27th JULY

1848 - Mary Jane Pitcher, was born. She was the grand-daughter of my 5 x great-grandparents, Benjamin Pitcher and Margaret (nee Worgan).

29th JULY

1917 - Edward Carlyle Savory, husband of my great-aunt, Patricia Eileen Geake, was born 94 years ago.

30th JULY

1900 - 111 years ago my great-grandparents, Charles Llewellyn Ernest Elbert Dando & Alice Free, were married in St Mary the Virgin's Church, Saffron Walden, Essex.


St Mary the Virgin's Church, Saffron Walden
31st JULY

1921 - Thomas Stotesbury Dando died in Milford, Pike County, Pennsylvania, USA, on 31st July 1921. Thomas ran a printing firm and was the grandson of my 3 x great-grandfather, Joseph Dando, the younger.

1872 - the widow of my 3 x great-grandfather, Joseph Dando (mentioned above), married her second husband 139 years ago. John Hamilton and Sarah Dando (nee Walker), were married in Great Victoria Street Presbyterian Church in Belfast, Ireland.

I recently discovered a little more about Samuel Dando, the missing son of John Dando and Ann (nee Brothers), my 5 x great-grandparents. John Dando's will, dated 1809, states that he hadn't heard from Samuel for 4 years and was apparently out of the country. In 1799, we find Samuel residing with his brother, Stephen, in New York. According to the book, 'The Old Merchants of New York City - Vol 5, by Walter Barrett, clerk - published in 1885', Samuel was making hats for a New York merchant, Samuel Norsworthy, in 1828. The writer apparently mistook their aunt, Mary, for their mother...

"Mr. Norsworthy stood six feet two inches high, and was well proportioned. He wore a low-crowned hat, made by Dando. They made his hats for thirty years. When he arrived here [in 1794] he found Mary Dando, the widow, living at 166 William street, where she kept a china store. In 1798, Stephen Dando started a hat store at 3 Maiden lane, where his mother resided. Next year Stephen took in his brother Sam at No. 11 Maiden lane. Stephen made the first hat for Mr. Norsworthy in 1798, and Samuel, who outlived his brother, made his last hat in 1828."

Stephen lived in New York until he died in 1851. It seems a shame that he had not managed to keep his father and brother in contact with each other.

Family Tree section

• Added these details and footnotes for Mary Dando, Samuel Dando and Stephen Dando.

Resources > Biographies section

• Updated the biography pages for Mary Dando and Stephen Dando with the above information.

20th JULY

2000 - Ivor George Geake, my great-uncle, died at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, at the age of 80.

1934 - Emma Dando (nee Sheriff), second 'wife' of my great-great-grandfather, William Elbert Dando, died 77 years ago this day. William and Emma's marriage was probably a bigamous one but they had three children together and Emma called herself Dando until she died.

22nd JULY

1738 - my 7 x great-grandparents, Ananias Bennet(t) & Alice Seldon, were married 273 years ago in Merton in Devon.

23rd JULY

1964 - Patricia Eileen Savory (nee Geake) (right), sister of Ivor above, died in Bellemeade, Hyattsville, Maryland, USA. Eileen is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. She was 41 years old and left a husband with two twin teenaged boys.

1966 - my great-uncle by marriage, Richard Henry Couling, died at the age of 69 in the Hospital at Tavistock in Devon. His widow, Lily Alice (nee Geake), lived for another 22 years.

24th JULY

1806 - the wedding of John Rigsby Horn & Mary Chapman took place in St Mary's Church, Black Torrington, Devon, 205 years ago. John was the eldest son of my 6 x great-grandparents, Lewis Burdon Horn and Ann (nee Rigsby).

25th JULY

1852 - James Rice Pitcher & Ann Powell were married in the Parish of St Philip & Jacob, Bristol, 159 years ago. James declared he was 35 years old at the time but the truth is he was nearer to 49. He was the eldest son of my 4 x great-grandparents, Benjamin Pitcher and Sarah (nee Rice).

