25th SEPTEMBER

1897 - my great-aunt, Nellie Gertrude Hibbitt (later Martin) [seen here on the right], was born in Queensboro, St Peters North, Drogheda, County of Louth, Ireland, where her father was stationed as a Coastguard.

1773 - 238 years ago, my 6 x great-grandparents, Lewis Burdon Horn & Ann Rigsby, were married in Shebbear in North Devon.

26th SEPTEMBER

1909 - the marriage of George Arthur William Fryer & Mabel Annie Jane Lewis took place at Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, just over a century ago. Richard was a carpenter at the time.

28th SEPTEMBER

1874 - Francis Ann Pitcher (later Martin) died on 28th September, aged just 24, and was buried in St Andrew's Churchyard with her sister, Mary Jane, and parents, James & Esther Pitcher.

1870 - my 3 x great-grandfather, Joseph Dando, died in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, 141 years ago.

1829 - exactly 41 years to the day before this, Joseph's first wife, Sarah Albinia Dando (nee Parker), died in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, and was buried on 2nd October at St John the Baptist, Old Sodbury, Glos.

30th SEPTEMBER

1880 - Maria Tisdall, the wife of Joseph Spiers, the younger, died 131 years ago.

15th SEPTEMBER

1800 - James Rouquet Phillips & Sarah Dando were married at St Augustine the Less, Bristol. Sarah was the only surviving daughter of my 5 x great-grandparents, John Dando & Ann (nee Brothers).

1746 - my 8 x great-grandfather, Thomas King, died 265 years ago. He was buried at St Mary's the Virgin Church in Fretherne, Gloucestershire. His tomb was recorded in the Historical Monumental & Genealogical Collections of Gloucestershire by Ralph Bigland but any marker there might have been is no longer visible.

16th SEPTEMBER

1869 - the youngest child of my 3 x great-grandfather, Joseph Dando, was born 142 years ago. George Dando was born in Ireland and emigrated to America with his mother and her second husband when he was 4 years old.

1819 - Nathaniel Dando, the younger, was born in St Peter Westcheap, London.

18th SEPTEMBER

1916 - my gran, Phyllis Grace Weaver (later Geake), was born 95 years ago at the home of her grandparents, 22 Ford Street, Tavistock, Devon.

19th SEPTEMBER

1847 - Edward Warren died in Chepstow on the 19th September 1847 and his body was brought back to Fretherne for burial on 25th September.

20th SEPTEMBER

1947 - the marriage of Basil Anthony Geake & Gertrude Toska Dorothea Bein took place at St Eustachius Church, Tavistock, Devon, 64 years ago. Basil was my grandpa's brother and his bride was from Germany.


Basil Geake & Gertrude Bein
21st SEPTEMBER

1823 - the eldest child of Nathaniel Dando, the elder, and his second wife, Caroline (nee Hewitt), was born. The child's name was Augustus Dando and, according to the International Genealogical Index, she was a girl - the original sources still need to be checked. Sadly, the child died aged about 4 months.

22nd SEPTEMBER

1803 - Nathaniel's sister, Mary Dando, was born in Dursley, Gloucestershire.

23rd SEPTEMBER

1922 - Malcolm Douglas Mateo Dando & Sybil Flora Roylance were married in St Stephen's Church, East Twickenham, Middlesex. The service was officiated by the Rev. Canon Robert Stuart King who was married to Malcolm's elder sister, Ruby.

Were your ancestors talented, did they bring a little sunshine into their friends' and neighbours' lives, or were they good-for-nothing scoundrels or somewhere in between? Imagine you could travel back in time and visit your predecessors. Who would you visit and why?

I quite like the notion of visiting bad-boy, William Elbert Dando, my great-great-grandfather. He may not have been a particularly pleasant person to know. Read his biography which outlines his escapades which include bankruptcy, assault, kidnap and bigamy. Nevertheless, I can't help thinking he might have had a certain charm in order to persuade those unsuspecting investors to dabble in his dodgy schemes. Was he a larger-than-life character or more sinister than that? The paper-trail doesn't reveal everything......Read more »

Family Tree section

• Added a few facts and footnotes for my great-great-grandmother, Jane Arnold. More facts to follow at a later date.
• Added facts and footnotes for my 3 x great-grandfather, George Arnold junior, as well as for his first wife, my 3 x great-grandmother, Mary Bacon, a new name recently discovered since ordering their daughter, Jane's, birth certificate.
• Added Mary Bacon's parents' names, Samuel Bacon & Martha Wagstaff, together with Mary's two siblings, Sarah & Thomas Bacon.
• Discovered the maiden name of George Arnold's (above) mother, Elizabeth Avins, who was the wife of George Arnold senior, my 4 x great-grandparents. Also added the names of George & Elizabeth's children.
• Added the second wife of George Arnold junior, Mary Ann Garlick, with a few facts and footnotes. Also added this couple's children.
• Added the names of Mary Ann Garlick's parents and sister.
• Added Sybil Flora Roylance's parent's names, Robert William Roylance & Ellen Lillie May Walker. Also Sybil's grandfathers' names, George Thomas Roylance and William Walker.

