Under the Parson's Nose...a Bates Family (Re)Union

One of the many joys of family history is connecting with like-minded people, drawing together strands of the family tree that have not been in contact for years, sometimes for generations. And meeting these people in real life.

Last weekend I brought together three branches of my Bates family tree in Weston Longville, the village in which we can all claim to have strong roots.

Sunday lunch in the Parson Woodforde pub - formerly the Five Ringers and the home in which my grandfather's aunt Emily lived as a young woman - was the perfect way for us all to get to know each other, share our own stories and look through old photographs.

Being Norfolk, there were - of course - many connections between us all, beyond our blood ties! It is, even in the 21st century, a small world.

Saluting the Parson, whose diaries were the catalyst for my genealogy hobby, I led the group across the lane to All Saints churchyard and gave a guided tour of the Bates, Gray and Dunnell gravestones to show how we were all related to each other.

We then headed to the site of Bates Farm - long since gone - and where a couple is building their dream home. As we stood at the gate taking photos, the couple approached and asked what we were doing: very swiftly we were all invited on to their property and given a guided tour. A real highlight for all of us.

Above: the Bates family - and supportive spouses - at All Saints, Weston Longville. The plaque on the church porch is Henry Duning, our ancestor. I wonder what he would of make of it all...

Always keep your eyes open!

I first visited Weston Longville in Norfolk in 1987. I was there again last weekend (for what must be 50th time!) to see the parish so familiar to generations of my ancestors - and enjoy a delicious Sunday lunch at the recently renovated Parson Woodforde pub.

Pootling about the churchyard in the late September sunshine, I spotted a grave bearing the name Mary Dunning (left). Yes, my great x 7 grandmother. She'd been there all the time, obviously, as she died in 1773 . . but despite countless hours looking at each stone over the years, I'd never managed to decipher the name.

She lies right opposite the porch door: her husband, Henry Duning, and son David (along with his young wife, Mary) all died in 1738 and are commemorated on a wall tablet right by the doorway of the porch (right) .The tablet says that Henry lies near that spot - perhaps in the same plot as Mary, his wife who outlived him by 35 years.

Moral of the story? Always keep your eyes open and don't be afraid to search, search and search again even when you think you'll found out everything there is to know!

Finally cracked it?

When I started looking into my family tree in 1986, I didn't even know where my grandfather Bates was born. Today I may have nailed it and found a link on my paternal side right back to the 1550s.

I've yet to check evidence such as Wills, Terriers etc but the Registers of Felthorpe, Swannington and Elsing in Norfolk (at FREEReg and FamilySearch websites) suggest that I can now trace my direct male line back to Thomas Betts and Katherine Candell who married in 1572 (at Elsing).

The line would be:
Thomas Betts & Katherine Candell; Thomas Betts & Cecilie; Thomas Betts & Ann; Joseph Bates & Mary Parker; Joseph Bates & Hannah Miller; John Bates & Mary Dunnell; Thomas Bates & Mary Buck; William Bates & Mary Gray; William Bates & Ann Sayer; John Bates & Mabel Hill - then my grandfather, father and me!

Time to visit Norfolk Records Office methinks!

Genealogy - what a load of pants!

What a load of pants! Well, trousers actually. And probably quite nice ones, for work. Once again, the British Newspaper Archives reveals more than you'd ever find from church or other records. Literally, that my ancestor William Bates (great x2 grandfather) had problems with getting his pants.

On August 18 1866 the Norfolk News carried a headline that read 'Delays are Dangerous'. The story concerned William Bates, a groom at Morton Hall, who in February 1866 placed an order worth £2 2s with local tailor Robert Spooner of neighbouring Great Witchingham. Spooner apparently promised to get Bates his pants made pronto but failed to deliver them until 11 May. Understandably, by then Bates had made other arrangements, and refused to pay Spooner a penny. Not happy, Spooner took the matter to Court in Aylsham but Bates prevailed with support from two witnesses (William Rushbrooke, a fellow servant from Morton Hall) and Frederick Hubbard.

So, Bates got his pants and won the case. Bravo Bates!

Edmund Bambridge - missing man

I recently subscribed to the fantastic online resource that is The British Newspaper Archive. It's very straightforward: search by name, event, date, locality or topic among old newspapers dating back centuries.

Firstly, I searched the Norfolk papers for mentions of my Bates and Dunnell ancestors. Not much there it seems, probably because they were law abiding folk!

Then I searched for Bambridge, one of the unusual names in my tree. And I found a very interesting article from 16 May 1795 edition of The Norfolk Chronicle.

