Ann Brent (1780-1863). My 4th great-grandmother. The Brents came from Hampshire in southern England and married into the Downer family, ancestors on my paternal Finch line. The surname can derive from place names but may also refer to the Old English ‘brente’ meaning steep place – the location perhaps of where a family lived. View […]
Carpenters
Hannah Holsworth and my other Holsworth ancestors
Hannah Holsworth (1791-1879). My 4th great-grandmother. Holsworth is a fairly common surname in Norfolk. Hannah, my 4th great-grandmother, came from the village of Salhouse and was the first by this name to join my family tree. She was born on 12 January 1791 to Thomas Holsworth and Ann Parfrey (see below) and was baptised in […]
Ann Burley and my other Burley ancestors
Ann Burley (1775-1850).My 4th great-grandmother. She married into the Finch family. Ann Burley was the daughter of John Burley of Limpsfield and Sarah Goodman of Kingston, both in Surrey (see below). She was born on the 27 April 1775 and baptised on 3 June that year at St Peter’s Church in Limpsfield, where her carpenter […]
Thomas Finch (1686-1755)
Thomas Finch (1686-1755). My 7th great-grand uncle. Thomas got off to a rough start in life but married into a prosperous Sussex family, at least for a while… He was born in the village of Slinfold to carpenter John Finch and his wife Sarah Richardson. But he was clearly very ill as a baby because […]
Mary Bilcliffe and my other Bilcliffe ancestors
Mary Bilcliffe (1735-1783).My 5th great-grandmother. The Bilcliffe surname is a rare one in the UK and appears in several forms in the records (like many other surnames of the time), for example as Billcliff, Billcliffe, Bentley and even Bentlet. The first to marry into my Surrey-based Finch family was Mary Bilcliffe – but who was […]
Alfred Dolamore (1835-1910) – death in the canal
Alfred Dolamore (1835-1910) and Elizabeth Dolamore (1836-1904). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Alfred Dolamore was baptised on 15 February 1835 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, to parents David Dolamore and Mary Ann Walker. He was brought up in and around nearby Leavesden. He was working as an agricultural labourer at the time of the 1851 […]
David Dolamore (1803-1871)
David Dolamore (1803-1871). My 3rd great-grandfather. I don’t know when David was born but he was baptised on 28 January 1803 at St Lawrence Church, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, to parents William Dolamore and Charlotte Kimpton. His father died when he was about 16, in 1819, and William’s will requested that his wife support the boy […]
William Henry Finch (1874-1949)
William Henry Finch (1874-1949).My 2nd great-uncle. William Henry Finch was the son of Isaac Finch and Phoebe Ann Ward, born in 1874 in Reigate, Surrey. He was baptised on 12 July that year at St Mary’s parish church. He grew up in the town with his siblings and by the 1891 census was working as […]