My lucky day!

I realize that I have not posted here for years, but today was a big day in my family history and I have to share it.  Last year I did an ancestryDNA test and learned that I have 20% Irish ethnicity.  I had not yet found any Irish ancestors, so was very intrigued by that.

This weekend I am teaching two classes at our local family history fair.  One is on the census and one is on the partner sites that work with familysearch.org.  I have spent about 20 hours preparing the census class.  Most of that time was finding examples from my family and friends' families to use as examples in my class.  Teaching a class requires sacrifice and that sacrifice does not go unrewarded.  I always find new things on my own family as I "practice what I preach" and test out the things that I am going to teach on my own family lines.  Most of those 20 hours were spent following leads to new avenues of research while I was gathering examples and making screenshots for the presentation.  Then I would remember that I was supposed to be preparing the class and not researching my own family and get back on track.

I had not done much preparation for the familysearch.org partners class until last night.  I spent quite a bit of time looking for good examples of things that you can find on the ancestry.com, findmypast, and MyHeritage websites.  I was not feeling too excited about any of my examples, though, so today during my lunch break, I continued the search for the perfect example to teach about the resources available on findmypast.  I know that they have a lot of great British records so I decided I should try one of my English ancestors to be the focus of the search.  I randomly chose William Eagers born 1811 in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England, son of Joshua Eagers (my fourth great grandfather).  I don't know who Joshua Eagers' parents are, but that was not really the purpose of my search.  I was just trying to find an example that I could show of an English record on findmypast.

I opened familysearch.org to William's person page and clicked on the link to the right for findmypast.

The first result on the search list was for his christening record.  I already knew his christening date from indexed records, but I was looking for an example, not doing research.

I clicked on the little camera icon to see the original record.  And gasped!  In the christening record of Joshua's son, Joshua was named AND Joshua's father, William Eagers, weaver from Meath, Ireland!  Bless you findmypast and Melton Mowbray parish clerk of 1811 who listed grandparents in the christening record!

I'm doing the genealogy happy jig!

Joshua Stafford--Family History is Never All Done, Part 6

I put the following wish list on my facebook wall on December 1, 2011.  

Dear Santa,
For Christmas this year I would like a photograph of my great great grandfather Joshua Stafford, to figure out who the parents of Richard Snow who lived in Woburn in the 1640s are, to find the maiden name of his wife Avis, and to find the parents of William King who died in 1870 in Solsberry Indiana. If this is too much for the elves, any one of these gifts would be fine. Thanks Santa!
Love,
Linda

On Christmas day, Mom and Dad came to lunch at my house.  They told me that they had recently been going through some old photos that were in the basement and discovered a photo of Joshua Stafford.  Neither of them had read my facebook wish, but still got me the Christmas present I wanted.

Writing on back of photo says "Annie Condie's Father & Wife in Aug at Kent Jan 1913."  This must be Joshua Stafford and his second wife, Elizabeth Spencer.  Joshua died in September 1913.

Writing on back of photo says "Annie Condie's Brother Wife & Friend at Kent."  This could be John Henry Stafford (b. 1869) and his wife Catherine Judge.  They were living in Leeds in 1911.  Or it could be Thomas Stafford (b. 1876) and his wife Sarah Broadley.  I haven't found them in the 1911 census and there is a Thomas of the right age who died in 1910, so he may have died.

Joshua Stafford--Family History is Never All Done, Part 5

I decided to take a British family history class at BYU in 2011.  One of the first things that I did was to find Joshua Stafford's family in the newly released 1911 census.  That census has a column where it asks how many children the family has had born and how many are now living.  Joshua marked that they had 16 children born to them, 9 were now living and 7 had died.

  

1911 Census with Joshua Stafford's signature

 

I couldn't identify all of those children.  For my class project, I worked to find the many children that had died young.  I used a combination of the birth and death records from freebmd.org.uk and from the Leeds BMD website to determine children who had died between censuses.  Then I looked up each of those deaths in the cemetery registers.  I was able to discover several more children for Joshua and his second wife.  I determined that the 16 children were Joshua's 16 children from his two wives, the numbers of living and deceased matched up that way.  The report below is one I wrote for the class.

