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 […]
Labourers
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 […]
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 […]
Thomas Goulty (1778-1857), Norfolk husbandman
Thomas Goulty / Goughty (1778-1857) and Sarah Russell (1779-1865). My 4th great-grand uncle and aunt. Thomas was born in 1778 and baptised at St Swithin’s Church in Frettenham, Norfolk, on 11 October that year. His parents were Charles Goulty and Elizabeth Quantrel. His surname was spelled in various ways in the parish records, from Goulty […]
Sarah Rose and my other Rose ancestors
Sarah Rose (1817-1886).My 3rd great-grandmother. Rose is a common surname in Norfolk, which is where my branch of the family come from. The first of the Roses to join the family tree was Sarah, who married William Stoliday/Stolliday in 1835. Sarah was born in 1817 to farmer Robert Rose and his wife Hannah Holsworth (see […]
Jane Bashford and my other Bashford ancestors
Jane Bashford (1806-1885).My 3rd great-grandmother. The first Bashford to marry into my Finch family was Jane Bashford, who was born on 13 May 1806 in the village of Chipstead, Surrey. She was baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 15 June that year. Her parents were James Bashford and James Harman (see below). She married Henry […]
Alfred Dolamore (1835-1910) – death in the canal
Alfred Dolamore (1835-1910) and Elizabeth Dolamore (1836-1904). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Alfred Dolamore was baptised on 15 February 1835 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, to parents David Dolamore and Mary Ann Walker. He was brought up in and around nearby Leavesden. He was working as an agricultural labourer at the time of the 1851 […]
John Stoliday (1817-1896), his wife Catherine and the courts
John Stoliday (1817-1896) and Catherine Smith (1822-1910). My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunt. John Stoliday was born on 25 April 1817 and baptised on 8 June that year at All Saints’ Church in Rackheath, Norfolk, to parents James Stoliday and Mary Gay. John grew up with his parents and siblings in and around Rackheath and […]
Susan Budgen (1795-1870), a Sussex publican
Susan Budgen (1795-1870) and George Tulley (1787-1837). My 4th great-grand aunt and uncle. Susan Budgen was baptised on 19 April 1795 in St Nicholas’s Church in Worth to parents William Budgen and Betty Streeter and grew up in the village. She married George Tulley on 16 October 1820 in Nuthurst, Sussex, an 11 or so mile journey from […]
Thomas Finch (1795–1852) and the Reigate workhouse
Thomas Finch (1795-1852) and Sarah Chisley (1803-1848). My 3rd great grand-uncle and aunt. Baptised at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey, on 4 April 1795, Thomas was the oldest son of Thomas Finch and his wife Ann Burley. Young Thomas married Sarah Chisley by license in Reigate on 27 July 1820. She was from the […]
William Stoliday (1836-1930) – a long-lived market gardener
William Stoliday (1836-1930), Mary-Ann Carr (1827-1866) and Ann Dove (1845-1917). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunts. Born in 1836 in Salhouse, Norfolk, and baptised on 4 December of that year at All Saints’ Church in the village, William Stoliday was the son of my 3rd great-grandparents William Stoliday and Sarah Rose. He became an agricultural […]
George Budgen (1826-1893), Brighton publican
George Budgen (1826-1893), Anne Maria Baker (1826-1873) and Margaret Cole (1835-1903) My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunts. Baptised on 28 January 1827 in Worth, Sussex, George was the son of agricultural labourer William Budgen and Sarah Rice. In 1841 George was living with his parents at Standing Hall Farm in the village and working as a farm […]
Alfred Finch (1842-1911) – baker and builder
Alfred Finch (1842-1911) and Ellen Young (1841-1909). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Born in 1842, Alfred Finch was baptised on 1 May that year at St Mary’ Church in Reigate, Surrey. He was one of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford’s many children and was brought up in the town. By the time of the 1861 […]
Henry Finch (1801-1885)
Henry Finch (1801-1885).My 3rd great-grandfather. Henry Finch was born on 6 February 1801, the son of Thomas Finch and Ann Burley. And he was one of the first of my ancestors I ‘discovered’, while roaming the graveyard at St Mary’s Church in Reigate one sunny but wintry Sunday morning. Henry may have been buried in Reigate […]
Isaac Finch (1837-1896)
Isaac Finch (1837-1896).My 2nd great-grandfather. Isaac Finch was born on 29 June 1837, one of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford‘s triplets. Isaac, Abraham and Jacob Finch were all baptised on 20 August of that year at St Mary’s Parish Church in Reigate, Surrey, and the church record states ‘these three children were of the same […]