A Family Story Proven False

A few posts back I mentioned the family mystery regarding our link to the Archbishop of Canterbury Frederick William Farrar.

I mentioned in that post how many years ago ( 38 years ago to be exact) my Great grandfather had written out a family tree story of sorts explaining this link, but that at least 8 years ago this letter had become misplaced.

Well last week I was cleaning out some old cookbooks to give to charity, and blow me down, what was underneath one pile, but the letter from my Great Grandfather

 

The letter goes into some detail about the life of the Archbishop, details of which I can only assume my Great Grandfather got from an encyclopedia, because he certainly didnt get it from any personal connection with Dean Farrar.

On the second page of the letter near the top he says, and i quote “ The Deans Sister Ellaen Farrar married one, Middlebrook in England and came to New Zealand about the year 1860, This union produced Samuel Middlebrook “ Palou” and his daugther Ellen Winifred became your Nana and Great Grandmother.”

 

Well the one grain of truth here is that Ellen Farrer did marry John Middlebrook in England. They did come to New Zealand in 1862 and the union did produce Samuel Middlebrook and then his daughter was Ellen Winifred my Great Grandmother, however that is where the truth ends and I must respectfully put my Great Grandfather right.

Ellen Farrer was NOT the sister of Dean Frederick William Farrar Archbishop of Canterbury. She was born before the Dean, and it would appear as far as I can establish that Frederic William Farrar had no older sister at all!

From the marriage of Charles Pinhorn Farrar and Caroline Turner there were the following children, Henry Jeffreys Farrar, Frederic William Farra and Vernon Farrar. All three born, not in England but in India!

Charles remarried and had two further children, Charles Ernest and Mary.

My research is that Ellen Farrer ( my 3x Great Grandmother ) was in fact the daughter of Benjamin Farrer, and Ellen Thompson clock and watchmaker of Pontefract.

This fact is further proven by the names of several of her her children including the name Thompson as a middle name.

And the transcription from the English Marriage register lists

First Name  -  ELLEN

Last Name  -  FARRER

Collections from  -  United Kingdom

Country  -  England

Record set  -  England & Wales marriages 1837-2008

County  -  Yorkshire

Year  -  1847

Spouse Forename  -  JOHN

Spouse Surname  -  MIDDLEBROOK

 

So I can now with as much certainty as I can muster say that my Great Grandfather was wrong. Where the story originated I don’t know and probably never will. ( He was not part of the Farrer family at all but married to Ellen Winifred Middlebrook my Great Grandmother.)

There is a remote chance that several generations back there may be a link between teh two families.

Charles Pinhorn Farrar’s Grandfather was John Farrar of Doncaster ( 1735- 1825), and there was a branch of the Farrer clockmakers family in Doncaster before the mid 19th Century .

Charles Farrer was born about 1761, probably at Pontefract though we do not know his father. He married in Doncaster in 1790 to Ann Cookson. He died suddenly at Pontefract in 1817 at the age of fifty six, probably on a visit to his family. His widow lived on at Doncaster till 1842, when she died aged 76. Joshua Farrer, born at Pontefract about 1771, also worked in Doncaster and was probably the brother of Charles. Joshua died in 1838, his widow in 1845.

Whether either of these two Farrers are related to the John Farrar of Doncaster who was the Great Grandfather of Frederic William Farrar I dont know at this stage, but if I ever prove a link I will be sure to toast my Great Grandfather who with his “letter of fiction” started me on my genealogical journey.

What’s in a Name–RALPH

 

I’ve known since I was a child that my mothers family was rife with “family” names. Names that have been passed down through the generations, Surnames that became middle names, or even Christian names and while I wasn’t given one, nor did I  chose any for my children, I now really love that tie to the past that those names deliver.
What I didn’t realise was that my fathers name was indeed a “Family” name as well.  The name Ralph appears to have been in the family since 1807.
Ralph Deakin, A Coal miner from Dawley, Shropshire, was the fifth son of Thomas Deakin, ( also a collier) . I imagine after 4 previous sons, he and his wife had run out of family names and named their son Ralph.  This is the first instance of the name that I can find in the family .  Ralph also had a son named Ralph, but it was through the marriage of his daughter Jane Ellen to Richard Glazebrook Poole that a line of Ralph Pooles was born.  Their eldest son took the name of Jane’s father and was christened Ralph Poole ( with no middle name) . He married Mary Garbett, and at that point they nearly broke the chain, for whatever reason, none of Ralph and Mary’s 3 sons were named  Ralph, but their eldest son Samuel chose to re-establish the name and his eldest son carried the name Ralph Poole ( no middle name) . That Ralph, my grandfather named his only son Ralph Poole, also with no  middle name.
My parents also passed on the name Ralph, but as a middle name to my brother, and my fathers Aunt also named one of her sons Ralph.

 

A Death in France ( or Belgium)

 

How is it that a life was valued so little that even when fighting for his country records cant even state the country that a young man died. Such I assume was because of the vast waste of life that the “Great” War of 1914 – 18 was.

