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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Frederick Elijah Wetherall (1814-1906) and his family tragedies

Frederick Elijah Wetherall (1814-1906) and Lucy Sarah Lloyd (1815-1869). My 4th great-grand uncle and aunt. Frederick was born on 30 July 1814 and baptised at St John Timberhill, Norwich, Norfolk, a day later – his parents were Thomas Wetherill and Rebecca Brooks. He grew up in the city with his family but followed them when […]

Emmeline Louisa Wetherall (1872-1932) – widowed by a mill accident

Emmeline Louisa Wetherall (1872-1932) and Albert Robert Woods (1872-1917). My great-grand aunt and uncle. Emmeline was born on 2 June 1872 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and baptised in the town on 14 July at St Nicholas’ Church. Her parents were Benjamin Thomas Wetherall and Sarah Ann Elizabeth Green. Emmeline (pictured top with her children Leslie […]

James Wetherall (?1833-?1918) – service in the Royal Navy

HMS Gorgon

James Wetherall (1833-1918) and Rhoda Brown (1839-1904). My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunt. James Wetherall was one of the children of my 4th great-grandmother Rebecca Frances Wetherall, and like his siblings he was born illegitimately in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. I’ve yet to find a baptism record for him but surviving census returns estimate his year of […]

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

The Half Moon in Warninglid in the early 20th century

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 […]

Tanjore Abraham Ward (1832-1920) – businessman and publican

The Cook's Ferry Inn in about 1900

Tanjore Abraham Ward (1832-1920) and Amelia Lambourn (1834-1895). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Tanjore was born on 12 August 1832 and baptised at All Hallows in Tottenham, Middlesex, on 27 July 1834. Of all William Ward and Mary Ann Downer‘s children, Tanjore is the most curious. His name comes from a city, also known […]

Arthur Albert Stolliday (1875-1935) and Elizabeth Mary Ann Wetherall (1876-1952)

Arthur Albert Stolliday with wife Elizabeth and son-in-law Gerald Finch

Arthur Albert Stolliday (1875-1935) and Elizabeth Mary Ann Wetherall (1876-1952). My great-grandparents.  Arthur Stolliday was a colourful character and a Norfolk lad – born on 12 May 1875 in Row 123, Great Yarmouth, to Edward Stoliday and Harriet Goulty. He served in the First World War, worked behind the bar in various pubs, got into […]

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 […]