news 2007

2007

Unfortunately, in early 2008, I inadvertently deleted the news 2007 page!

Fortunately I have now (July 2008) been able to reconstruct what might have been

previously included, plus probably a lot more, and also in more detail.

Thanks and apologies.

DECEMBER 2007

24 Dec 2007

Chris Worpole (UK) emailed me to say;-

"Dear John

Best wishes from Sydney Powditch's (1888~1973) granddaughter. I am

sorry to hear that you are still unwell. I have suffered from depression

myself and know how debilitating it can be.

I have been researching my Powditch ancestors this year and in March

visited Morston and Wells. I have discovered what happened to Sid's

siblings who mainly died young. I have also been in contact with my

cousin's daughter Annelise Ranger who would be Sid's great-

granddaughter. As my cousin (David Ranger, son of Ivy Powditch) died

when Annelise was four, she was eager to hear news of him and my auntie

and grandparents. I haven't done any Powditch research since Easter so I

have promised Annelise that I will collate all my research of Sid and his

family and send it to her. So that is my task for the New Year! I have also

done quite a lot of research into Sid's wife, Linda Olyett (1891-1928). Like

the Poplar Powditches, the Olyetts lived in the Poplar area and also

worked as ships' carpenters, although I believe they carved figureheads.

Through Genes Reunited, I have met a distant cousin who has been able

to send me photos of my Olyett great-grandparents and great-great-

grandmother, something I thought would never happen. Just when you

think you can't discover anything else, a rare gem is discovered.

As soon is Christmas is over, I am going to have a sort out of all my

research and set myself targets for the next few months. When the London

Metropolitan Archives reopens after its digitalisation I shall go and hunt

out some more Powditch and Olyett ancestors.

Very best wishes for 2008 ~ I do hope it will be a year that sees you fully

recovered.

Best wishes

Chris Worpole

PS When I visited St. Nicholas church in Wells I saw a display of pictures

of the old church which was struck by lightening in 1879. I took some

photos with my digital camera and enhanced them and have attached

them to this letter in case you do not have copies.[not attached here]"

24 Dec 2007

Christian Powditch from Chile emailed to say;-

"un abrazo gigante para todos..............

los powditch galmez"

which, translated means

" "

and he also attached the following;-

22 Dec 2007

Carol and Ron Stone (UK) emailed to say;-

"Dear John and Ang

No more news, but just a few lines to thank you for the e-Newsletter and

card that we were delighted to receive and to say that we are very pleased

that your health has improved for you to have felt like sending it John.

We took our usual trip to Suffolk in late November to primarily tidy Mum

and Dad's grave up in Leiston and do a bit of birding at Minsmere. The weather was cold but fine, however the high tides earlier in that month had left quite a bit of flooding on the reserve and we had to wade through quite deep puddles that consumed the walkways. Southwold remains much the

same and I am pleased to report that the new Adnams distribution centre

has been built very sympathetically in a deep dip at Reydon and the old

WP engineering works in Church Street has been nicely renovated with the

date losenge still in situ.

Thank you also for your Christmas card, we have also been very pleased

to receive cards from our extended family members from 2004 first PFG,

among which was one from Margy P, in which she wrote that her 80th party

was a great success and that you were able to attend. We were sorry that

we had to miss this celebration. Many comments were also written about

meeting up again and it would be lovely to do so, we are sorry that you will

be unable to arrange PFG2008. I'm sorry you were not on form at

2006 PFG, I also was not feeling good - such a shame when you've been

looking forward to and planning something special.

Ron is now looking a lot more like his old self and says that he is feeling

like his old self, but he still has to take things a bit steady for at least

another twelve months, anyway, we are looking forward to a quiet

Christmas Day.

Knowing how ill you have been I would like to thank you once again for

sending me the e-mails from Richard Cox and the info on Sidney Bardwell

Powditch. Unfortunately I cannot find out anything else about Eleanor and

Edmund from Ken, he being my only contact regarding info from the

1930's onwards, and am wondering if there is anyway forward to achieving

this.

In closing, I would like to wish you an accelerated journey to recovering

your good health and all best wishes to you both and all your family for a

happy, healthy and peaceful 2008."

21 Dec 2007

Ann Willoughby emailed me from Australia to say;-

"Dear John and Ange,

Many thanks for the Christmas card, what a lovely photo. Fancy having

something as picturesque as that scene nearby. I am now back living in

Australia and I do miss my cold Christmases. I am sorry to hear how

unwell you have been John and I apologise for not writing earlier to enquire

about your health. I assumed from the unfinished report on the Powditch

website that you had some sort of problem so I did not pursue you for the

copies of the Northumberland Powditch data. I know you will send it when

you feel well enough.

If the third Powditch Family Gathering has to be put off for a year or two

then that will not bother me, rather it will increase my chance of attending.

I notice that despite a hiccup earlier this year we may yet have a Powditch

descendant on the throne of England if the monarchy lasts that long.

Newspaper reports here say that Kate Middleton has moved in with Prince

William.

My very best wishes for a continuing recovery and a happy Christmas with

your family,

Anne"

20 Dec 2007

Steve Clemerson dropped me a line to say;-

"Dear John,

I have enjoyed receiving your newsletters over the years. To ensure that I

do not miss future issues I wanted to pass along to you my new e-mail

address. Thank you for your hard work. I hope you and your family have

a very blessed Christmas and a wonderful New year.

Sincerely,

Steve Clemerson"

18 Dec 2007

Robert and Elaine Wade (Australia) emailed to say;-

"Thanks John. Sorry to hear of your illness and the effects thereof and trust

2008 will be kinder to you.

Our Smith investigations have been lacking this year after some active

visiting to Belfast and UK in 2006. I have however continued with my

Wade hunt and had some rewards and good finds though it is a slow

process as I am looking pre 1600 when records are few and so are others

on the net who are able to assist!

Elaine joins me in wishing you blessings for Christmas and 2008,

Robert"

16 Dec 2007

Further to earlier emails I'd had from Keith Binney (q.v.) he kindly wrote to let me know that;-

"Google Book Search have restored their listing for "Horsemen of the First

Frontier". If you go to the site and type John Galt Smith in the Search

Inside window, you can view the page."

13 Dec 2007

Linda Hudson (Australia) emailed me to say;-

"Dear John,

Thankyou so much for taking the time to wish us all the best for christmas

and the coming year. I would also like to pass on my very best wishes to

you and your family for the festive season and hope that the new year

brings good health and happiness to you all.

Thankyou also for your wonderful Powditch website and I would also like to

pass on my thanks for having fellow Hayhow family researchers contact

me during the year after visiting your site, most have been distant

Australian relatives which is great!!

Thanks again John, all the very best to you

Kindest regards

Linda Hudson, Australia."

12 Dec 2007

I received a lovely email from Beccy Harpole, in which she wrote;-

"Hi John and Ang. The card was beautiful and you're very creative to

make your own. It was so nice to hear from you! Sorry that you've not been

well but hope that you're soon feeling even better. You have a special gift

for research and it's a shame that you haven't felt up to your work.

I so enjoyed meeting all the Powditchs and touring around Upwell and

Kings Lynn area. I really felt a part of the family and I think of you all often.

I miss England terribly. Hope you have a great holiday season and say

hello to everyone for me. Take care and continue to feel better.

Rebecca Clough Harpole aka Becky"

12 Dec 2007

Geoff Clemerson emailed to say;-

"Hi John,

It was really great to hear from you again. We had been quite worried about

you, but guessed the reason for your silence...... but there is light at the end

of the tunnel.

Do remember we are all thinking of you, and have a really good Christmas.

With all our love,

Geoff & Barbara Clemerson"

12 Dec 2007

I received the following message from Kathy Wood (Australia);

"Dear John

We are after all, family, and would like to send to you our thoughts for you

and your family and hoping that you feel much better in the future. I understand a little how difficult it can be.

My sister, Julia Dawson, and myself have started to do some further

research on Garrett Jarvis Powditch and Julia is planning to send you a

CD with some copies of documents in future when we have gathered some

more information.

Without your enthusiastic gathering and dissemination of information

about the "Powditches" I am sure much of would have been lost.

I would like to wish you and also all of your family all the very best for

Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.

Kind Regards

Kathy Wood (daughter of Elgin "Joyce" Turner nee Powditch)"

12 Dec 2007

Due to my continuing health problems, it was with much regret that I found that I

was not able to design and create a Powditch Christmas card for 2007, nor

write the annual Newsletter. Because of this, although Ang kindly sent Christmas

cards to as many of my Powditch friends and acquaintances as possible, I sent

an email instead to all of my contacts who had previously been on my

eNewsletter mailing list. My message was as follows;-

"Subject: Powditch Christmas Greetings

Hi there,

Well, this is the second year I've failed in designing an annual Powditch

Christmas card and newsletter, so I must apologise most profusely for my

shortcomings, as I must also apologise for having been so quiet since my

last eNewsletter at the beginning of this year. Problems with health and

other personal matters have meant that I've not done much over the past

10+ months, which therefore also means that my Powditch-ing - so prolific

in the past - has almost reached a dead halt.

I say 'almost', as I have been keeping in touch with developments on the

internet, even if I haven't had much contact (if any!) with family members,

although having said that, I have 'discovered' a few more Powditchs and

P' descendants through the GenesReunited website, and there have been

some other interesting topics I've looked at, although very few amendments

and additions etc have been made to the www.powditch.plus.com/

website this year.

For those who have known me very well over past years, you'll have been

aware that I have been 'treated' for depression for more than 13 years

(since my illness began in 1994), although I have had my lows and highs

throughout those years.

At the time of our last Powditch Family Gathering (September 2006) I

hadn't been very well just before it, was not too good throughout it, and went

'downhill' somewhat afterwards. Indeed, November and December 2006

were very bad months for me, so much so, that in January, my medication

was changed to include Lithium (no, not the battery version!) All I can say

is that whilst in the beginning the extra medication made a slight difference,

in later months my health - unfortunately - worsened.

Due to other problems, I've recently had my medication completely

changed, and you'll be glad to know that there has been some good

improvement (my typing this eNewsletter and Christmas Greeting is

testament to that) although I feel that I'm quite a way yet from getting back

to my active days of Powditch-ing.

Should you have emailed, telephoned, written or otherwise tried to contact

me over the past year and should you not have received a reply, I do really

apologise. My silence has not been intentional, but rather I have found it

very difficult to speak for long without becoming 'emotional', which then

means that I tend not to ring back (when I should) or I have found it difficult

to write much or write the right words. Hopefully my silence or lack of replies has not offended you in any way? If it has, once again I can only apologise,

and I do so most sincerely, for your friendship is so very important to me,

as is indeed, your being a Powditch, a Powditch descendant or otherwise

connected to the Powditch family.

Because of the lack of the monthly eNewsletter (and more probably

because I haven't kept in touch with everyone) I have missed out on much

of your and others' family news (births, marriages, deaths, celebrations,

and much more), so if you have any news (of any sort relating to the

Powditch family) you haven't told me about, I'd really love to hear from you

(I'd love to hear from you anyway!)

It had been my intention that the third Powditch Family Gathering would

be held in September 2008, and once again based at Morston, Norfolk.

Regrettably, for reasons which are obvious above, I haven't been able to

organise anything, and now can't see the possibility of such an event

occurring in September 2008 - unless that is, someone is prepared to

come forward and organise one? Perhaps there is someone 'out there'

who could spare the time, write some letters etc and get some family

members together? I already have the framework for such a Gathering

(details available if required), but there does need to be someone to

oversee things if an event is to happen in 2008. Anybody able and willing?

At the end of this email is a hastily-put-together Christmas card to yourself

and your family (I took the photograph earlier this year of a gate at the end

of our lane), and although it isn't of, about, or have any Powditch relevance,

it is sent to you with all my love, my good wishes, and for not only a lovely

Christmas for you and your family, but also for a very healthy and happy

2008 - for you and I both!

With love and kind thoughts,

John"

Unfortunately a few emails were 'bounced back' to me mostly because the

recipients had changed their email addresses. Should it be that you haven't

heard from me for a long while and were wondering why, hopefully the above

message will provide the reason, although could you please also check to see

whether you've already let me know (or not) of any email address change. My

own email address has not changed. so I look forward to hearing from you

sometime.

12 Dec 2007

I received a lovely message from John Page, with whom I'd previously

corresponded re a Powditch having been a witness to his great great

grandparents' marriage in Chile. In his email he wrote;-

"Hello John,

It has been more than a year since we exchanged emails regarding

Caroline Powditch, who as you may recall was a witness to the marriage of

my great-great grandparents Thomas and Ana Maria Page in Valparaiso,

Chile, on 5 January 1841.

I returned yesterday from a short visit to Chile where I attended a Page

family gathering in Santiago attended by over 100 people. I was invited

there primarily to make a presentation regarding our Page family history

to the younger generations. I was pleased that they seemed genuinely

interested, although English is not as prevalent in young adults there now

as it is with the older generations. However, I observed that sub-adults

(teenagers) in general do have good English skills, I hope a positive trend

for the future. Unfortunately my Spanish skills are nearly non-existent, but

one of my sons who can speak Spanish accompanied me, so the language

problem did seem to be an issue. While there my son and I visited

Valparaiso and walked around the 'Cerro Alegre' district where our

ancestors lived and raised their families. Even though few traces of the

past remain it still gave me a feeling of significance.

I am very sorry about your health problems and hope you are finally on a

road to improvement.

Best regards,

John Page

Palo Alto, California, U.S.A."

10 Dec 2007

Received a reply from Cathy Day in reply to my querying the Grace Powditch =

William Green marriage at Kilmington/Mere. In her reply, she said;-

"Dear John,

Thanks for your interesting and detailed email. It’s a pleasure to see

someone doing careful and thorough research.

I’m probably not going to be able to help you a great deal, but I have

recorded your interest on my database, and if I find out any further

information about Grace POWDITCH (11647) or others of that surname,

I shall certainly let you know.

The marriage of Grace POWDITCH (11647) and William GREEN (7694)

took place in the parish church of St Michael’s, Mere on 6 Oct 1737. The

groom was described as “of Kilmington” and the bride “of Mere”. I don’t

have banns for either parish for that time period, but it was a legal

requirement that banns be called in the parishes of both parties, so I

agree with your assumption that banns would have been called in

Kilmington (and Mere). I can only assume that the person who put the

erroneous entry on the IGI was confused when filling in the submission

form. I’ve double-checked the Kilmington register just now (in the slight

chance that the marriage was recorded twice – I’ve seen that happen

before) but there is definitely no entry in Kilmington for that marriage.

The Mere marriage record doesn’t state whether Grace was a widow or not.

At that time and in that place, I would have expected that the fact she was

a widow would have been recorded, but it was not a universal law. I checked

all the marriages in Mere backwards from 1737 to 1699 and found no

grooms surnamed POWDITCH (or BOWDITCH). I checked the NBI for

Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset, and found only one POWDITCH: Mary

who was buried in Walcot (near Bath) on 25 Jun 1793. So I am

*reasonably* sure that Grace POWDITCH was a spinster when she married

William GREEN in Mere in 1737.