 

He’s not the only member of my ancestral family of course to die in the “Great War” which took the lives of most of a generation of young men of the time, but George Ernest Allington seems to me to be such a good looking man, and it was a bit of luck that his war records were available to be downloaded from the NZ Archives.

George Ernest was the son of George ALLINGTON  and Phoebe ALLINGTON ( nee Abbott). Phobe was the daughter of Sarah Ann Abbott who I have posted about before.

( as a side note its interesting Phoebe married a man named Allington as this was her Mother’s maiden name. One wonders if there is more of a connection than cooincidence – Allington is hardly a common name!.

Anyway back to poor George Ernest Allington. I must say what hit me the most when reading his military records was how little information they contained. If I was the mother of a young man fighting for his country I would want more details than are listed in the reports. Im sure times have changed markedly and a life given for the country is much more highly valued now.

From his records – compressed into a mere 2.3 MB pdf file ,it appears he spent some time in a base hospital after being “unsuccessfully” vaccinated for typhoid. I’m not sure what effect an unsuccessful vaccination would have but he it appears he was in the Base hospital in Cairo for over 2 months between September and November 1915 .

He rejoined his Unit from hospital in January 1916, and then in April embarked for France.

On July 22nd he was promoted to Lance Corporal and then in January 1917 promoted again to Corporal , though in May of that year he once again was sent to hospital, this time only spending a week before rejoining his Battalion in France on the 12th of May.

On 16th June he was promoted to Temporary Sergeant (one wonders if he was replacing someone else who had died that day, and in fact on that very same day he was promoted,the report simply lists “Killed in Action”. No more detail than that – just another casualty,  and in fact – even the country he died in seems to be unknown. Under Place it says “ In the field, FRANCE or BELGIUM

Posthumously decorated with the 1914- 15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal – not much of a victory for his Mother.

 

POSTSCRIPT:

The NZ Wargraves Project has a memorial at Messines Ridge – Maybe he did die there, or maybe not – his records really dont tell us – Interestingly the wargraves project has a date of death 2 days earlier than his records too, and the page for the wargraves website states : There are no stories for this casualty. – isnt that pretty much the story of most of these men. It really seems like it was a reflection of how the troops on the ground were valued about as much as some replaceable commodity.

THE POOLE FAMILY OF DAWLEY

 

As I mentioned before I think, its not really the names and dates and how far back I can get that really is what interests me so much in my study of my family tree, but its the stories behind the names. Sometimes of course there is no family story thats been passed down, or no newspaper account of an event to help tell the story so its up to the records to tell the story for me. And with the POOLE family of Dawley the story is told quite nicely by the census records.

As Im a visual person I found it easier to tell this story in a layout ( be it all mainly journalling)

I borrowed the photo from the very interesting Dawley Heritage website .

After looking at all the census records I do believe that this photo was taken from very near where Richard Glazebrook POOLE lived and worked.

The address is described differently  in each census but its clear it was near the Elephant and Castle Hotel, in High Street and perhaps on the corner of Burton Street, which if my study of google maps and old photos is correct – is exactly where this photo is taken from.

 

 

The journalling on this layout reads as follows :

The Dawley and Ironbridge areas were the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Its rich seams of coal clay and ironstone meant that almost overnight its agriculturally based economy was transformed by vast additions of industrial settlements. From a small market down developed a thriving and busy town centre around Dawley Green which became the new town commercial centre. Dawley was home to the second largest Iron works in Great Britain and one of the first roller mills in the world. Half of all the furnaces and forges operating in East Shropshire were located within the Dawley Parish.
By the late 19th century though, with the iron industry in decline, the population had dropped markedly and there was considerable poverty. It remained an area notable for its areas of of abandoned industrial waste until the mid 20th century when it was redesignated and conglomerated and with other towns to become Telford.
It appears the POOLE Family have a long history in the Dawley area . Thomas POOLE(born 1730)my 6x great grandfather and his son John( born 1759) lived in nearby Brosely . John and wife Mary PARKER’s son Thomas Parker POOLE was at first a china painter in Madeley. He married Isabella GLAZEBROOK and by the time of the 1841 census aged 56 he was a hairdresser. This started a long family career in hairdressing, although by 1851 he was also the Dawley Town Crier, and at least 2 of his sons carried on with the family hairdressing business. Thomas died in 1853 and his son Richard Glazebrook POOLE ( my 3x great grandfather continued hairdressing from High Street Dawley.
I imagine one of the buildings in this photo may even have been his residence and business place. In 1901 at age 78 Richard is still listed as a hairdresser in the High street area.
By 1881 his son Ralph had set up his own Barber and Hairdressing business In Bridge Street quite near his fathers business, but by 1891 he appears to have left the business and is listed as a labourer (This would have been about the time of a severe decline in the economy in the Dawley area - perhaps not enough business for both in the area - but by 1901 Ralph is again back hairdressing but he has moved from Dawley to the larger more populated city of Derby where the history of the POOLE family continues.

