Morbin and Noble FT

I have contacted Annette Hughes and she knows, and is in touch with, my two ladies from the LMA! So I can sleep easy in the knowledge that they have all the facts of the story!

Earlier in the year, in my second post about volunteering at the LMA, I mentioned the story of the couple who were researching their ancestor who was a servant of the Duke of Sussex. I have today recieved the latest copy of the East Surrey Family History Society’s journal (volume 30, number 3, September 2007) where on page 22, a story caught my eye entitled ‘Souvenir from Burma’, written by Annette Hughes who is a member of the society. I’m wondering if this is one of the ladies that I met at the LMA. If not, I really need to get in touch with them, as this article tells the story of Sophar (or ‘Sofar’ ) Rangoon who, as an eight year old boy, was given to the Duke of Sussex by a Captain Marryat who had worked for the Duke. This is the ancestor of the two ladies who were doing the research into the long lost portrait of their ancestor, mentioned in my earlier post. I couldn’t forget a name like Sophar Rangoon!! I really hope that they either wrote the article or somehow get to see it or, if they see this post, please get in touch with me.

I think it would be a good idea to post my surname interests, just incase anyone is reading this blog!!

Morbin-worldwide (my one name study, details at http://www.one-name.org/ )

Noble-Ramelton, Co. Donegal, Ireland

Davis-Waterloo, Lambeth, the Borough, Southwark and possibly Ealing, Middlesex

Smith- Henry Smith born Deptford c1803, married Sarah Todd and moved to Lambeth (Waterloo again)

Lockett-I have this family back to Edward Lockett, born c 1785 in Manchester. Married Sarah and moved to Lambeth, Waterloo (again!!!)

Wilson-John Wilson born c 1820 in Birmingham, married Hannah Newton  and moved to Walworth, South London

Way-Tenby in Wales and Holborn London. John Way was born in Portpool Lane, Holborn, in 1807, parents William Way and Jane Cook. John married Ann James in Merthyr Tydfil in 1824 and moved to Tenby.

Bassett-William Bassett born c 1805 in Poplar? Married Susannah Barker and settled in Poplar. The Barkers were also from Poplar.

Whittaker-Also spelt Whitaker. William Whitaker born 1804 in Edmonton, Middlesex, married Charlotte Barker (as far as I can tell, she was the sister of Susannah Barker, see above).  Wiliam’s parents were David Whitaker and Caroline Brown. Caroline was from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.

Moore-Thomas William Moore, born Redbourne Hertfordshire 1816. Married Sarah Hurrion in 1848, baptised some children in Islington Middlesex, then moved to Peckham, Surrey.

Cullen-Milford, Co. Donegal, Ireland. Bella Cullen born c1869. Married William Mooney 

 Mimnagh-Anne (Nancy) Mimnagh born Co. Tyrone, Ireland c 1825.

Brown-Margaret Brown, born c 1860 in Ireland? Parents, Hugh Brown and Susan McElhone.

I’ll do some more branches later!!

I managed to do a bit more searching in the registers of St Mary Ealing. Even though the baptism registers on microfilm are missing, the bishops transcrips records are available for the missing dates (1801-1812). No other baptisms were recorded for Isaac and Mary White(nee Holtzymer). I’ve searched the records back to the 1760’s, no marriages, baptisms or burials recorded for the Holtzymer (or variants) surname and no baptism for Isaac White. I have the horrible feeling that this is going to be another of those families that just ’appear’ in a parish as if they landed there by flying saucer, as one professional genealogist puts it!!

