Topics this issue include;
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| 1. Apologies for another delay, together with the reason! Since the last eNewsletter, I, together with Faye Edwards in Melbourne, have been rather occupied
with trying to sort out a 'mystery' regarding a little Powditch girl who was abused by her carers in the
mid to late 1800s in New Zealand, so I must really apologise for the delay in sending this latest issue.
Although eventually I hope to add details of the 'mystery' to the main www.powditch.plus.com/ website,
I would wish to acknowledge both Nicholas Twohill (who kindly forwarded a copy of an article by Sally
Maclean, under the title of Child Cruelty or Reasonable Punishment? A Case Study of the Operation
of the Law and the Courts, 1883-1903 which had been included within a recent edition of 'The New
Zealand Journal of History'), as well as Sally Maclean herself, with whom I've had contact re the
article; more specifically regarding one Esther Powditch.
To date, Faye has been able to positively identify the parents of the child, whilst I have discovered that
another child was born in England to the same parents (others' family history had previously held that
this second child had been born in New Zealand!) Birth details of a third child (the only son) born to
the parents has yet to be discovered, although this is an on-going project, so hopefully we'll have more
to report in the next or a future eNewsletter issue.
What Sally Maclean's article revealed, in more ways than one, is that far from child abuse being a
prerogative of any one Country or period of time, it has been endemic throughout time, although its
reduction has only been possible through Court actions, Charities' work and other Agencies being
involved, from the mid-1800s onwards (thank goodness).
Whilst in the March issue (No. 32) of this eNewsletter, under the topic "10. Making Money from the
website?" I raised the question and possibility of my including some form of raising monies for the
ongoing success of the Powditch website (and I received some excellent feedback, each person
saying that they thought I should pursue that avenue), I have yet to make a decision re that subject.
However, in view of not only the plight of one of your Powditch forbears, but also because others
within the current Powditch family are involved in various ways concerning the protection of Children,
I have been contemplating a 'donation link' from the Powditch website to a specific Children's
Charity - the problem currently being, which one!
I have looked at many Charities, but what I would really like to do is to include one which works within
each and every Country of the world, and which has been seen to convincingly make a difference to
children's lives, so I would be most grateful for your feedback re the above, together with your
suggestions.
If necessary, I will include links to several Countries' Charities, for visitors to the Powditch website
who come from most parts of the world, as it might be that individuals may wish to support one
Charity more than another, but then, your feedback re this topic will give me a better idea of
individuals' wishes on that matter.
For instance, Carol Powditch in Chile has, for a long while now, been the "foundation of a rapidly
growing crowd of those who are forcing the courts [in Chile] to protect children" and she contacted
me early in 2006 to say that she has "appeared in the media quite constantly. this means mediation
and helping the new system courts which are public ministry new courts lawsuits like the phöenix
come out of the old secretive courts of the past. this means we appear speaking in public or to the
media and are a corporation now recognised as the only private citizens who .................. are
changing a stuffy system which has brought, is bringing and WILLnot bring any more suffering to
mother-child nor in a few cases father-child family life, a lot of these cases culminate under the
most incredible circumstances which affected their growing years and our study is very deep.. in
fact it is now the profession of the present time for all who join. more and more mothers and fathers
call me up for help ....."
Obviously Carol is involved in the protection of children within Chile, and this could be such a Charity
to include (for the providing of donations) on the website, so come on everyone, what do you have to
say on this subject, and what are your suggestions? I look forward to hearing from you.
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| 2. Welcome Although (due to the above, as well as due to my still contacting individuals re the 2006 Powditch
Family Gathering, etc) I've been rather remiss in replying to emails, I do hope that you will forgive me.
What I would like to do however, is to welcome to the eNewsletters, the following who have contacted
me since the last issue;-
a. Fiona Buchanan (New Zealand). Faye emailed me to say that she, together with her
husband, Cameron, will be coming to the Family Gathering in September. Daughter of Peter
Oldham, both she and he are descendants from William Powditch and Anne (nee Walsh), who
tho' born in England (William) and Ireland (Anne), they settled first in Australia (1820s), and then
in New Zealand (1830) and made such important impact on both countries' during the early years
of the latters' formation and growth. (for more information on William and his family, have a look
b. Robert Nilson (Sydney). Although Robert and I have known each other since the mid to late
1980s, and have shared much Powditch research since then, it is only recently that he and I have
been able to contact each other by email. Robert also has a connection with New Zealand, for it
was his great great grandfather (James William Powditch, born in 1837 at King's Lynn, Norfolk),
who married Susan McCulloch (born in 1842 in Ireland) in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 6 November
1865; their son being Charles James Augustus Powditch, who in later years settled in Australia
and married Rachel Flood, a descendant of the important Flood family of Ireland.
c. Kate Dunham (Kent, UK) - contacted via GenesReunited. Fascinatingly, Kate's Powditch
connection is through her great great grandfather's sister (Eliza Dunham) having married Samuel
Dowdy Powditch in 1856. After the couples' marriage in Norfolk, the couple went to live in West
Wales (the Haverfordwest area) which is where they both died in the early 1900s, although the
record of their deaths is inscribed on the family grave in Southwold (Suffolk) churchyard.
d. Derek Powditch (South Wales). Derek is the brother of Pamela Powditch (who came to the
2004 Gathering), and they are both the children of the late James Reginald Powditch and Mabel
Lilian (nee Slack). James Reginald P was not only one of the 7 Cardiff-born sons of Robert Henry
Powditch, but he was also one of the brothers of Ang's grandfather.
