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Powditch eNewsletter
April-May 2006 Issue No. 33-34
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You are here: home > News > Powditch eNewsletter - April-May 2006 Issue No. 33-34
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Topics this issue include;
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| 1. Apologies By now I expect that you've been wondering where I've been for at least the past month, especially
as your copy of the April Powditch eNewsletter failed to materialise when it was due!
I do apologise for its delay, but as a sort of 'bonus', I am making this eNewsletter a double-month
(although it might not be the length of a 2-month issue).
Although over the past couple of months I have achieved much on the Powditch front, both through
new information, new contacts (see the 'Welcome' item below), dotting the i's and crossing the t's for
this September's Family Gathering (see item 3 below), and although both Ang and I have been
fortunate over that period to have looked after our two wonderful grandchildren more often (and we
have also had some dry days - not many! - to do a bit of gardening) I'm sorry to relate that at the same
time I have had a bit of a relapse with my health, which has meant that I haven't had the level of
concentration (usually poor, but recently even worse!) needed.
Anyway, my 'problems' aren't yours, and I'm fully aware that some of the readers of my eNewsletters
have worse problems than me, so with that, I'd better stop 'whinging' and present to you this April/May
issue. Hope you like it.
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| 2. Welcome Over the past couple of months I have 'discovered' a large number of 'new' family members, both
through individuals who have contacted me, as well as through my having contacted Powditch
descendants who had registered their names and ancestry on the 'GenesReunited' website
http://www.genesreunited.com/ , all of whom I'd like to welcome to the Powditch eNewsletter.
a. Charlotte Powditch (Direct contact) I am writing to inform you that Margaret Beryl Powditch
(Wife of the late Raymond Urban Powditch), passed away peacefully this morning at around 5am.
As you had a lovely tribute/history of my Grandfather (Raymond Urban) on the site already, I
thought you would like to be informed… The funeral should be next week in Didcot, Oxfordshire.
My grandmother was a wonderful lady and she will be missed incredibly. Thank you for keeping
the details of the family alive
I did mention Charlotte and the death of her Grandmother, Peggy (Margaret Beryl Powditch) in the
March edition of the eNewsletter, and I hope that she and the rest of her family are coping with their
loss.
b. Josie Accetta (Direct contact) On looking at the family tree you have placed on the web I have
noticed that a correction needs to be done on Adele Jouvelet's section. Adele Jouvelet married
Antonio Mantello at St.Teresa's Catholic church in Essendon Melbourne. Adele and Antonio (Tony
as he was known) had four children: Josephine Mantello, Catherine Mantello born 1960 died
1972, Peter Mantello, Leon Mantello. Tony Mantello died 1991. Josephine Mantello married
Charles Accetta 1976 and have four children Michael Accetta married Amber Wolter and
divorced (no children). Jonathan Accetta single Catherine Accetta single Vanessa Accetta single.
Josie has provided me with much new information although I have omitted here some of the dates she
provided, as they are fairly recent and I need to check with her whether they are to be included - or
not -within the Jouvelet section of the website (www.powditch.plus.com/Jouvelet/index.htm )
c. Dorothy Gunnersen (contacted via GenesReunited) whose ancestor was Rachel Powditch
(nee Flood) Thank you for your long message. I have opened my now quite extensive tree for you
to look at. The Powditch connection came from Dean Hoey ( I think ) in Aus. He sent me various
attachments. You will see that Rachel Flood married a Powditch who must have been the
grandson of the intrepid Powditch in your website, which I have looked at very briefly. I am pleased
to find more descendants on the Flood side as I have some really interesting facts about
Dr. Valentine Flood in Ireland-early 19C. About Robert Nilson, no I don't know him but if he has
info on the Floods & the Swifts I shall be delighted.There was some rumour in my family that there
was a connection with Dean Swift of Gulliver's Travels, but it was probably just fancy. However the
story of Valentine Flood is really interesting. I shall also chase up Stan's sons for their histories.
There is more correspondence between Dorothy and myself than I've included here, and if anyone
has an interest in, or connection with the Flood & the Swift families, I and Dorothy will be most pleased
to hear from you.
d. Dean Hoey (contacted via GenesReunited) whose ancestor was Rachel Powditch (nee Flood)
I sent an email through genes reunited to you today hope you get it. I have just been checking out
your web site, and it's great. Rachel Flood is my great great grandmother, she married Charles
James Augustus Powditch, they had 7 kids, *Ida Powditch ( Cooper); *Myrtle Powditch ( Groves);
*Alma Powditch ( Brown); *Charles Powditch; *Rachel Powditch ( Fussel); *Edna Powditch (
Finney); *Stan Powditch.
