Tracing Your Ancestors : Personalised Family History Books & Family Trees

John Green, curate of St Lawrence Church, recorded in his memoirs ‘In 1799, Jan 31, a ship was wrecked opposite St Lawrence Church, an outward bound West Indiaman called the Three Sisters……..It was the most severe weather anyone could ever remember. It was a very thick driving snow, which clogged up the rigging, and the sails being frozen together the crew could not work them, or the rudder, so that the ship drifted before the wind, from the southeast, till she struck rocks a little to the westward of the fort at St Lawrence, under the high cliffs called Woody’.
1

Your own personalized book of descendants of one of your ancestors or of an individual designated by you - with sections presented on a ‘per generation’ basis.

A perfect gift for partners, relatives, friends and colleagues. Brings their family history to life through the use of documents and photographs, and will provide them with a treasured keepsake that can be passed on to future generations.

They will learn not only about the descendants of one their direct ancestors, but also about where they came from and their occupations. They may also discover relatives they never knew they had!

Ideal collective gift for 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th birthdays, anniversaries, retirement.

Information such as actual dates of baptisms, marriages and deaths that took place before civil records began can often be obtained from parish records. We conduct searches of records at local record offices and make use of other sources where available.

We aim to locate and provide interesting facts about ancestors' home towns or villages as well as workplaces, if available.

We seek out other records/sources that may be available beyond census and parish records

Thomas Hunt was born c1739 in the parish of Godshill on the Isle of Wight, likely son of Thomas Hunt, baptised 28 Aug 1718 in Godshill, son of David Hunt. Thomas Sr married Jane Harber on 4 Oct 1738 in Godshill. That Thomas was the likely son of Thomas and Jane is supported by the fact that the christening of a Jane Hunt, daughter of Thomas and Jane, was recorded in 1747 in St Lawrence, where Thomas Jr later married and where all his children were born.

The Isle of Wight, situated off the south coast of England, is an island steeped in history. It was known by its invaders, the Romans, as Vecta or Vectis and the Saxons as With, Whit or Wight from whence it was named.

After the Norman Conquest, a ‘Lord of the Isle of Wight’ was created and Carisbrooke Castle was built. Henry VIII fortified parts of the island and the castle using stone from dissolved monasteries. Sir Richard Worsley, then captain of the Isle of Wight, countered the last of the French attacks in 1545. His descendants were owners of the St Lawrence estate (later known as the Pelham estate) in the village of St Lawrence, situated on the southern tip of the island.

An area much favoured by Queen Victoria, she had a summer home built on the island, Osbourne House, where she died in 1901. The Isle of Wight subsequently became a holiday resort for Victorians and European royalty.

Noted events in his life were:-
Robert Joblin was a sailor involved in transporting goods along the coast. Five years after Ruth’s death, Robert was murdered at sea by French pirates.

John Green, former curate of St Lawrence, recorded in his memoirs:
‘In 1807, August 29th, two men and a small lad were in a vessel in the Channel homeward bound to this coast when a privateer lugger chased and came up with them and cowardly fired a volley of musket shot at the man at the helm (Robert Joblin). Two shots passed through his neck and he died soon after. They boarded the vessel and took away all that was of any value to them and carried the other man (the captain) on board the lugger leaving the poor boy (John Beavis) now of Ventnor, then about 12 years of age, to manage the vessel and assist the dying man. After they had used the captain in this cowardly and shameful manner, they shoved him into his boat, without any oars to get on board his vessel how he could which was a very great difficulty in a rough sea. The poor boy was not able to manage the vessel being so much alarmed at the situation he was left in. But by God’s help the captain (William Harvey now living at Whitwell) got to the vessel a little before the dying man who wished to be taken below to his birth to die, expired. When they arrived we saw the vessel passing by with a signal of distress, and seeing only one man and a boy on deck we thought the other had been pressed*. He was put on shore at Shanklin Cove and brought to St Lawrence to be buried. His name was Robert Joblin’.

* Refers to ‘press-ganging’ where sailors were seized on the streets and from their boats and forced to serve with the Royal Navy. Press ganging was common place in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

Thomas Hunt (Thomas1) was born c1770 in St Lawrence and died in 1854 in Ventnor, aged c 84.
Noted events in his life were:-

He appeared on the census in 1851 in Ventnor, Newchurch, Isle of Wight.
Thomas Hunt, head, widowed, 80, born St Lawrence, Isle of Wight
George Hunt, son, 40, born Steephill, Isle of Wight
Elizabeth, wife, 41, born Leek Brading, Isle of Wight
Emily, daughter, 15, born Leek Brading,
Georgiana, daughter, 6, born Ventnor
George Thomas, son, 4, born Ventnor
Alfred J, son, 1, born Ventnor.

