoman of Norwich
Elizabeth Wetherill (1713-1799?) and Edward Peterson (1714?-1783). My 7th great-grand aunt and uncle. Elizabeth was baptised on 1 February 1713 at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, her parents being schoolteacher Thomas Wetherill and Mary Corpe. Her brother William Wetherill’s will referred to her as Elizabeth Peterson and mentioned her children but I’ve not found […]
William Medway Ward (1828-1898)
William Medway Ward (1828-1898). My 2nd great-grand uncle. William was born on 14 July 1828 and baptised on 14 September at All Hallows Church in Tottenham, Middlesex, to parents William Ward and Mary Ann Downer. He married Maria Earnshaw on 25 November 1850 at St John’s Church in Hackney. She’d been born on 1 March […]
Sarah Rice and my other Rice ancestors
Sarah Rice (1791-1871). My 4th great-grandmother. Sarah was the first of the Rice family to join my family tree. She was baptised on 3 July 1791 at St Mary’s Church in Balcombe, Sussex, to parents George Rice and Mary Harman (see below). She married William Budgen at St Nicholas’s Church in Worth, Sussex, on 2 […]
Rebecca Lock and my other Lock ancestors
Rebecca Lock (1779-1861). My 4th great-grandmother. Rebecca was the first of the Locks to marry into my family, when she wed Charles Goulty in Woodbastwick, Norfolk, on 17 May 1796. She’d been born in the village on 25 April 1778 and baptised at St Fabian and St Sebastian’s Church on 15 April 1779 – her […]
Lawrence Witchingham Symonds (1804-1847)
Lawrence Witchingham Symonds (1804-1847). My 4th great-grand uncle. Lawrence Witchingham Symonds was born on 16 August 1804 and baptised on the 19th at Holy Trinity & All Saints Church in Winterton, Norfolk, but drowned while a relatively young man. His parents were James Symonds and Frances Witchingham. Lawrence married Mary Green at St Andrew’s Church […]
Harriet Symonds (1841-1899) and her struggles with alcohol
Harriet Symonds (1841-1899) and Henry Swan Chapman (1838-1904). My 3rd great grand-aunt and uncle. Harriet was born on 29 August 1841 to parents Charles Robinson Witchingham Symonds and Susannah Waters. She was baptised on 8 September at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. She married young in 1858, her husband being Henry Swan Chapman […]
Samuel Symonds (1836-1909) – saving lives at sea
Samuel Symonds (1836-1909). My 3rd great grand uncle. Samuel was born to Charles Robinson Witchingham Symonds and Susannah Waters in 1836 and baptised on 20 July that year at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. He lived with his family until his marriage on 28 December 1856 to Ann Maria Masterson. She was also […]