The joys of meeting in person

 

                                   The BCGS Library, one of the places where in-person meetings sometimes take place

These days many, if not most, genealogy society meetings take place on Zoom. The BCGS, the larger local society that I am a member of, pivoted to the online platform during COVID and found that it attracted members from outside the immediate area. Perhaps that is why they never went back to meeting in person. That, and the money saved by not having to rent a meeting room.

 That makes the decision to continue meeting online understandable but at the same time I miss the people I used to sit with and the conversations we used to have. There isn't that ability to really connect with people especially when some want to have their say all the time so everyone else's contributions are basically drowned out.

All the Zooming makes me really appreciate the in-person meetings that are still being held. Perhaps that is why I've joined so many groups that meet face to face. Many of those groups are genealogy groups. I was especially stoked when I made it to the PoCo Genealogy group's meeting this week and got to participate in discussion on occupations. There were a wide variety of jobs that were discussed both by the in-person attendees and by those who joined us on Zoom. It is nice to be heard!

A Strange Connection

 

                                                                                Books about Jack the Ripper

My maternal and paternal lines have their origins in the UK. Those origins are generally from different regions although there is one county they both have links to, Dorset. Strangely enough, both of my parents were unaware of this link. Of course, given the draw of that city, their families eventually ended up in London. In the case of my mother's family that didn't happen until the 1930s. I've been unable to determine when the first of my father's forebears ended up in the East End of the city but it was at least 100 years earlier.

Tales of life in the shadier part of the Big Smoke have added to the picture of my ancestors' lives but the story I have particular interest in is that of Jack the Ripper. He roamed the streets of the East End from 1888 to about 1890. His deeds would have affected the household of my 2 x great grandfather, Henry Cavanagh most particularly as the extended family, which contained many female members, lived at 82 Wentworth Street where I found them in both the 1881 and 1891 census. The body of Martha Trabram, one of the Ripper's victims was found just around the corner from the Wentworth Street address.

I know the murders would have affected my paternal family connections but my recent research into the Hinton family, connections on my maternal side, also turned up a link to the murders. A Wikipedia article alerted me to the fact that James Hinton appeared in From Hell, a graphic novel about Jack the Ripper. It makes me wonder if I'll stumble over any other connections between the maternal and paternal sides of my family.

Sources:

Wikipedia article about James Hinton, surgeon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hinton_(surgeon) 

An adaptable research plan

 

                                     The portion at the top of the Strange tree showing Reverend Thomas and his sisters

The two weeks I spent in Salt Lake City were heavy into genealogy. The first week my friend and I were with the Ancestor Seekers group who were very helpful in suggesting ways to find the information we were searching for. Then in the second week leading up to Rootstech we also spent time in the FamilySearch Library but it was getting busier day by day and by that point we were getting a bit punchy from staring at computer screens so our days in the library were getting shorter and shorter. I still got a lot done and I think taking breaks helped.

I'm glad to report that I followed my plan of using the family tree that I found stuffed in my Strange family binder. Not that I followed up with the Ohio relatives that Mary Strange, the daughter of Reverend Thomas Strange, had written about in her letters. I got sidetracked because I saw that the information on the found family tree for Reverend Strange's sister, Mary Strange, only stated that she had married Thomas Hinton and didn't name any descendants. I just knew, maybe from half remembered information I'd picked up somewhere that the Hintons were of interest. In fact, previous research about Reverend Thomas turned up the fact that he taught young people one of whom was his sister Mary's child, James Hinton. That fact stayed with me in part because it showed the connections between nonconformist faiths as Thomas Strange was a Congregational minister, while his nephew James became a Baptist minister.

I'm happy that my research plan was adaptable so I could go where the research led me. There was much more to learn about the Hintons, so much so that it took up much of my research time at the library and, now that I home, I'm discovering more. I just hope my enthusiasm continues as I get back to those Ohio family connections.  

A Rootstech visit

 

                                                           The Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City

At the end of February every year emails about Rootstech start appearing in my inbox. Shortly thereafter, I access the site and start building my schedule. I also take note of all the unwatched sessions still sitting in my playlists from previous years. I really should get to those. This year, I didn't set up my watch schedule right away. Instead, I trawled the offerings looking for the in-person events. For the first time ever I was going to be in Salt Lake City for the event!

