#52 Ancestors: Month 5 Social - Church Choristers

I am a month late due to personal issues but ....never late than never.

"Social" had me pondering as I really don't know much about that aspect of the family I have been researching to date and then WHAM the content for my topic just dropped in my lap!!

Recently my granddaughter got formally admitted to her church choir and that got me thinking back to my grandfather, Frank Horace WESTON who had been born in Etchingham, Sussex in 1886 and moved with his parents to Salehurst.  Frank sang in Salehurst church choir as did his older brother Henry John Weston whilst his younger brother Percy became the church organist.  There are plenty of newspaper reports of weddings, funerals and social occasions where they either played or sang.

Frank married and had two daughters both of whom sang in the church choir.  My mother married one of the boys in the local village school and he too was a member of the church choir.

Both my sister and I have sung in a church choir.  My two children joined me in Cuckfield church choir and now my daughter's youngest daughter has joined her church choir in Hertfordshire.

#52Ancestors: Month 4 Check it out - Surnames

This month I am picking one of the weekly themes "How do you spell that?" Because there are so many name variants in the Tilbee line.

I am sure that Alice [insert link] wouldn't have been bothered or even asked how she spelled her maiden name of Tilbee or was that Tilby or even Tilbe.  There might well have been other variants but those are the one's I have come across so far. Alice only made her mark on her marriage certificate so it is likely she couldn't read either so probably didn't even realise there were different ways of spelling her maiden name.

Alice's father was Henry Tilbe/Tilby/Tilbee and he had married a Dorcas Vant.  Even that name isn't without it's variations of Vaunt, Vantt and Vante

I doubt the situation changed once Alice married Samuel White and she changed her name.  Would she have been asked the same questions I have been asked;. "How do you spell that?", "Do you spell that with an 'i' or a 'y'?", "Is that White like the colour or Wight as in the Isle of Wight?"

My surname changed from White to Graydon when I got married and it didn't get any easier and so I usually spell it out when asked my name otherwise it becomes Grayden, Greydon, Greyden, Graydon or even Graddon.

One key tip for new researchers is "Check it Out".  Check out the spellings of names and places; check the dates -is it even possible that your research ancestor was even alive/married/dead for that event..... So many things to check out!!

#52 Ancestors Month 3 : Females - Alice Tilbee's daugher in law: Elizabeth Linkins

 The suggested topics through out the month have been Females: Worship; Flowers; Joined Together and sisters.  The previous post talks about Alice TILBEE's sister Louise and the church she was baptised in as well as about her husband.  Louise and Robert Cook were married in St Mary's church, Westwell.

However, another appropriate relative of Alice is Elizabeth LINKINS who married Alice's son Thomas WHITE born 1855 in Egerton Kent.  Elizabeth and Thomas are my great grandparents.

Elizabeth was born in 1854 in Wye, Kent and married Thomas in the Congregational Chapel in Ashford.  They had 9 children and only 5 were still alive in 1911 and living in Chilham.  The children were born in different parishes in and around the villages in proximity to Ashford, Egerton, Boughton Aluph, Kennington etc.

Elizabeth died in 1932 and Thomas in 1924.  Both Elizabeth and Thomas were buried in Chilham churchyard but we couldn't their graves when we visited but it was a very overgrown churchyard.

I had a church services book given to me after their daughter and my grandmother, Annie White, died in 1975.  I treasure it as been inscribed with the name Elizabeth White.  It looks like Annie's writing so I always wondered if Annie had given this to her mother and when.  Did Elizabeth use it in Chilham Church? Was I named after Elizabeth?

#52 Ancestors Month 3 : Females - Louisa Tilbee

 This topic was all about females so I looked to Alice Tilbee and her siblings and found she only had one sister LOUISA TILBEE/TILBY and she had a short life.  

She was born abt 1831, married Robert Cook in April 1852 and died in 1856.  She had a son Thomas who was born and died in 1852, a daughter Jane Ann Cook in 1853 and another daughter Emily Cook in 1855 and died in 1860, .  

Jane Ann COOK was their only surviving child for the 1861 census and she was living with her grandparents Henry TILBEE/TILBY and Dorcas VANT (my 3 times great grandparents).  Robert was an Ag Lab and boarding elsewhere in Westwell in the 1861 census.  He remarried in  1862 and had a large family with his new wife.  At least searching more about Louisa for this #52 Ancestors project has added this bit of information to my tree and clarified an outstanding research question!!

Louisa was baptised at the start of winter in November 1831 in St Peter and St Paul Church in the market square of Charing Kent.    It's tower has a buttress and battlements and dates original from the late 1400s.  The interior is a mixture of old and new fittings.

Charing is a pretty village and the Market Place is lined with old buildings of flint and brick, including the ruins of an archbishop's palace.

Louisa and Robert Cook got married in Westwell, Kent.  The church of St Peter's dates from Saxon Times but very little structure of the Saxon or Norman times left standing.  It lies in the centre of the village, under the North Downs and on the Pilgrims path to Canterbury.

I have found very little more online about Louisa.  So sad that she only lived abt 25 years and she had already seen her first child, Thomas, die in infancy.  At least she was spared the knowledge that her second daughter, Emily, died in 1860.

