This interesting name is of medieval English origin and is a locational name from any of the places so called in Essex, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Oxon, and Yorkshire. The derivation is the same for all counties and is from the Old English pre 7th Century ‘hwoete’, wheat, and ‘leah’, a clearing, thus a clearing where wheat […]

In order to understand when the variant forms of the Ferberd name may have appeared (and disappeared) a timeline has been created of the known people, based on Find My Past searches conducted in September 2017 by Paul, and searches of the Berkshire records by Sheila. The Timeline Explained In many cases, only a single […]

      I think the Ferberd Buswell is a one off so therefore a red herring in terms of our research. You may be right in thinking he was named after his father’s friend Ferberd Barrett of the Sessions link. 1851 census, as we know, shows Richard Buswell at Kingston Bagpuize in the same […]

Introduction This is a summary of the research carried out by Sheila Wheatley with input from Paul Barrett into the history of Henry (aka Harry) Barrett b 1854 and Elizabeth Alder b 1850.  Henry and Elizabeth were married 7 Nov 1874.  We want to document Henry’s ancestors to see if we share a common ancestor, […]

Clara Richings was born in About 1857 in Longworth, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), England.  Her parents were Alfred Richings and Millicent Legg and she was one of eleven children. Our Problem According to all the research that we have carried so far, Clara never married. She appears on the 1871 and 1881 England Censuses as a […]

Thought it might be a bit of fun to write about to see how many of our forebears were publicans. This follows on from Paul finding a Richard Barrett of the Lamb and Flag, Longworth, while sorting through censuses.  I remembered finding him and a few others so thought to do the list. Richard Barrett […]

William Alder baptised 11th July 1779 @Fyfield, the son of John Alder & Sarah Hatt. William married Elizabeth Winter on 17th November 1803 @ Fyfield. Elizabeth was baptised on 6th March 1785 @ Marcham, the daughter of William Winter & Elizabeth Michel (that’s how it is spelt in parish records). 1841 census gives William’s birth […]

When the family tree was transferred from Ancestry to TNG via Family Tree Maker (FTM) a glitch caused hundreds of media files, mostly documents, to become detached from their “owners” and I am currently  in the process of reconnecting them.  I am purposefully making time to critically examine the data  in the documents to validate […]

Tracing the movement and settlement of the family in Berkshire with the hope of finding the earliest date and possibly where they originated! Many professional researchers seem to be of the opinion that people generally stay within the district they are born. Maybe many folk did, especially before transport became easier with trains and other […]

This is an old Jersey Channel Island name, also linked with Canada where the Jersey boat men used to sail. There is also a link with the North American Indians, e.g. Blanc-Pied or White Foot, although that sounds more French. Alan’s great grandfather Elias Blampied was born in Canada in 1851. The Internet Surname Database talks about the […]

This long-established surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is from a medieval occupational name for a scribe or secretary, or for a member of a minor religious order. The word “clerc”, from the Olde English pre 7th Century “Cler(e)c”, priest, originally denoted a member of a religious order only, but since the clergy of minor […]

   The origin of the Barrett name is unclear.  When my father Ferberd Henry Barrett (“Fred” 1923 – 2003) carried out some family history research in the late 1960’s he came to this conclusion: It’s unclear what the struck-through characters mean on the third line up.  Did he mistype?  Did he mean to type ‘Barre?’ […]