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Powditch eNewsletter - Dec 05 / Jan 06
Issue No. 29/30
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You are here: home > News > Powditch eNewsletter - Dec 05 / Jan 06 Issue No. 29/30
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Topics this issue include;
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| 1. Apologies Well, I know that on a few occasions in the past I have been late with sending out my eNewsletters, but
I think that on this occasion, this must be the longest I've ever been! I therefore do profusely apologise
for the delay, which has been due to a number of reasons, principally revolving around Ang's ill health.
Regrettably, Ang has been very ill with Bronchitis, plus a few other debilitations through all of January,
and although she has improved to a certain extent within the past couple of weeks, she still isn't back
to full health, which needless to say has been causing more than a little concern. Hopefully the coming
weeks, and the chance of better (milder/warmer) weather will allow her to be returned to good health.
Besides Ang's problems, a few other items which cropped up since Christmas, had reduced the
amount of time I normally spend on the computer etc, which has meant that I'm very behind with
everything at the moment, so I can only apologise for the delay and hope that the following will have
been worth the wait!
I also offer another apology, but in this case it is for the next eNewsletter.
Due to the number of topics I had been going to include being too many for one issue, I decided to
remove several of them from this eNewsletter. However, the good news (?!) is that the topics will now
be included in the February edition which will be emailed to you during the first week of March (not
many days away!)
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| 2. Powditch Gathering 2006 - an update I will be sending out, within the next few days - as a separate email - the latest information re this
year's Powditch Family Gathering. As I had advised in the Christmas Newsletter (the snail-mail v
ersion), I had still been waiting for information as to exact routes for the tours, as well as for the Menu
details at 'The Anchor' before I could send out anything definitive.
The details are now all to hand, so as I said, I will soon be sending out emails with the information, and
I will also be adding the same details to the website. Besides both of the latter, I will also be snail-
mailing copies of the Registration Form and all details re the Gathering, to all those who don't have
access to a Computer or don't receive my eNewsletters etc.
Please watch out therefore for an email headed "Powditch Gathering 2006 - an update" which you
will be receiving very soon.
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| 3. Happy New Year Although the first month and three-quarters of 2006 have already passed, and I'm rather overdue with
my December 2005 eNewsletter, let alone the January issue (!) I have combined the two, and hope
that the wait will have been worthwhile.
Late, I might be, but both Ang and I would like to take this opportunity to not only wish you and your
family a happy and successful New Year, but to also hope that 2006 will be very peaceful, and that
good health will be afforded to everyone.
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| 4. 2005 Christmas Card (Part 1) Ang and I also want to thank you for your lovely email messages and Christmas cards, and hope that
you liked the topic and information for the 2005 Powditch Christmas card.
Thanks to Terry Kirkman having contacted me back in mid-2005, with his fantastic news re being a
descendant from the Powditch/Kelly marriage in India, I was able to create the design for the 2005
card, and then garnish it with family stories and snippets extracted (with permissions) from the www.
Fortunately (and thanks to Pat Powditch of Adelaide and Esme Stone of Derbyshire) I already had a
substantial amount of detail within the Powditch Archive, and that, plus my own research information,
plus what Terry had been able to provide, enabled me to 'construct' the card almost overnight (hope it
didn't look like that?!)
As in past years', I do feel great when I receive follow-up messages such as;-
"Many thanks for the interesting Christmas card which arrived safely. Certainly not one
which will be disposed of in the near future!"
and
"Thank you very much for your excellent card & newsletter; There was a lot of fascinating
information, and gave useful thoughts if I ever have the time to do something similar for
the main surnames that I am researching.Thank you very much for your excellent card &
newsletter; There was a lot of fascinating information, and gave useful thoughts if I ever
have the time to do something similar for the main surnames that I am researching."
and
"This is one Christmas card that will certainly NOT be recycled in the new year!"
especially as it proves(?) that I must still be keeping my touch in providing items of your (i.e. Powditch)
most interesting history.
In past years' I have heard how the cards have been framed, made into place mats, and put into
albums etc. I wonder what other uses they have been put to? (hopefully not dartboards!!!) Anyway, I'm
glad that 2005's card was much enjoyed, and I'm already looking forward to designing and creating
this year's card.