#52 Ancestors Month 2. Fatal Broken Leg Coincidence!!

I have chosen to research Stephen Tilbee, my second great great uncle, born in 1836 in Charing, Kent and died 1921 aged  84.  Stephen married Sophia Alice Ashbee in 1858 in Charing.  Like so many of my ancestors, he was an Ag Lab.  In the 1911 census it reports Stephen and Sophia had 6 children of which 4 were living.  Neither of them were there in the 1921 census which was taken in June 1921.  I'll add more about his children as my research progresses.

It was the circumstances of his death that surprised me.  I have a picture in my mind of the old style hospital bed and nurses in their blue dresses with long white aprons, wide belts and frilly hats.  Maybe the patients even wore the striped pyjamas of the day.  Can you imagine the rustling of those starched aprons as they rushed to these old men on the floor?

Updated:

The hunt was on for the 6th child and to find out which of those 6 had died by 1911. I didn't take long to find Alice born 1860 and died in infancy.  I soon found that his son William had died in 1885 aged 27 and buried in Little Chart, Kent.  Sad to die so young when you probably expected a long life ahead.

Daughter Charlotte Anne Tilbee 1863 to 1944 married a Walter Wiffen and had children Walter b 1890, Arthur b 1894, May Florence b 1901.

Henry Tilbee b 1868 married a Rosa Shadbolt and had a daughter Ethel Barbara 1898

James Robert Tilbee b 1871 married a Kate Eliza Jenkins and had a daughter Gladys Emily b 1899

Ellen Barbara Tilbee b 1874 married an Alfred Llandolph Wingett and had 5 children, 2 of whom had died by 1911.  Cecil Llandolph b 1902, Kathleen Edith b 1904 d 1905 Reginald Alfred b 1906, Winifred Evelyn b 1908 and Lilian Hilda b 1912.  Looks like I need to find another death or even another child who had died by 1911.

That rounds up Stephen's family!!!!

#52 Ancestors Month 2 Branching Out

 Branching Out is a good topic to set me off on exploring the siblings of Alice Tilbee, my 2 x great grandmother and their children.  I am hoping that it might led to some exciting finds during the month, in particular creating links to more dna matches.

Branching out can be interpreted many different ways, not just families I haven't researched yet, but perhaps an ancestor emigrated so the journey might include following on maps, new records not used before, immigration records etc.  Maybe an ancestor has an occupation none of my other ancestors have.  Oooh, I might find a prisoner, a scandal or even landed gentry........watch this space.

#52 Ancestors Month 1 Foundations

My choice of Foundations was quite simple as I had recently had a death certificate, for a Christmas present no less!!!  It was for my 2x great grandmother Alice Tilbee who had married Samuel White in 1842 in Kent.  This is on my father's maternal side.

My father's side of the family has always taken a bit of a back seat in terms of research.  One side is hampered by illegitimacy in the family direct line and the other by the lack of many images and resources for the family in Kent but that is now changing courtesy of Find My Past.  It also got put to one side as my father died and I wanted to concentrate on my mother's side all the whilst she was alive.

The topics for Foundations include Favourite find, favourite photo and curious.

My favourite find has to be the time, admittedly a few year ago now, that I found I had a name error for my paternal great grandmother and her surname wasn't Simpkins at all, but Linkins.  I was then able to visit the correct registry office and get a copy of the certificate and have an enjoyable time going round some of the villages the family lived in.  

Going back to Alice Tilbee it was great to find that there was a One Named Study for Alice's mother, Dorcas Vant.  The ONS have been so helpful in sharing information with me.

Favourite photo has to be one of my grandmother and two similar looking ladies....who are they?  She only had one sister.  Photos of my grandmother on the top row and I believe she is on the right in the bottom photo.

Curious has to be, and always will be, how my female ancestor met and had a relationship with the father of her illegitimate child.  Had he moved down from Scotland before or after the child was born.  It will be something that will never get an answer.

This is my monthly posting for the #52 ancestors project by Amy Johnson Crow.  It sets the scene for the family line I will be exploring in the months to come.

Next month will see me finding new information for "Branching Out"

2022 Family History Goals

 I really don't know why I choose goals for my family history when I don't make New Year's resolutions!!!

This year I am going to try to be a little more committed about my family history because I have found that covid and other personal issues have taken my mind off the ball.  It is almost as though there is little room left in my brain to tackle DNA and brickwalls.  It has been so easy to watch webinars, follow ancestry tweeps on Twitter and occasionally be prompted by a new match on my DNA.

To that end, my goals are fairly small and can be broken down into small bits but it will need the support of my family history friends to keep me on track and kick me up the posterior sometimes.

My first goal is to switch on my laptop more as that is where I find it easier to work across multiple internet sites and compare to matches and research finds.

My second goal is take part in 52Ancestors in 52Weeks run by Amy Johnson Crow.  She sets topics for every week of the year to prompt you into doing research and sharing but this year it is also possible to do 12Ancestors in 12Months by just working on the month's theme.

My third goal is to do more about researching on my Dad's Kentish side from the villages around Ashford, Kent.

Finally my fourth goal is to start writing short stories about my ancestors so that my grandchildren are more likely to be interested.

I haven't included a DNA target because I am hoping that will come naturally within my four goals.