I checked the WFHS CD of 13 parishes around Mere and there are no

POWDITCH baptisms at all. There are no BOWDITCH baptisms, although

Ellenor BOWLDINGE baptised in East Knoyle in 1585 might be a

candidate. So I think your theory that Grace’s name was a clerical error or

pronunciation variation for BOWDITCH, is looking promising - although

you’d like it not to be so! J

I have only one BOWDITCH family in my database to date – the father was

from East Coker. I’ve found a BOWDITCH baptism in 1861 in Brewham.

Somerset is looking like a source of BOWDITCH people, as you point out.

So, back to Grace and Kilmington. She was buried on 15 Oct 1746. The

entry says “Grace wife of William GREEN”. There is no other information.

There are no other POWDITCH or BOWDITCH burials in Kilmington,

although Henry POYNTINGE who was buried in 1623 is a possible

candidate.

Incidentally, Mere was a staging post from London to Exeter - it was on the

main road. There were often sailors and merchants passing through the

town. Grace herself was “of Mere” but she might, for example, have been a

servant of a London or Exeter merchant, or the daughter of a sailor. These

are possibilities – not proof, of course.

I will update my website shortly, and should continue to do so about once a

month for the next year. Thanks again for your information.

Regards,

Cathy Day

School of Archaeology and Anthropology

Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia 0200 "

8 Dec 2007

Whilst doing a search on Google for Powditch family members, I came across a great website which related to some Wiltshire (UK) villages and the contents of their Parish Registers.

Although mention in both of the Wiltshire/Dorset villages of Kilmington and Mere is made of a Grace Powditch having married a William Green in 1737 (with the same information being contained both on the International Genealogical Index and on FamilySearch), and although this information has been perpetuated in various family trees, websites etc, it should be noted that until research can substantiate anything to the contrary, the entry made by the incumbent when entering the Grace Powditch marriage to William Green, unfortunately made an error, for what was witten as 'P'owditch, should actually have been written as 'B'owditch!

Hopefully you will find the following of interest anyway;-

"Dear Cathy Day,

First of all may I congratulate you on what fantastic project you've undertaken,

as well as for the excellent amount on information you've already provided on the

http://arts.anu.edu.au/dayca/index.htm website. You certainly deserve to fly

through your PhD in biological anthropology already, although I look forward

with great interest to see what further gems etc you will or might uncover after

your 'full-time work on Mere in January 2008'

Amongst the mariages already on your site, and the relevant genealogies, you

have one which is of great interest to me, and that is for the William Green to

Grace Powditch marriage at Mere on 6 Oct 1737 (earlier indexes have shown

the event to have occurred at both Kilmington and Mere, which, although not

having been checked by myself, I'd surmised as Banns having been called in

one village with the marriage occurring in t'other!)

My interest and research stems from a history of the surname of Powditch rather

than re the Wilts/Dorset villages of your own research, and through my own

research (since the early 1980s) I have recorded not only many variants of that

surname, but have 'tracked' it from its origin on the Norfolk/Cambridgeshire

borders in the late 1100s through to the present day, during which period it has

changed from 'Pochedygge' to the now universal 'Powditch' (see my website

http://www.powditch.plus.com/ for just some of my researched material).

Of especial interest to me is the Grace Powditch who married William Green at

Mere, for within the P's, the forename of 'Grace' tended to be restricted to just

one branch family, yet if this Grace married in 1737, she is an enigma to me, for

the following reasons;-

she was only 11 years old (or younger) but unfound within research to date*

she is unrecorded within Powditch families**

she may have been previously married (i.e. she was a widow when she married William Green) -although this is questionnable***

Grace's surname was something other than Powditch****

The above 'reasons' can be expanded thus;-

* There was a marriage between one Thomas Powditch and Grace Kitteridge

(they married in 1725 in Lowestoft). Grace (who was baptised in 1697) came

from the Lowestoft area of Suffolk and after their marriage, they moved to North

Shields in Northumberland. As far as is known, they only had two children,

Thomas and John (spellings of the surname within that branch of the P family

however varied through Powdich, Powdish, Poundage, Poundish, and Powdich)

** From all records thoroughly researched by myself and others (both

contemporary and predecessors) Grace as a forename only appears for the first

time in 1760, with the birth of one of the (10) children of Thomas Powditch and

Grace (nee Kitteridge'Ketteridge).

*** Whilst a previous marriage might have been a possibility, there has not been

'discovered' to date any reference/record of a Powditch (or recognised variant)

having married someone with the forename of Grace, before 1737, other than

the 1725 marriage of Grace Kitteridge'Ketteridge mentioned above.

**** Possibly the most plausible possibility, even though, from a Powditch point

of view, I'd dearly love to have this point disproved! Powditch as a surname

wasn't known in the Dorset/Wiltshire area at that time, although in the nearby

County of Somerset, the surname of Bowditch was fairly prevalent. Phonetics

being in the ear of the beholder (so to speak) one has to question what the

incumbent actually heard, versus what he wrote down!

Whilst it would be most arrogant for me to say that I have discovered every

Powditch (including variants) in my 27-ish years of research, there must be very

few which have escaped my clutches (not all are on my website, so don't despair

if you can't find some individuals; I have in excess of 100 A4 Lever-arch files full

of researched material here, plus many other files re the P family). Having said

that, I'm always open to suggestions, corrections and other sort of -ions, so

please feel free to comment etc re this topic.

Two interesting aspects relating to the area, are;-

Mere being a 'staging post' between ?London and the West Country, which,

at one stage (no pun intended) I thought might have been the reason why

William Green and Grace Powditch married there (but this theory has been

shot down by your much-appreciated research of the area in which you

reveal that William Green and his ancestors hailed from the area, although

without the added knowledge of where Grace was born/baptised, it might

have been that she had traveeled to Mere/Kilmington),

and that

on 8 February 1806 at St. Edmund the King and Martyr (Church), Lombard

Street, London, a Grace Powditch - born in 1782 and baptised at Christ

Church, Tynemouth, Northumberland - and who was a great granddaughter

of Thomas Powditch and Grace Kitteridge - married a William Hubbard, who

was one of the Trustees of Grace's Father's 1804 Will. William Hubbard's

marriage to Grace P was his second, and after hear death, he went on to

marry for a third time. Possibly of more interest however, is that a

descendant from one of his marriages (I can provide a contact name and

email address should you be interested?) during one of our email

conversations advised me that:- "I have not progressed any further in my

search for the reason for Grace [Powditch]’s demise, but one of these days

I will get up to London to see if there are any church records in the

Peckham area, which is where she and William Hubbard were living and

where the 3 girls were born. I have received copies of William Hubbard’s

two applications for a marriage licence. It appears that he applied for one

to marry Jane when she was only 16 and this was presumably refused by

her parents. He then married Grace instead. It is perhaps no wonder that

Thomas was not too happy at the idea of his daughter marrying William!

The second application was granted after Grace presumably died and

Jane was then 21. I have visited Longbridge Deverill in Wiltshire and

looked at the church where Susannah, Grace (the younger) and Elizabeth

were all married. William, with his third wife, Jane Turner Ingram, was living

in either Crockerton or the village of Ashton Gifford – both close to

Longbridge Deverill. I suppose the descendents of Grace and Elizabeth

also are distantly related to all the Powditches as well. I have traced some

of their descendents to 1901, but cannot get any further at the moment.

Grace married a Richard Revell Ibotson and Elizabeth married an Edward

Jackson Everett."

so although the Grace who married in Mere in 1737 might or might not have

been a Powditch, that there was actually a Powditch in the nearby area some

69 years later may give some credence to the P's having a link (however

tenuous) to Mere and district!

I apologise for the length of this email, especially as I expect that you have far

more important matters and research to attend to, although by the same token,

I do hope that my comments might be of some help to you (incidentally, I've just

noted that you have recorded/researched some Bowditch family members who

had been living at nearby Stourton, so a precedence has already been noted for

Grace's forename possibly commencing with a B rather than a P in that area).

Should you discover through further research any more information which could

answer any of the above suggestions, hypotheses, etc (or do actually prove that

Grace was a Powditch) I will be most grateful to hear of such findings, whilst

should I also ascertain anything further, I will advise you of same. In the

meantime, I'd be grateful for anything you wish to say re the above.

With very kind regards, wishing you much continued success, and thrilled that

you have chosen the Wiltshire parishes of Stourton, Kilmington and Mere in the

period 1775-1924 to be part of the research for your PhD in biological

anthropology.

John

P.S. Seems rather surreal that you are in Australia, and such a long way from the

villages you're researching , whilst I live in Gower, some 200 miles from Mere

(my sister lives in nearby Shaftesbury) yet I rarely go to that area as much of my

research is in Australia, NZ and Chile!"

7 Dec 2007

John Galbraith from Canada emailed to ask;-

"John, I thought I had sent this message earlier but it doesn't show in my

"sent" report.....my apologies if it did get through somehow.

I was tracking down Mary Matthews in order that I can rightfully claim her

also for the Matthews clan. I was able to locate her in BMD which records

death as QSept. 1889 which jives with your records.

The purpose of this note is to ask if you had obtained her death document

for your records. If not, I will order same and hope that it shows at least one

parent that would confirm my hunch.

Cheers!!"

7 Dec 2007

Chessie (Cheryl) Volland nee Powditch emailed me to say;-

"Hi John, sorry I didn't get back sooner, but have been really busy, better late than never! Yes it was a great night [i.e. Margy Powditch's 80th Birthday Party] and I truly loved every minute of it, what a lovely time, I hope to hear from you, love chessie (Cheryl Powditch)Volland"

6 Dec 2007

Received an early Christmas Greetin.

"Just to wish you and Angela the best for xmas and the new year I hope

your health is improving I to have had a bad year so hoping 2008 is a

healthier new year

Maureen & Don Jones

Happy Christmas to you both, and Ang joins me in hoping that 2008 will be very

healthy for you.

3 Dec 2007

In reply to my email of 16 Nov 2007 (q.v.) sent to the Cheshire Record Office, I received the following reply;-

"Thank you for your enquiry. I apologise for the delay in replying to you.

We now only hold wills for Cheshire residents and all Lancashire wills have

been transferred to the Lancashire Record Office. The Record Society

volumes, though excellent and very useful, are now out of date. The wills

index on our web-site is the correct index for wills we hold. Contact details

for Lancashire Record Office can be found at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon/searches/locresult_details.asp?LR=55

If you do find you would like to order copies of any wills we hold, the cost is

£3 per will plus postage.

I hope this will be helpful.

Louise Martin

Archivist (Reader Services)

Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies Service

Cheshire Record Office, Duke Street, Chester, CH1 1RL

www.cheshire.gov.uk/recordoffice/home.htm "

2 Dec 2007

Received a reply from John Galbraith re the previous entry (q.v.) in which he

said;-

"Thank you for your note and especially giving me something to take my

mind off the minus 11C temp. and windy conditions that we are

experiencing to-day......where's this global warming that they talk about!!

Firstly, let me say what a fantasic 'site' you have created.....I think it is the

best that I have visited....you should be immensely proud.

As background, Gayle's maiden name is Matthews and the John (1771)

we seek is her GGGgrandfather. We have been searching her family

(mainly thru' the facilities of this machine).We want to get over to Norfolk to

do some better research but have been trying to get this missing link

before we go. We have been doing this, mainly during our Winters, for

3 years ; rookies compared to your experience.

I don't have any 'Eureka' for you.....sorry. I did note from the Wells History

site that the James born to James and Margaret appears in that site as

Jan. 25, 1807. Whereas, the James married to Avice appears to normally

shows his age to reflect a birth year of 1803. I reference 1851, 1881

Censuses, the BMD site and your own record of death in 1887. There is a

James recorded in the referenced site in 1803 (doesn't show parents) but

it appears that you claim him to be as son of Wells & Sarah.

On the Matthews side, I would like to claim Mary but haven't got any

confirming data.....you will note from our Ancestor query there are no

children recorded between 1807 and 1812 which is not normal of fertile

couples of the era. With Mary's birth year of 1809 would fit in nicely. If such

is the case that would make Alice (Avice) the mother of Mary. Also, as a

further long shot, John (1812) married Anne Knights and there 5th born is

Mary Ann. That would make John's (1771) parents likely to be John &

Mary. I digress! John (1771) is recorded as a Shepherd at the marriage of

his daughter Patience in 1839.....other documents show the same and his

son John (1812) carried on the same profession.

This does offer a segue into something that you may be able to shed

some light on for us. The aforementioned Anne Knights (1809) is the

daughter of Edward Knights (1771) and Ann Hall (1768) both of the

Wells/Warham area. Edward was once a publican, operating the Three

Tuns, Warham (1836-1851...date of death). I can not find the parents of

Ann Hall and I see the Hall name appearing on your site. Is there any

chance this person and her parents have crossed your sight?

The "pub history" site where I found the above also shows ownership of

some Wells establishments being operated by Powditches in mid

1800s.......I trust you have this data.

We do appreciate your contacting us. I will spend some further time

reading your site in more detail as there appears to be some connection.

If I find that 'eureka' I will be in touch.

Cheers!!"

2 Dec 2007

Having opened my December issue of The Norfolk Ancestor and seen within it

something of interest, I sent an email on its way, in which I wrote;-

"Good morning John Galbraith, and I hope that the weather in Ontario today

is far better than it is over here in the UK!

On Friday just gone, I received my December 2007 issue of The Norfolk

Ancestor, although to my shame I didn't look at it until this morning (Sunday),

and as is my usual practice, I started from the back of the Journal and

worked towards the front.

Imagine therefore when, on page 808, I discovered your Notes & Queries

contribution for MATTHEWS, John and his children, and although I do admit

to not knowing anything about John Matthews (which I know is the information

you are really seeking), your mention of John and Avice's daughter (also

named Avice) having married a James Powditch in Warham in 1830,

managed to really wake me up from an otherwise uneventful start to the day.

From what you have provided in your contribution, and from what I had noted

in past research, there must have been two (at least) families with the

surname of MATTHEWS living in the Warham area around the same time,

and strangely enough, a daughter from each of the Matthews' families

married someone with the surname of POWDITCH.

In the case of your own ancestors, your Avice's marriage to a James

Powditch in Warham in 1830 (James having been from Wells, and a

Mariner), might be compared to one Mary Matthews' marriage to a Thomas

Powditch on 29 Oct 1829, at St. Nicholas' Parish Church, Wells-next-the-

Sea - Mary Matthews having come from the Parish of Warham St. Mary

(witnesses being Henry Cook Garritt; Elizabeth Powditch, and Alice

Matthews (?sister/?mother of Mary) ).

Although I know that the two Powditchs weren't brothers (Thomas' parents

were Wells Powditch and Sarah Garritt nee Cook, and although he did have

a brother named James, he wasn't the one who married - as far as I can

say - your Avice Matthews). Having said that, I'm hoping that you might have

seen or had information relating to James P and Avice M's marriage details

(and witnesses to same) as I believe (but need to have corroborating

evidence) that James was one of the children of James Powditch and

Margaret Woods (both from Wells-next-the-Sea), so can you help re that?

For my sins, I have been researching the Powditch family since the early

1980s (my late mother-in-law having been the catalyst for my research, she

having been a Powditch by birth), and besides a book I wrote in 1989 re the

family, I also have a large website devoted to the history of the Powditch

family (www.powditch.plus.com/) on which you may find items and

snippets of information to help.

Should 'my' James Powditch be the specific James Powditch (there were

many at that time, although I believe that I've accounted for the others!) who

married your Avice Matthews, then you'll be pleased to know (I hope) that I

can provide more background information about him and his ancestors.