"Absconded from his wife and family, Edmund Bambridge of the Parish of Stody, by trade a Bricklayer, about 45 years of age, five feet six or seven inches high, grey eyes, brown hair, bald upon the forehead, had on when he went away a blue coat and fustian jacket. Whoever will give information about the said E. Bambridge to the Overseers of the said Parish, shall be rewarded for their trouble. N.B. If he shall return he shall be received without punishment. Dated 13 May 1795, Stody"

A shiver went down my spine upon reading this for the first time. Edmund was my direct ancestor and when he went missing his wife would have had 5 or 6 small children at home, the others having already left home and got married.

I checked my family tree and confirmed that Edmund Bambridge was buried in Stody (see church below) in 1815 aged 65 years. So he must have returned at some point to his native village.

Thanks to the British Newspaper Archive I have an intriguing story about a direct ancestor. And I now know what he looked like, what he did for a living and that he suffered from male pattern baldness! It seems he was also loved, or at least that is what I summise from the comment about returning home without punishment.

Bates

Most people know at least one person with my surname - in my life, I've gone to school with, lived next door to and worked with people called Bates. Movie stars and authors boast the name. At least two of my close friends have Bates ancestors (I've done their trees). But none of us is related.

I know this because I have traced my Bates line back nine generations to Joseph Bates who lived in Great Witchingham, Norfolk. To find a possible link to any other living Bates* I have to go back five generations: my great x 3 grandfather William had two older brothers, and the male offspring of the elder brother were producing male Bateses into the 20th century.

Since I started researching my family history way back in 1987, it was clear that Joseph Bates was at the top of the tree - in 24 years I've not been able to establish where he came from. Until today! I need to check the registers as the information has been gleaned from Archdeacons Transcripts (ATs) available free online at FamilySearch.org but the information makes sense...

Tree-topping 'Joseph Beates' married Hannah Miller at a central Norwich church in 1736, both parties noted as 'of Great Witchingham', and their only child John Bates was baptised in Great Witchingham in 1738. Hannah died when her son was very small as Joseph took a second wife, Sarah Fuller, at Great Witchingham in 1739, going on to have eight children with her. Joseph died in 1766, Sarah in 1769.

It appears that the tree-topper was baptised at Felthorpe, Norfolk on 10 January 1707/08, the son of Joseph and Mary Bates. Felthorpe is close to Great Witchingham and the age would fit. Also, John (born 1738) is documented in various sources as owning property and land in Felthorpe, assets that he could have inherited (wills and court rolls need to be checked).

The ATs also reveal that Joseph's father was dead by the time he was born: Joseph Bates was buried on 28 August 1707 - four and a half months before his son's baptism.

Checking FreeREG, there is a possible marriage of Joseph's parents: Joseph Beates married Mary Parker of Swannington in 1705 at Wood Dalling. Both villages are neighbours of both Great Witchingham and Felthorpe. The Parkers of Swannington can be traced back to the 1640s.

So, I now have a different Joseph Bates atop my family tree!

*Strictly, there is one in addition to me and my dad: the unmarried granddaughter of my great grandfather's brother is called Bates and lives in Nova Scotia.

Uncle Albert Edward Bates in India

A splendid and evocative photograph of my great x2 uncle Albert Edward Bates, taken in India in the early 20th century. Possibly the only Bates to wear a pith helmet! A well travelled man, he was born in Norfolk, served in India and The Cape, and then spent many years in Canada where he died.

Missing Thirtle

What is a Thirtle?

A Thirtle is one of, if not the most elusive of ancestors! Over two decades the Thirtle (first name Charlotte) has eluded me, foiling my quest to name all of my great grandmother Mabel's great grandparents' parents (I know, I should get out more).

So, Charlotte Thirtle (or Thurtle) - where are you? This is what I know about her.

Married on 17 October 1819 at Horsford in Norfolk to James Booty, Charlotte Thurtle was about twenty years old. A woman who would appear to be her sister, Susannah, witnessed the wedding along with the groom's brother, Thomas. Susannah had been baptised in Horsford in June 1798, as had her siblings William (bp1791), James (bp1794) and Elizabeth (bp1810) - children of James Thirtle and his wife Ann. No baptism for Charlotte, though.

Late 1821 brought Charlotte's first child, John Booty, and he was baptised privately* on Christmas Day. On 6 January 1823, Susannah Thirtle married Thomas Booty at Horsford - two sisters married to two brothers, all living in the same village. Cosy.

But then just weeks later tragedy struck the Booty family: James, aged just 24 years, died and was buried on 19 February 1823, leaving Charlotte a very young widow with a toddler. Charlotte carried on with life and on 2 August 1824 married her second husband, a man originally from outside the village called John Jarvis. He was from nearby Corpusty and was 21.