Thomas married Hannah Dyer (nee Tutchell), widow of St Lawrence dweller, Richard Dyer, on
17 Jan 1806 in St Lawrence. Hannah was christened on 25 Dec 1766 in Niton, Isle of Wight.
3

Charles Hunt (William², Thomas1) was christened on 15 Oct 1810 in Godshill and died 1st qrtr 1898 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, mainland England.

Noted events in his life were:-
Charles was born at Steephill Farm, in the parish of Godshill and grew up in neighbouring St Lawrence where his father, William was born. It was here that he met his future wife, Sarah Thomas, daughter of St Lawrence coastguard and chief boatman, James Thomas and his wife Sarah nee Croscombe. Sarah was born in Swansea, Wales and christened in Northam, Devon - close to Bideford, the birthplace of her grandfather, merchant navy captain, George Croscombe. The Thomas family settled in St Lawrence circa 1826 when James was transferred from Clovelly, Devon, before moving along the coast to Atherfield Preventive Station. On 24 October, 1832, James received a silver medal for his part in risking his life to rescue passengers from the stricken brig, Bainbridge, that foundered on rocks off Atherfield.

Entry : THOMAS, James, HM Coastguard, Atherfield SILVER 24th October, 1832
Just before daybreak, in a violent gale with severely surging seas, the 430 ton ship, Bainbridge, was driven onto rocks a quarter of a mile off Atherfield, Isle of Wight..With the immense waves breaking in quick succession, any thought of boat rescue was out, and four attempts by the Manby apparatus failed. The Dennet's rocket apparatus was set up and succeeded first time in getting a line on board: this was used to transfer a rope from shore. Boatmen Thomas and Stubbs volunteered to man the Coastguard boat which was hauled to the wreck and used to bring the Master, passengers and crew - 19 in all - to shore.
Source: "Lifeboat Gallantry - RNLI medals and how they were won", page 37.

The Shipwreck Index of the British Isles, published by Lloyds Registers, also carried a report on the wreck and made reference to how the Bainbridge-
`drove ashore in a gale and commenced to break up... Dennet's rocket put a line across the wreck at the first attempt, by which means the coastguard galley was pulled out through the surf with two officers on board. By this means all 19 crew were saved in two trips, the two men who had risked their lives receiving Silver Medals from the RNLI formed only 8 years earlier'.

In the mid 1830s, James was transferred to London and it probably this transfer that influenced Charles Hunt and his new wife, Sarah, whom he married in 1835, to move to London as well. This decision was probably also influenced by the lack of employment opportunities in a village as small as St Lawrence. Charles and Sarah would have found life in London's East End very different to the tranquil beauty and wide open spaces of southern Isle of Wight. It is perhaps for this reason as well as experience gained in st Lawrence, that Charles worked initially as a gardener. It is possible that he was involved in the establishment of Victoria Park in Bethnal Green in 1842 as he was later shown as Superintendant of Victoria Park Cemetery which opened as part of the park in 1845. (1851 census)

Use of civil records can confirm dates of births, marriages and deaths.

Other records on your ancestors may be available, for example, if they served as naval and merchant mariners or coastguards. The National Archives at Kew holds many service and pension records for those who served which may include information on medals awarded.

At a time when London and its economy were rapidly expanding, It is not uncommon to find that ancestors moved from rural areas of the UK to London in search of work or were transferred there by their company. This was quite often for a specific period of time only, perhaps spanning a few generations, with people relocating to smaller towns or cities depending on their work skills/the company for which they worked. It explains why many of our ancestors were born in London but not their ancestors before them or a number of descendants who followed them.

`Though the grounds are new and not all laid out, it is a beautiful park..There are minature lakes in it full of swans and aquatic birds. A beautiful island is formed by one of them, and upon it there is a fairy-like structure of Chinese architecture which is, in the proper season, almost buried among a profusion of flowers and shrubs and plants. The open fields are kept beautifully green and the walks well gravelled. It is one of the healthiest spoil within ten or fifteen miles of London, in any direction'
Extract from `London by Day and Night', 1852, David W Bartlett