Godfrey Weston (1785-1862). My 4th great-grandfather. Godfrey Weston took advantage of a young woman and then tried to evade his responsibilities to her and the daughter he fathered out of wedlock… He was born on 14 March 1785 and baptised three days later at St Mary’s Church in Banham, Norfolk. His parents were John Weston […]
Labourers
Sarah Rice and my other Rice ancestors
Sarah Rice (1791-1871). My 4th great-grandmother. Sarah was the first of the Rice family to join my family tree. She was baptised on 3 July 1791 at St Mary’s Church in Balcombe, Sussex, to parents George Rice and Mary Harman. She married William Budgen at St Nicholas’s Church in Worth, Sussex, on 2 November 1808. […]
Rebecca Lock and my other Lock ancestors
Rebecca Lock (1779-1861). My 4th great-grandmother. Rebecca was the first of the Locks to marry into my family, when she wed Charles Goulty in Woodbastwick, Norfolk, on 17 May 1796. She’d been born in the village and baptised at St Fabian and St Sebastian’s Church on 15 April 1779 – her parents were Stephen Lock […]
Sarah Rose and my other Rose ancestors
Sarah Rose (1817-1886).My 3rd great-grandmother. Rose is a common surname in Norfolk, which is where my branch of the family come from. The first of the Roses to join the family tree was Sarah, who married William Stoliday/Stolliday in 1835. Sarah was born in 1817 to farmer Robert Rose and his wife Hannah Holsworth (see […]
Jane Bashford and my other Bashford ancestors
Jane Bashford (1806-1885).My 3rd great-grandmother. The first Bashford to marry into my Finch family was Jane Bashford, who was born on 13 May 1806 in the village of Chipstead, Surrey. She was baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 15 June that year. Her parents were James Bashford and James Harman (see below). She married Henry […]
John Stoliday (1817-1896)
John Stoliday (1817-1896).My 4th great-uncle. John Stoliday was born on 25 April 1817 and baptised on 8 June at All Saints’ Church in Rackheath, Norfolk, to parents James Stoliday and Mary Gay. He and his family had several brushes with the law… John grew up with his parents and siblings in and around Rackheath and […]
Thomas Finch (1795–1852)
Thomas Finch (1795-1852) and Sarah Chisley (1803-1848). My 3rd great grand-uncle and aunt. Baptised at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey, on 4 April 1795, Thomas was the oldest son of Thomas Finch and his wife Ann Burley. Young Thomas married Sarah Chisley by license in Reigate on 27 July 1820. She was from the […]
Alfred Finch (1842-1911) – baker and builder
Alfred Finch (1842-1911) and Ellen Young (1841-1909)My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Born in 1842, Alfred Finch was baptised on 1 May that year at St Mary Magdalene Church in Reigate, Surrey. He was one of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford’s many children and was brought up in the town. By the time of the 1861 […]
Henry Finch (1801-1885)
Henry Finch (1801-1885).My 3rd great-grandfather. Henry Finch was born on 6 February 1801, the son of Thomas Finch and Ann Burley. And he was one of the first of my ancestors I ‘discovered’, while roaming the graveyard at St Mary’s Church in Reigate one sunny but wintry Sunday morning. Henry may have been buried in Reigate […]
Isaac Finch (1837-1896)
Isaac Finch (1837-1896).My 2nd great-grandfather. Isaac Finch was born on 29 June 1837, one of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford‘s triplets. Isaac, Abraham and Jacob Finch were all baptised on 20 August of that year at St Mary’s Parish Church in Reigate, Surrey, and the church record states ‘these three children were of the same […]