1934 - James Johnson Sill died on 25th July 1934. His wife, Alice Amies Dando, was a grand-daughter of my 3 x great-grandfather, Joseph Dando, the younger.

If you have a blog or family history website of your own then displaying adverts via the various schemes available can be a good way of discovering new genealogy websites. Monitor the text adverts appearing on your site and make a note of the website address (note: don't click on the ads yourself or you'll most likely get penalised by the company running the ad scheme). Once you have the address, you can look up the sites at your leisure.

I came across a fairly new genealogy search engine called Mocavo in this way. This site is in its infancy but promises to be a useful tool as more and more resources are added to the site. Nevertheless, it's surprising what you can already find. One feature I found helpful is the search engine is picking up discussions posted by others to various message boards. This can often lead to connections and discoveries which you might not have otherwise made.

[Why Tuesday's Tip? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Daily Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

I'd known for a long time that my great-grandfather, Alfred Charles Newbold Hibbitt (see right), was a Coastguard and I'd already obtained a copy of his Naval Service record some while ago from the National Archives DocumentsOnline facility. The record, however, ends on 30th April 1919 and a note appears at the bottom stating, "Transferred to Coast Guards (New Force) (see Special Register)". My next question was, "Where was this register and how could I view it?"

Well, I recently discovered the Digital Microfilm records, which the National Archives have made available on their website free of charge. These records are in PDF format and aren't indexed so you have to scroll through the pages in much the same way you would a microfilm......Read more »

FindMyPast.co.uk have recently launched several more military collections as follows:

• 1861 Worldwide Army Index
• Royal Fusiliers Collection 1863-1905
• Paddington Rifles 1860-1912
• Surrey Recuitment Registers 1908-1933

In addition, they've also published over 500,000 soldiers' records in their Militia Service Records 1806-1915. The Militia was a voluntary county-based part-time force for home defence. It ceased to be summoned after the Civil War but was revived in 1757, when the Militia Act established militia regiments in all counties of England and Wales.

8th JULY

1909 - James Horn, son of my 5 x great-grandparents William Horn and Ann (nee Bayley), died 102 years ago on 8th July at the age of 80. He was buried in the churchyard at St Mary's Church, Black Torrington, Devon.

9th JULY

1925 - Joseph Clifford Dando II died, aged 61. He was the grandson of my 3 x great-grandfather, Joseph Dando, and his second wife, Helen Sheriff.

12th JULY

1798 - 213 years ago, Joseph Fryer, son of my 7 x great-grandparents, died. He was buried in St Mary the Virgin's Churchyard in Arlingham, Gloucestershire, in the same tomb as that of his parents, John FRYER (b. abt 1695) and Mary (nee KING). Unfortunately, Joseph's name is no longer visible on the tomb but details of the inscription were recorded in the document, 'Arlingham: Memorial Inscriptions' by MLK Curtis in 1993. Comparing the memorial inscription to the burial date in the parish register, it would appear Joseph was buried the day before he died!!! That's not too clever.

1832 - Ann Davis (nee Fryer), died 179 years ago and was also buried in St Mary the Virgin's Churchyard in Arlingham. The inscription on the headstone reads...

"Sacred to the memory of
ANN DAVIS, daughter of
JOHN & CAROLINE FRYER,
of Overton in this parish,
who died July 12th 1832,
aged 24 years.
Behold you that liveth"

15th JULY

1801 - my 4 x great-grandparents, Joseph Dando & Ann Murch, were married 210 years ago in St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol.


Joseph Dando (abt. 1781-1860)
(Image: copyright © Dianne Fox)
1895 - my 4 x great-grandmother, Elizabeth Smale (nee Horn), died on 15th July, 116 years ago and was buried in the churchyard at St Mary's Church, Black Torrington. Elizabeth was 79 years old.

1915 - 20 years later to the day, Elizabeth's son, James Smale, died at the age of 75. He was buried in the cemetery at Lake Methodist Chapel, Shebbear, Devon.

16th JULY

1879 - William Martin, illegitimate son of my great-great-grandmother, Grace Martin (later Smale), was born in Beaworthy in North Devon.

