Family History Revisited Part 4 - Visits to Sheffield, Rotherham and Lincoln

 

Visits to Sheffield

My first visit to Sheffield was on the 29th of December 1999, now described in Part 1. 

However, my main visit to Sheffield, described in my post of 22nd June 2009 (nearly ten years later), was extremely valuable. Particularly for finding the burial of all those ancestors in the Roberts tomb in that prominent position outside the Church of All Saints, Ecclesall, as the photo above.

Visit to Rotherham

In my post of 22nd June 2022, I described Rotherham Parish Church where my father and mother were married and where I was baptised. The font is still there. I also saw the house where my grandmother lived and the Herringthorpe Playing Fields where we used to play as boys.

Visit to Lincolnshire

On the 4th September 2017, I set out to explore where my mother's Askew ancestors lived. My post of 11th September 2017 described visiting the fens, Toynton St Peter and Toynton All Saints. See Part 3 for the Ascough Burial Records. Then the next day in Lincoln itself, and the searches at the city library.

Family History Revisited Part 3 - Publication of Records

 

Family Historian

My post of 15th October 2008 has the title "Family Historian 3.1.2". This is the programme I used to enter all the data of my family records. There are also references on my posts of  15th October 2008, 1st December 2008, 29th December 2008, 21st October 2009, 26th September 2011 and 16th November 2012. 

Freepages

I then found that I could transfer all my data to the web using Family Historian. The link to my father's family "The Ancestors of Peter Roberts" is:

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~davidbbroberts/family

Ignore the link to "sites.google.com" and click on Index.

Then to my mother's family:

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~davidbbroberts/genealogy

Again, ignore the link to "sites.google.com" and click on Index.

There may be some problems finding the above link on the internet. However, a search for Hannah Elizabeth Boler normally brings up her parents' "Family of Samuel Leather and Mary Ann Lindop". Again, click on Index and all my mother's ancestors should be there.

Family Tree Print

Some time ago I took a CD of the Roberts family tree to be printed. This is now an enormous sheet of paper that was in a roll and is now folded into a manageable size. 

SanDisk Memory Stick

The following documents are on the blue memory stick. 

Askew Word Documents

Family History

Family Photos

George Askew 

George Robert Leather

Helen Shearwood

Mum and Dad

Roberts Family History

The Story of the Ascoughs

These used to be on my old computer that I then transferred to an external hard drive. The information they contain is pretty much all over the place, but there are some important files that were the basis of many of my blog posts. For example, in the first file below (Askew Word Documents), there is a file with the title "Ascough Burials at Toynton St Peter and Toynton All Saints". On my visit to these villages in Lincolnshire, I discovered the church records of our Askew ancestors.

ASCOUGH BURIALS AT TOYNTON ST PETER AND TOYNTON ALL SAINT

John Ayscough (1758-1844)       Buried at Toynton All Saints 1844 (Age 85)

Son of Thomas Ascough born approx 1735

 John Ayscough (1781-1846)       Buried at Toynton All Saints 1846 (Age 64)

Son of John Ayscough above

 James Ascough (1806-1878)      Buried at Toynton St Peter 1878 (Age 69)

Son of John Ayscough above, father of George Askew

 William Ascough (1808-1880)     Buried at Toynton All Saints 1880 (Age 72)

Son of John Ayscough born 1781 and brother of James

 Lucy Ascough (1815-1854)         Buried at Toynton St Peter 1854 (Age 39)

Possibly wife of James Ascough and mother of George Askew, born Sharpe

 Elizabeth Askew (1761-1826)       Buried at Toynton All Saints 1826 (Age 65)

Possibly daughter of Thomas if unmarried, or wife of an Ascough male

John Askew (1834-1895)              Buried at Toynton St Peter 1895 (Age 61)

Unknown relation

 Samuel Ascough (1848-1848)      Buried at Toynton St Peter 1848 (Infant)

Possibly brother of George and son of James

 Thomas Askew (1859-1864)         Buried at Toynton All Saints 1864 (Age 5?)

Possibly brother of George

 

Family History Revisited Part 2 - The Early Searches

 

The Family Record Centre

I first visited the Family Record Centre in Islington in early 2000. Situated in Taylor House, 1 Myddelton Street, Clerkenwell, it opened in 1997 and provided a vast amount of free information well before it all became available on the internet. Long rows of tall shelves housed huge volumes that one could study to record births, marriages, and deaths. It was then possible to take your results to the desk and order certificates. Over the next few years I found records for seventeen of my father's family and nineteen of my mother's, starting in February of 2000. 

George and Jane Askew

The 1841 to 1901 census returns were also available at the Family Record Centre on microfiche. My post of 11th January 2011 details one of my big breakthroughs when, on 5th July 2000, I found the 1891 census records for George and Jane Askew, my mother's grandparents. These included records for their children, my mother's aunts of whom there was never any mention. These were "The Five Eldest Askew Sisters" in that post of 11th January 2011. See also my post of 7th January 2011. 