Perhaps you may be able to answer some of the gaps I have with what

happened to James and Avice, including whether they had any children etc.

Look forward to hearing from you sometime, and thanks again for putting

your enquiry into The Norfolk Ancestor".

2 Dec 2007

A couple of days after emailing Faye Edwards (Australia), I received the following

reply;-

"Dear John & Ang

Thank you for your email. I will pass your condolences on to Ken's family

at the Funeral on Tuesday.

I knew there was something wrong when I didn't hear from you and I am

sorry to hear that you are all having problems with sickness. Please pass

our love on to everyone.

We are still in a drought and on fairly strict water usage. Because of this

they are finding reasons why they have to increase the price of everything.

Our garden is surviving even though we can only water for 2 hours twice a

week. Bobby has packed it with mulch and horse manure which seems to

be keeping the ground cool and holding a certain amount of moisture.

Guess your weather is getting quite cool now. We are in the high twenties

and that will increase until March/April.

Look after yourselves and hope that 2008 is brighter for all of us.

Love

Faye"

NOVEMBER 2007

30 Nov 2007

Having received the sad news about Ken Knowles (Faye's elder brother), we as

a family sent the following reply.

"Dear Faye, Bob and family - and please will you also send a copy of this

to Glenda and Tony as I don't seem to have their current email address.

First of all I must say how very sorry to hear of your brother, Ken's recent

(and untimely) death. Although 81 is a good age to achieve, by the same

token with the history of the Jouvelets' longevity (even if he was a Knowles,

he did have a lot of ancestry in him) it's a shock to hear your news, and

both Ang and my prayers and thoughts are with you and Glenda and all

your families at this very sad time.

1992 and our all meeting up in Melbourne now seems such a long way

away, but I'm very glad that I did meet Ken (and Graham) and all the rest

of Ken's family at that time, for at least everyone was in good health, much

younger! and able to get about back then.

The last 15 years has made a big difference to us all, in health, in

circumstances and much more, and my main regret at this time is that I

haven't had the chance to return to both Australia and New Zealand during

that period, to once again meet 'old friends, but this time with Ang. I still

keep my fingers crossed that one day we will be able to come, but like

yourself with your arthritis, the family this end have all sorts of problems,

and even being able to get a couple of days away for Ang and I is

exceedingly difficult (more about that some other time!)

Yes, I must admit to having been guilty as to having received your October

email but not having acknowledged it, as I've been guilty not only with the

other emails received re Jouvelet news (including the recent birth) but also

to just about eveyone's emails to me over the past few months!

Unfortunately health problems both for myself as well as for the rest of the

family (Shirley, Carole and Ang) over the past year have meant that

although I check my emails daily, I've not been up to correspondence

(and I've also not 'touched' the Powditch website for months!)

I spent a little time a few weeks ago moving replied-to messages into

specific folders, and by the look of things I must have incorrectly moved

your 24 Oct message at the same time, so many apologies re that. I'll

reply to that message and all the Jouvelet etc information very soon, and

as soon as I'm able to, I must get back to little Esther.

I expect that you'll be going to Ken's funeral, so please will you let his

'children' (is Ken junior still the only one to have had children?) know how

very sad I am to hear of their father's death. Again I don't seem to have

their postal or email addresses so hope that you don't mind conveying

my condolences.

With love to you all, and will be in touch again soon,

Please take care of yourselves (and of that neck!)

Love,

John and Ang (and Shirley and Carole)"

30 Nov 2007

I received some sad news today from Faye Edwards (Australia). In her email to me she wrote;-

"Dear John & Ang

Hope you are both well.

I just want to let you know that my Brother Ken passed away yesterday,

November 29th 2007 at 3.55 am in the Northern Hospital, Epping,

Melbourne. This was as a result of a Cardiac Arrest which happened a

couple of days earlier. Ken was 81 years old.

We are saying, "Don't turn 70 as various problems keep coming up."

Love to you both

Faye & Bob xxx"

20 Nov 2007

Mark Jouvelet from Autralia emailed to say;-

In tomorrow’s Herald Sun Newspaper (Melbourne)

It's a Girl

JOUVELET. ---

Kim, Mark, Lochlan and Felicity

are proud to announce

the safe arrival of

Monique

Kimberley

Born on Nov.12, 2007

Special thanks to Midwives Liz

and Mina and all the staff at

Casey Hospital

_____________________

Regards,

Mark"

Congratulation to Mark and Kim and all the family, and a special welcome to

baby Monique Kimberley Jouvelet.

16 Nov 2007

I sent an email to the Cheshire Record Office in my search for a nineteenth-

century Powditch Will. In my message I wrote;-

"I am currently trying to find the wherabouts (and obtain a copy of same) of the

Will of;-

Powditch, George of Liverpool, mariner. 28 Jan 1817

whose Will was mentioned in;-

Tonge, William Asheton, An index to wills and administrations (including the "infra" wills) now preserved in the Probate Registry at Chester, for the years 1811-1820, both inclusive. (Chester (England). Probate Registry; Publisher: [Kendal] Printed for the Record Society of Lancashire and Chester, 1928.)

Although I have checked your excellent online Wills database, and that for

Lancashire RO (as I understand that some Wills etc for South Lancashire were

transferred there in the past) I have not been able to see anything within either

database for anyone by the surname of Powditch (or indeed, any variant of that

surname). (Just in case, I also checked by place-name, by occupation and by

first name, but regrettably to no avail on any count!)

Should you hold a copy of the original Will at Cheshire RO, then I'd be grateful

for not only its full reference so that I can order a copy, but also for your

information as to the cost of obtaining such a copy.

Look forward to hearing from you".

12 Nov 2007

I sent emails to Georgina Powditch (UK), Haydn Powditch (UK),

Sue + Mick Duff (UK), Pat Saye (UK), and Pat & Peter Powditch (Aus) to say;-

"Ooooh, wasn't it a fantastic party, and you're all such lovely people too, I really

enjoyed myself and I've been sorting out the photos today and have made up a

.pdf file of them all, so if anyone wants a copy, please let me know (there's

about 90 photos in the file!)

Anyway, thought I'd enclose just one photo for now of the 'birthday girl' herself.

Hope you'll like it.

Margy Powditch at her 80th Birthday Party

(Copyright John C Algar, 2007-2008)

Love to you all, and thanks for making me so welcome."

11 Nov 2007

Keith Binney replied to me re John Galt Smith, saying;-

"Dear John

Charles Smith could be considered, if anybody can, the "star" of

Horsemen of the First Frontier (1788-1900). For a convict to become the

leading thoroughbred breeder and racehorse owner in the Colony was

quite a feat and of a significance that for obvious reasons, had previously

been downplayed. If you could inform your Australian "Smith" contacts of

this source of info it would be appreciated. I do not know any of the people

you list and must admit I have not read "The life and times of John Brabyn".

Perhaps Betty and I should swap book copies! In recent years (from Dec

2002) and in the book finishing period, I have not been able to readily get

to the State Library. Thus had to draw the line and finish my book from

notes, my library and the internet. Had a knee replacement, got the H-bug

staph infection; eight hospitalisations, two two-stage revisions (three

prothesises in all) and being on antibiotics for life slows one down.

Nevertheless, can still walk to the local Pub and restaurants!

Drennan and Boucher had similar characteristics. Coincidentally, I had

correspondence with a New Zealander last year who had an ancestor who

from memory defrauded the government when Collector of Customs in

Nelson of a considerable sum, then hightailed it to Sydney where he

founded one of the venerated private schools. Will try to find it as he had a

name like Boucher.

Note your comment on Drennan's wife's name. As you will agree, it is quite

common for errors to be perpetuated even in such reputable secondary

sources as the Australian Dictionary of Biography. It is not always possible

to find the original records (which are often riddled with spelling mistakes)

and such are the frustrations of a researcher. With horses and racing, one

finds that "Reminisences" usually written fifty years after the event are

notoriously unreliable. Could try to find the passenger list for the Globe's

arrival in Sydney in January 1819.

Regards

Keith Binney"

9 Nov 2007

I replied to Keith Binney (author of "Horsemen of the First Frontier" book), saying;-

"Dear Keith,

Many many thanks for your reply together with all the information within

your two messages and your attachment. All very much appreciated.

Strange you should mention Charles Smith and your having volumes on

him, for over the years I have had very good contact with several

descendants and other interested parties (mostli in Australia) re members

of the Smith 'clan', and Charles' name has reared its head on many

occasions!

Contacts I have, who might turn out to be mutual to yourself as well, are

Barry Cairns (Australia), Betty McGrath (Australia, Sydney), Robert and

Elaine Wade (Australia), whilst I have other contacts re the 'offshoot'

connections with the Smith family through Frederick Drennan, John

Gaggin and others. Indeed, having mentioned Betty McGrath (with whom I

haven't had contact for quite a while) you hopefully already know about

her book, "The life and times of JOHN BRABYN of the New South Wales

Corps and his extended family" (McGrath, Sydney, 1995) ISBN 0 646

25116 3 which contains substantial information re John Galt Smith and his

wife, plus the others abovementioned.

I must admit that I liked your decription of Frederick Drennan (i.e. 'lovable

rogue') and it would appear that there were several of those in Australia

during the same and later periods! Obviously many of the Officers,

Settlers etc moved in such circles and were subject to similar 'questionable

behaviour' when it came to goods, money etc.

'My' William Powditch, for instance, whilst living in Newcastle (NSW) and

trading from Wallis Plains, took on a partner (who he'd known from his

H.E.I.C. days), whose name was Frederick Boucher. Whilst I don't have

anything to prove that whilst they were in partnership that either of them

did anything 'underhand', following Powditch's dissolvement of the

partnership (in 1827), Boucher in later years founded a Bank and

defrauded many of substantial funds (see

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010119b.htm ) so in one

sense, Frederick Drennan was certainly more 'lovable'!

Something which although in black and white is still the subject of ongoing

research, is the surname of the wife of Frederick Drennan, for whilst all

documents and publications do indeed refer to his arrival in 1819 being

"with wife nee Sharp and two sisters-in-law", official records reveal that his

first wife, Alice, died in Jamaica in 1807/8 and that he remarried there

(1809), and this younger sister of Eliza and Ann Walsh (does one read the

"with wife nee Sharp and two sisters-in-law", as being the sisters-in-law of

Drennan or of his wife?). That Mary Ann was aged 19 in 1809 doesn't

leave much space in time for her to have been married to a Sharp,

although there is a Sharp(e) connection to William Powditch, inasmuch as

one of his sisters married a George Sharp(e) (of the 'Sharp(e) Bank' in UK).

8 Nov 2007

Received a reply from Keith Binney (author of "Horsemen of the First Frontier" book), saying;-

"One of the interesting things that having a book mentioned on the internet

brings, is welcome correspondence from strangers on the other side of the

world. The book was scanned on Google Book Search and therefore

sample pages could previously be viewed. However, I discovered last

week that the image and material had disappeared. Google have promised

to restore it but it may take a few days.

To answer your query, I have attached an extract of the John Galt Smith

section. Also, I have checked my (poorly filed) notes but there is little extra

to report. I note that the BDM record for "Smith John G. 51, 1847 is Entry

No 1125, Vol No 32. ( It is a pity that your enquiry is not about Charles

Smith - I have volumes on him). There is a Bio of Eliza's brother-in-law

Frederick Drennan (c1779-1837) in the Australian Dictionary of Biography,

which has recently become available online http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm He was an interesting

rogue. See that he arrived in Sydney in 1819 "with wife nee Sharp and two

sisters-in-law" so the actual source of his relationship with Eliza Walsh is

not clear.

I have not come across William Powditch previously. There is probably no

point in buying "Horsemen" unless like others you are interested in having

the info in a hardcover book that places an ancestor among famous

contemporaries and fleshes out the times."

and another message I received the same day from Keith read as follows;-

"Perhaps the best way to obtain details of Eliza's parents is to obtain

Marriage and Death Certificates from the NSW Registry

www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm in the hope they will

have some more information. Not all records prior to 1850 are available.

However, found a Marriage in 1823:

Registration Groom Bride District

V18233210 3B/1823 Smith John G. Walsh, Eliza CF

CF = Church of England, Liverpool [NSW], St. Lukes [Church]

Found a death in 1870 at Paterson which seems likely:

Registration Death Father Mother District

5369/1870 Smith, Eliza A John W. Rebecca Paterson

Also, this info could enable you to check for Eliza's Birth in England with

John Walsh as father.

Regards

Keith"

7 Nov 2007

Having discovered a really interesting book mentioned on the web, I sent an

email to the author (Keith Binney in Australia), saying;-

"Good evening (well, it is here, in 'old' South Wales, UK!)

I must admit to being fascinated to your having written and published your

"Horsemen of the First Frontier" book, as seen on

http://www.horsemenofthefirstfrontier.info/ and also to my having discovered (indirectly through both Google and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/antrim/

A1098713_replies.shtml (BBC website re Northern Ireland and its family history mentions) that both John Galt Smith, and his wife, Eliza, figure in your book (together with mention of 'Woodville' in the Hunter Valley).

The reason for this email, besides one of congratulations, is to enquire as

to how much information you have entered within your book on both of the

above individuals as well as the place, and whether you - through your

research - actually discovered anything regarding Eliza's parents etc.

For my sins (and you may have come across the following whilst you were

looking at the Galt Smiths, at Woodville, etc) I have been researching the

Powditch family since the mid 1980s, and in 1992 I was in Australia and

New Zealand undertaking research into the William Powditch who had

married Eliza's sister, Ann(e) in London in 1823.

William, who, as far as I'm aware had not had any involvement in Horses

(Cattle, yes, Ships and Shipping together with trade, yes, but Horses?????)

- some of his 1825 exploits can be seen from that page on my Powditch

website, the specific one in question being;-

http://www.powditch.plus.com/WilliamPowditch/year_1825.htm is

responsible in early Australian and New Zealand for many things, including

innovations, suggestions, positions etc, and at one time, his own son was

to be the heir to Eliza Smith's estate (Woodville et al). Unfortunately,

William George Watt Powditch (bo.1825) together with his son had

untimely deaths, and it was WGWP's widow who appears to have 'acquired'

the estate (and after she married Mr Roberts, the estate prospered under

her and her Crocker family. Anyway, that's another story!)

Although I should be able to obtain (purchase) a copy of your "Horsemen

of the First Frontier" book from over here, at this stage I'd just like to know

whether there's a substantial amount of info within it on both John Galt

Smith, his wife, and their horses, or whether it's just a couple of lines of

mention.

Apologies for the bluntness of the latter, but as a researcher and author

yourself, particularly at such a distance, it's not possible for me (other than

via your online index) to ascertain what action I should take for the present.

I therefore would appreciate any comments."

OCTOBER 2007

24 Oct 2007

I received an email today from Faye Edwards (Australia) in which she referred

to her Jouvelet ancestors, as well as to Sally Hill and her discoveries. In her

message she wrote;-

"Dear John & Ang

How are you both? It is so long since I wrote to you.

Sally has really uncovered so much information about the Jouvelet family

and some revelations about my Great Grandfather Philippe Jouvelet. I

have noted on most of her emails that she has passed her findings on to

you so you will be familiar with the Family History.She has quoted

reference numbers with the information she has passed on so they must

be accurate.