Ida Powditch is my great grandmother, she married William Pierce cooper, they had 6 kids;
*William Douglas Cooper; *Raymond Frank Cooper; *George Charles Cooper; *Bruce Pearce
Cooper; *Dorothy Rae Cooper; *Merle Ida Cooper;
My grandfather George Charles Cooper married Thora Elaine Richardson & they had 4 kids;
*Graeme Charles Cooper; *Leslie Robert Cooper; *Judith Elaine Cooper; *Malcolm George
Cooper
My mother Judith Elaine Cooper married Neville Ian Hoey & they had 2 kids; *Glen Ian Hoey;
*Dean Charles Hoey ( ME)
My mum remarried Edward Lewis Mogridge and they had 1 kid together; *Peter John Mogridge
(My other brother).
I ( Dean) married Dodie Marie Shearer and we have had 3 kids.
Hope I have shared some useful information with you. All the best Dean.
P.S. Just wondering where the family reunion is being held. Thanks Dean.
Although I had a few problems with sending emails to Dean, I'm hoping to catch up with him again
very soon.
e. Paul Manning (contacted via GenesReunited) whose interest is in Francis Powditch of Wells
I am not actually descended from Francis POWDITCH. My connection is vary tenuous and through
his mother's 2nd husband's daughter. His mother Elizabeth married Jonathan Clifford ARNOLD,
their daughter Emily Jane married Robert WATSON. All of this in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk.
My interest is with the WATSON family, but I got this info from an ARNOLD researcher. Wasn't
there a POWDITCH reunion last year? I have a friend who married a POWDITCH and mentioned
it to her after I saw it (I think) in the Norfolk Ancestor.
and then in another email;-
Many thanks for this. It has filled a number of gaps. I can't add much, except for the attached on
the descendant of Emily Jane Arnold.
and then in a follow-up email;-
Having looked at this again, it has raised a question. In the bible section, Eva Elizabeth
POWDITCH is down as marrying William Arthur BURGESS, but in the report section she married
a Mr REYNOLDS. Also in the report section, Mabel Maud POWDITCH is down as marrying a
Mr Reynolds. I wonder therefore whether she is Sylvia's mother? There are also other BURGESS
family members who were granted probate so it could be these were connected to children of
Eva Elizabeth. Also, I have a copy of a book called memoirs of William John Harman 1854 - 1944,
which I got from the Wells RNLI. It mentions the floundering of the Billy Boy, "Seaflower" in the
great gale of 1868, which claimed the lives of Captain Powditch, the master; Harry Mussett, the
mate; and his son the foremost hand. The same book also lists other boats owned by the
Powditch family: "Two Brothers" and "Whim" (Captain Gay).
I had indeed made a mistake in the report, and have let Paul know the correct details.
f. Ted Broadbent (Direct contact) Whilst visiting my son [mark] for his birthday last week, we got
on the conputer and found his name on the powditch web site. it was great to see our family there.
A new addition is Gracie Alice Broadbent,born 26/sept/2006, to Mark Robert Broadbent, and
Danielle Humphris. She is beautiful. Today I received a letter from you, re the powditch
reunion. unfortunately we wont be there as we have just come back from a cruise. I don't know if
you have my other grandaughter or not. She is Skye Jade Wenking, born to Craig Broadbent and
Annette Wenking on 29 July 1993. Now that I can see the powditch site, I will visit it often.
Thank you Ted, and I apologise that I've been rather a long time in getting back to you. Will be in touch
soon.
g. Byron Van Der Zee (contacted via GenesReunited) whose ancestor was Frances Elizabeth Powditch. I don't know much about Frances Elizabeth Powditch. I hope we have the same person.
Frances was married to a man Horace Roylance. Horace was the son of Thomas Roylance and
Edith Godbold. My mum is also a Godbold - Beverly Fay Godbold. If you would like you can
explore my tree to help explain the possible link. Please keep in touch if you do find something.
I have been in contact with Byron, but do need to recontact him in the near future.
h. Martyn Hayhow (contacted via GenesReunited) To the best of my knowledge Elizabeth
Powditch (b.1749 ) at Wells next the Sea. Norfolk, married Thomas Hayhow (b.1748/9) in 1777.
They had 9 or 10 children , one of whom James Hayhow (b.1797) I believe that I am descended
from. He in turn married an Amy Wabon (b.1790) in 1819 and I believe that they in turn had
7 children. Hope that this is of use. Sorry, I have rather neglected the family tree aspect of late, due
to other reasons, but I would be most intrigued as to what you and Louise have recorded. If you
could find time to send it please do.
