Topics this issue include;
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| 1. I forgot to ask....! Although I mentioned (in the last eNewsletter) the design of the Powditch 2005 Christmas card, I
forgot to ask whether you had received your copy of both it and its accompanying Newsletter.
As I have just been advised that some copies still haven't arrived at their destinations, please can you
let me know either a 'YES' or a 'NO' as to whether you did or didn't receive your own copy, and I'll mail
a copy to you by return.
Thanks.
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| 2. Powditch Gathering 2006 - an update In the last eNewsletter I had said that I would "be sending, within the next few days - as a separate
email - the latest information re this year's Powditch Family Gathering", and as you'll have noticed
by now, I have failed to send that email to you.
I do apologise for failing to do what I promised, but due to delays in organising a couple of venues
and speakers I'd been trying to arrange, time ran away with me, but I can now confirm that as at today
(Thursday, 16 March) everything is (thankfully) in place for the September Family Gathering.
Because all the details are now finalised, not only will I be putting the full itinerary - including a copy of
the Registration Form, and costings etc for the various events - onto the Powditch website, but I will
also be snail-mailing all the information to you this coming week. I will also be sending out the
promised emails with the same information.
Once again, I do apologise for not having been in touch sooner.
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| 3. News Some items of 'News' from last month, which I hope you'll find exiting, are;-
a. On 9 February 2006, Pat & Peter's Powditch's new grand-daughter - Brooke - was born. Mum, Dad and baby are all well (and from the photos I've seen, Brooke is a little beauty).
b. If you (like me) have an interest in what our forbears' wore, during the 1790 to late 1970s
period, then you'll probably be very interested to discover that Notty Hornblower (whose late
mother had been a nee Powditch) not only has a really first class and much publicised Costume
Museum and Restoration Workshop (at Hope House, Alstonefield, Nr Ashbourne, Derbyshire,
DE6 2GE) but that at the end of last month (February) her own website with much information
and photographs was launched onto the internet.
The site is well worth having a look, especially if you have an interest in period clothes and
clothing, and the Museum itself contains includes a wide array of outfits and accessories dating
from 1790 up to the 1970’s, including menswear, ladieswear, children and baby outfits,
christening robes, military uniforms and exquisite wedding dresses. Notty had been collecting
period costumes for many years, and she has not only amassed a huge collection, but her dream
of creating a Costume Museum, and displaying her collection within it, was fulfilled some time
ago.
Due to a great interest in period clothing, Notty has been featured on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, and also in a variety of magazines including the BBC’s Homes and Antiques magazine and Country Living. She has also appeared on Carlton TV’s “Heart of the Country” and Channel 4’s “Collector’s
Lot”, and besides presenting fashion shows for the Women’s Institute, schools and various ladies
groups, over the last fifteen years Notty has raised thousands of pounds for charities by staging her
shows entitled “100 Years of Fashion”.
If you do 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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| 4. Welcome Since the last eNewsletter I have received considerably more emails than I usually have per month
(and not all relating to Powditchs) from people who have connections with places and people
mentioned on the Powditch website. At the moment my problem is not so much in receiving them,
but rather in my being able to send a reply, especially on the days (more frequent now) when we're
baby-sitting our grandchildren etc. Because of the increase in both emails coming in and more baby-
sitting, I've been rather remiss in keeping up to date with replying to any emails, so if I owe you a reply
or message etc, I do hope that you will forgive me (please?!) and hopefully I'll be in touch soon.
I'd like to welcome to this edition of the eNewsletters, the following who have contacted me since the
last issue;-
a. Susan Palin from the UK, who wrote to say;-
"If you have ever wondered where Geo.Clemerson was during the 1851 census, he was
staying with my gg/grandparents in Ilkeston! They were Richard Daykin (b 1808 Kirk Hallam)
and Ann (nee Clemerson) b 25.12.1809 in Loughborough. The scribe who took the details off
the census form has him down as Geo. Chanison of Laughton Leics. b 1829 Engineer.