I am not sure whether Sally passed the following information on to you:

In a letter to Sally's Mother Tessa from her AuntyValerie Sabine, in 1962 it

states:" When my Grandparents came to England from Alsace in 1870 a

hair Dressing business was opened in Brompton Rd----As Papa Jouvelet

knew nothing about hairdressing a manager ( Mr Pauli) was put in. The

former at some time went to America for a cure (I think for Rheumatism),

something electrical, but my Mummie ( Adele Sabine nee Jouvelet) hardly

remembered him, being very young when he died in England. She

seemed to know VERY VERY little about him anyway----"

I was very surprised that Philippe Jouvelet was not a hairdresser before he

went to England as I am sure that Mum, Aunty Vi etc thought he was.

John, you will have a record of the Jouvelet stories told to us by Mum &

the Family which I have passed on to you.

It is quite a shock to find out these other facts.

It seems that my Grandpa's Father Philippe died when he was only 7 years

and his Mother Adele told the children that their Father had gone to

America to get a cure for Rheumatism.(This was probably the kindest way

to explain to the children why their Father was not there instead of having

to tell them he was in an Asylum)

It answers why our family stories didn't tell us how Philippe died as the

children of Philippe & Adele were probably never told.

I have had to try to adjust my thoughts about the family stories told to us

as Mum always thought that Grandpa and his brother Adolphe were

hairdressing apprentices to their father Philippe when in fact they must

have been apprentices to their Stepfather Jean Pauli.

Who would have thought that these generations later we would find out

through Government records the truth about our French Great Grandfather

Philippe.

Isn't it amazing just how interesting it is to do Family History and how

wonderful your website is to be able to reunite families.

Look forward to hearing from you and hope you are feeling better John.

Love Faye xxxx"

23 Oct 2007

Geoff and Barbara Clemerson emailed to say;-

"I suddenly realised that we had not heard from you for a while, and

coupled with the knowledge that your health has been getting worse, I was

a little concerned.

I do hope you. or Ang, are able to respond to this, but in any event

Barbara and I send our best wishes."

- to which I replied

23 Oct 2007

I received an email from Paul Riviere Dunlevie from Australia re the Flood family

and their history. Paul wrote to say;-

"Hello

I would like to correspond with you about the Flood Family that you

mention on your website.

I am particularly interested in establishing documentary links between

Valentine Flood and Frederick Swift Flood, who came to Australia in c1853.

To connect him to Jonathon Swift is too much to hope for, although I will

never give up (as I see you have not). Anyhow, I have some information

that I have gleaned over the years if you are interested in conversing.

Have you heard the 'family legends' surrounding Fred's arrival in

Australia for instance?

I am related to him through Maud Flood, my Grandmothers' mother.

Regards

Paul Riviere Dunlevie"

15 Oct 2007

I received an email from Lesley Smith, following my having contacted her through

the GenesReunited website. Lesley wrote to say;-

"Hello John,

thankyou for contacting me through genes[reunited].

You are very kind to reply to me about Ellen marrying onto the Mancktelow

family. i only recently found out about Ellen as i knew my great uncle well

and saw him regularly, but Ellen must have been his first wife, as i only

remember Mary as his wife. i never knew he had a daughter Betty at all.

i have a man who contacted me as he belongs to the Mancktelow family

and he is very good in sending me things he traces for the tree. It was him

who sent tree for Arthur Mancktelow to me that showed Ellen Powditch as

his first wife. i will be interested to look at your web site thankyou very much.

Arthur was a brother to Richard Mancktelow who was my grandad . am

attaching 2 pages of decendants to show you. thanks again for contacting

regards

lesley smith"

"Descendants of Arthur Mancktelow

--------------------------------

1-Arthur Mancktelow b. 1 Jul 1910, Poplar, Middlesex, England,

d. Before 31 Dec 1977, Poplar, Middlesex, England

+Ellen Powditch b. Before Jul 1912, Poplar, Middlesex, England,

d. Before Jul 1957, Stepney, Middlesex, England"

N.B. Lesley did provide full details of both Alfred and Arthur Mancktelow's

descendants, although I have only included the Mancktelow/Powditch

marriage/connection here

8 Oct 2007

I received a copy of an email which Mark Jouvelet had sent to Faye Edwards

further to the latest news from Sally Hill re the the Jouvelet family. In his

message he wrote;-

"G’day Faye,

Grandpa lives one month with Mum & Dad in Mornington, one month at

home with Aunty Adele and one month at home with Aunty Julie. So he

is probably in Transit somewhere.

Historically speaking, very few people over one hundred years ago lived

to ripe old ages and just “faded out” like they do these days. Nearly

everyone came to a horrible end. Simple diseases and injuries were all

major events, and life could end very abruptly. This is why, traditionally

people celebrated life (this is all he good stuff we hear) and death has

always been tabo. So I was not surprised to hear such an ending, in fact,

for it to be any other way, it would have been rare, and almost unbelievable.

Most people in the late 1800’s did not live past 50, so they did well for their

time and puts things into historical perspective.

Regards,

Mark"

this having been in reply to an email Faye had sent to Mark on 5 Oct 2007, in

which she had written;-

"Hi Mark

Thank you for forwarding this on to me.I also received it from Sally. She

has been wonderful with her research and passing it on to us.

It was a real surprise to read the information that Sally has uncovered as in

all the Family stories we have been told we haven't heard the sad ending

of Philippe's life.I wonder if Uncle Leon was aware of it.

I tried to ring Uncle Leon some time ago and left a message but didn't get

a reply.

Since then we have been away and I haven't got back to ringing again. I am

wondering how he is and if he is still at home.

Love Faye"

4 Oct 2007

Mark Taylor emailed me to say;-

"Hi John

It looks like you have restablished your links.

Attached [but not included here] are the descendents that I know of Oliver Hayhow, up to the generation no longer with us. I hope this is of interest, although you possibly have this and more.

Thanks for your email. As I alluded to, the internet is a great place to start,

and it has certainly put me in touch with some very dedicated historians!

I think it has struck fear into the heart of my wife though. She is worried I

will be spending all my holidays in Churches Archives and Graveyards.

Cheers

Mark"

4 Oct 2007

I sent a reply to Mark Taylor re Martha Neale?, saying

"Thanks also for the info re not only Oliver and his 11 children, as well as

for that re Anne Neale and Martha Neale - let's hope that following your

detailed searching, that Louise [Hutchinson] might be able to provide

further information and explanations re whether the TH who married Anne

Neale is the same one (or not) who married Martha Neale".

I also thanked Mark for letting me know that some of the front page links [on the

powditch website] seemed to be broken, particularly the one relating to the

family tree, and I advised him that I'd spent some time looking through the home

page, and I had discovered (thanks to his comments) that there were actually

11 broken links on that page! - all now 'repaired'.

4 Oct 2007

Following on the heels of Sally Hill's Jouvelet revelations, I received a copy of an

email which Mark Jouvelet (Australia) had sent to Sally, whicth Mark had also

copied to Faye Edwards (Australia), Julie Harrison (Australia), and Karen Nilson, in which he had written;-

"Dear Sally,

Fantastic, we’re descendants of crazy people. It explains everything!! (Ha

ha).

What a fantastic effort in pulling all this information together. I wonder what

become of the other children?

Just to let you know, we have another Jouvelet arriving in three to four

weeks. My wife Kim is due at the end of the month. This will make it child

number three for us (Lochlan aged 6, Felicity aged 4).

Until next time,

Mark"

3 Oct 2007

Although I hadn't heard anything from Sally Hill since July 2007, today I received

a copy of an email Sally Hill had sent to Faye Edwards (Australia), Julie Harrison

(Australia), Karen Nilson, Mark Jouvelet (Australia) and myself, with an update

re the Jouvelet family, In her email, Sally wrote;-

"Dear Faye, John, Julie, Karen, and Mark,

I have recently received from the UK government records office official

copies of the death certificates of the couple Philippe Jouvelet and Adele

Jouvelet (nee Fetter), and the marriage certificate for the second marriage

of Adele Jouvelet (nee Fetter).

Note: I have put the official reference numbers in brackets in case you

should wish to obtain copies yourselves.

You will recall that the married couple Philippe Jouvelet and Adele nee

Fetter left France and settled in London, England. They became

naturalized British Subjects in September 1870 at which time they were

living at 160 Brompton Road, Middlesex, and had 3 children, their eldest

your ancestor Philippe being 5 years old. Two months later in November

1870 their 4th child my ancestor Adele was born.

So the 1871 Census shows Philippe and Adele Jouvelet living with their

4 children at 160 Brompton Road, and Philippe's profession given as

Hairdresser and Perfumer.

Philippe Jouvelet died on 28th July 1872 aged 47 at the Middlesex

Lunatic Asylum, Norwood. (certificate ref. District Uxbridge, Vol 3a, Page

21). Cause of Death stated as "General Paralysis" (ie. the final stage of

syphilis). Occupation "Formerly Hairdresser late of 160 Brompton Road,

Kensington". The informant for the death was "W.C.Begley the medical

doctor in attendance Middlesex Lunatic Asylum Norwood".

Philippe's widow Adele Jouvelet remarried on 8th February 1873

(certificate ref. District Kensington, Vol 1a, Page 297). The certificate

shows that "Adele Jouvelet, age 41 years, widow" married "Jean Leonard

Pauli, age 29 years, batchelor". The address of both is given as

160 Brompton Road. The marriage took place at The Oratory, Kensington

(Catholic Church). The profession of Jean Pauli is "Hair Dresser". The

father of Adele is named as "Frederick Feter" who's profession is

"Business Manager".

The 1881 Census shows Jean (born Belgium, Nat British Subject) and

Adele and the 4 Jouvelet children all using the surname Pauli and living

together at 160 Brompton Road. On this record your ancestor Philippe is

shown as aged 15 and already working as a hair dresser alongside his

step-father Jean. But his younger sister Marie aged 14 is still a "scholar".

The 1891 Census shows only Jean Pauly age 47, Adele Pauly age 59 and

Marie Jouvelet age 24 still living at 160 Brompton Road.

Adele Pauly (formerly Adele Jouvelet, nee Fetter) died on the 25th March

1900 aged 69 years at 33 Rostrevor Road, Fulham, London (certificate

ref.District Fulham, Vol 1a, Page 290). There are many causes of Death

stated but the one underlined is "Pulmonary Tubercle" (ie Tuberculosis).

Other causes are "Chronic Bronchitis 20 years", "Mitral Stenosis" (a heart

valve defect), and "Exhaustion". The informant for the certificate was a

neighbour who was present at the death. (I cannot be sure but it's possible

that Adele died at the house of her daughter Adele Sabine as I know my

grandmother was born in an adjoining street in Fulham in 1893).

The 1901 Census show Jean Pauly age 56 and his "daughter" Marie

Jouvelet age 30 (assume error - should be age 34) living at 160 Brompton

Road.

(There is no record listed in the UK records index for the death of Jean

Pauly and it is said by my side of the family that he died on a trip "home"

to his family in Belgium. It is further believed that upon Jean's death the

Jouvelet children became disinherited from their parent's money).

I apologise for the gloomy and shocking nature of some of the above but

these are the facts and on reflection they help us to understand the

characters and life decisions of our ancestors.

With love from Sally"

3 Oct 2007

I received an email from Graham re his Barling ancestors, in which he wrote;-

"Hi John!

Thank you very much for the interesting message you sent me via Genes

Reunited. Please rest assured that I do not intend researching the

Powditch family too heavily... I was only interested in those that connect

directly with the Barling family.

As for my connection with the Barling family, it is quite a complicated story

but it was thanks to Peter Lowe that I made a significant breakthrough a

few years ago. Following the death of my dad in 2002 I realised I knew

very little about his background and after having some success

researching his side of the family I then turned my attentions to mum

knowing she had been given up for adoption as a very young child. She

knew nothing about her birth family and when she went in search of her

adoption records during the 1970's she was told they could not be found

(all she obtained was her birth certificate giving the name of her natural

mother). After making some extensive enquiries I finally located her

adoption file at the London Metropolitan Archives and in accordance with

Adoption Act legislation details were eventually released to her in my

presence through our local social services. We discovered that after

giving birth to my mum, her mother met a James Barling and lived with

him in London. They had a baby boy together called David John Barling

(b. 1935) and following his birth it seems my Grandmother had difficulties

coping with 2 small children, which resulted in mum being taken into care.

Anyhow this made me go in search of mum's half-brother, David, but

during a visit to the Family Record Centre I discovered that he died aged

3 yrs (a month after mum's formal adoption). I thought I had gone about

as far as I could until I found Peter Lowe's website and learnt that mum

had another half-brother called Michael John Barling (b. 1939). I

immediately contacted Peter who informed me that he had been in

contact with Michael for some 10 yrs during his research. It seems

Michael knew he once had a brother and sister but was told they had both

died before he was born.

Michael's dad (James) died when he was young so he knew very little

about the Barling's apart from what Peter had told him. As you can

imagine it was quite an emotional experience meeting Michael for the

first time but we have been busy since then making up for the many lost

years.

I've not worked out the connection yet between James and Mabel Barling

but they are certainly related. I've supplied Michael with as much

information as I can about the Barling's using the names provided by

Peter and my other Barling contacts (including some in Australia). This

is how I came across the Powditch family using the names listed on

Peter's website. I hope this helps to explain my interest with the

Barling family.

All the best

Graham"

3 Oct 2007

I received a reply today from Mark Taylor re Martha Neale? in which he said;-

"Hi John

Thanks for your comprehensive email! I said I was going away, well its not till

early Saturday morning, so I am still researching! I have only been

researching our family trees for about 10 weeks, and I now understand how

compelling it can be.

I have copied in italics part of your note to comment below;

(Me) Not long after I began my research, I made contact with a Hayhow who lives in the UK, and she shared much of her Hayhow research with me, and if be prepared to let me know your direct email address I'll forward details of your and my messages to date to her, and hopefully you'll be able to share Hayhow family history with each other.

(Mark) I would be happy for you to forward my details and would love to share the family history, and what happened to one line. Oliver Hayhow had 11 children, Alice Maud Victoria, child no. 8, had only 2 children, and only one who survived infancy (Magdalena Long).

(Me) Although much of this information, plus side shoots (Hayhow-wise) plus other details are on my website,

(Mark) Some of the front page links seem to be broken, particularly the one relating to the family tree. I had found your website earlier during my research - (when all else fails, I google!), and have previously accessed Elizabeth Powditch's ancestry.

(Me) Just as a matter of interest, when I was relooking at the information Louise had researched re Thomas Hayhow, son of Thomas and Elizabeth, I noticed that whereas on your tree you have re the former Thomas' marriage being to Martha Neale, Louise had actually discovered that Thomas had married twice! the first time to Anne Neale

(b.c1789 - d. before 1820) whom he married on 18 Dec 1809, at Wells-

next-the-Sea (and they had 3 children), and he married Martha Withers

(dates of b and d not shown, although they married c1820, and they had

13 children, including your Oliver Hayhow. Oohh, Louise will be thrilled

to discover that info (if she hadn't already discovered it over the last

25+ years!)

(Mark) Using the internet as basically my only source of information, I had

discovered that Thomas Hayhow first married Anne Neale, with a source on

the IGI.