An easy to use 6x4 album for your genealogy

 

  It doesn’t get much simpler than this – create your own 6x4 album to display your family history.
Simply open in a photo editor such as Photoshop Elements, drag a photo under the hole and resize to fit.
Add your text on top – save and print!!.

This easy to use 6x4 sized mini album is perfect for scrapbooking your family history. With pages suitable for journalling, and photos of both landscape and portrait orientations, beautifully embellished. Simply add your photo and text and print for a wonderful and inexpensive gift.
This album includes 8 separate pages and a bonus family tree page.

 

...More Information

Long Marriages

It seems I have in my family history many very long marriages.
My Great grandparents Phillip and Ellen Goodwin were married for more than 70 years!

The Journalling on this layout reads:
Just about to celebrate 70 years of marriage, Mr Phillip Goodwin says the secret lies in the old cliche, “early to bed, early to rise”.He is aged 96 and his wife Ellen is aged 91. They had a quite wedding in a country church near Matamata on January 6 “way back in 1909”.
In their Mt Albert unit, Mr and Mrs Goodwin still have fresh vegetables from their own garden. There are no meals on wheels for this couple. Mrs Goodwin still cooks and sews. And with eight grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren, there are plenty to sew for.
On Saturday the Goodwins will celebrate with a family get together for afternoon tea. No alcohol for the couple - they would like to get to their 75th anniversary. Retirement to Auckland in 1945 did not mean a life of leisure for Mr Goodwin. Until he was 90 he helped his youngest sun in business.
sadly they did not make 75 years of marriage.
Nanna slipped and fell breaking her hip the
following year and died soon after .
Phillip, known to everyone as Da lived until
1986, aged an incredible 103.
 
and another set of Great Grandparents were married more than 50 years.

Journalling here reads:
Mr and Mrs W McClellan, Newton, who celebrate their golden wedding today, have lived in Wellington for most of the fifty years of their marriage which took place in Newtown on November 7 1900.Mrs McClellan was formerly Mrs Annie Elizabeth Grant.
Mr McClellan was well known in the newspaper printing trade being assicated with the "New Zealand Times" as a linotype operator: later he joined the "Hawera Star" and "Taihape Daily Times". On returning to Wellington he joined the staff of Henry Tombs Lt. being with this firm for approximately 25 years until his retirement.
Both in Wellington and Taranaki, Mr McClellan has taken a deep interest in music, He was one of the earliest members of the Brooklyn Glee Club which became the Wellington Harmonic Society and was an early conductor of the Central Mission Band in Wellington, of the Hawera Band , and both the men’s and women's choirs in Hawera. He was choirmaster of the Trinity Church Choir, Newtown for 20 years. Mr and Mrs McClellan have four children and seven grandchildren. There was a large gathering of friends and relatives in the Rio Grande Hall Mirimar, last night, to celebrate the wedding
My journalling - I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at this event, the Golden wedding anniversary of my Great Grandparents William and Annie McClellan. They were married at the turn of the last century in 1900, so this event must have been in 1950. Annie died not long after this, in 1953, and William survived another 12 years dying in 1965, after i was born, though i never met him.
 
I recently found a newspaper article from 1928 which mentions the diamond wedding anniversary of another set of ancestors, Elizabeth Middlebrook and George Douglas Hardy.

 
It seems that George was at one time chief attendant for the Whau Lunatic Asylum in Avondale Auckland, in the  late years of the 19th century.He later became a tea trader.  Clearly a very interesting man I believe I must do some more research on him soon!!

A Clown in the Family

 

Yes, Indeed I do have a clown in the family. He is my 1st cousin 3x removed. – Russell MIDDLEBROOK, otherwise known as Byko the Clown and often as Madame Fifi, to name just a couple of his alternative personalities.

Russell was born Charles Russell MIDDLEBROOK in 1908 , youngest son of James Thompson and Julia Ann MIDDLEBROOK.

(James Thompson is the younger brother of my 2x Great grandfather Samuel MIDDLEBROOK.

I know James Thompson was a carpenter  based in Matakohe for some time at the turn of the century, and Russell was born in the Northland area.

I found 2 articles about Russell in my Great Grandparents scrapbook

A wonderful clown Russell must have been because in 1983 he was awarded with a “Benny”. This is a recognition award from the  Variety Artists Club of New Zealand.

On their website they describe it as the highest honour that can be awarded to an entertainer in New Zealand ,

 

 

In my search for a little more information on Russell I came across these wonderful videos narrated by Russell himself

 

 

He performed in circuses in New Zealand and Australia and apparently was part of a group who entertained the American and local troops during WW2 .

There are quite a few home videos on youtube all narrated by Russell, they are a huge treasure – This one look like he is performing at Takapuna beach which is only a few minutes drive from where I live now!

 

You can see more of Russell’s home movies on you tube by searching either  his name or Byko.

They are a  real treasure trove for the amateur genealogist. How I wish I had known we were related when he was still alive.