The Family Record Centre was closed in 2008, and the huge volumes are no longer accessible. 

Correspondents

I have two lever-arch files of correspondence. In no particular order they include Chris Rathbone, Nigel Buchanan, Liz Smith, Patricia Anning, Dawn Crofts, Kath Swarbrick, John Thomson, Gillian Leather, and Sally Stamford. Also, Ruth at Lincolnshire Family History Society. In addition, there is a lengthy letter from W G Hunt, the Windsor Herald of Arms. 

Then the relatives of my family: Peter Clifford, Aunt Molly, Aunt Joy, Aunt Iris, and cousins Caroline and Stephen. 

Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths

I conducted searches at various locations such as the Family Record Centre, Aylesbury Library, and finally online.

Census Records

The following census records have proved invaluable: 1841, 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1901. I started off with those records on microfiche at the Family Record Centre, then those at the Aylesbury Library, and finally online. 

Ancestry and the International Genealogical Index

Both Ancestry and the IGI have been of little use in my searches. 

Search Notes

My notes and records are pretty much haphazard but are all in my files. 

Family History Revisited Part 1 - How It All Began

 

I haven't recently thought about my family history until now, when I realised that there were things I had done and not recorded before I started this blog. So, what I want to do now is to summarise the highlights of my searches in chronological order. There will be little about the family members themselves and more about the process of their discovery. 

First Thoughts

First of all, I found it difficult to remember how this all started. What I do know is that I had certain documents about my father's ancestors, so it was this side of the family upon which I first concentrated. I also found this post on my blog dated 2nd February 2007, only eight weeks after my very first post.

Mum and Dad

In April 1999, I was sorting through papers from files left by my stepmother, Margaret. It was then that I started thinking more about Mum and Dad and their life together. How they came from very different backgrounds and became the first generation from both families to move away from Yorkshire. I have already made a few notes from talking to various aunts, but there is a lot stored in the memory banks that I need to set down. I then thought I would like to know more about their ancestors.

Family History

So in the September of 1999, I found an evening class in genealogy. This gave some good advice on tracing family history. I spent the next two years doing all the basic research, meeting relatives etc and I came to the point when it would mean a lot of travel to local archives throughout the country and time on the computer to write up my findings. I decided to put everything on hold until I retired. When my new computer arrives, I want to purchase "Family Historian 3" which seems to be the best bit of software recording details of all my ancestors and creating charts.

Genealogy of the Family of Roberts of Sheffield 1937

I was already in possession of some important documents that set me on my way. The first is the "Genealogy of the Family of Roberts of Sheffield 1937" (see photo at the top), recorded in my post on December 1st 2008: "The 1937 Family Tree". It was one of a few drafted by Charles Augustus Roberts, and this version ended up with my great-grandfather Vincent Littlewood Roberts. This was for him to enter his descendants in the blank spaces under his name. But this never happened.

I believe this document came into the possession of my grandmother and then on to my father. It provided extremely useful information for the start of my searches, although not always completely accurate. 

My Evening Class

Dragging down all my files from the loft (four lever arch files and some loose paperwork) what I didn't expect to find were my notes from that very first meeting of the family history evening class of 23rd September 1999.

If I remember correctly, one of the documents we were given at the first meeting was a birth brief for recording family information. Below is an extract from mine. 

Some Memorials of the Family of Roberts

There are five editions of the book "Some Memorials of the Family of Roberts of Queens Tower, Sheffield". The first published by Sir Samuel Roberts of Queens Tower, Sheffield is dated 1862. On the distribution was my great grandfather Vincent Littlewood Roberts. It came into my possession through my grandfather and father. It was a loose leaf copy that I had made into a book. It contains various handwritten amendments made by Vincent.  

I also found a copy of the the third edition dated 1924 that also came into the possession of my father. It confirms the second edition was published by Samuel Roberts of Park Grange in May 1887, and then this third edition by Samuel Roberts of Eaton Place, London. 

I then met his descendent Sir Samuel Roberts just before Christmas 1999 at the London office of Henry Boot on Conduit Street. He gave me a copy of the latest book published by his father Peter Roberts in August 1971.

Like the earlier edition, the book contains a family tree. It includes one Jacob Roberts (from whom I am descended), the elder brother of Samuel Roberts, who is the ancestor of Sir Samuel Roberts above. 

In the "Introduction Extended", Peter Roberts says, "In 1970 a special study of the area of Holmfirth was carried out." This led to discovering more ancestors, including one Oliver Roberts, born 1496? as the document below. 

Finally, I found that the present Sir Samuel Roberts updated the Memorials book with his large volume, "Follow the Master". I found a copy that contains only a couple of pages relating to our side of the family.

The Seventeen Generations of the Roberts Family

I did in fact list all Roberts descendents in my post of 6th March 2023. If we now add my brother Paul's grandson, this makes eighteen. 