According to this source - it doesn't actually say the source, I assume it is in

the bowels of the LDS - Anne Neale's parents were James Neale and Anne

Withers.

They had 6 children, one of whom was Martha, b. Brinton, (as was Anne)

31 May 1795. A Martha Neale married Thomas Hayhow on 13 Oct 1820 at

St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Great Yarmouth seems a long way

away, but by this stage both parents were probably dead, who knows why

she moved there. The censuses of 1851 and 1861 show that Thomas

Hayhow's wife was Martha Withers Neale, suggesting that Withers was her

middle name. Given that the mother of the aforementioned Martha Neale

was Anne Withers, I have gone on the circumstantial evidence. Martha's

death is recorded on GRO as Quarter 2, 1873, age @77, which ties in with

the IGI birthdates. Of course that is 'to the best of my knowledge, and without

being on the ground, it is difficult to know for sure. I am easily convinced by

facts, so perhaps Louise knows the answers here.

The other interesting question on the Hayhow side is how the name

Morledge became a middle name for some of Thomas's children. But that

is probably again one for the Hayhow historian.

Thanks again for your information, and congratulations on the website.

Regards

Mark Taylor"

Although I did reply to Mark re the above, I would wish to point out (especially as he has referred to having used the IGI as a source) that the IGI (being the abbreviation for the International Genealogical Index) and its on-line version via FamilySearch is/are only 'finding aids', and should not be taken to be 100% correct. Indeed, because they contain many innacuracies of names, dates and other details, I would discourage anyone from quoting either IGI or FamilySearch as their source for information.

From both a Family- and Local- Historian's perspective, any details found

relating to an historical event must be verified by recourse to the original

document proclaiming same, and preferably by at least one other contemporary

document which confirms the details. Anything else is 'guesswork'.

SEPTEMBER 2007

27 Sep 2007

I received an email from Josie in Australia, in which she said;-

"Dear John,

How are you? I just recently looked into your website to see if there was

any new information on it but found it to be the same as I'd last looked at

some time ago. I was wondering if you received my e mail regarding

updating some of the information on the section of Leon Jouvelet's family.

I had some dates of marriages, births and deaths to add to your list.

If by chance you did'nt receive it I'd be happy to forward it to you.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Josie"

24 Sep 2007

The Radio Society of Great Britain replied to my email to them (q.v.) advising me that;-

"In reply to your enquiry, the Powditch Receiving & Transmitting trophies

were donated to the Radio Society of Great Britain by H.J. Powditch, G5VL

in 1929.

RSGB publication "World At Their Fingertips" shows H.J. Powditch G5VL

of Porth, Cornwall, was Manager of the RSGB Contact Bureau during

1930-1933, in which he recorded world-wide contacts.

Kind regards

Sylvia Manco

GM & AR Secretariat

Registered Office: Radio Society of Great Britain

Lambda House, Cranborne Road, Potters Bar, Herts, EN6 3JE UK

Tel +44 (0) 870 904 7373

Fax +44 (0) 870 904 7374

Registered Number: 216431

Patron: HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, KG, KT.

Founded 1913, Incorporated 1926"

For your information, H.J. Powditch's full name was Hubert James Powditch,

and he was born in 1885, his birth being registered in the District of Holborn,

London. HJP - who didn't marry - died on 16 Oct 1936 at Porth House, Porth

Street, Columb Minor, Cornwall.

17 Sep 2007

I sent an email to the Radio Society of Great Britain to discover more about two

of their trophies, as they both had the name of 'Powditch'.

In my message I wrote;-

Re: RSGB Trophies and information on the trophies which the National Council

of the RSGB award, I understand (from the RSGB website) that the following

Trophies are awarded by the HF Contest Committee:

Powditch Receiving Trophy

SWL winner of the 28MHz section of the 211 28MHz Phone Contest

and

Powditch Transmitting Trophy

Leading single operator station in the 28MHz section of the 21128MHz Phone Contest

and I would be most interested to discover the name of the Powditch who is/was

behind the said Trophies, together with any other information regarding them

and for how long the Trophies have been awarded.

Although I have 'prided' myself on the amount of research I have undertaken into

most members of the Powditch family (both present and past), I would add that

to my shame I haven't discovered yet which family member it was that had his

(or her) name put to both the above Receiving and Transmitting Trophies,

although I would be really pleased to discover more - hence this email enquiry

for more information.

Look forward to hearing from you.

AUGUST 2007

25 Aug 2007

Dean Hoey (Australia) emailed to say;-

"Well since the last time I spoke to you, my mothers parents George & Thora

Cooper ( George is Ida Powditch & William Coopers son), have now moved

to Brisbane and are living with my mum ( Judith Cooper), and they are all

doing well.

This morning my mum's brother ( Graeme Cooper) was put into hospital in an

intensive care room, for some unknown problem, he is in an induced coma

and the doctors are unsure if he will come out of it, so today has been a bad

day for us. When we went to see him today the doctors told us that they were

surprised that he hadn't died, so we are all praying that he makes it through

and sees better days, if he doesn't have any permanent brain damage.

I am waiting for more family tree stuff from my grandfather George Cooper,

as one of his nephews has received more information with extra names, and

missing family members that I did not have in my tree. So I look forward to

adding them when I get it. Also we are told that other family members have

records on my grandmothers side, George's wife Thora Richardson, which

will be good as I don't have any details of her family at all

All the best Dean, Dodie & the kids."

23 Aug 2007

Margery Powditch and Pam Powditch (both from Cardiff) came to visit us today

JULY 2007

18 Jul 2007

After I sent the previous email (q.v.) to the Rector of St.Edmund's Church in

Downham Market, Norfolk, I received the following reply;-

"Thank you for your e-mail. I will forward it to one of our recent

Churchwardens, who complied the history from which I took the information

for the website!

Thank you for your enquiry.

With all good wishes,

Fr James Mather"

Unfortunately however, to date I haven't heard anything further re the belles, although one year on (July 2008) the same website still carries the details re a Powditch name being on their Bell No.4.

18 Jul 2007

Having discovered what either was an error or an 18th-century form of recycling,

I contacted the Rector of St. Edmund's Church at Downham Market, Norfolk,

and asked;-

"Dear Fr. James W. Mather,

Some time ago I discovered your excellent website with all its interesting

sections which I've enjoyed reading.

I'd actually arrived at your site then, in the same manner as today's visit,

through using a search engine whilst searching for the surname of

Powditch, and I was amazed when I last saw your site, as I've been today,

for there is mention of a bell within your tower, which - in theory if not in

practice - shouldn't be there (unless you or one of your parishioners can

contradict me!)

The bell in dispute, is No.4, which according to your website is as follows:-

4. Osborn and Arnold, St Neots, Hunts, fecit. The gift of Rev. D. Poynt, R. Layton and R. Powditch Churchwardens 1774.

Obviously there must be a reason for my having made such a statement,

........ and the reason is [explained within the following]

Originating in the Norfolk/Cambridge Fenlands, in and around Outwell,

Upwell, Emneth, Welney and other villages in the region of the Old, the

New and the Little, Podike (parts of which are still extant), there were

connections with Downham Market and its nearby Wallington, as well as

'across the water' at the Wiggenhalls, but most of those connections

ended in the 1500s, by which time, family members had either moved to

Lynn, or further cross country, to Wiveton on the North Norfolk coast.

One branch of the Wiveton lot went on to settle in nearby Morston, whilst in

later years a descendant moved to Castle Acre, then to the Lexhams, and

then to North Creake, where they took a lease on Creake Abbey farm

(from Christ's College, Cambridge) in the mid-1600s, and where they lived

until approximately the 1770s (which was when they decided not to renew

the lease on the property).

During their time at Creake Abbey, various family members were much

involved with the Church at North Creake, and besides what they did for

the village during their years there, and besides the several Powditch

graves in the Church's North Aisle, something else with which they have

been remembered, are the two of the six bells in the tower, one of which is

engraved (precised here);-

4. A & O St Neots, Fecit 1774/5 Mr Rog. Powdich (amongst other names)

whilst the other is engraved (again precised);-

5. F.N. Norwich Fecit 1744/5 Mr Thomas Powdich (amongst other names)

As you probably can see, that your Church has a bell (No.4) with the same

or virtually the same wording as Bell No.4 at North Creake Church, is

rather a puzzle, unless of course, you are aware of Rev. D. Poynt, R. Layton

and R Powdi[t]ch having been Vicar and Churchwardens at St.Edmunds,

Downham Market as well.

Incidentally, of the latter names, it is just possible that due to age, they

may not have been completely legible when they were read/transcribed

for your website, for the surnames should actually read Poyntz, Clayton

and Powdich, but having said that, I wonder whether, back in the 1770s

when the bells were made, whether it was a case that Osborn and Arnold,

St Neots, Hunts either made an error in a casting, or with the names, and

that they not only recast a new bell for St.Mary's at North Creake, but that

they were able to provide the 'faulty' bell to St Edmund's?

Of course, the latter might just be conjecture on my part, but should you

have an avid historian in your parish who has or would be willing to,

consult your Parish Records (e.g. Churchwardens' Accounts?) an answer,

or at least a clue, might be found there.

I do apologise for such a long email, but alternatively I hope that you have

found its contents to be of interest, and perhaps between us we can resolve

the mystery of how there came to be two bells containing virtually the same

names, made by the same Company, in the same year and for the same

lot of Churchwardens!

With very kind regards, and thanks for your having taken the time to read through so much. I also look forward to hearing from you (perhaps the topic might be something else to add to your excellent website sometime in the future?)

God bless,

John"

14 Jul 2007

Out of the blue, I received an email from Gail Goodwin, from Levin, in New Zealand, in which she wrote;-

"Hi, I am the gr gr gr gr granddaughter of Mary Ann Powditch 3/3/1794 who

married Francis Isles in Wells. Her daughter Emily Eliza Jane Isles

(b. about 1825 in Wells) Married Joseph Raven they went to Australia for

about 10 years (Ballarat) and returned to England, both died in South

Shields, Durham in the early 1900s. They had a daughter (in Ballarat)

Alice Rosina Raven (later Mrs James Bales of East Dereham). They had

a daughter May (later Burrows) who had a daughter Violet Maud whose

son Clifford Goodwin is my father. We emigrated to New Zealand in 1965

when I was nine and I live in Levin, New Zealand. Your website is terrific I

have learned so much.

Gratefully"

Gail, I'm so glad that you not only found my website to be 'terrific', but that you have been able to fill in some of the 'blanks' in Powditch history for me. Thanks ever so much.

11 Jul 2007

I received a copy of an email Sally Hill had sent to Faye Edwards (Australia),

Julie Harrison (Australia), Karen Nilson, Mark Jouvelet (Australia) and myself, regarding the Jouvelet family, In her email, Sally wrote;-

"Dear Faye, John, Julie, Karen and Mark,

Over the past couple of months I have got hold of birth and marriage

certificates (didn't get on to deaths yet!) from the UK government records

office (www.gro.gov.uk) and can therefore give you the following verified

details of our branch of the Jouvelet family (note; I have put the UK

records office ref nos in brackets):

My mother was born Teresa Leonie Dixson (known as "Tessa") in London,

England on 22nd January 1931, died in Cornwall, England on 4th October

1995.

Her father was Owen Dixson born in Deptford, London on 25th March 1901

(District-Greenwich,Vol-1d,Page-1003) and her mother was Eunice Marie

Pauline Dixson (nee Sabine) born at 35 Whittingstall Road, Fulham,

London on 6th September 1893. (District-Fulham,Vol-1a,Page-252).

(The date and place of marriage of O.and E.Dixson not yet known).

The father of Eunice Marie Pauline (nee) Sabine was Charles Lewis

Sabine, occupation Furrier (master).

Charles Lewis Sabine was born in the City of London, London on 16th April

1848 (District-London,Vol-2,Page-181).

The mother of Eunice Marie Pauline (nee) Sabine was Adele Marie

Sophie Sabine (nee Jouvelet).

Adele Marie Sophie (nee) Jouvelet was born Sophie Marie Adele Jouvelet

(**note the later reversal of her name**) at 160 Brompton Road, Brompton,

Kensington, Middlesex (ie London) on 14th November 1870 (District-

Kensington,Vol-1a,Page-164).

Her father was Philippe Jouvelet (occupation - hairdresser) and her mother

was Adele Jouvelet (nee Fetter).

The marriage of Charles Lewis Sabine and Adele Marie Sophie Jouvelet

took place at Holy Trinity Brompton, Kensington, Middlesex (*note

Anglican church) on 16th February 1889 (District-Kensington,Vol-1a,

Page-131). At the date of marriage Charles Sabine was a widower aged

41, occupation furrier; and Adele Jouvelet was a spinster aged 18 residing

at 160 Brompton Road who's father was Philippe Jouvelet (occupation

Hair Dresser).

Sending this with my best regards to you all,

Sally"

8 Jul 2007

Michelle Webber replied to my email of 3 April (q.v.), and in her email she said;-

"Hi John,

Thanks for the photos - it is fantastic being able to put names to faces!

I will send you the pictures I promised as soon as we have the scanner

sorted but in the mean time I've found the following. William White, Edith's

grandfather died on the 12th December 1879 and was buried on the 15th

December. His wife Amelia died on the 30th March 1878 and was buried

on the 2nd April. They are both buried in section k plot number 678 in

Cathays cemetery in Cardiff. I have a photograph of the plot which I will

forward to you.

You mentioned Lizzie Grimes (Jenkins) in your e-mail. Sarah White,

William and Amelia's eldest daughter married a William Grimes. They

had a son William who had a daughter Elizabeth (Lizzie?) who married a

Llewellyn Jenkins. I have dates/addresses etc for William and Elizabeth if

you don't already have them?

Anyway, it was good to hear from you and I shall get on with unearthing

those pictures!

Michelle"

7 Jul 2007

I received yet another 'nasty and incorrect' email from Carol Powditch in Chile.

I have not and will not reproduce such vile comments either here or elsewhere

on this website.

3 Jul 2007

I sent an email to Michelle Webber, who is descended from Thomas White of

Cardiff, UK (Thomas had been my late mother-in-law [Phyllis Smith, nee

Powditch]'s maternal father).

The message I sent was as follows;-

"Subject: Thomas White and descendants

Hi Michelle, and many apologies for not having been in contact sooner

than this. As promised, I've attached some photos/images (3 for now) but I

have others here which I was going to attach until I realised that I haven't

given them any captions! I'll sort those out, but in the meantime I hope that

you'll find the attached ones of interest and helpful.

Amongst the family photos, we do have some with names but we don't

know the relationship (might be through the White line or through another

line), and these include Lizzie Grimes (Jenkins); Tom and Kitty Lewis; the

Washer sisters; Edith Annice; (and as always, there's the proverbial '

young man/lady to be identified' !)

Fortunately we managed to get Ang (my wife)'s mum to tell us who most

of the people in the photos were, sometime before she died, which has

helped us greatly, as you can imagine. Ang's Mum (Phyllis Mary Smith,

nee Powditch, whose mother had been Edith White) died in 2005 aged 95,

and she was a marvellous (and lovely) person right up to her end, and is

much missed.

Ang asked me to ask you about when you lived in Splott Road, did you

know that there were/are a couple of other White descendants living just

around the corner? We're going to try and make contact with them as

apart from annual Christmas cards we haven't seen them for many a year

(now's the time to put that right, methinks).