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| 3. Sad News Just before I finished this eNewsletter, two emails arrived with sad news regarding the loss of much
loved Mums.
Although I have already contacted Bob Edwards (Bob's Mum died on 8 July), and Pamela Skardoon
(her Mum recently died) with both Ang and my condolences, I am sure that your thoughts and prayers
will also be with Bob and Pamela and their families, especially at such a time, and because Mums
are so really special and irreplaceable.
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| 4. 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 12 July - there are just over 2 months to the start of the event itself.
Although a couple of weeks ago I snail-mailed all those family members who don't have access to a
computer, to date there has been a fairly good response to both my initial letter/email as well as to
the recent follow-up email, with 14 family members having already returned their completed
Registration forms and deposits, As at least the same number have said that they are definitely
coming I am looking forward to their completed Registration forms being on the way soon.
Yet more information will be provided 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.
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| 5. The 'danger' of others' uncorroborated 'research' Something I do want to mention, now that the internet is so vast, with so much information being
available on so many subjects, is that it can be quite difficult at times to know whether the information
you are reading is 100% correct - or not!
One such instance relates to Family History, especially as these days people are less likely to
undertake detailed research (in the correct manner), but rather, they tend to rely totally on what is seen
on various websites, some of which are not verified, or not compiled to a genealogical standard.
Although my own research, and that of the majority of those family members I know and am in
contact with, has been to that genealogical standard, and as such, and wherever possible, same
has been checked, double- and cross- checked to verify the details etc, this cannot always be said
in respect of non-family members.
One such instance raised its head recently when I was surfing the web (a really lovely description, yet
I've yet to see a spider on a surf-board!), for I came across a well-known and much respected
website (RootsWeb.com), and under the heading of 'Family Trees', there were details of Count
Johann of Saurma-Jeltsch, his family, forbears, etc, as well of his marriage to one Joan Powditch
(born 1915) of Chile.
As I had some information regarding a Joan Powditch who was born in Chile in 1915, I tried to make
contact with the compiler of the Family Tree, although his email address appears to have changed
since he provided the details to RootsWeb.com, and even an email to the latter has failed to find the
elusive person (Ken Stel...)
The problem arose however, when I decided to see whether anyone else was researching the family
of Count Johann of Saurma-Jeltsch, for it was at that point that not only did I discover others who had
posted their trees to that website, but that whereas some agreed with each other, others showed
Count Johann of Saurma-Jeltsch to have married several other women, and none was a Joan
Powditch! Moreover, the Count wasn't shown as having married more than once, so I can only return
to the comments I made above, and wonder where the 'researchers' had obtained their
information/genealogical data.
I have viewed many sites over the past few months, and I'm getting increasingly concerned about the
number of errors on them, especially regarding spelling of names, incorrect occupations, incorrect
partners/children, etc, so what I would respectfully say (as I used to in the old days when I taught
Family History), is if you have to check a 'secondary' source (i.e. International Genealogical Index [IGI],
Birth Marriage Death indexes, or any other index - including transcripts of original documents - it is
mandatory that the original (or 'primary' source) documents [whether Parish Registers, Certificates,
Census Returns etc] are checked to prove - or otherwise - the accuracy of that on the websites/within
'secondary' sources.
Just as a matter of interest, has anyone else come across any mention of a Count Johann of
Saurma-Jeltsch, and a marriage to one Joan Powditch of Chile? I'd be interested to know if you
have.
Well, that's enough of my 'bandwagon' for today, so let's get back to the eNewsletter and to a few
more topics for this month, and 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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| 6. Website updates Since the last eNewsletter (No.33/34, for April/May 2006), I regret to say that there haven't been any
changes to the website. Whilst this is rather unusual for me (!) I have recently changed the program I
use to transfer files from my computer to the website, and I'm still struggling with the differences! As
soon as I've mastered the thing, I'll be updating several sections.
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| 7. Dial-up vs Broadband - an update Within the past month, I have at long last taken the plunge, and become a Broadband user! Many
thanks to Eddie Moore for all of his guidance, especially his comments re "I can't think of a
compelling reason to stick with Dial-up", and his reasons why. Much appreciated Eddie, and I'm
now enjoying all the benefits of super-fast speed!
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| 8. Making Money from the website? - an update Over the past months, since my raising the topic of "Making Money from the website?", I have had
several replies, and the feedback has been positive.
Comments made, include;-
 I think it's a great idea, so go for it........ On fund raising via in-line adverts, I can't see why anyone would object, if they did, they must be unaware of the cost of running a web page we are all very happy with the idea of including links to raise a little commission. Anyway, too the point. I think it would be a good idea to raise some capital from your Powditch web site. The only feeling I would express would be that the adverts should not be too intrusive. The raising of some finance from the work you have done, which so many have benefited from is most appropriate. I hope it is successful. - so I might include some limited advertising at some stage in the future, although I have also in mind
an alternative, in the form of the Charity/Charities mentioned in item 1 above, especially as such would
also need funding, and their need is more vital than mine.
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| 9. ......and finally! Please remember the Second Powditch Family Gathering, and that it 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 still 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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