Although I have been in touch with Martyn I do need to contact him again (soon)
i. Jeanette Cook (contacted via GenesReunited) My connection to Elizabeth Powditch is she
was my 5th great grandmother, as far as I know she married Thomas Hayhow in 1777 and one of
the sons, also Thomas c1875 was born in Norfolk. I do not know any other details about her.
As with Martyn (above) I need to contact Jeanette again, soon
j. Brenda Saunders How very nice to hear from you and the huge amount of work you have done
on the name Powditch. It seems that Elizabeth Powditch is my Gx3 grandmother on my mothers
side. The information I have about Elizabeth is scant but was found at the Norwich record offices.
I have a copy of her marriage certificate from 21st December 1777 to Thomas Hayhow in
Wells-next-the-Sea. The Hayhow name is my mothers maiden name and the line I have been
researching. It was their son Thomas that when I was researching a ship he owned that I found a
fleet of ships owned by the Powditch's and realised that at this time this was a big and wealthy
family.
It was on a Baptism page that I picked up the following: 'POWDITCH' Peter Oldman, son of James
& Mary Powditch (Oldman S) was born November 29th 1783. On the same page was HAYHOW
Sarah Daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Powditch was born a daughter and baptized 25th
1783 and Buried April 23rd 1784. So I summized that James was a brother of Elizabeth. And that
is all I have so would be grateful to see your information.
Brenda, if I haven't been in contact with you for a little while, I do apologise and will be in touch soon.
k. John Secker (contacted via GenesReunited) my Powditch numbers are small. I have a Mary
Powditch who married Thomas William Secker (I'm a Secker) 7 Mar 1822. This information was
given to me by an Australian relative whose uncle visited Norfolk some years back and made
notes from the Parish Registers. I haven't verified it myself yet. Similarly when I researched the
1851 census I found Sarah, Elizebeth and Catherine living in the same street as Thomas and
Sarah Secker. I assumed that they might be the mother and sister of Sarah Secker. This I have yet
to prove. I live in Northumberland so until I can get to Norfolk myself ,which I may do in May, this
remains a guess. Does this link in with information you have?
Further to my last e-mail my Powditches are all living in Wells next the sea, Norfolk in 1851. Yes, I
looked at your web site. saw the link to Northumbria and realised I had not said where my family
were living.
John, if I haven't been in contact with you for a little while, I do apologise and will be in touch soon.
l. Michael Harman (contacted via GenesReunited) I've only doing my tree for the past year.
(Caroline was my Gt Gt Grandmother)I've got this info from my gt uncle. ( Bryan Harman) you can
have access to my tree. Will look at your website and get back to you
Michael, if I haven't been in contact with you for a little while, I do apologise and will be in touch soon.
m. Marcus Tunaley (Direct contact) I came across your website whilst researching my own name Tunaley. In chapter 9 you relate the marriage of William Powditch to a Mary Thomason Tunaley
and give quite a bit of information about her including her year of birth, occupation, the name of
her father and his residence and occupation. I have been unable to find any of this on the census
returns for 1871 and wondered if you could tell me what your sources were?
I have replied to Marcus although as I haven't been in touch for a little while I hope to recontact him
soon.
n. Raymond and Carina Powditch (contacted via GenesReunited) We both really appreciate
the chance to finally have some ideas as to the history of our family as we feel our children deserve
to know their heritage. I would also love to receive the newsletter & Christmas Card if that is still
ok. I think it is fantastic that you have been such a great investigator & pieced together a very
hard puzzle. If there is anything that you need to know & think I may be able to help you with please
don't hesitate to ask.
Although we have been in touch since this message I will be in touch again soon.
o. Barbara Spall (contacted via GenesReunited) Barbara is the sister of Carol Stone (nee
Powditch) and both are the daughters of the late Arthur and Adeline Powditch. I was thrilled to
make contact with Barbara and to discover that like her sister, she too has an interest in the
Powditch family's history
Barbara has just written to me and I owe her a reply so will be in touch very soon.
A very big welcome is given to all, and I hope that you'll enjoy not only this eNewsletter, but those to follow.
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| 3. Powditch Gathering 2006 - an update Nearly everything for the Second Powditch Gathering at Morston is now in place, and at the
moment - that is, as at 31 May - there are approximately 3½ months to the start of the event itself.
Although I am in the process of contacting all those family members who don't have access to a
computer, there has been a good response to both my initial letter/email as well as to the recent
follow-up email, and the situation at the moment is looking good, with many family members having
already returned their completed Registration forms and deposits, whilst at several more have said
that they are definitely coming and that their completed Registration forms are on the way (or will be
soon).