I hope however that the attached will help to put some faces to names, and if any of the other names I've mentioned above ring any bells, please let me know and I'll send copies of those photos to you as well.

Look forward to hearing from you,

John and Ang

P.S. I've dug out the research we did many years ago, and it would be great one day for us to see what each has. Who knows, we might both have answers to some of the 'gaps'".

JUNE 2007

14 Jun 2007

I sent the following message of thanks to Kathy Wood (Australia)

"Dear Kathy,

I was thrilled to hear from you, as I was also for the dates and copies of

Certificates - all most gratefully received, thanks.

I know what you mean about papers squirrelled away! It's certainly

something that I need to do (no, not squirrel away, but put my papers into

order. I've already done the former!) I must have a good look through all

my documentation and see what I have, especially as I really must put

everything into order as soon as possible.

My problem is, that up to February 2006, I had most files in a reasonable

sort of order, but that in that month, I decided to rearrange everything. To

that end, I bought lots of A4 Lever-arch files, and 1000s more Polypockets,

so that I could refile everything, and into a better order than before.

Whilst that all sounds good, having stripped all of the old files (some 50+

of them) and then trying to resort everything into new files (with moving

families around etc) I ended up with lots of files completed, and lots of files

with everything muddled together but ready to be sorted - and then there

was the 2006 Powditch family Gathering, and then I wasn't well, and then

Ang wasn't well, and then I wasn't well again, and in the meantime more

details came in and got put into more files, and now I'm needing both a

miracle and help to sort everything out! I will however (because I want to, if

for no other reason) sort out Garrett's/your Mum's details etc, and I'll let

you know what I actually have here. I seem to recollect having some

photos (or copies of some), so I'll certainly have to find those.

Fortunately I've erected more shelving in my study (when Julia popped

her head in, she thought that they looked rather bare, but she should have

seen my study before the new shelves), and I've been buying (and filling!)

more Files, so as soon as I've cleared my desk (getting clearer by the day)

I'll be going through all the 'to do' files. I'll just keep telling myself, priority,

priority (that should do the trick!)

Once again thanks for the copy certificates, and I'll be keeping in touch.

Love to you and your family,

John"

14 Jun 2007

I replied to Julia Dawson (Australia) with the following message;-

"Hi Julia,

I'm so sorry that you're suffering, both health- and program- wise. The last

thing you want after having travelled so many thousand miles and having

been to so many places etc, is to feel worse than when you set out! I fully

symapthise with you having had to share the plane with so many unwell

people (reminds me of the rare occasions when I visit the Doctor, and

everyone's unwell; at least that's where they should be, and not on a plane!)

I hope that you both had a really wonderful time (apart from the colds)

both in the UK and in Europe. We went to visit my sister last Saturday, as

she was staying in Usk (not far from Newport/Cardiff), which was only 74

miles (and just over an hour away) from us, and Ang and I were saying

how for us (i.e. the British), who've never been used to great distances, 70

miles is a 'long way', and yet there you both were, driving distances from

Hereford to us and back again, then the next day going up to Kent, and

then the next, to Cornwall.

Something you might have noticed over here, is the diversity of accents,

from village to village, town to town, and even from one side of a town to

another! Based on the lack of travelling (both in the past and today) by 'the

British', this may be why there are so many different accents within what is

really, a small country. I'd not really though about it along those lines

before (accent-wise I mean).

I've just had a look at the Family Tree Maker 16 help-site to see what the

situation would be for you and I transferring data between 2005 and v16,

and you might find the following link, useful; http://ftm.custhelp.com/

What I did, was to enter into the boxes under 'Ask Family Tree Maker',

Topic = Software Help

Product = FTM2005 (being that I have this version and wanted to ensure that it was compatible with v16)

Search for Answers (where I typed in) reading file created in ftm v16

- and then I pressed on 'search', and had several answers, Item 6 being

FTM11-2006: How do I merge or combine multiple files? - which is possibly

the one which you and I will need? Anyway, the site is worth having a look

even if only for extra 'Help'.

Just thought, did we save the FTM details on your pen-drive as an FTM file

or as GEDCOM? for GEDCOM files are compatible across all Genealogy

programs. I suppose that it is possible that we saved the tree in FTM rather

than GEDCOM? Anyway, the following link might be of use http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa110100b.htm and on that

page, there is a link to how to create and share gedcom files, so hopefully

between us, we should be able to sort out the problem!

Well, I think that I'll finish here for the moment (but not before I've dropped a line to your sister, Kathy, to thank her for sending copies of 3 certificates to me).

We were thrilled that you both called here, and were able to spend time

with us, even if the weather that day was a bit disappointing (especially for

viewing the beautiful countryside and coastline hereabouts). Just for the

purpose, if you'd called the following day (or week!) the weather was totally

different (especially the following week, when we had heat as well!) We had

a wonderful time and hopefully can do it again one day, but for the moment,

I do hope that you get better very quickly.

Love to you both,

John and Ang

XXXXX"

14 Jun 2007

Julia Dawson emailed me on her return home to Australia to say;-

"Hi John

I have returned home feeling no better than when I saw you in Wales. It

was a horror trip from Dubai to Sydney of 23 hours [flight was delayed and

diverted] with a full compliment of pasengers coughing and sneezing. So I

have the cold back again and I am struggling to recover.

I have tried to load your family tree file on to my system but I have version

6, and it wouldn't load yours. I have now ordered the latest version - which

is Version 16. My sister has emailed the scanned copies of the death

certificates. I will put them all on a CD when I receive the new version and

update our branch. This may have implications for you because you may

not be able to read the later version file that I wil send to you. We will have

to think on this. May be I can just send you the required branch from my

old version. I will have to think on this.

I hope that Angela is feeling better and didn't catch my version of the cold.

Thank you for seeing us and sharing your information. Because I will have

to wait for the SW it may be a few weeks before I can send the CD to you.

Regards

Julia Dawson"

14 Jun 2007

I received the following email from Kathy Wood (Australia);-

"Dear John

My sister, Julia Dawson, who recently visited you, said that you did not

have the date of Mum's death. I have scanned in a copy of her death

certificate as well as those of her Mum and Dad (Gertrude Louisa Powditch

(nee Ogg)) and Thomas James Powditch. [scans not included here]

I keep coming across more papers that Mum has squirrelled away and am

putting them into order. I am not sure what documentation you have of this

branch of the family so if I send you material you already have then just

ignore it.

I hope you and all your family are well.

Kind regards

Kathy Wood"

8 Jun 2007

I sent a message to Pat and Peter Powditch (Australia). In my message I included;-

"Dear Pat and Peter,

First of all, many apologies for not having replied earlier than this to your

emails, fantastic news, and details of your journeys.

By the way, a couple of weeks ago, we had a visit from Julie Dawson and

her partner (Julie is one of the 3 daughters of Joyce Turner) for a couple

of hours. They had visited Wells and Morston etc, but it was a flying visit

here as the next day they were off to Kent.

Will have a good chat soon,

All our love,

John and Ang"

MAY 2007

26 May 2007

I received an email from Pat and Peter Powditch (Australia), including copies of

photos . Although I have not included the photos here, I have pasted copies of

the message received, which read as follows;-

"Brooke Powditch - grand daughter born 9-2-06 and

Tyson Scott - great grandson born 7-8-05 (Kimberley's grand son)

both photos taken in Queensland on 13th May (mothers Day)"

APRIL 2007

25 Apr 2007

Having sent my email to the New Bedford Whaling Museum (see previous

entry), I received the following reply;-

"Yes we can ship to the United Kingdom. Cost for the shipping is determined by our web site. We can ship as many books as you would like and I believe the Whaling Masters book 1 is out of print. Thank you for your enquiry.

Julie Cody (Store Manager)

New Bedford Whaling Museum

18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA 02740, USA

Tel: 508-717-6871 Fax: 08-991-2881"

25 Apr 2007

I sent an email to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in USA regarding some interesting books they had highlighted on their website. In my message I had asked;-

"Should I wish to order one or more books from you, please can you advise

whether you can send them to the United Kingdom, and if so, what your

postal charge(s) would be, and how payment should be made.

At the moment, I have an interest in the book Rites & Passages: The

Experience of American Whaling 1830 - 1870, by Magaret S. Creighton.

249 pages ($27.99), although I might also be interested (at a later time) in

Masters and Voyages II : Masters and Whaling Voyages Sailing From

American Ports. A compilation of sources, by Judith Navas Lund. 744

pages ($125.00)

Just as a matter of interest, was there ever an earlier publication of the

latter book under the title of Masters and Voyages I ? or has there only

been one Volume?"

18 Apr 2007

I replied to Julia Dawson (Australia) and her forthcoming tour of the UK, as follows;-

"Hi Julia and many apologies for not having replied sooner than this.

First of all, many thanks for your exciting news, both re the wedding as well

as about your forthcoming trip to London/the Uk and Europe. It sounds as

though you're going to have a really busy time over the coming few

months, but then the distance from Australia to the UK is so long it's best

to make the most of your time, and there's so much to see and do when

you're over here. Let's hope that the recent few weeks of good and warm

(for us) weather will continue for you (it was 20 deg C here yesterday, which

is very hot for our Spring).

I note that you haven't made final plans yet, but when you do have some

idea of when you'll be in the Norfolk area, if you could give me a few days

(or longer) notice, I can certainly let you know places etc with a Powditch

connection should you wish to visit them, especially as Wells-next-the-Sea

is just one of several interesting places.

It would be really lovely to meet up with you whilst you're over here, and the

thought of afternoon tea is most welcome and very kind of you to think of

such. The only 'problem' would be if you weren't in this area, for as you

probably already know, we live on the (beautiful) Gower Peninsular in

South Wales, which is some 290 miles (and around 6 hours journey) from

Wells-next-the-Sea (although we're about 250 miles from London, and it's

quicker from there as well due to direct motorway links)

I hope that you have an excellent flight, and I look forward to hearing from

you in the near future,

All the best for now,

John

P.S. The original reason for my stopping the monthly eNewsletters had

been due to my having more than a few health problems. Since then, I've

been put on additional medicine and taken off other tablets and I had been

making improvements, although more on the physical side of my illness

(which has allowed me to do a lot of gardening over the last couple of

weeks).

Unfortunately, what with a combination of the medicine, some family

problems, and my other health issues being 'upset', my intention to get the

eNewsletters going again has come to a bit of a halt. I am due to see my

specialist again on Thursday, so I'm hoping that he might be able to either

change my medicine (again) or provide me with some good advice.

Hopefully I will restart the eNewsletters, even if they might be a bit shorter

than before (keep your fingers crossed)

Have a great holiday,

John"

14 Apr 2007

Not having heard from Julia Dawson (Australia) since Jamuary 2007, I was

pleased to receive the following email from her;-

"Hi John

I miss not hearing from you but I understand the pressures of family life.

I would like to advise you of the marriage between Elizabeth Ann Dawson

and Jonathan Patrick Campbell which occurred on Stradbroke Island

Queensland, on 31 March 2007.

I will be travelling to London next Thursday and after travelling around

Europe and then staying in London, we will be hiring a car and driving

around Britain. We will hopefully be visiting places of interest including

Wells Next the Sea. Would you mind if we rang you when we are near you

and invited you out for afternoon tea? The dates when we will have the car

are 18 May to 3 June. We have not made final plans yet, so I will call you

and see what we can sort out. We will be staying in London for a week

before we pick up the car.

Hope to see you when we visit Britain and I hope you are well.

Julia Dawson"

4 Apr 2007

Because I had been searching for some time for the John Walsh, who was the father of Anne Walsh (who had married William Powditch) and Eliza Walsh (who had married John Galt Smith), and because it had been said that he had been in Jamaica in the early 1700s, I contacted the Jamaica Archives & Records Department to discover whether they could recommend a researcher living there who might be able to help. I received the following reply;-

"Re: Local Researcher for Research on John Walsh

We have received your request for a local researcher and refer you to

Ms. Dalea Bean who has been contracted for such work on many

occasions. You may contact her by email or by telephone.

If she is not able to assist then you may contact Mrs. Cynthia Rosers.

She is a genealogist and Former Head of Genealogy, St. Ann Registrar

General's Department, Jamaica. She may be contacted by email.

Best regards,

Marcella Phillips (For Government Archivist)

Archives Unit, Jamaica Archives & Records Department,

Corner King & Manchester Streets, Spanish Town St. Catherine,

Website: www.jard.gov.jm"

Although I've yet to follow up with this line of research, should anyone wish to do so for me I'd be more than grateful for the help. I also have the email and telephone contact details for the researchers which I can provide.

3 Apr 2007

I sent two emails to Robyn Lewis in Tasmania regarding members of the

Rawson family in South America; details of which I had discovered whilst doing

a search for that surname. In my emails i wrote;-

"Guillermo Rawson (extract from Wikipedia)

Dr. Guillermo Rawson (24 June 1821 - 20 January 1890) was a medical

doctor and one of the most influential politicians in nineteenth century

Argentina. As Interior Minister in 1862 he met Captain Love Jones-Parry

and Lewis Jones who were on their way to Patagonia to investigate whether

it was suitable for the creation of a Welsh settlement there. Rawson came

to an agreement with them, and this resulted in the creation of a colony in

the Chubut Valley in the following years. The city of Rawson, the capital of

the province of Chubut was named after him.

His parents were Dr Amán Rawson, a doctor who had emigrated from the

United States to Argentina, and María Jacinta Rojo, a daughter of a

wealthy family in San Juan, where Guillermo was born. After a Jesuit

education in San Juan, Rawson graduated from the Medical Faculty of

University of Buenos Aires in 1844. Rawson became interested in politics

and democracy. In 1853 he was jailed for opposing Nazario Benavidez,

the caudillo or de facto governor of San Juan. The following year he was a

member of the Paraná Congress, and from 1862 he was Interior Minister

in the government of Bartolomé Mitre.

Apart from politics, Rawson was interested in medicine and hygiene. In

1876 he attended the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia to present his

work on public health in Buenos Aires, the most developed body of work

on the subject at the time.

Rawson spent a year in Paris in 1881 for medical treatment, before

returning to Argentina. He returned to France for further treatment in 1885

and died in Paris in 1890."

I also sent the following email to Robyn;-

"Hi Robyn,

Thought that I'd better follow up the last email I sent (just now) with an

explanation for sending it!

I had been checking out mention of Patagonia for a friend in NZ, and

whilst so doing, found mention of a town in P which had been named after

a Rawson who lived in Argentina.

Although there's a possibility that he doesn't have a connection with 'your'

Rawsons, I thought that if you didn't know about the details, you might be

interested.

Hope that all's well with you? I'm still struggling although gardening is

helping me to get a bit more active (doesn't do anything for my other

problems however!)

All the best for now,

John"

MARCH 2007

19 Mar 2007

I received another email from Faye, in which she wrote;-

"Dear John & Ang

Thank you so much for your phone calls & emails. I will let you know when I have a reply from Sally.

I spoke to Uncle Leon and his daughter Adele this morning and I am going to send them copies of our email communication so far. Uncle Leon is 91 yrs old now and although his memory is still good he seems to be getting vague. It could be that he lacks confidence on the phone.

Glenda is excited about your discovery and information on the descendants of Adele Jouvelet/Sabine so I am keeping her up to date.