The Descendants of

Joshua Stafford (1848-1913)

1.        JOSHUA STAFFORD, son of John Stafford and Ann Eagers, was born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England on 9 February 1848[1] and died in Leeds, Yorkshire, England on 10 September 1913[2]  and was buried in the Harehills Cemetery in Leeds on 13 September 1913.[3]  He married (1) at the parish church of St. Thomas in Brampton, Derbyshire, England, 21 April 1867,[4] ELIZA DENNIS, who was born in Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire, England 3 March 1850[5] and died in Leeds, Yorkshire, England on 8 February 1881[6] and was buried in the Beckett Street Cemetery in Leeds,[7] daughter of Robert Dennis and Matilda Freeman.[8]  In the parish church of St. Saviour’s in Leeds, Yorkshire, England on 22 March 1902, Joshua married (2) ELIZABETH SPENCER, who was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England about 1853-4, daughter of Robert Spencer.[9]  She died 5 February 1919 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England[10] and was buried in the Harehills Cemetery in Leeds.[11]

Joshua Stafford worked as a pot turner in Derbyshire.  Sometime between May 1872 and December 1873, Joshua and his family moved to Leeds, Yorkshire, England.  They lived at 19 Accomodation Square and then at 20 Accomodation Square.   Around 1883, after the death of his first wife, Joshua Stafford fathered children by Elizabeth Spencer, who was then married to George Wray.  Between 1885 and 1887 the family moved to 7 Kippax Mount in Leeds.  Elizabeth Wray and her children by George Wray and by Joshua lived there, too.  Joshua’s occupation is given as mechanic, steam engine maker, and borer in the censuses.

Children of Joshua Stafford and his first wife, Eliza Dennis:

i.                  ANN STAFFORD, b. in Walton, Derbyshire, England 27 April 1867;[12] d. 4 May 1948 in St. George, Washington, Utah;[13] m. (1) 24 February 1885 in St. George, Washington, Utah, ERASTUS BEAMAN SNOW,[14] m. (2)  in St. George, Washington, Utah, 29 Oct 1906, GEORGE CONDIE.[15]

ii.                MATILDA STAFFORD, b. in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, 3 May 1868;[16] d. in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, 4 August 1868.[17]

iii.              JOHN HENRY STAFFORD, b. in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, 27 June 1869;[18] d. 1917[19] and was bur. in the Harehills Cemetery, Leeds, Yorkshire, England;[20] m. in the parish of ChristChurch in Leeds, Yorkshire, England 23 September 1893, CATHERINE JUDGE.[21]

iv.              WILLIAM STAFFORD, b. in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, 18 August 1870;[22] m. in the parish church of Leeds in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 8 March 1890, LILY BARKER.[23]

v.                STAFFORD [unnamed daughter], b. in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, 1 May 1872.[24]

vi.              SARAH ANN STAFFORD, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 12 December 1873;[25] m. in St. Agnes parish church in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 30 November 1891, ARTHUR DENNIS.[26]

vii.            THOMAS STAFFORD, b in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 9 June 1876;[27] m. in St. Edmund’s parish church in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 24 June 1899, SARAH BROADLEY.[28]

viii.           FRED STAFFORD, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 2 June 1878;[29] d. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 20 May 1881[30] and is bur. in the Beckett Street Cemetery in Leeds.[31]

ix.              STAFFORD [unnamed male child], b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 7 February 1881; d. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 7 February 1881[32] and is bur. in the Beckett Street Cemetery in Leeds.[33]

Children of Joshua Stafford and his second wife, Elizabeth Spencer:

i.                  JOSHUA STAFFORD WRAY, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 27 January 1884;[34] d. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, in 1884[35] and is bur. in the Beckett Street Cemetery in Leeds.[36]

ii.                ELIZA STAFFORD WRAY, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 19 January 1885;[37] m. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in 1910, EDGAR HAYNES.[38]

iii.              ELIZABETH STAFFORD WRAY, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 9 September 1887;[39] d. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, September 1887[40] and bur. in the Beckett Street Cemetery in Leeds.[41]

iv.               ROBERT STAFFORD WRAY, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 6 December 1889;[42] bur. 19 August 1914 in Harehills Cemetery, Leeds, Yorkshire, England.[43]

v.                 ESTHER STAFFORD WRAY, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 19 April 1892;[44] d. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in 1892[45] and bur. 27 November 1892 in the Beckett Street Cemetery.[46]

vi.               JOSHUA STAFFORD WRAY, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 12 June 1894;[47] bur 28 January 1946 in Harehills Cemetery, Leeds, Yorkshire, England.[48]

vii.             FREDERICK STAFFORD WRAY, b. in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 6 October 1896.[49]