I've been to genealogy conferences before but none as big as Rootstech. But I'm sure that there aren't as many people attending live since the pivot to online offerings during the COVID years. There were still lots of people in the conference center and there many vendors in the sales area showing off their wares with some offering special event promotions.

As in most genealogical events, tech was in use with a phone app to keep attendees aware of their schedule of sessions and the "Relatives at Rootstech" app to show if there were any cousins close by. The nearest match I came up with was a sixth cousin but I'm sure people whose ancestry was concentrated in the US would likely come up with closer connections.

I enjoyed my time at the conference and took lots of old school notes. Now I have to make a plan to look at them before I file my notebook away or I'll be in the same boat as I was when I got ready for my trip. I don't want to go back where I was when I started planning this year's research trip. There has to be a better place to begin than not knowing where to start my research so I don't duplicate my efforts. 

A further will to add more Strange information

 

Gravestones of John and Mary Strange

at Yelvertoft Independent Chapel

When looking through the documents I'd already gathered for the Strange family, I came across another will, that of John Strange, Mary Strange's brother. His will, like Mary's was also proven in 1842 so it looks like they died within months of each other. I thought that spinsters left the most detailed wills but his was a gold mine of information. He named many relatives also giving addresses and other telling details. There was also a tally of the number of children of his sister, Elizabeth Norton, and brother, Thomas Strange, grocer of Kettering. This information will help when adding descendants to my family tree.

There was also something in John's will that I hadn't come across before. In it he left money for the maintenance and support of William Strange the son of John's nephew, Thomas Strange, as he judged that William would never be able to support himself because of his affliction. It makes me wonder what ailed William and what happened to him if he survived his parents.

In the document, John Strange also included the various places he had lived. At the time it was written, he lived in Yelvertoft. He had, when he was married, lived in Chatham, Kent and left instructions that his body was to be buried with his wife in Chatham. I'm not sure if that final instruction was carried out as his gravestone sits against the garden wall of Yelvertoft Independent Chapel. 

                                            

Further documents to help prove a family tree

 

                                       Independent church in Yelvertoft, England where Mary Strange lived her last days

The tentative family tree that I found stuffed in the front of the Strange family binder reminded me of another member of the family who I had researched. Mary Strange, Reverend Thomas's daughter, had lived life as one of those wonderful family connections, a spinster. Even more important, she was an educated woman. Somehow the Northampton Record Office had copies of some of the letters she had sent.

I'm not sure how that came about because I noted down the name and address on the envelope of Mary's letter that I transcribed. The addressee was Mr. Norton Townshend, Avon, Ohio, North America, which goes someway to proving one of the people in that tentative family tree. Why a copy of her letter to America was held at a UK record office was open to question but it's a great source. The date of the letter was 1837 and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to find out about this nephew in America at that time. I have done very little US research at this point and none in this area of the country.

I'll have other information to follow up on too as Mary Strange left various bequests in 1842 that I want to know more about. Spinster's wills can be a treasure trove when searching for family connections. Besides, most of the people named in her will were in England, a place where I'm more familiar with the records available.

Sources: 

Northampton Archives, Northampton, UK – personal search for Strange family letters etc

PCC wills pre 1858 – accessed when databases were simpler. Research guides at The National Archives can provide further information this research https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/wills-1384-1858/

Clues in an overlooked family tree?

 

                                                           Tentative family tree received from a fellow researcher

Last weekend's free access to Newspapers.com and MyHeritage's marriages distracted me but I think that's all to the good. It made me jump forward in my preplanning to take a look at the information I've gathered on the Strange family. I'd been able to find out a lot about this family of well educated nonconformists, most particularly about the Reverend Thomas Strange, the first minister of the nonconformist church in Kilsby, Northamptonshire.

When I pulled out the Strange family binder (I haven't gone completely digital yet), I found a bunch of papers stuffed in the front of it. That means I had new discoveries and decided to deal with them later. With them was an envelope from a fellow researcher which I received in '05 or '06 according to the post office cancellation. Sometimes it takes a long time for "later" to get here but the timing is perfect for it to come to light. Back in the day, an Australian cousin sent me her tentative tree of this family's descendants. Once I check out those family lines, I'll be well on my way to expanding this part of my family tree.