However the writing is poor and Ann is also down as from Laughton and I know it should be
Loughborough. I have been researching the Daykin line (my mother was Ann and Richard's
g/granddaughter. I was given your email address by Geoff.Clemerson, and a very helpful
"Clemerson" in Loughborough. I was born in Cardiff as was my mother, and I know that there is
a South Wales connection through George. Although I don't think there any other blood ties
since Ann, it's interesting that my grandfather Thos. Bailey Daykin of Ilkeston, ended up there.
I'm looking forward to contacting the Ilkeston Clemersons not least because they may be able
to throw some light on the parentage of Richard Daykin (b1808). He seems to have
disappeared from all birth records. I look forward to hearing from you if you think I can be of help
to you."
The Clemerson name (the family of which, is mentioned on the Powditch website - see www.powditch.plus.com/Clemerson/index.htm ) was that of my late Father-in-law's Mother's side
of the family (and of course, my Father-in-law, had married Phyllis Mary Powditch, hence the
connection on the site, and my interest in the Clemersons' history)
b. Ann Boyd, from Barry, South Wales, whose ancestors had lived in Morston, Norfolk, in the
mid-1800s. Ann wrote to say;-
"I'm currently researching my husband's paternal family history. My husband's great great grandfather, Alexander Boyd, married Caroline Louisa Wood in 1849. Caroline Wood was born
in Marston, and we have a farm sale catalogue for the sale of Morston Hall Farm in 1865. The
Boyd family moved to Wales between 1854 and 1861, as they appear in the 1861 Wales
census. Alexander Boyd was originally from Middlesex. He's listed on various censuses as a
Farmer, but we suspect he may have been a farm labourer. Just on the off chance, I put
Morston into a search engine, and your web site, which mentions a family called Wood
appears, came up. Could you tell me if the Woods owned Morston Hall Farm please? I see
that there is a Morston Hall Hotel - is that the same place? Hoping you can help."
I have replied to Ann, and have also put her in touch with someone who has been able to help her
further (we have also updated each other since)
c. Donna Smith, from South Wales, who was wanting to re-make contact with an old school friend;-
"I wonder if you could assist me in tracing Helen [Middleton Jones], you say in your website she has contacted you. We were school friends and I have not seen her for 17 years. She came to
my mind today as it is her birthday. Tell her Donna Reynolds is looking for her"
'Helen' is my second-cousin (on my Mother's side of the Jones family), and having followed up the latter, I'm pleased to say that I have just heard from Donna;- "I would like to thank you very much
in helping me to find Helen, we had a wonderful chat on Friday and are planning to meet up
next month."
d. Marcus Tunaley from the UK, who wrote and enquired about one of his Tunaley ancestors who
had married William Powditch in Derby in the 1800s;-
"I came across your website whilst researching my own name Tunaley. In chapter 9 [of my
Peerless Powditch's book; on-line at www.powditch.plus.com/PeerlessPowditch/chapter_9.htm ]
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'm pleased to say that following my reply to Marcus, he has been able to find all of Mary's family (even if their surname had been mis-transcribed as 'Tennaley'), and that they were all (in 1861)
living in Manchester. Marcus has also been contacted by Scott Tunaley from Australia, who is
also interested in his Tunaley ancestry, and like Marcus, Scott is descended from one of Mary
Thomason Tunaley's brothers!
Besides the above genuine contacts, I'm not too sure, but it looks as though I might have had a
'bogus' email from a Michelle Lorraine Amanda Powditch, who hailed from 'Maidstone' (Kent). In her
Guest Book message she wrote that she is a 'Powditch descendant', and as such, when I replied I
was rather surprised to discover that the email address she'd provided, bounced back to me with a
different name altogether! Furthermore, the ISP shown has yet to trace the said person! - hence my
comment re the message having been 'bogus'.
To be perfectly honest, when I replied to 'Michelle Lorraine Amanda Powditch' I did query not only
her name but also her family connection/descendancy, so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised by
what subsequently happened. Anyway, if you know that there is such a person, and where she lives,
what her actual Powditch connection is, and if you also have a contact email or phone address for her,
I'd be grateful to hear from you.
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| 5. Useful? information Just as a matter of interest, do you use a 'mouse', and if so, does it have a scroll-wheel? If you do, and
it does, then the following might be of interest to you - unless you knew about it before me!
