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 […]
USA
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 […]
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 […]
Susanna Green (1844-1920) – a marathon journey to Utah
Susanna Green (1844-1920) and Henry Gillins (1840-1919). My 3rd great-grand aunt and uncle. Susanna Green was born on 10 May 1844 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on 9 June. Her parents were William Green and Willoughby Staff. She spent her childhood in the town but after the death of her […]
Willoughby Staff (1803-1886) – a journey to the USA as a Mormon
Willoughby Staff (1803-1886) and William Green (1799-????). My 4th great-grandmother and grandfather. Willoughby Staff may have been born in rural Norfolk but she ended up as a member of the Mormon church in the American state of Utah… Her birth, though, is a bit of a mystery. Census records suggest it was Hickling, a village to […]
William Budgen (1820-1864) – killed on the railway
William Budgen (1820-1864) and Amy Frith (1826-1921). My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunt. Baptised in Worth, Sussex, on 6 February 1820, William was the son of William Budgen and Sarah Rice and would meet a gruesome end. But that was some years after he married Amy Frith, the 18-year-old daughter of a gamekeeper, on 6 April 1844 […]
Peter Finch (1845-1891) and his well-travelled son Henry
Peter Finch (1845-1891) and Eliza Esther Turner (1841-1895). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Born in 1845 to parents Henry Finch and Jane Bashford, Peter could well have been the twin of his brother George as they were both baptised on 15 June that year at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey. And he ended […]
Abraham Finch (1837-?)
Abraham Finch – my 3rd great-uncle. Born in 1837, Abraham Finch was a triplet along with Isaac and Jacob, born to parents Henry Finch and Jane Bashford. His Royal Navy record puts his date of birth as 29 June and a note alongside his baptism in the parish register, dated 20 August at St Mary Magdelene Church […]