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Simon's Blog

Welcome to my genealogy blog where I will be posting my thoughts and interesting things which I have found during my research.

I have written about more than 120 different ancestors and am working towards trying to determine which parts of my birth DNA and adopted nurture makes me 'me'.

It would be great if you would add a comment even if it's just to say you have been here.

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Index

4/9/2017

 
Picture
W1 : When you wish 2 + 2 = 4
W2 : Alick Benson who died on the golf course
W3 : He was a train driver ... well, he said he was!
W4 : Georgie and the new fangled motor car
W5 : Heavens to Murgatroyd
W6 : The Sandeman Port ancestor
W7 : Thomas Cole's unnamed father
W8 : Shot by a German POW
W9 : James McTear arrives from Ireland
W10 : Coffee maid to Queen Victoria
W11 : Dee is for D'Arcy
W12 : Tragedy hits a young New Zealand family
W13 : Another Sandeman dies for his country
W14 : James Johnson
W15 : John "the ploughman" Spence 
W16 : William "the bead maker of Regent Street" Haskins
W17 : Janet Dalrymple (1853 - 1890)
W18 : Frank Musgrove who died at Passendale
W19 : In memory of Jessie and Jessie Agness
W20 : Gunner Stan Musgrove (1919 - 1982)
W21 : James Hill, gingerbread baker
W22 : George Musgrove DCM MM
W23 : Flying Officer Musgrove (1920 - 1942)
W24 : Bobby Musgrove (1922 - 1944)
W25 : How many Williams do you need to prove a point ?
W26 : Hannah Ross nee Adams (1850 - 1932)
W27 : Percy Ross DCM, a sportsman and a soldier
W28 : Thomas (1) and Patience Ross
W29 : Mayor Thomas Ross, Mr Hastings !
W30 : Ann Blore (nee Cooke) 1834 - 1908
W31 : Who was Hannah wild's father ?
W32 : Jessie Dalrymple (1832 - 1911)
W33 : The American connection
W34 : Thomas Ross (1844 - 1896)
W35 : Handwritten Bird's means so much more
W36 : Emily Sherer (1788 - 1872)
W37 : Jack Musgrove - a grandfather I never met
W38 : Leslie Bird TD (1894-1969)
W39 : Aunt Carrie (1887 - 1971)
W40 : Amy - a grandmother who could have changed my life
W41 : Which 'Ross' was my Dad named after ?
W42 : The life and messy death of Clifford Elisha
W43 : William Bird of Newnham (1757 - 1833)
W44 : Grandfather Percy Bird (1883 - 1939)
W45 : Nana Marjorie Bird (1884 - 1961)
W46 : Jennie Bird - my Mum
W47 - Derek Bird - my Dad
W48 : George Bird of Chessington Court Farm
W49 : Henry Ross Bird (1854 - 1926)
W50 : Hugh 'Pop' Benson - OBE and war hero
W51 : William Wareham and the pleasure boat tragedy
W52 : My grandfather was a baker
W53 : Bill Anderson - a lifelong question is answered
W54 : Jennie Hill (1889 - who knows ?)
W55 : William Hill the shoemaker (1804 - 1879)
W56 : William Hill the Fleet Street journalist (1852 - 1932)
W57 : Thomas McQuilliam - died protecting his sisters reputation
W58 : Anne Styles nee Ross nee Bird
W59 : Would Caroline Bird from France please make herself known
W60 : Edwin Bird (1829 - 1870)
W61 : Frederick Edwin Bird (1861 - 1920)
W62 : William Henry Bird the 1st class schoolmaster
W63 : Another William (1798 - 1870), another house builder
W64 : The death of a child
W65 : William Benson (1850 - 1898)
W66 : A Bird born at The Tower of London
W67 : Marion Eliza Benson (nee Johnson)
W68 : Harold Wareham the horticulturalist
W69 : A family killed by a V2 rocket
W70 : Rosie Ross - brothel keeper ?
W71 : William Wareham of Esher
W72 : Louisa Maria Pim Wareham (1858 - 1931)
W73 : Wareham's emigrate to Oz
W74 : Edward Allport Wareham (1838 - 1926)
W75 : Harold Wareham - missionary
W76 : John & Jane Noble (part 1)
W77 : John, Jane, her mother and the gold rush (part 2)
W78 : John & Jane (the conclusion)
W79 : The 127 descendants of Margaret Ramsay Sandeman
W80 : Captured by Bonnie Prince Charlie during the 1745 Rebellion
W81 : Dalrymple's affected by insect bites
W82 : Robert Sandeman and the Sect
W83 : William Sandeman my 2 x great grandfather
W84 : The Sandeman at Balaklava
W85 : Wareham Harry - Town Surveyor
W86 : James Dalrymple (1825 - 1880) - merchant seaman
W87 : Grandfather William Hill (1886 - 1946)
W88 : Harry Wareham meet Wareham Harry
W89 : James Young - coal trimmer
W90 : Annie Benson and the colonial merchant
W91 : The linen draper who made his fortune
W92 : My early Bensons
W93 : "Accidental death" while in an institution
W94 : A black sheep
W95 : Another violent death
W96 : Ross from the excise office
W97 : Death in the muddy trenches of Ypres
W98 : The McTears continue to move south
W99 : You are the weakest link !
W100 : John Wild - a servant in London
W1 - W100 : The 100 analysed
W101 : The slums of North Kensington in 1914
W102 : The Charles Booth Survey
W103 : Living in Treverton Street
W104 : ​27 Southam Street
W105 : Jim Champkins (1903 - 1988)
W106 : The Kempston Musgroves
W107 : Jack Musgrove and his small place in history
W108 : The first of my Musgroves
W109A : My 2x great grandparents
W109B : My great grandparents
W109C : My grandparents
W110 : Peter Cooke, a victorian accountant
W111 : The Bird Branch
W112 : William Bird and The Great Teapot Mystery
W113 : Contacting my birth fathers family
W114 : All you need to know about the Anderson Clan
W115 : James Anderson, a flax dresser
W116 : John Anderson, a tailor
W117 : The crew of the Halifax
W118 : Tony Bird and the Lanchester
W119 : Plan to visit an ancestor's village
W120 : William Sandeman of Luncarty
W121 : The Rhodrons  
W122 : Percy and the Ceylon connection
W123 : ​Arthur George Wareham - a POW - but where ?
​W124 : Murder in Regents Park
​W125 : My Dalrymple Branch
​W126 : Jessie Agnes McQuilliam (1895 - 1960)
W127 : From the poor school to the trenches
W128 : Clan Anderson
W129 : John Musgrove, the shoemaker (1805 - 1871)
W130 : Charles Musgrove (1891 - 1893)
W131 : Bert Musgrove (1895 - 1951)
W132 : Alf Musgrove (1893 - 1925)
W133 : Catherine Wild, the laundress (1833 - 1905)
W134 : Will Musgrove, newsagent & confectioner (1885 - 1961)
W135 : Hannah Musgrove (nee Wild) - the matriarch of the family (1866 - 1959)
W136 : Finding and meeting my birth mother
​W137 : A visit to Whale Island
​W138 : My 3 x great grandfather was deported to Oz !
My genealogy blog