I will be able to provide more information in the next edition of the eNewsletter, but if you should want
further details re any of the events, or want to contact me re any other aspect of the Gathering, please
do contact me at the gathering email address, which is
powditchfamilygathering2006@powditch.plus.com
Should you also need details of local (to Morston) Hotels, Guest Houses or places providing Bed &
Breakfast, I can provide those details to you via email by return, although a most useful place to visit
for details is provided by the Glaven Valley website, at
with the Bed & Breakfast page being accessible from
Villages not too far away from Morston are Blakeney, Cley and Wiveton, and all details for those
places appear on that website.
I have already thanked most of those who have already returned their Registration forms (and
deposits) etc, although if I've yet to thank you, I will be in touch shortly.
One thing, and that relates to the 'please let me now by' date, which in my original letter I had set at
1 May 2006. As many family members haven't been able to commit themselves (as to whether or not
they will be coming to the Gathering) by that date, I can advise that there is a little bit of leeway and if
you do want (or are able) to come to the PFG06 (Powditch Family Gathering 2006), please can you
let me know as soon as possible, and certainly by the end of June at the latest. Thanks.
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| 4. News At the beginning of May, Margy Powditch from Hedgerley, Bucks, went into hospital to have a knee
operation, which I'm ever so pleased to report, went well, and I was therefore thrilled to have a phone
call from her recently and to hear all the news etc. I'm sure that everyone who knows Margy (especially
those who met her at the 2004 Powditch Family Gathering) will join me in wishing her continuing
good health, and we look forward to seeing her again at this year's Family Gathering in September.
As you may remember from a previous eNewsletter (No.28 for November 2005), I was contacted by
John Woodland from Australia with regard to his interest in one John Diston Powles, who had been
a 19th century Company Promoter who operated within Australia and South American countries
(including Chile).
Within "Some Notes on the Family of Powditch" (Chile,1939) recorded family memories by John
Thomas Gray Powditch had made mention that "Mr John Diston Pole [sic; Powles], Chairman of
the Mexican and South American Coy, knew my great grandfather well, and spoke of him highly
as a Merchant on the Russia Walk." - his 'great grandfather' being Thomas Powditch (d.1804) of
North Shields, Durham and Peckham (London).
Having entered details of John Woodland and his interest within both the 'Guest Book' and 'Latest
News' sections of the Powditch website, I was thrilled to receive an email on 18 April from Mike
Powles (who lives in the UK), who wrote;-
"I have for some time been researching my family history and recently entered the name of
John Diston Powles into Google. This gentleman is an ancestral cousin of mine and has a very
colourful history. I was intrigued therefore to be directed to your family history site where I found
the e-mail to you from John Woodland in Australia in November 2005.
I am wondering if it is possible for you to put us in touch with each other as I think the information
I have would be of considerable interest to him. Any help would be much appreciated."
Since then (and following my putting both parties in touch with one another), I'm very pleased to say
that each has been able to help the other. As Mike Powles said in his last message "Many thanks for
your web site and for putting us in contact. Best of luck with your continuing research" which just
goes to show the importance of 'spreading the word' and what a great help the internet can be.
On a different subject, an interesting article discovered during May, concerned the practice of 'wet-
nursing' children in Norfolk in the 1600s, in which a Powditch was mentioned, although in this instance
she was a member of the Morston Powditch family. I will provide more information about this in the
next eNewsletter.
Just as I was putting this issue to bed, I received a most interesting article from Nicholas Twohill in
New Zealand. Written as a medical study, examining mistreatment of late 19th century children in that
country and the records of same etc, the article actually mentions (for 1889), one 'Esther Powditch',
aged 13 years old, who had been in the care ('with her siblings') of foster parents. This article has
thrown up some most interesting questions, and again I hope to provide more information in the next
eNewsletter.
STOP PRESS
As at late May, the number of Visitors who have accessed the Powditch website has exceeded
100,000 (in fact, the actual figure on 30 May was 104,314). Thank you for making the site such a
wonderful success, and I do hope that you enjoy reading everything about your and your ancestors'
history. A truly fantastic and interesting family.