---

[1] FreeBMD Index: 1837-1983, Births March 1848, Melton Mowbray district, volume 15, page 196.

[2] England Civil Registration Certificate, Deaths Sept 1913, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 364.

[3] Leeds Harehills Cemetery Registers, 1908-1987, FHL Film #2214965.

[4] England Civil Registration Certificate, Marriages June 1867, Chesterfield district, volume 7b, page 843.

[5] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births June 1850, Southwell district, volume 15, page 721.

[6] England Civil Registration Certificate, Deaths March 1881, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 309.

[7] Leeds Beckett Street Cemetery Registers, FHL Film #2232048.

[8] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births June 1850, Southwell district, volume 15, page 721.

[9] England Civil Registration Certificate, Marriages March 1902, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 711.

[10] England Civil Registration Certificate, Deaths March 1919, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 635.

[11] Leeds Harehills Cemetery Registers, 1908-1987, FHL Film #2214965.

[12] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births June 1867, Chesterfield district, volume 7b, page 554.

[13] Utah Death Certificate.

[14] BYU Idaho Western States Marriage Index.

[15] LDS Temple Index Bureau Card.

[16] Free BMD Index, 1837-1983, Births June 1868, Chesterfield district, volume 7b, page 545.

[17] England Civil Registration Certificate, Deaths Sept 1868, Chesterfield district, volume 7b, page 403.

[18] Free BMD Index, 1837 – 1983, Births Sept 1869, Chesterfield district, volume 7b, page 525.

[19] Free BMD Index, 1837 – 1983, Deaths Sept 1917, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 469.

[20] Leeds & District Burials, FHL CD #4874.

[21] England Civil Registration Certificate, Marriage Sept 1893, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 720.

[22] Free BMD Index, 1837 – 1983, Births Sept 1870, Chesterfield district, volume 7b, page 541.

[23] England Civil Registration Certificate, Marriage March 1890, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 485.

[24] England Civil Registration Certificate, Birth June 1872, Chesterfield district, volume 7b, page 578.

[25] Free BMD Index, 1837 – 1983, Births December 1873, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 491.

[26] England Civil Registration Certificate, Marriages October 1891, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 629.

[27] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births Sept 1876, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 475.

[28] England Civil Registration Certificate, Marriages June 1899, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 872.

[29] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births September 1878, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 500.

[30] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births June 1881, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 274.

[31] Leeds Beckett Street Cemetery Registers, FHL #2232047.

[32] England Civil Registration Certificate, Deaths January 1881, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 309.

[33] Leeds Beckett Street Cemetery Registers, FHL Film #2232048.

[34] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births March 1884, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 457.

[35] Free BMD Index, 1837 – 1983, Deaths June 1884, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 289.

[36] Leeds & District Burials, FHL CD #4874.

[37] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births March 1885, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 470.

[38] Free BMD Index, 1837 – 1983, Marriages Dec 1910, Leeds, volume 9b, page 866.

[39] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births December 1887, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 384.

[40] Free BMD Index, 1837- 1983, Deaths September 1887, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 282.

[41] Leeds Beckett Street Cemetery Registers, FHL Film #2214651.

[42] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births March 1890, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 405.

[43] Leeds & District Burials, FHL CD #4874.

[44] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births June 1892, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 439.

[45] Free BMD Index, 1837-1983, Deaths December 1892, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 267.

[46] Leeds Beckett Street Cemetery, FHL Film #2232048.

[47] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births September 1894, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 401.

[48] Leeds & District Burials, FHL CD #4874.

[49] England Civil Registration Certificate, Births December 1896, Leeds district, volume 9b, page 418.