Dependant on the operating system you have on your computer, the following may (or may not!) work
for you, but I thought that I would offer it as a suggestion.
If you have difficulty with reading the size of typeface when you are looking at received emails,
webpages, or indeed with certain other programs, it is possible, without having to click on the
'magnifying glass' symbol, or typing with a larger font-size, to view the page/writing in an enlarged
version, just by using two fingers. (I've tried it with both Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, plus using
both Microsoft's and Corel's word-processing and spreadsheet programs)
The method is as follows (assuming you keep the mouse on your right hand side. If you keep the
mouse to the left of your keyboard/desk, you might have to 'reverse' the details).
First of all, make certain that you have left-clicked the mouse so that its cursor is (or appears to be)
anywhere on the page you are wishing to view.
Now, with your left-hand's finger (any of them, it doesn't matter), press and keep down, the Ctrl key
(bottom left hand corner), and then with (any) right-hand's finger, roll it over the scroll-wheel in a
forward or backward motion. (Remember, you do have to keep your finger continually on the Ctrl
button whilst you use the scroll-wheel). What you should now experience, is that the print on the page
will reduce in size (scroll-wheel forward direction) or increase in size (scroll-wheel backwards
direction). Try it and see, I hope that you'll be as fascinated by this as I was. OK, so you knew about it
before, but I didn't, and it's been quite exciting for me, especially as when looking at some websites,
whose right-hand side is 'off-screen' (know the feeling?!) I can now press Ctrl and scroll forward with
the mouse, and hey-presto, what wasn't visible before, is now (and without using the scroll-bar at the
bottom of the screen). Happy viewing!
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| 6. An alternative Search Engine Although most web-surfers these days probably use 'Google' in the main, others' might use 'Yahoo',
or 'All-the-Web', 'AskJeeves', 'MSN', or one of the countless other Search Engines, but does anyone
know about, or use, one called 'WebCrawler'?
If you haven't used 'WebCrawler', then you might be interested to discover that whereas all of the
previously-mentioned Search Engines check all spidered websites, 'WebCrawler' is actually a
Search Engines that searches all other Search Engines ! - even if the results provided tend to show
the top (up to) 50 results (per Search Engines).
Hopefully the above explanation made some sense! but if it didn't, may I suggest that next time you
want to search for a particular subject, you go to www.webcrawler.com , enter the required details,
hit the Search button, and see what 'WebCrawler' is able to find for you from the likes of 'Google',
'Yahoo', 'AskJeeves', 'About', 'LookSmart', 'Overture', 'Teoma', and 'FindWhat' (as well as many
more besides). It's certainly worth using 'WebCrawler', if only once, to check out how it can help you,
especially if you find that your usual Search Engine swamps you with 000s of hits.
Besides its usefulness in providing the top 50 or so of each search, you are able to view all of the
results on one page, thus enabling you to not only click on the required website, but also to highlight
to you those Search Engines which provide the most information. Another useful aspect is just to see
the order in which the various Search Engines list your search requirement(s).
By the way, I have no connection with www.webcrawler.com whatsoever. I had torn out the details
ages ago from a Magazine ('WebUser'), although it was only last week that I decided to first decided
to have a look for myself, only to discover that it would be a most useful site to use from time to time;
perhaps you too will find it useful.
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| 7. Website updates Since the last eNewsletter (No.29/30, for December 2005/January 2006), changes to the website have included the following; Amendments, Updates and New Pages
 Within the homepages, the section previously headed 'Copyright Details' has been replaced by a new section entitled 'Legal Details', which not only incorporates the situation re Copyright - and all other matters previously included - but also has a new 'part 2', to the Policy Statement. The new URL for this page is; www.powditch.plus.com/homepages/legal_details.htm (The previous URL, namely www.powditch.plus.com/homepages/copyright_details.htm has been retained, but only for it to be a link to its replacement). The News section (www.powditch.plus.com/News/index.htm) has had much information added and amended The Guest Book and Entries pages within the homepages section (q.v. www.powditch.plus.com/homepages/guest_book.thm and www.powditch.plus.com/homepages/entries.htm have also had more details included.Incidentally, over the coming months, you will gradually notice that I am changing the heading of each
web-page to a new design, which looks much 'cleaner', and hopefully will be more legible for you.