Therefore, all the research had been done for everything before our common ancestor Jacob Roberts born 1697. My post of 6th March 2023 details all the male descendents from Jacob Roberts below.

Sheffield Family History Society

I became a member of the Sheffield Family History Society in the spring of 1999. Their journals and publications provided useful information. Their publications included that vital Sheffield Burials Index and the link to the Church of All Saints, Ecclesall, which I visited on 15th June 2009. See post 22nd June 2009.

Visit to Sheffield 29th December 1999

This visit should not be confused with that later visit in 2009, as noted above. My notes from that first visit are as follows: 

Below is the Roberts Memorial in Dore Churchyard. The inscriptions are for David Littlewood Boyd Roberts, an uncle who died in infancy; my grandfather, Stanley Boyd Roberts; and my grandmother, Edith Haywood Roberts. See notes above.

As this takes us to the end of 1999, it feels the right way to end Part 1. I have not yet started my searches for records of my family, but this comes next at the Family Record Centre in Islington. 

Project Hail Mary, How To Make a Killing and Ready Or Not

It's the Easter holidays, and the films are fun if not inspiring. First up and it's a Ryan Gosling vehicle Project Hail Mary  together with an alien sparring about how to go about preventing the end of the world. Best of all is Sandra Hüller, who has impressed me before. Anatomy of a Fall, I'm Your Man and Zone of Interest. Her kaioki is wonderful. The special effects are top drawer, and a big hand of applause for the model makers for Rocky. (Not to be confused with the boxer or the character from Chicken Run). 

Even the story and dialogue are well written by Drew Goddard based on the book by Andy Weir. It's just the part in the middle that became a little tiresome. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have fortunately made a light-hearted story about a very dark subject. The soundtrack is excellent, with songs from Harry Styles (Sign of the Times), Ella Fitzgerald, The Beatles, Neil Diamond and, wow, The Scorpions' Wind of Change. I agreed with Henry K. Miller in Sight and Sound Magazine, who said the film was hard to follow at times, but it was good.

How To Make A Killing is actually a remake of the Ealing Comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (see my post of 11th November 2024) produced by Michael Balcon in 1949. It seemed that the new film tried to distance itself as much as possible from the original, which I found to be right. It still starts with the villain in prison and a countdown to his execution. He relates his story to a priest. It's all quite jolly, except perhaps for Margaret Qualley, who is pestering him about those early murders. Why does he then not just stop? This is not Margaret's best performance, but that may be the script. 

So it's all very colourful (the opposite of Kind Hearts' black and white) and surprisingly inoffensive. The very last scene was also very clever and reminded me of the original American version that changed the Ealing ending. In those days America was not allowed to see murderers profit from their crimes. In the April edition of Sight and Sound magazine, Sophia Satchell-Baeza says it "rarely manges to raise a pulse" and "fun but instantly forgettable". What did she expect?

More "fun but instantly forgettable" is a better summary for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come. I have to say that the producers certainly hit on ways to make this sequel different from the original. Firstly the introduction of bickering sisters, which was central to the movie, was just genius. Then multiple families, not just one. The second half was a bit too predictable, but there were enough funny bits to keep us amused. Samara Weaving is fine in repeating her character from the first movie, and Kathryn Newton plays her sister perfectly well. Add in Elijah Wood, Sarah Michelle Geller and a tiny role for David Cronenberg. 

There were enough good songs to keep me interested, such as 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?', 'These Boots Were Made For Walking', 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' and, would you believe, two renderings of Vivaldi's Gloria in excelsis. I'm still laughing at that. It was the review by Mark Kermode that finally persuaded me to go all the way to Hemel Hempstead, and I'm glad I did. Just.

Garden at the end of March

 

It's the last week in March, and the tulips are just coming into flower. Last year I failed to find out what was this combination of yellow, orange and red. But they look great.

And I love the white narcissi below. 

The wallflowers I planted in pots in the autumn last year have been a disappointment. Until now when they seem to like the better weather.

There are a few primroses in the garden, and this is one of the best.

Not sure what these are, but they are quite pretty.

And a picture of the front border. The white magnolia on the far left is at its best, and the tall shrub is the Photinia red robin that I also have seen in lots of gardens over the last couple of weeks.

On the 30th of March, the weather was just right for cutting the edges of the lawn. It always looks far neater, and even the borders look better.

The Lawn Treatment in March

The photo above shows how the lawn looked on the 4th March after the moss killer had taken effect. 

This week, after the lawns were cut, it was time for the trusty power lawn rake. It comes out of its box once a year and still does the job of removing the moss. I had help this year to collect the moss into piles and take it to the green bin. (See previous photos on this blog). Afterwards, the lawn always looks a little bare in patches.

Next up was the spreading of the lawn food: the ProKleen Grass Green granules that have a slow-release formula. Now all I have to do is sit and wait for things to happen.