#1 : Two Bird's executed - was one innocent ?
#2 : Your false statements will be found out
#3 : The Sandeman Coat of Arms
#4 : Who do you think you are ?
#5 : Looking for a post 1837 death
#6 : How can you appear on the same census twice ?
#7 : Silver Cross of the Order of the Redeemer
#8 : Every postcard tells a story
#9 : A genealogist ahead of her time
#10 : A poem from 1815 
#11 : A sad tale of scarlet fever 
#12 : Doing her wifely duties
#13 : Remembering ancestors who were POW's in WW2
#14 : The revolution of the 60's
#15 : Why have Mothers Day ?
#15A : When is a bank holiday not a bank holiday?
#15B : Remembering TV 1964
#16 : In Flanders fields the poppies grow
#17 : Unusual occupations
#18 : In my Life
#19 : The second battle of St Albans
#20 : Murder at the POW camp near Comrie
#21 : Alban, the first English martyr
#22 : Lords, my memories 1965 - 1976
#23 : Letter to the unknown soldier
#24 : Leslie Bird and the British Legion
#25 : A poem to remember Able Seaman Musgrove
#26 : Monuments and gravestones
#27 : Would you get married at Christmas ?
#28 : Queen Mary and her hospital at Roehampton
#29 : Corporal Harry Bird of Burma 
#30 : I wish to admit I am a coimetrophiliac
#31 : Put your clocks forward one hour tonight
#32 : Why April Fool ?
#33 : St Peter's Church and Graveyard, St Albans
#34 : The future for the genealogist is DNA
#35 : St Leonard's Church and graveyard, Sandridge
#36 : V2 rockets falling on London and surrounding counties
#37 : Freeland House
#38 : Battle of the Nile - names of dead and injured
#39 : Harold Wareham - LMS Missionary Reports
#40 : The old lady and her tortoise
#41 : Witness to the Charge of the Light Brigade
#42 : St Helen's Church and graveyard, Wheathampstead
#43 : Hatfield Road Graveyard, St Albans
#44 : A forgery ends in a hanging
#45 : The Wearmouth Colliery Strike 1870
#46 : There must be a connection ..... there must !
#47 : "Was my grandmother's family originally from Germany ?"
#48 : Back to the Future 2050
#49 : The Mount, Sparepenny Lane
#50 : The Census Taker
#51 : Discharged from duty - Paragraph 392 Kings Regulations
#52 : St Peter's Church, London Colney
#53 : The making of a lithographic print
#54 : We will remember them
#55 : Strange Taxes (1) - Playing cards
#56 : Strange Taxes(2) - the hat tax
#57 : Strange Taxes (3) - the wallpaper tax
#58 : Strange Taxes (4) - a beard tax
#59 : Strange Taxes (5) - duty on hair powder
#60 : Strange Taxes (6) - the fireplace tax
#61 : Putting our ancestors lives into context
#62 : Breaking news : They cancelled Christmas
#63 : On the scent
#64 : SALTC - the early years (1)
#65 : SALTC - the WAGs take over (2)
#66 : SALTC - and so to the end of the grass (3)
#67 : SALTC - up to my stepping down (4)
#68 : Puppet on a string
#69 : An engineer who changed the world
#70 : Why does the tax year begin when it does?
#71 : A visit to an antiques fair
#72 : Escape and evasion reports
#73 : St Piran's Day
#74 : Why is Christmas Day so close to New Year's Day ?
#75 : The Christmas Truce on No Man's Land
#76 : Do's and Don'ts of First Contact
#77 : A Wimbledon Champion at SALTC
#78 : The Tombstone (a poem by an unknown author)
#79 : The Census (a poem by an unknown author)
#80 : The British Postcard
#81 : The Pensioner & the Farm Girl
#82 : The Poem & the Spinster
#83 : The Town Crier & the Lunatic

