12 March 2009

Popping out . . .

OK, excitement over and it's time to catch up again. A quick zip through some birthdays . . . Marey Wright, born 7th March 1698 in Stretham, daughter of Thomas & Rebecka (nee Langford); Mary Wright, 8th March 1736 in Stretham, to Samuel & Margery; Sarah Wolf, 9th March 1838 in Girton, of Thomas Wolf & Elizabeth (nee Flavel) who went on to have a son, Thomas Henry, in 1857. Don't know a lot about any of these, as you can probably tell!

Also on the 9th was born Herbert Staden, in Cambridge. Technically, according to his birth certificate, he was registered as Herbert Derby, with a middle name of Staden. We know that his mother was Catherine Derby and 18 months after Herbert's birth she married Alfred Staden; I would suggest, members of the jury, that his father was definitely a Staden but it's unusual, in my limited experience, for a couple to marry quite so long after the birth of their child. But . . . . I could be wrong! In both the 1901 and 1911 census returns, he appears to be living (well, certainly staying) with his Derby grandparents (Edward & Catherine) - which makes me wonder which Staden brother was his father!

Whatever, he married Violet Stinton in November 1914, served in the Great War, worked afterwards as a tailor in Cambridge and lived until 1972. I met his daughter and she also suggested that her father served in the Boer War but I have no other evidence of that.

And then there's Emma Sparkes, born 7th March 1841 in Tuddenham. She was the daughter of John Sparkes & Mary (nee Freeman) and like so many of my ancestors, she ended up in service - by 1861, she's in Fornham St Marin, in Suffolk, working as a kitchen girl at the Parsonage.

Finally, for the moment, meet my great-great-grandmother Mary Wiltshire; she was born on 7th March 1811 in Ramsey, Huntingdonshire, daughter of John & Jane. She married George Carter circa 1833, most likely in March (the town, that is, not the month, although I can't rule it out), and they went on to have nine children. I can place her in all the censuses until 1881 where her occupation is listed as "farmer's widow".

That'll do for now, methinks. I've got three weddings to research for the next blog entry . . . .

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