I am also re-examining page layouts and background colours for the same reason which, once completed, I hope you will find the pages to be more 'user-friendly'. On the same topic, I have
already redesigned the Home Page of the website, and as soon as I've tweaked a few more boxes
on it, I will upload it for you to use. Although the new Home page has fewer images, it does contain a
lot more information, even though you will notice (when you visit the page) that various sections have
moved into different positions. You will also discover that I have removed the time clock at the top of
the Home page as a system clock is usually displayed on the task-bar of everyones' computer, so
my clock had only been a duplication. Anyway, by the time the next eNewsletter is sent out, the new
Home page should be up and running, and hopefully you'll want to let me know what you think of it!
(N.B. it will still be at www.powditch.plus.com/)
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| 8. Code 404 pages Having mentioned 'Code 404' pages from time to time in past eNewsletters (No.27 (October 2005),
No.19 (Nov/Dec 2004), and No.6 (October 2003), I was 'thrilled' (if that's the right word!) to discover
on one search engine, some 94+ pages which were no longer accessible. Due to the latter, I have
created 'new' pages to replace those missing from the web.
All 'new' pages advise visitors that the (old) page has either been replaced or removed, and on the
'new' page, I have provided links to take the visitor either to the new (and correct) page or to the
Home page of the website. Hopefully this will reduce the frustration users must have experienced in
the past (if you still see any Code 404 pages relating to the Powditch website, I'd be most grateful
to know the 'faulty' address used. Thank you.
The 'Code 404' problem pages had occurred mainly because I had originally created the whole of the
Powditch website within just one 'folder'.
When, some months later I replaced the one 'History of the Powditch Family' folder with many
'sub-folders' - each of which had its own title, such as 'AliasPowditch', 'BirthdaysAndAnniversaries',
'Morston', 'WilliamPowditch' etc - I am sorry to say that in my naivety at the time, instead of keeping
the original pages on the website, I just deleted them all from the internet, rather than (as I now know
only too well) providing a link to their replacement (and uploaded) pages.
In this way, the original page of www.powditch.plus.com/1823.htm was deleted from the Internet,
although a page named www.powditch.plus.com/WilliamPowditch/year_1823.htm was created
in its place.
The deletion of the original page meant that although (according to 'Google' and many other Search
Engines) the former website address was still available, anyone who actually clicked on the original
link, would receive a 'Code 404' (Webpage not found) message; a real frustration for everyone.
Having now identified the bulk of the deleted (but still linked to by the Search Engines) files, I have
spent the past couple of months recreating them, together with their original addresses - but I have
now included redirection notices. I have also recently uploaded them all to the 'net, as I felt that it was
going to be far better for a correct link to be provided rather than to have no link at all.
Hopefully I have identified all of the problem pages, but all I will ask for the future is, that if you ever
get a 'Code 404 message' for any of the pages on the Powditch website, that you make a note of the
respective page or URL/link you visited on or through the Powditch website, and email me with the
details, for it will only be that way that I'll be able to correct the problems, and make your Powditch
viewing so much better.
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| 9. ......and finally! If you haven't done so already, please make a note in your diaries for the Second Powditch Family
Gathering, which is being held this year, from Thursday (afternoon) 14 September to Sunday
(lunchtime) 17 September, at Morston, Norfolk. Details above, plus on the website, and they'll also
be on their way to you (via snail-mail) within the next week.
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), and please remember that you are receiving this email as you are either
a Powditch, a Powditch descendant, or have a connection to the greater family, and as such, you
have been an user of the www.powditch.plus.com/ website.
Also, If you would prefer not to receive the Powditch eNewsletter in the future, you may simply send
me an email with the word "unsubscribe from Powditch eNewsletter" in the mail subject, together
with a reason or reasons (stated within the body of your email) for your wishing to unsubscribe.
Incidentally, should you wish to unsubscribe from the eNewsletters but still receive other emails from
me, and also to keep receiving my (snail-mail) Powditch Christmas Cards and annual Newsletters,
please will you state that clearly on such unsubscribing emails. Thanks,
John
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