Their son, James William Jarvis, was baptised privately on 15 May 1825 - a cousin for Martha Booty (Susannah and Thomas's first daughter).

November 1826 was a momentus month. On 12 November, Susannah and Thomas had their second daughter Charlotte (after her aunt, I believe) privately baptised. The two sisters now had four children between them: Charlotte with two boys and Susannah with two girls. A week later at Horsford, on 19 November 1826, Susannah buried both her husband and her sister.

Thomas Booty had died in Horsford aged 31 years and his sister in law Charlotte Jarvis - who had moved to her husband's village of Corpusty - had died aged just 27 years. Poor Susannah must have been beside herself.

It appears that Charlotte's older son, John Booty, remained in Horsford and lived with his maternal grandparents James Thirtle (died 1832) and Ann (nee Woodcock, died 1843) - he was living with his widowed grandmother for the 1841 census. His half brother James William Jarvis was raised by his father John and stepmother: within three months of Charlotte's death John had foudn a new wife in Maria Wright alias Bird** whom he married at Corpusty on 4 February 1827. James William Jarvis grew up, married and had ten children; he died aged 87 years in March 1912. His father John and stepmother Maria died within days of each other in January 1863.

Widowed Susannah Booty remarried, on 28 December 1828, and by her second husband James Doughty had a son James (who died in infancy) and a daughter Elizabeth before she died, aged 34 years, in May 1833. James Doughty himself died aged 33 years in November 1834.

So the story of Charlotte Thirtle is one of tragically early demises. Having searched the registers of Horsford to no avail, I'll keep checking other parishes in the hope of finding her baptism and the proof that Charlotte was the sister of Susannah, and daughter of James and Ann.


*Private baptisms for the labouring classes occurred when the child was perhaps not expected to survive. The act was undertaken either at the child's home or that of the curate or Minister. The child had then to be received in church at some point - if it survived. If it didn't, it could be buried in consecrated ground.

** Maria Wright was the illegitimate daughter of Margaret Wright, baptised at Briston in 1805 (so aged 22 when she married Jarvis); Margaret married Thomas Bird in Corpusty in 1828 (register reference to 'Maria Wright alias Bird' predates Margaret's and Thomas's wedding).

The Hills are Alive! Well...

I made an old woman jump recently.

Picture the scene. An Archives search room, silent other than for the whirr of micro film readers and the occasional pencil sharpener.

Suddenly, the beardy and slightly youthful (compared to the other researchers, at least) amatuer family tree detective exclaims "YES!" followed by "Found you!". The little old lady fair jumped from her chair. Glares worthy of Paddington Bear over half moon specs ensued, although I'm sure I detected a knowing nod from one old chap who looked as if he was checking for his own baptism record from the mid-18th century.

Fellow geneal-addicts will recognise that this was a Eureka moment for me - I had found a long searched for lost ancestor. I found the lead in a Will and I wholeheartedly recommend researchers to check out Wills for information/confirmation of relationships and social status - even suggestions fo family feuds. Even if your own ancestors didn't write a Will (or have anything to leave!), do check out Wills from people in the same community as they may receive a legacy or be Executor/Executrix to an aunt - or a witness at the signing of a Will. Servants and friends are sometimes named.

Similarly, Terriers can provide great leads on where your ancestors' homes and lands were located.

My whoop of joy was caused by finding the Will of Francis Hill of Itteringham in Norfolk, dated 1689. He mentions his wife Barbary, five sons and several grandchildren. One of the grandsons is Henry Hill, who was at the very top of my family tree for over 20 years. So this single document has taken me back two generations (I think Francis Hill must have been born about 1620), provided a detailed overview of the wider family, where they lived and what they did - and also given me solid leads for tracing other Hill families in central Norfolk.

YES indeed!

Jarvis reunion

On 15th August, over 100 people gathered in Corpusty, Norfolk at a family reunion of the Jarvis family. This year marks the 175th anniversary of the birth of James William Jarvis, who had ten children and was my great x 3 grandfather.

James died in 1912, and my grandfather's cousin Kath told me she remembered him. Not bad - a first hand memory of someone born in the reign on George IV.

I wasn't able to get to Norfolk for the Jarvis reunion, so I printed out a descendant family tree including all the people I have in my database who share James William as an ancestor. The tree covered 37 A3 sheets!

I hear that the reunion - or 'frolick' as such events are called in Norfolk - went very well and that several people brought photos and documents to share. I look forward to seeing those and adding more flesh to the bones of the Jarvis tree.