Another piece of the RICHARDSON jigsaw fits in place

Ancestry had an open day for Canadian records on Canada Day, July 1st, this year. Bless 'em. Lots of interesting stuff, including the Form 30A Declaration of Passenger to Canada for Harold Guy RICHARDSON (1873 - 1945). It gave the usual details of his home address in Ottawa, name of the ship - S S Melita -  in which he was travelling, and date of sailing - 16 October 1924. There are some period photographs of the interior of the Melita on E J Palmer's web site.

As well as these details there were two bits of information which were really fascinating - his reason for the voyage and his last address in England.

Michael, a descendant of his, had been told by his mother of Harold's connection with the League of Nations but since Michael started research his family history he had found no evidence at all to support this. In 2010 Michael had written to the United Nations archives in Geneva but they had found no trace of any connection with Harold. In fact, the League of Nations connection seemed unlikely, since Harold appeared to have worked in newspapers in Canada ever since he emigrated to Canada from England early in the twentieth century. 

However, here we have the connection. His occupation is recorded as "General Secretary to the League of Nations Society in Canada" and his reason for leaving Canada is given as "To attend the League of Nations in Geneva". Documented confirmation of oral tradition - it's interesting how there is almost always a solid basis of truth behind family stories.

We have not yet found any record of his voyage out to Geneva, but he gives his nearest relative in the country from which he came as "H M Richardson" of the "National Union of Journalists, Fleet Street, London" - "H M Richardson" was his brother Henry Marriott (1876 - 1936), who himself had been a journalist and founder member of the NUJ before being elected the Union's first paid General Secretary in 1918. He still held this position in 1924, so it looks as though Harold was visiting family on his way back to Canada - as well as Henry Marriott, Harold had another brother, Charles, who was also a journalist.

So, in Michael's words, "Another nagging question answered!"

Two Joseph Fallowfield MASSER Items

Two items from ebay arrived in the post today. Their frontispieces announce:

"Meadow Lane, Leeds.
Particulars and plan of valuable building land, suitable for shops, workshops, warehouse, &c. Situated in Meadow Lane, Leeds, and lately forming the site of the Trafalgar Mills.
To be sold by auction by Messrs. Hepper and Sons at the Great Northern Railway Station Hotel, Leeds, on Tuesday, the 28th day of July, 1874.
Leeds: J.F. Masser & Sons.
1874"

Trafalgar Mill Estate, Meadow Lane, Leeds

and

"The Oxton Hall Estate.
Particulars of an important and most desirable seat situated in the townships of Oxton and East Tadcaster, in the Ainsty of the City of York, and comprising Oxton Hall, park, pleasure grounds and farm lands.

Containing in the whole 167 acres together with an annual tithe rent charge of £75 9s. 9d which Messrs. Hepper & Sons will sell by auction, at the Royal Station Hotel, York on Wednesday, the 1st day of May, 1872.

Leeds: J.F. Masser & Sons.
1872"

Oxton Hall Estate, Tadcaster

The first is a folded printed pamphlet with a coloured folding plan of the Trafalgar Mills estate; the second is also a folded printed pamphlet with a large litho-coloured folding plan of the Oxton Hall estate.

These are the first Joseph Fallowfield MASSER plans I have managed to acquire and they are quite large - 42cm x 26cm (16.5 x 10 inches) - so I have had to photograph them instead of scanning them in my A4 scanner.

Joseph Fallowfield MASSER, a successful Leeds lithographer, was Georgia and Nancy's 4 great grandfather.

What It's All About...

When I first started looking at my family's history, I had always thought that my roots were in the North East of England. That was where my grandparents lived; where my father went to school and to college; and where my family always went when they went "home".

After my mother's death in the mid-1970s we found that she had left lots of notes about the family on little bits of paper. Who were all these people? Putting the jigsaw together revealed ancestors from the North West as well as the North East of England; from East Anglia; and from the South. A patchwork of country landowners and illiterate farm labourers, paper manufacturers and marine engineers, builders and farmers, public house owners and Methodist teetotallers.

Research has taken me to County Record Offices from the North of England to the South. When I started you could still handle the original parish records and vellum documents. No longer. Original documents were first replaced by fiche and microfilm. These are now being replaced by on-line scanned documents on the internet.
In place of paper files and Family Record Sheets we now have data files on our computer. A Family Record Sheet can be printed out at the (metaphorical) touch of a button. A 3.5 inch hard drive now holds the equivalent of many feet of shelf space.

The world also has shrunk. We might have known of a cousin or two who had emigrated. In those days, if we were still in contact with them at all, a letter probably involved a large payment for a small postage stamp. An international phone call would cost a month's wages, if the international operator could put you through at all. This has all changed as well. The world wide web has brought us into contact with many more cousins; our emails go back and forward 24/7.

So it has been change, change, change since I started. Interesting enough in itself.

But I have other reasons for continuing.

There's the excitement of the chase; the unexpected connection; the pleasure of knocking down a brick wall; the satisfaction when you find which of several Joe Bloggs in Lower Mandeville is yours.

Then there's the feeling that you are leaving something for future generations. I found a chart of a branch of the family tree made by a cousin in 1903. If anyone appreciates my work as much as I did his, it would all have been worthwhile.

Finally, theres the fascination of the family stories that are revealed. In some cases they are dramatic - murder, mayhem and sudden death. Others are the stories of great success, in business and the professions.

I hope to bring you a few ideas based on my experiences. I may add some of those stories. I'll probably raise as many questions as I give answers.

Let's see how it goes.

Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 44, verse 1