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| 5. 2005 Christmas Card (Part 2) Something that crossed my mind recently, was that although each year's Powditch card is specifically
created for a Christmas/New Year greeting, it could equally - especially if I omitted the printed
"Seasonal Greeting" - be used for a different purpose (Birthday, Get Well Soon, Bon Voyage, Thank
you, etc). Alternatively, if the main design was printed on paper, rather than on card - and I omitted the
inside 'explanation' - it could be used as a 'notelet'.
What do you think? would such an alternative be of use or benefit to you or someone you know? The
printing could also be done on a different coloured card or paper; in fact, there are many possibilities.
As I have never have, don't, and never intend to, charge anyone for either my personal research into
the Powditch Family's history, nor for supplying such information to family members through any format,
including that of letters, cards, fact sheets, print-outs, photographs, and the Powditch website, etc, it is
not my intention to make any charge for the possible 'alternatives' mentioned above.
Based upon the amount of interest shown re the above alternatives - should they seem like a good
idea - I will be able to offer several options in my next eNewsletter, I just need some feedback first
(also bearing in mind that I have designed and issued a Powditch Christmas card every year since
1985!)
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| 6. Welcome A big welcome is given to the following, who have contacted me since the last issue of the
eNewsletter;-
a. Eddie Moore (from Banstead, Surrey, UK), who is descended from Jemima Powditch through
her marriage (in 1824) to William Henry Stepney, via one of their children (Victoria E Stepney;
born America c1840-41). Eddie emailed me to say;-
"Firstly a big thank you for your web site, secondly apologies for the following
ramble, but I guess as a family historian you are used to this.
I have just been reading through your Web site on the Powditch family, and am
now confident that Victoria E Stepney ( the daughter of William Henry Stepney +
Jemima Powditch) is one and the same as Victoria my Gt,Gt Grandmother, more
specifically my maternal Grandmother's paternal Grandmother.
Not until reading through your site was I able to confirm the threads that I had,
had enough links to make a firm connection.
I had seen your site a couple of years ago but only given it a brief perusal,
because I had not convinced myself that the info I had was strong enough to
make the link. I had found a .ged Family Tree online that had a Victoria E
Stepney with the Powditch line, and searched Powditch via Google intrigued by
an entry of James 'The Trinity Man', this lead me to your site. I'm kicking myself
now, had I read more than chapter 5, (e.g. chapter 4), I would have seen the
confirmation of Victoria's birth in the US. This US nationality had been one of the
few verbal family history facts that my Grandmother had often mentioned to my
mother.
Until recently I had not been able to confirm Victoria's birth details, I have yet to
find any Victoria E Stepney via US birth records, only recently had I found an
entry in the UK 1851 Census that gave me the mother Jemima and another child
Jemima also born in the US, but no father, it looked as if they had emigrated, but
returned. I thought that William Henry may have died in the US and the
Stepney's had returned, but you seem to found that not to be the case.
With the new 1841 and 1851 census indexes I had more points to cross
reference and this time made the leap to conclude that Victoria is one and the
same
As you seem to have been compiling descendent info, I can give some details
on Victoria"
b. Susan Hawes (from Melbourne, Australia), who is researching - both from a family-history as
well as a possible Masters project - her ancestors, at least one of whom, lived in Chile from the
mid-1800s onwards. Susan wrote;-
"My fathers great, great, great Grandfather was Benjamin Hawes who married
Sophie Brunel, sister of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Their son, Benjamin Park
Hawes worked for the East India Company and died in Mundlasir, India in a
mutiny in 1956. His wife Anne, (daughter of Patrick Cussen) then moved to Chile
with her children. To date, all I know is that my great Grandfather Francis Brunel
Hawes was a doctor who travelled widely and may have lived in the North of
Chile. I know from his obituary that my Grandfather, Richard Brunel Hawes, also a
doctor, was born in Tarapaca in 1893. I searched the BISA.net website and my
Grandfather and his sister, Dorothy are listed in the 1901 UK Census, with no
place or status. There is another listing for Hawes in the Kelly Directory of a
Business in 1903 in Iquique.
I am extremely interested as to why Anne moved to Chile by herself and would
like to learn more of her and her life. I also intend visiting Chile (hopefully this
year) to learn more about the 1800s and the English migration. I have become
very interested with the more I read and am thinking of writing about this for a
Masters project.