By the way, if you have any news (of any sort) I'd really like to hear about it (even if it's only for the
archives)
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| 5. Website updates Since the last eNewsletter (No.32, for March 2006), changes to the website have included the following; Amendments, Updates and New Pages
 the new, totally redesigned Home page www.powditch.plus.com/ is up and running, and I'm looking forward to your letting me know what you think of it! Please see the next section (item 6) re SPAM for pages/folders amended to date (and the reason why). NEW; Family Trees have been added to the site. For full details of this new section, see item 7 below. |
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| 6. SPAM and what I'm having to do Unfortunately, due to the number of SPAM messages I receive every day, I am having to replace all
textual email addresses with an 'image'. This is an ongoing process, so for the moment when you
access pages from the site, in some places you will either see an email for me shown as text
(e.g. webmaster @ powditch.plus.com [but without any gaps either side of the @ sign] or as an
'image' [i.e. the full email address, although being an image you will need to type what you see into
the 'To' box of your email message. I do apologise for what might appear to you to be a backward
step, but in view of my receiving some 50+ emails a day, of which approx 45 of them equate to
SPAM (and they've 'harvested' my email addresses from the web), I don't believe that I've any other
option (I already have just about all other programs installed to ensure that SPAM doesn't get
through - but it still does, hence this new method).
Further to the above, folders already amended to date include;
 www.powditch.plus.com/News/ (which also has had the Latest News section updated, and the last 2 eNewsletters added) |
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| 7. Family Trees You might remember that when the Powditch website first saw the light of day, it had a section relating
to Family Trees, but that due to the information being rather unmanageable (in the sense that there
was so much information on each page, it was very difficult to access ancestors' details, etc)
In the end, I removed the whole 'Family Trees' section, with the promise that I would edit everything
and re-present the details in an easier to read etc format.
Well, in between adding and amending other pages, I had been working on an exciting new format,
although it had been taking a lot longer than I'd expected - and then, I discovered a fantastic program
which was able to convert the information within my FamilyTreeMaker program into HTML, so that I
could upload pages to the web, and you would be able to read (and understand) all the Family Trees,
either Powditch or connected to the Powditch family through marriage etc.
Having loaded the program (GED2HTML) in April, and having tweaked it in several ways (including
'privatising' all living individuals), in early May I added the Family Trees section to the Powditch
website (the main link to the index being about half-way down (on the left-hand side of) the page;
www.powditch.plus.com/ (although the main link - if you'd like to have a look now - is
The Trees are searchable in various ways. Using the above link you will be taken to a page containing
all of the surnames within the Family Trees, and clicking on a particular surname will take one to a
page where all such surnames (together with individuals' forenames and dates) are stated. Clicking
on a particular name will then take the reader to the specific page where, apart from basic details,
other notes etc have been included, and where also, apart from individuals, trees are also shown
(you might have to click on a tree or similar link alongside the individual).
What I'd be most grateful for you to do, is to have a look at this new section, check on names, dates,
places, and anything else that takes your fancy (including the trees themselves) and then let me know
what you think of the pages. As to the page layouts, those are determined by the GED2HTML
program, so I'm not able to do much about that, but as to anything else you might observe or wish to
comment on, I'd be very grateful to hear from you.
In the meantime, I wish you happy searching!
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| 8. Some Search Engine facts I know that I've mentioned a couple of useful Search Engines over the past couple of months, but
having recently discovered some interesting facts re Search Engine Ratings, I thought you might be
interested in seeing the following chart, which shows the share of all visits made by surfers during
July 2005 (OK, I realise that I'm nearly a year out, but the figures are of interest anyway) to both
Search and Directory sites, as classified by Hitwise. (N.B. 'Domain' shows the core domain of the
service involved, and were provided by
Although I have presented the above figures as laid out in the original, I would add that (for those of
you who might have already totalled the %figures), I too have discovered that the total is only 83.9%
(I wonder what happened to the other 16.1% ?!!!!!)
Something I have discovered over recent months, is that whilst Google does appear to be the leader,
there are many more items of interest on other Search Engines (AllTheWeb and MSN principally).
Whether this is because Google now has so many sites listed on so many pages, that those sites
I'm discovering elsewhere are nearer the top of the pile, I don't know, but remember, if you can't find
what you're looking for on Google , it's most certainly worth looking at an alternative Search Engine.
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| 9. ......and finally! Please remember that the Second Powditch Family Gathering, is being held this year, from Thursday
(afternoon) 14 September to Sunday (lunchtime) 17 September, at Morston, Norfolk. Details are as
above, plus they are included on the website. If you haven't received either an email from me
with the full details, or haven't received a copy via snail-mail, please let me know by return,
and I'll forward you a copy of everything re the Gathering.
As ever, I do thank you ever so much for being a reader of this eNewsletter, and moreso, for being
either a Powditch or a Powditch-descendant, and I look forward to hearing from you sometime,
especially if you have any news (either for the website or for the Powditch Archive).
Thanks,
John
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