Love Faye xx"

18 Mar 2007

After I sent the previous message (to Faye in Australia), I emailed Sally later in

the day to let her know the latest. My message was as follows;-

"Dear Sally,

By now you should have heard from Faye (Edwards, nee Knowles) whose

late mother was Adele (nee Jouvelet) in Melbourne, as I have not only

received an email from her saying how excited she is, but I've also

managed to speak to her just now.

Once Faye and you are 'chatting', I'm sure that she'll let you have lots of

names, addresses etc for the Jouvelet etc family members in and around

Melbourne (and Sydney), and I hope that you will keep me informed from

time to time re 'developments'.

I believe that Faye has said to you that her Uncle Leon (the one that's

around 100 years old) has a box with lots of photos in it (one apparently of

Valerie Sabine when she was about 18 months old!) but like many old

photos, there are many with unidentified family members, so perhaps

between you and Faye/Leon there might be a chance of identifying some

of the family members (and indeed, you might have photos and other

information re the Jouvelet side of the family?!)

I know that I've said it before, but I am really thrilled that you contacted me,

and I sincerely hope that you and Faye etc will be able to reunite the

family after such a long time.

All the best for now,

John"

18 Mar 2007

Having sent a copy of Sally's emails re the Jouvelet family (see last two

messages) to Faye Edwards in Australia (she is a Jouvelet descendant), Faye

emailed me to say;-

"Dear John & Ang

Thank you so much for your phone calls & email from Sally.

What an exciting email. I have very little information on Adele but I know

that she & her daughters were dancers. She married a Mr Sabine who was

a very wealthy furrier and had according to Aunty Vi had a very big shop

in France where he sold his furs.

They had a property that went down to the river Thames so we are talking

about the same person.

These are my notes on Adele as relayed by Mum & Aunty Vi:

"Adele: lived in France, and married a furrier by the name of Mr Sabine,

in Paris. After Adele married, stories tell us that they left Paris and went

to England. She lived in a beautiful residence with the grounds

reaching the river Thames, England.

During World War 1, Adele and her daughters were trapped in a

convent. The Nun's helped them to escape by putting them out of the

window and they slid down on sheets.

Adele & her daughters were dancers."

I have photos which Uncle Leon has given me: Valerie Sabine aged

18 months another of her as a dancer even one of which we believe to be

Valerie and her Mother Adele.

I have just forwarded your email to Glenda and I will contact Uncle Leon

and also send an email to Sally.

Love Faye"

17 Mar 2007

Almost by return of email (see last message), Sally replied to say;-

"Dear John,

Thanks for your reply and for your exciting revelations about my living

relatives. I very much look forward to hearing from Faye and any others

who wish to contact me by mail or by post.

Of course I realise that your web-site is essentially about the Powditch

family and that you wont want to get side-tracked by too much

Jouvelet/Sabine info. However the following may be relevant:

Valerie Sabine married and lived in retirement in Eastbourne, Sussex

where she died in approx 1978-1981 (no children);

Eunice Marie-Pauline Sabine (my grandmother) married and lived at

82 Annandale Road, Greenwich, London. SE10 OJZ where she died of

a stroke in approx 1983-1985 (2 daughters):

Mignon Sabine married and lived in retirement in The Hague,

Netherlands where she died in approx 1980's (no children):

Leonie Sabine married and lived in Elm Avenue, Eastcote, Middlesex

where she died by suicide in approx 1950's (one son).

In the 1901 Census (re the Sabine family) there is only 1 servant

mentioned - the governess Anna Cameron. The ages of the children are

given as, Mignon AA Sabine aged 9, Eunice MP Sabine aged 7, Leonie

ER Sabine aged 4.

Best Regards,

Sally"

17 Mar 2007

I sent a reply to Sally Hill, in which I wrote;-

"Dear Sally,

What a real thrill it was to receive your fantastic email today (Friday). I can

only apologise that I couldn't reply as quickly as I'd like to have.

As I said, it really was a thrill to hear from you and to discover your descent

from Adele Jouvelet and William Sabine (many thanks for the details re

his first name and the correct names etc of his children), and what will be

even more exciting will be for me to put you in touch with not only Jouvelet

family members (all of my contacts live in Australia, mostly the Melbourne

area plus one in Sydney) plus those family members (with non-Jouvelet

surnames) who are descended from Adele Jouvelet's brother, Philippe

Joseph Leonard Jouvelet, who married Blanche May Chriscendria(?)

Powditch through their 5 children.

Although you will probably have noticed from the Jouvelet section on my

website that my main interest is in the Powditch family, I can assure you

that present-day descendants of Adele Sophie Matilda Jouvelet (who

married Herbert Ray Knowles) have a great desire to discover much more

about the Jouvelet, Sabine and Britnell branches, and so I know without

actually having yet contacted anyone in Oz, that they will be clamouring

for your email address (not all have computers, so I'll have to give you

snail-mail addresses for them).

When I first began my Powditch researching (early to mid 1980s; my late

Mother-in-law having been a Powditch by birth), I had no idea that one day

I not only would discover descendants living in Australia, anymore than I

would have ever expected to meet up with them. And yet, during those

research years, I not only discovered Adele (Sophie Matilda nee Jouvelet)

Knowles and had many enjoyable years of telephone conversations and

letters etc, but in 1992, when I was in both Australia and New Zealand on a

6-week research trip, I met her and many more members of the Jouvelet

family when a family gathering was held in my honour in the Botanical

Gardens, Melbourne (a very hot day!)

Regrettably, Adele died in 1997 aged 93 years old. I can honestly say that

she was a fantastic and really remarkable lady, more young than 'old' if

you know what I mean, and it was a really sad day for her and our family

when she went.

Of the 5 children of Philippe Joseph Leonard Jouvelet, and Blanche May

Chriscendria(?) (nee Powditch), remarkably one - LEON JOFFRE

JOUVELET - is still alive (the only one) and he must almost be 100 by

now!

I will speak to your cousin, Faye, in Melbourne, before I send this reply to

you so that she'll have advance details about you and your connection

etc, and I'll also include her email address for you. Faye is one of the 4

children of Adele (Sophie Matilda nee Jouvelet) Knowles, and if I say that

I'm thrilled, then all I can say is that Faye will be 'over the moon', so look

out for her email to you!

What I find wonderful (apart from my enjoying putting family members in

touch with one another), are the family stories. Because of the latter, it was

good to see that what has been handed down within your branch of the

family, has much in similarity with Faye's branch of the family, especially

re the house with its gardens running down to the River Thames.

I must admit to not having looked at the 1901 Census for the Jouvelet

family (although Faye may have already done this), but just as a matter of

interest, did the Jouvelet's still have a servant named Annie Rose? (in

1901 she would have been aged 46 or thereabouts).

All the best for now, and many thanks for getting in touch with me. I'm

looking forward to hearing all the news once both sides of the family are

're-united'!

John"

16 Mar 2007

Received an email from Sally Hill;-

"Hi, I am a great-grand-dauther of Adele Jouvelet and William Sabine. The correct names of their 4 children are as follows:

i. Valerie Sabine

ii. Eunice Marie-Pauline Sabine

iii. Mignon Sabine

iv. Leonie Sabine.

My grandmother was Eunice Marie-Pauline Sabine.

Our family verbal story runs like this "Mr Sabine was a very wealthy man who

owned his own business (this business later went bankrupt due to fraud by his

business patner). The couple and their 4 daughters lived in a house who's

garden ran down to the River Thames and had tennis courts.".

The 1901 Census shows that they had a governess for the children living with

them at Chiswick Lodge, Parkside Road, Isleworth, Middlesex. Later my

grandmother Eunice was sent to a boarding school in Belgium, and I think her

sisters may have been sent there too .

I have other details/ memories of my grandmother and her 3 sisters ie what

happened next...

I would be happy to hear from any Jouvelet relatives.

My name is Mrs.Sally Ann Schremser."

13 Mar 2007

Because I hadn't received a reply from Wolfgang Griem at Museo Virtual de la

Region Atacama (Chile), I sent the following message to a different email

address 'in case';-

"Good morning (and please excuse my writing in English rather than in

German or Spanish!)

I look at the Museo Virtual de la Region Atacama often, as I am hoping to

gather together much useful information relating to copper mining and

smelting between the Chilean places of Copiapo and surrounding areas

and my local town of Swansea, South Wales, during the nineteenth century.

Although my previous interest in the area has been through my research

into Thomas Powditch of Copiapo, I had previously been involved in

research into the Bath family of Swansea, who, as you probably are aware,

were the main shipping Company used by Charles Lambert.

Besides his mines in Chile, Lambert also owned smelting works in

Swansea, and with his children marrying into the Bath family etc, between

them all, much wealth was generated.

Swansea has long had a good trading relationship with Chile (and vice

versa), and although several books have been written locally about the

'Cape Horners' (men and ships), and about several other local topics, it

was with great regret that when I looked at an otherwise very interesting and

informative book "Copperopolis" that I discovered that despite Swansea's

prosperity in Copper smelting being totally dependent upon the import of

Copper from Chile (principally) and a few other places, that no mention

whatsoever was made within the book of or about Chile! This is something

I believe which needs to be redressed, and although my health isn't what I

would like it to be, I am determined to gather together as much information

as possible to enable either myself, or another person, to have the basis

and data on which to write such a book.

I would be most interested to learn whether you know of the whereabouts of

a copy of the 1894 book by Leonard C Stuckey, its title being "The Copiapo

Mining Co.Ltd., Copiapo, Chile, South America". I have looked through

many libraries' indexes, but not successfully, so I wondered whether the

University of Atacama, Department of Mines, might have a copy?

There was also, I believe, another company, the 'English Mining Company'

about whom I have not been able to discover much information (many

people mention the Company's existence; regrettably not much about the

Company and its trading etc itself)

I would be most grateful if you could help me re the items I have mentioned

above, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks for your wonderful website, and hoping that you are keeping

well?

Kind regards,

John

P.S. Please may I ask why the details re Thomas Powditch and his involvement with various Copiapo Companies including the Mines, has been removed from your website? I would be most interested to know the reason (at one stage I noticed that he still had a mention with respect to a reference of Mr Stephen Thomas and the Copiapo Smelting Company (1858-1863/4), but neither unfortunately appear to be mentioned now)

Thank you"

4 Mar 2007

Having seen an interesting article in the on-line version of "Time" magazine, I

sent an extract of the relevant article to Pat and Peter Powditch (Australia).

The gist of it was as follows;-

"Either on Friday, 13 August 1965, or the week before that, an aboriginal

student at Sydney University (Australia) kidnapped a 6 year old child from

it's sister's arms just as the child was about to be deported as an 'illegal

immigrant'. The student Charles Perkins, and earlier that year he had

already arranged and held a major protest because of what he saw as

discrimination against his country's aboriginals.

The child too was coloured, although in her case, she was Indian, but as

with others from Asian backgrounds, she was - in the eyes of Charles

Perkins - being discriminated against because she was non-white.

For a better idea of the story, this link (if still available) should provide

more information. Oh yes, and the name of the child was Nancy Prasad, whilst

the name of her sister who had been carrying her, was Shasti Powditch !"

4 Mar 2007

I received the following from June Dambrauskas (Australia) in reply to my email

of 2 March 2007. June said;-

"Hello John,

Many thanks for your e-mail re the Croaker query. Yes, the june1 email address is me. Do you think the Croker in Ireland is my person?

I don't think so because when I first started researching the Croakers I got

all the info. on this Croker but found it to be the wrong one.

This family did come to Australia and beleive it or not settled in the Hunter

River district as did old Charles, my fellow.

I will search the Hemeltoday' Family Tree Help Section address and see

if I am able to find my Croakers.

Sorry to learn that you are unwell.

Take care and get well soon.

Best wishes, June"

2 Mar 2007

I sent the following message to June Dambrauskas (Australia) as she has

Croaker/Powditch within her family tree, and I didn't know whether the entry was

hers, or from someone else. In my email to her I wrote;-

"Hi June,

I was searching the web yesterday looking at Ireland, when I came across

the surname of 'Croker'

After a little bit of sideways thinking (and looking for the/your Croaker

family) I came across the following entry on the

Hemeltoday' Family Tree Help Section of http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/custompages/CustomPage.

aspx?PageID=4109

CROAKER

Seeking information about Charles Croaker born 1764, place unknown

but believe to be Maidstone, Kent, England, parents unknown, wife

Mary Woolcott. Lived Upper Farm, Crayford, Kent between 1820 - 1834,

immigrated to New South Wales Australia with wife and children 1834.

Email: june1

I was about to contact the latter, when I suddenly wondered whether the

'june' mentioned in the email address was yourself? so I thought that it

was best for me to contact you first, to find out, before I made a fool of

myself and told you what you already knew!

On the other hand, if it's a different June, then at least you now have details

of someone else who has an interest in Charles and his family!

Hope that all is well with you and Ed?

I must admit that no-one came forward with an offer to take over the

eNewsletter, and I am missing doing it, so at some stage in the future, when

I feel up to it, I probably will return to its production. Certainly it was a good

way not only to keep others up to date with family etc information, but the

newsletters seemed to generate feedback about things going on within

families etc.

All the best for now, and I'd be grateful if you could let me know re the

above Croaker contact.

John"

FEBRUARY 2007

26 Feb 2007

I received an email from the American Geographical Society Archives in reply to mine of 21 Feb 2007 (q.v.), and in which they advised;-

"You may not know that the American Geographical Society (AGS) Library,

which is where your message was sent, is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,

and is completely separate and independent of the American Geographical

Society (AGS), which still exists in New York City. The archives of the Society

are still located with them in New York, and they have a website at:

http://www.amergeog.org/archives.htm

The only archival materials we would have here are those directly related to the

library. Of course, all the maps, atlases, books and journals that were formerly

part of the AGS are now located here. I did check in our catalog, and found only

a reference to a "Sketch of the mines & estates belonging to the Copiapo

Mining Company in the Province of Copiapo in Chili," which is reproduced as

Fig. 50 on p. 177 of Isaiah Bowman's book, "Desert Trails of Atacama". This is

an AGS publication (1924) which we do have a copy of in our library. The map

reproduced in Bowman's book has the caption: "Photographic copy of map

attached to a letter dated April 30, 1835, from George Bingley, manager for the

Copiapo Mining Company, to the directors in London." The caption continues

with further information about the map, but it's not clear to me whether the

original of this map was ever part of the AGS Library -- if so, I can't find it now.

Maybe it was something Bowman had just seen somewhere else. Otherwise, I

found no other information in our library about the Copiapo Mining Co. I'd be

happy to send you a photocopy of the page from Bowman's book, if you're

interested.

I would suggest trying the AGS archives in New York. I do not know if they have

any Bowman papers there; they may know where his papers are kept. I seem to

recall that they are at Johns Hopkins University, but I'm not sure.

I hope this information will be of some help!

Sincerely,

Jovanka Ristic

Reference Librarian

AGS Library

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries

Milwaukee, WI 53201"

22 Feb 2007

After sending my message to the American Geographical Society Archives, I

thought that my contact (Wolfgang Griem) at Museo Virtual de la Region

Atacama, might also be able to help with locating records relating to the

Copiapo Mining Company, of Copiapo, Chile. I therefore sent the following

email to him;-

"Dear Wolfgang,

It seems a long time since we last corresponded (my interest being the

Powditch family, and their involvement at Copiapo, etc) but I am trying to

locate either records for the nineteenth century Copiapo Mining Company,

or to see whether you know the whereabouts of a specific book.