Thus, to summarise my query for your newsletter: I am interested in information
about Anne (nee Cussens) wife of Benjamin Park Hawes who moved to Chile
around 1956 or later, and her descendants; one of which Richard Brunel Hawes,
was born in Tarapaca in 1893."
I have been in touch with both Eddie and Susan, and not only am I grateful for their own details, but if
anyone is able to help with any further information to assist them, please will you contact me, and I'll
pass the information on to them.
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| 7. Thanks Fortunately our daughter, Kris, had improved considerably by the end of 2005, and she is now fully
recovered. Ang and I have been ever so grateful for all the messages (emails and on Christmas cards)
you sent, and Kris has asked me to say how wonderful it has been to know that so many have been
concerned for her, and she is really touched. Thank you.
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| 8. Website updates Since the last eNewsletter (No.28, for November 2005), changes to the website included the following,
although I must apologise for not having let you know any earlier than this.
 Amendments, Updates and New Pages (up to 9 Nov 2005) the homepages section had new 'links' added, full details of which, are shown on the www.powditch.plus.com/homepages/links.htm page the homepages section - guest book entries - has also had several new guests, added (q.v. www.powditch.plus.com/homepages/entries.htm) the 'Latest News' page (www.powditch.plus.com/News/latest_news.htm) had been updated the Powditch website's Home page (www.powditch.plus.com/ ) had had more 'tweaks', although it still remains best viewed at 800 x 600 pixels (for the moment) NEW: the October eNewsletter has been added , and is now accessible either from the News index page at www.powditch.plus.com/News/index.htm or directly, from www.powditch.plus.com/News/enewsletter_october_2005.htm Amendments and Updates and New Pages (up to 26 Jan 2006)
the 'News' section of the website (www.powditch.plus.com/News/) has been completely overhauled, and updated, and besides new headings and internal links, it has a new section, 'News 2005' (q.v. www.powditch.plus.com/News/news_2005.htm ), and the eNewsletters for October and November 2005, have also been added. the 'Events' section has been altered to include a new header, whilst at the same time, the main page has updated to include more items, including Baptisms (q.v. www.powditch.plus.com/Events/index.htm ) the Powditch website's Home page, both in its 'old' and 'new' formats (q.v. www.powditch.plus.com/index.htm and www.powditch.plus.com/) has been amended so that both 'addresses' will now allow visitors to see identical pages. A NEW section re William Powditch has been added to the site, and it relates principally to the book (pamphlet) he wrote in New Zealand, in 1865. The address for the new section (which has the title of 'Observations'), is;- www.powditch.plus.com/WilliamPowditch/Observations/index.htm At the moment, not all of the original pages of his pamphlet have been transcribed, but those that have, make interesting reading. Indeed, within the last few pages of his 1865 pamphlet, he included a précis of some parts of his life. The Webstats page (www.powditch.plus.com/Webstats/index.htm) has been amended to include data from the months of November and December 2005, plus that for January 2006. the 'Alias Powditch' (www.powditch.plus.com/AliasPowditch/ ) and 'Birthdays and Anniversaries' (www.powditch.plus.com/BirthdaysAndAnniversaries/ ) sections have been updated, amended, and now also have a newly designed heading (which will be gradually added to the website over the coming months)Besides all of the above, I am also in the process of totally redesigning the Home page for the
Powditch website, and I will upload it as soon as I've finished working on it. Incidentally, whilst the
current Home page (i.e. www.powditch.plus.com/) might not cause you any viewing problems, I
have been having lots of frustration when I've been trying to add more information to that page,
principally because there are lots of 'boxes' and 'tables' on the page (you can't see them because I
'hide' them before uploading). Because of the latter, whenever I add a new line to a box, or indeed,
add a totally new box to the page, it changes the whole layout of the page's design, and by the time
you are able to access the amended page, there are often large 'gaps' visible. Obviously that isn't
acceptable to either you or me, hence my playing around with a more acceptable (and useable)
page design. Hopefully I'll have been able to update, amend and create more pages by next
month's eNewsletter.
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| 9. ......and finally! Ang, her sisters and I trust that you and your family, had a very happy and enjoyable Christmas, and
we all now hope that 2006 will bring you and yours, good health and much happiness (and perhaps
we'll see each other in Morston, Norfolk, in September at the second Powditch Family 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.
Looking forward to hearing from you sometime, especially if you have any news (either for the website
or for the Powditch Archive).
John
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