Summary of my genealogy blogs

3/9/2017

0 Comments

 
​​SPECIAL DAYS 
​St Pirans Day 
Why have Mothers Day ? 
When is a bank holiday not a bank holiday ?
Put your clocks forward one hour tonight
Why April Fool ?
Why does the tax year begin when it does ?

Christmas Day : 
Would you get married at Christmas
Breaking News : They cancelled Christmas
Why is Christmas Day so close to New Year's Day ?
The Christmas Truce on No Man's Land 
 REMEMBERING MY LIFE
Who do you think you are ?
The future for the genealogist is DNA
The revolution of the 60's
Remembering TV 1964
In my Life
Lords, my memories 1965 - 1976
​Back to the Future 2050

St Albans Lawn Tennis Club : 
the early years (1)
the WAG's take over (2)
and so to the end of grass (3)
up to my stepping down (4)
STRANGE TAXES
Playing cards
The hat tax
The wallpaper tax
A beard tax
Duty on hair powder
The fireplace tax
ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES

The making of a lithographic print
On the scent
​Puppet on a string
POSTCARD RESEARCH
Every postcard tells a story
​A sad tale of scarlet fever
A visit to an antiques fair
​The British Postcard
The Pensioner and the Farm Girl
The Poem and the Spinster
The Town Crier and the Lunatic​
QUIRKY TALES 
A genealogist ahead of her time
Doing her wifely duties
​Unusual occupations
​The old lady and her tortoise
​Putting our ancestors lives into context
How can you appear on the same census twice ?
​The Census (a poem)
CHURCHES & GRAVEYARDS
Monuments & gravestones
I wish to admit I am a coimetrophiliac
St Peter's church & graveyard, St Albans
St Leonard's Church & graveyard, Sandridge
St Helen's Church & graveyard, Wheathamstead
Hatfield Road graveyard, St Albans
St Peter's Church, London Colney
​An engineer who changed the world
The tombstone (a poem)
ST ALBANS 
Alban, the first English martyr
​The second battle of St Albans
0 Comments

    Author

    My name is Simon Bird although I was christened, prior to my adoption, as William Musgrove aka Billy.  I am interested in genealogy generally and finding stories that would otherwise never be told.

    I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoyed writing about them.
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