2002 - 9 years ago my great-uncle, Ronald Arthur Geake, passed away at Mount Gould Hospital in Plymouth, Devon.

17th JULY

1874 - Rosa Elizabeth Fryer was born at Bridge Street in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales. Her great-grandparents were my 4 x great-grandparents, Richard Fryer (b. abt. 1792) and Ann (nee Jones).

Today my focus is on the excellent SEAX website. For those who haven't come across SEAX before, this website holds the online computerised catalogue for the Essex Record Office (ERO) located in Chelmsford, and can be accessed at http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk.

Although SEAX contains descriptions of documents, it doesn't contain the actual text within them. However, the ERO are continually scanning their collections and adding them to the system so they can be viewed online – and the best bit is that these scans of the original documents are free to view......Read more »

Ancestry is allowing free access to its National Probabte Calendar, 1861-1941 collection until 8th July. You can search the indexes to see where and when your ancestors died, see the original records to discover how much they left behind, and use the information to order their full wills and probate records from the Principal Probate Registry.

Ancestry are also offering Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976, for free. This collection of obituaries, death notices and other announcements was put together by heir hunters.

1st JULY

1720 - My 8 x great-grandmother, Mary, the wife of Richard Fryer (abt 1663-1710), died on 1st July, 291 years ago, and was buried 2 days later in the churchyard at St Mary the Virgin in Arlingham, Gloucestershire (right). Mary's maiden name is a little uncertain but she may have been Mary Haines. The parish registers for Leonard Stanley recorded a marriage of a Richard Ffrier to a Mary Haines on 23rd February 1690, a year before the baptism of their first child.

1788 - Stephen Dando & Elizabeth Jones were married at Dursley, Gloucestershire, this day 223 years ago. Stephen was the youngest son of my 6 x great-grandparents, John and Susanna Dando. Stephen was a hat maker and ran his father's business after John died. A claim to fame is that Stephen was baptized by the famous religious leader, George Whitefield, at Dursley Tabernacle on 25th June 1760. Go to Stephen's biography page to find out more.

1862 - 149 years ago, Joseph Reed & Mary Pitcher Fryer were married at Drybrook, Gloucestershire. Mary was the daughter of my 4 x great-grandfather, Richard Fryer (abt 1792-1862), and his second wife, Ann Bailey Pitcher.

2nd JULY

1992 - My gran, Ivy Alice Hibbitt (nee Dando), died at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, 19 years ago at the age of 87. Gran was a stickler for proper grammar but did like to play with words and used to have lots of amusing sayings which never ceased to tickle me.

1910 - my great-aunt, Doris May Geake, was born on 2nd July and would have been 101 years old this year. Doris married twice, her first husband, Tom Bishop, having died, she later became Doris Gwyn.

3rd JULY

1942 - John Smale was the son of my 3 x great-grandparents, William Smale & Mary Jane (nee Moore). John died on 3rd July 1942. I discovered his grave quite by chance in Plymouth Road Cemetery, Tavistock, Devon, after I'd been visiting the graves of other family members.


The grave of John Smale (abt 1871-1842)
in Plymouth Road Cemetery, Tavistock, Devon
5th JULY

1879 - Charles Harris & Bertha Jane Fryer were married at Tidenham, Gloucestershire. Bertha was the grand-daughter of my 4 x great-grandparents, Richard Fryer (abt 1792-1862), and Ann (nee Jones).

6th JULY

1773 - My 5 x great-grandparents, Benjamin Pitcher & Margaret Worgan, married this day 238 years ago in St Oswald's Church (right) in Rockhampton, Gloucestershire.

7th JULY

1765 - It's been 246 years since my 6 x great-grandparents, Samuel Longman & Rachael Bennett married in Merton in North Devon.

1849 - Hannah Warren (nee Fryer) died 162 years ago on the 7th July and was buried 3 days later in the churchyard at St Mary the Virgin, Fretherne, Gloucestershire. Hannah was the daughter of John Fryer (abt 1762-1816), my 5 x great-grandfather, and his second wife, Caroline.