I have recently made contact with the American Geographical Society as I

understand from another source that they have some of the records of the

Copiapo Mining Company within their Archives. Copy of part of my email

to them saying;

I have been searching for some time for records relating to the Copiapo

Mining Company, of Copiapo, Chile, especially for the post 1856

records, and whilst reading Przeworski, Joanne Fox, "Decline of the

Copper Industry in Chile and Entrance of North American Capital

1870-1916" I came across mentions of the aforementioned Mining Co,

together with information that the said records were amongst 'Notes of

Isaiah Bowman' at the American Geographical Society Archives.

I have also 'discovered' reference to a book Stuckey, Leonard C., The

Copiapo Mining Co.Ltd, Copiapo, Chile, South America (1894), which, as

you can tell from its title, I would very much like to access, but I am having

great difficulty in even locating a library copy !

I would be most grateful if you could let me know whether you are aware of

both of the above, and if so (especially re the book) whether you could

point me in the right direction to obtain access to same.

I hope that you are keeping well? I have been enjoying the 'Museo Virtual',

especially as each time I visit it, I seem to find something new. Well done.

Wishing you all the best,

John"

21 Feb 2007

I sent an email to the American Geographical Society Archives in the hope that

they might be able to help me locate records relating to the Copiapo Mining

Company, of Copiapo, Chile.

The message I sent was as follows;-

"I have been searching for some time for records relating to the Copiapo Mining

Company, of Copiapo, Chile, especially for the post 1856 records, and whilst

reading Przeworski, Joanne Fox, "Decline of the Copper Industry in Chile and

Entrance of North American Capital 1870-1916" I came across mentions of

the aforementioned Mining Co, together with information that the said records

were amongst 'Notes of Isaiah Bowman' at the American Geographical Society

Archives.

What I would be grateful for at this stage, is for someone to confirm that records

of the Copiapo Mining Company, of Copiapo, Chile are held by yourselves, and

also for what period of years.

I would also be grateful to know what access is available to same, and that

should distance not allow me to visit your Library/Archive, what resources would

be available for distance-research.

Thank you for reading thus far,

P.S. My interest in the Copiapo Mining Company is due to a 'memorandum'

written in the late 1800s by someone who was the General Manager at the mine,

from the late 1850s onwards - extracts from his memorandum being as follows;-

Page 5:

"While working out my time I had an offer to join the firm of Wheelwright + Co

Caldera, + another from the Copiapo Mining Company to take charge of their

business - This latter offer I accepted."

Page 6:

"In June 1856 I took charge of the Copiapo Mining Cy. Copiapo, as Chief

Manager. In 1857 the Chief Management of the Copiapo Gas Compy. was

placed in my hands. In 1858 I was made Joint Manager of the Copiapo

Smelting Comp with Mr Stephen Thomas. A new Compy floated in London.

And in 1859 I became also Chief Manager of the Copiapo Extension Rway

Company, working between Pabillon + Charnarcillo. In the same year 1859 I

gave up my Joint Management of the Copiapo Smelting Comp as I could not

get on comfortably with Mr Thomas. Things then continued going wrong at the

Smelting Works, and about the year 1863/1864 the Directors of the Company

sent me out full powers to dismiss Mr Thomas + take the whole Management

into my hands.

This gave me the Sole Control over the four English Companies established i

n Copiapo.

During these 8 years - 1856/1864 - business was falling off very fast in

Copiapo, + the Gallo revolution of 1859 contributed heavily to the ruin +

discredit of the Province."

Page 7:

"For the better Management of the several Companies I made the Caldera

Smelting Works my head quarters, placing Sub-Managers to assist me

elsewhere. Things were prospering fairly when suddenly in 1865 War broke

out with Spain and Caldera among other Chilian ports was blockaded by the

Spanish squadron. Much distress followed.

I was ordered to Close up the Smelting Works and in 1867 went home to see

the Directors + receive their last orders. Marianne + the Children had

meanwhile gone home for Schooling of the latter.

Arrived in England I was instructed to come back + sell off the Smelting

Works, + the Copiapo Extension Rway. The Mining + Gas Compspies [sic]

remaining under my care.

This was hard lines obliging me to bring out at once my wife + family who

arrived safely in Valpso about the year 1872.

With a view to mprove my income I joined in business Dr. J Mackay, Sam

Oxley, Robert + Tom Mackay, under the firm of Powditch Oxley +Co,

........................ "

Page 8;

"During my connection with this firm I still kept on my Superintendency of the

Mining + Gas Compnies [sic], taking occasional trips to Copiapo.

Very fortunately for me at this time the Directors of the Mining Compy wrote

out to me agreeing to give me funds to develop the Dulcinea Mine, for which

I had been trying many years, assuring them that they would make a fortune.

In consequence I left wife + family in Valparaiso + settled determinedly in

Copiapo to make Dulcinea a great mine or perish in the attempt ...................

The Mine, now properly developed, after a while became the richest in the

Province, if not the richest in the Country.

I had by this time worked very hard unremittingly for many years + my health

began to fail me - in consequence"

(Regrettably, the pages after page 8 have been 'lost', or rather cannot be found.

Last known to have been held by a descendant in Santiago, Chile, only pages

1 to 8 inclusive survive, and then [are now] in my possession)"

20 Feb 2007

I received 6 (!) emails from Pat and Peter Powditch (Australia), 5 of which

included copies of photos . Although I have not included the photos here, I have

pasted copies of the messages received, which read as follows;-

1. "I shall send a few photos through. These are our 2 newest babies.

Tyson is Kimberleys grandson and Brooke is her daughter (Our

granddaughter and Tyson's Auntie) Brooke is 6 months younger than

Tyson and weighs 3 kgs heavier."

2. "These 3 were on Australia Day 26th Jan and it was our first big day

out with Brooke. We went to the Adelaide Zoo"

3. "This was taken Tues 30-01-07. The day the girls and babies flew up

to Cairns to join Craig and Jamie. Adam had only flown down from Cairns

on the Sunday night"

4. "These 2 taken on Christmas Night 25th"

17 Feb 2007

I received an email from Steve and Sam Winter who wrote to say that;-

"we are the people living on the riverbank opposite the church at wiggenhall st peter, we found this web site which features a picture of the church with the roof intact and thought you may be interested."

15 Feb 2007

I emailed Margaret and John Purves (Margaret is the daughter of the late Dorothy nee Powditch from Cardiff) to belatedly thank them for their Christmas card. I wrote;-

"Many thanks for your Christmas card, and yes, it is a real collector's item. What I feel is wonderful (apart from your being a George Cross holder), is that there are only two important women in the photo, and the other is the Queen! although next time I hope that they'll sit you closer to her (or standing behind her). I appreciate that on this occasion you were in a wheelchair, although no-one would believe that from the photo"

7 Feb 2007

After receiving emails from Pat and Peter Powditch (Australia) I thought that I'd

better send a reply, so I wrote the following;-

"Dear Pat and Peter,

So thrilled to get 3 emails in quick succession from you, and great to hear

that you'll soon be on your travels again.

I'll reply more thoroughly soon, but I thought that I'd quickly let you have

Pat Button's email address and let you know that from her last email to me,

she had said "Yes, you may give my email address to Pat - I live only half and hour away

from there." - as you can tell from that, I had asked her whether I might pass

on her details to you!

Will be in touch again soon. Love to you both and to all the family,

John and Ang"

7 Feb 2007

Another email from Pat and Peter Powditch in Adelaide. Pat wanted to ask

about an item in the Powditch eNewsletter number 41-42, and she said;-

"Dear John, item 5b is of interest to me, The Amelia referred to is the first

born of James Race Powditch (Peter's great grandfather) Several years

ago we visited the Broken Hill cemetery and were taken to the site of a

burial of William Button 22-07-1943 aged 74 yrs and Amelia Button (nee

Powditch) buried 28-12-1933 aged 81 yrs. Unfortunately there was nothing

but bare earth. A dead end for us. Please, when you are able, can you

pass on my email address to Pat Button of Adelaide or supply me with

hers. Back in 1987 I wrote a letter to the name and address of the person

listed as the leaseholder of the gravesite but never had any response.

Hope to hear news in the near future, Love from Pat."

Item 5b in Powditch eNewsletter number 41-42 had read as follows;-

"b. Pat Button (in Adelaide, Australia) in which she wrote;

"Susan Button has forwarded your email to her. My late husband was a grandson

of William's brother, John Button, who married Elizabeth Crouch.

William Married Amelia Powditch at St Andrew Church, Redhill, South Australia on

the 26th March 1890. His brother John, my husband's ancestor, married Elizabeth

Crouch at Merriton in March 1894 - 'just up the road' from Redhill.

I have not added your information re Amelia yet but am attaching what I have on

William Bly Button and his children."

- which is what Pat [Button] so kindly did."

7 Feb 2007

Heard from Pat and Peter Powditch in Adelaide, Australia. Pat emailed me to say;-

"Dear John, have just been to your Web page to download the last 2

newsletters. One at least was accidently deleted but I've caught up now.

We hope your health is steadily improving and look forward to being in

contact again one day soon. We will be heading off to Tasmania again in

March for nearly a month. We will take our 4WD and Camper over on the

ferry which leaves daily from Melbourne.It takes about 10 hours. We will

book a cabin and travel through the night arriving at 7am next morning.

Hope to hear from you soon, time and health permitting.

love from Pat and Peter."

2 Feb 2007

Ann Willoughby (Australia) emailed with her new snail and email addresses

JANUARY 2007

31 Jan 2007

Received an email from Julia Dawson (Australia) in which she wrote;-

"Dear John

I am so sorry to hear that you are unwell, it is not until times like these that

we appreciate how important good health is.

Although I have not actively participated in the gathering of family history

it is still on my list of "to do"s. I would also dearly love to attend a family

gathering one year and see all those places that the family came from.

When I was reading your Newsletter it suddenly occured to me that I had

not informed you of the death of my mother's sister Frances Elizabeth

Roylance (nee Powditch). Frances was born on 14 December 1916 and

passed away on 29 August 2003 - 86 years old. She and her husband,

Horace had two daughters, Phillipa (born in 1948) and Christine (born in

1946). Unfortunately the two sides of the family became estranged so I

have no further details of my two cousins.

I do hope that your health improves and that you are able to find some

assistance with the fantastic work you are doing.

Kind regards

Kathy Wood (daughter of Elgin Joyce Turner nee Powditch)"

30 Jan 2007

I received an email today from Pamela Skardoon (Australia) with a question about Ida Powditch. In her email, Pamela wrote;-

"Hi John,

I was sorry to hear that you are not in good health. Unfortunately, that

seems to be the case with us as our bodies age.

I did hear from an Aussie based Powditch descendant earlier this year

(Nilsson). What I have been unable to resolve is what Ida Powditch's

middle name was. (My sister put her name as Ida Merle Cooper nee

Powditch on Dorothy Skardoon's (nee Cooper) death certificate. I cannot

recall my mother saying the her mother's name was Ida Merle. Ida

(Powditch) was born in Melbourne on/around 3 February, I thought. Is

Ida's middle name "Merle" correct. I thought that my sister might have

confused the details as my name is Pamele Merle Ida. Merle after my

mother's identical (& deceased) twin & Ida after my mother's mother.

Could you please tell me if I am correct or wrong?

We (Alex & yours truly) do hope that you are feeling much better & that

the medication is improving your condition.

Take care,

Pamela Skardoon"

30 Jan 2007

eNewsletter Nos.41-42 (December 2006 - January 2007) has been added to

the website. Please click here to view the details

23 Jan 2007

I hadn't heard anything for a long time from Josie Powditch in Australia, so I was

thrilled to receive the following message;-

"Dear John, I am now finally back on line after some misadventures,

sickness, shoulder surgery, and a computer crash. I feel sure that I gave

you my new email address but after all this time the email inbox is empty.

I hope you and Angy are well and enjoying your grandaughter and that all

is now well with your daughter. Looking forward to your next Newsletter.

I didn't send out any Christmas cards because I couldn't write! I'm now

busy trying to send out New Year wishes.

Best Wishes to all Josie Powditch Adelaide"

22 Jan 2007

Received an email today from June Palfreyman re Teri Powditch (in reply to one I'd sent to her via GenesReunited).

June advised me that:-

"Teri and Heather are Linda Fields' daughters, Linda's mother is Barbara

Murden and Linda is her daughter from her first marriage. The connection to

Linda, all be it through marriage, is that Linda's step-father Paul Murden is

connected to my ex-husband's family."

21 Jan 2007

Received an email from Julia Dawson (Australia) in which she wrote;-

"Hi John

It is some time since I last received your newsletter, but it may be a case of

my system not behaving itself. I have spoken to my sister, Hazel Norquay

and I must have missed out on 38 and 39/40.

I am sorry I couldn't attend the gathering but I am planning a visit to the UK

in May. We are hiring a car from 18 may to early June [forgatten the actual

dates] , but I would love to come and have coffee with you if that would be

convienient. I would like also to visit Wells on Sea, but we haven't planned

our trip with much detail yet. Last time we just went to the Information

Bureaus in the town we wanted to stay in and they booked a B&B for us a

nd we will probably do the same this time. The other side of the family

[Turners] are in Dunoon and I hope to go there too.

Looking forward to coming to the UK.

Julia Dawson"

12 Jan 2007

I emailed Pat Button (Australia) in response to her email in December 2007

(q.v.) re 'William Bly Button' to say;-

"Your email (when it arrived) was a real tonic for me, especially with the

information you attached re William Bly Button, his marriages and his

children, particularly as you provided details I hadn't previously known.

I don't know whether you've had a chance to look at the information I have

re Amelia on my website (www.powditch.plus.com/) but hopefully the details

there might have answered several of your own questions, not only about her

and her parentage etc, but also about her forbears.

The person who provided much about her husband's ancestors (Powditch) to

me many years ago, and who is a very good friend as well, is Patricia

Powditch (known as Pat), who now lives in Willunga.

Peter (Pat's husband)'s father was John Francis Powditch (1910-1984), and

his father was William Joseph Powditch (1876-1950) and he was one of the

children from James Race Powditch (1840-1905)'s 2nd marriage (to Anne

Carney); Amelia being the only child from James Race Powditch's first

marriage (to Catherine Carey)."

3 Jan 2007

I received an email form Robert Nilson (Australia), in which he wrote;-

"John

Thanks for all the monthly newsletters. I am receiving them with no

problem.

I have just been looking at the Australian War Memorial web site www.awm.gov.au and have found another Powditch. If you look under

biographical data, then nominal rolls, then Vietnam War, you can type in

Powditch as a surname. Up will come the following entry :-

NAME Peter David Powditch

SERVICE NUMBER 4719156

SERVICE Army

SUMMARY OF UNIT NAME Detachment, 1st Division supply transport

workshop, RAEME.

If you do not already have these details you may wish to include them on

your web site.

P.S. I am on the final draft of my family tree book (including photos and

biographies). I hope to send you a copy soon.

Best Wishes

Robert Nilson"

1 Jan 2007

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Healthy 2007

and hoping that it will bring you and your family

much success and good health throughout the year.