Relevant place names: Nuneaton and Coventry in Warwickshire.

The Arnolds and Bacons were silk ribbon weavers. This was a major industry in Nuneaton during the 18th and 19th centuries but went into decline in about 1860.

Click the image to see a larger version.
Lowestoft is the most easterly point of the UK. This old photograph of Lowestoft Sands was probably taken by one of my grandparents, Charles George Hibbitt or Ivy Alice Hibbitt (nee Dando), some time during the 1950's or 1960's.

(From my grandpa's collection of old slides - see this post for more information.)

[Why Those Places Thursday? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Daily Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

8th SEPTEMBER

1916 - the 8th September sees the anniversary of the tragic death of my great-grandfather, Henry James Weaver, killed by accident in World War I. He was reportedly killed with two others by a bomb or hand grenade accidentally detonating in a soldier's hand while they were resting at the base in France after serving in the trenches. Henry was buried in Merville Communal Cemetery Extension and his daughter, my gran, visited his grave for the very first time in 1999 when she was aged 83. She'd been born 10 days after Henry's death.


Phyllis Grace Geake (nee Weaver) placing a wreath on her father's grave
with her great-grandson
1919 - Alfred Joseph Hibbitt & Georgina Emma May Williams were married in the Register Office, Plympton St Mary, Plymouth, Devon, 92 years ago. Sadly the marriage was not to last and the couple were divorced in 1928.

1911 - Rosa P M Fryer was born exactly 100 years ago in Chepstow, Wales.

10th SEPTEMBER

1888 - 123 years ago Thomas Williams & Georgiana Priscilla Jones Fryer were married in Tidenham in Gloucestershire. Thomas was a widower and one of the witnesses, George Fryer, was most likely Georgiana's youngest brother.

12th SEPTEMBER

1851 - the youngest child of Richard Fryer and Ann Bailey Pitcher, Benjamin Thomas Fryer, was born at Penylan Farm, Llangattock Vibon Avel, Monmouthshire, Wales. I visited the farm a couple of years ago. The original house is in private ownership but the barns have been converted and the owners now run a B&B and self-catering holiday cottages. This video shows a series of photos of the sun rising over the Black Mountains seen from the front of the B&B. There are also wonderful views from the fields at the back of the farm house.


Views from the fields behind Penylan Farm
13th SEPTEMBER

1856 - when Benjamin Fryer (above) was 5 years and one day old, his mother, Ann Bailey Fryer (nee Pitcher), died at Etloe, Awre, Gloucestershire. The cause of death was described as a 'visitation of God'!

1886 - Malcolm Douglas Mateo Dando was born 125 years ago in Marylebone, London. He was the son of my 2 x great-grandfather, William Elbert Dando, and Emma Sheriff.

Resources > Family Tree Reports section

• Updated all the family tree reports. Bear in mind this is a work in progress and further additions will be made as and when time allows.

1st SEPTEMBER

1904 - my gran, Ivy Alice Hibbitt (nee Dando), would have been 107 on the 1st September. She was born in 2 Market Street, Saffron Walden, Essex, where her grandmother ran a sweet shop and her father, Charles L.E.E. Dando, was a tobacconist there before he became a dentist. The shop was known as the Golden Butterfly, named after a brand of tobacco, and was still there more than 100 years later when my parents visited in 2008.


The Golden Butterfly, Saffron Walden, Essex
1812 - Nathaniel Dando (the elder) & Hannah Langston were married in St Mary, Islington. Hannah was Nathaniel's first wife and she bore him six children before she died in 1821, aged 30.

2nd SEPTEMBER

1870 - my 5 x great-grandfather, William Horn, died in Black Torrington, Devon, at the age of 78. Grant of probate was issued to his eldest daugher, Mary Ann Hall, and he left under £100 which would have been a reasonable amount back then.

3rd SEPTEMBER

1924 - Basil Anthony Geake, my great-uncle, was born in the district of Pontypridd, Wales, most probably Gilfach Goch, where the family resided for many years before returning to Devon.

7th SEPTEMBER

1809 - my 5 x great-grandparents, Thomas Smale & Elizabeth Longman, were married in St Michael's Church, Shebbear, Devon, 202 years ago.