While I was at the LMA recently researching my DAVIS/WHITE ancestry in St Mary Ealing, I came across what I think is the baptism of my ancestor, Lucy White. Baptised in 1796, her parents were Isaac and Mary White. I couldn’t find any other children baptised to this couple, but at the time of my search, the film for 1802-1812 was listed as ’missing’. Hopefully the LMA will have got a replacement by now ( I can check next week, as I’m still volunteering there). Anyway, I searched for the marriage of Isaac and Mary and found them getting married in 1792, when Mary was listed as a widow, Mary HOLTZYMER. Now, even though my knowledge of German is pathetic (don’t ask what grade I got in ‘CSE’ German!!), even I know that this name should probably be spelt ‘Holzeimer’ or ‘Holzheimer’. Just to be sure though, I confirmed this with a friend who lived in Germany for many years and speaks fluent German.  I also asked her if the name ‘Mary’ is used in Germany, and she said it is usually spelt and spoken as ‘Maria’. I’m trying to work out of course whether Mary was a German woman or an English woman who had married a German man. I can find no marriage for Herr Holtzymer to Mary in the records of St Mary Ealing and the I.G.I (International Genealogical Index) shows no Holtzymer (or varient Holzeimer/Holzheimer) entries except the one for the marriage of Mary to Isaac in St Mary Ealing. My next step is the do a thorough check of the records of St Mary Ealing, to find any Holtzymer/Holzeimer etc records. However, if anyone has this name in their family tree…I’d be grateful if you could put me out of my misery!!

I did my first day volunteering at the London Metropolitan Archive (LMA) in London today. They open about 20 Saturdays a year, and rely on volunteers to help man the enquiry desks.  After being shown around the back offices, which seem to go on forever, I was left with one of the more experienced volunteers.  Just like in the first day of a new job, the very first enquiry I had was difficult! Not because of the query itself…but because the gentleman was hard of hearing and didn’t read lips! Bless him, he wanted records that are not held at the LMA, we had to give him the contact details for the City of Westminster archives. We wrote it all down for him, explaining that the records are split between the LMA and City of Westminster for that particular parish, and the dates he wanted we didn’t have. It’s mostly family history enquiries on a Saturday, but I did have one teenage boy doing a school project who needed to look at original documents, he had all the references from the internet, so all we had to show him was how to fill out the forms to order them up from the archives. The archivists collect the orders about every 20 minutes, and it can take between 15-20 minutes for them to be brought up from the archive, so while this young lad was waiting, I suggested he might like to have a look in the library for anything else that could help him with his project. Another satified customer!

Another man wanted the plans submitted with an Act of Parliament by one of the railway companies, and one couple, an older woman and her daughter asked the most facinating thing of the day. They were related to someone who was a servant of Frederick, Duke Of Sussex, one of the sons of George III. Aparently, Frederick had a portrait commisioned showing the ancestor of these ladies, and they weren’t having much luck tracking it down. They had applied to Kensington Palace, the home of the Duke, but they knew nothing about it, although they very kindly showed the ladies around. No portrait there. Many of the Dukes posessions were auctioned off after his death in 1843, and the couple had applied to Christies, the auctioneers, but the catalogue for the sale shows no paintings, portraits etc, mostly silverware, some jewellry and small trinkets. I tried looking in Google for the ancestors name, under all kinds of permutations, + portrait, + duke of sussex etc, no luck. The only thing I and one of the permanent archivists could advise was maybe to contact the National Portrait Gallery to see if they knew anything. It was only when I got home, that I thought “I wonder if the Duke left his paintings in his will”! Of course I have no way to contact this couple now! I think that will be the problem…I’ll start taking these queries ‘home’ and wake up in the middle of the night shouting ‘Eureka!’

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and if you live within an easy commute of London and have even a little knowledge of the LMA and their records, I recommend becoming a volunteer. Their website is  www.lma.gov.uk

I have decided to join the growing throng of people who have a blog! Just don’t expect a post every day, I’m not that organised.

OK, first things first…who am I? My name is Catherine Noble and I’m researching my family tree. I’m also conducting a one-name study into the Morbin surname worldwide, so if you’ve found this blog through a search engine site like Google…you will probably see my name again!  The one-name study (what there is of it so far) can be accessed at http://www.one-name.org/

Other names on my mothers side of the family can be accessed at my website http://members.lycos.co.uk/catherineanoble/

I’ve also just set up an account with Tribal Pages which has some of the Noble ancestors on it. For security reasons, that one needs a password to access, please contact me through the Lycos site mentioned above. The Tribal Pages site needs tidying up a bit, I’m trying to do that as soon as posible.

Well, that’s about it for now, I’m off to read some of the other blogs to see how it should be done…speak to you again soon!