Reflections on A to Z challenge 2015

 Yes, I managed to get 26 posts ready for each of the required days. If you had asked me this time last year whether I would get 26 posts done in one month I would have said "no way".  I really appreciated the challenge. It certainly made me get a wriggle on to put some of my family history "out there" for others to read. I wanted other members of my extended family to know what I'd found and be able to share it and not hide it from other family members.

Finding photos for my blog certainly took up more time than I thought it would. It showed me I need to have my photos better organized.

I enjoyed reading other blogs although towards the end I had a slow down as I got called away urgently. Still there's always tomorrow, or the day after and I will be able to go back to the blog list and check on ones I haven't read yet.
Thanks to the organizers for a great challenge-have to get my thinking cap on for next year.
Thanks also to  Tessa  of  http://keoughcorner.blogspot.com.au for encouragement. I had only started blogging in February so it was a very, very new experience for me.
Wasn't it great to read other blogs that you would not have found otherwise and on such a wide variety of topics?

Z is for Zoo

I love visiting the zoo. I would really rather see the animals in the wild but sometimes that is just not possible.
Obviously my dad liked the zoo too as here he is in about 1930 at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The story is he was sitting at the back and hit the elephant but the elephant reacted and hit him with its trunk. I can imagine him doing this as he was always a bit of a tease.

In 2011 elephants at the Taronga Zoo as I saw them. Don't you love the little ones. They were so cute.

As I really like elephants I did go to

Africa to see them in the wild in 1978. This one was in Amboseli National Park Kenya-no zoo for this one.

Y is for yesterday

How often have you heard "I wish I asked them yesterday"?  Often we think we will ask them but leave it too long and then they are gone. You wish you had asked them about the family or the photos that are unlabelled. Now it is too late.
Don't leave it so you are saying " I wish I asked them yesterday"

X marks the spot where Lionel Edgar Laws was born on February 12 1868.

This was an email sent by Helen Butler to many Laws descendants on 2 September 2010 and she has kindly given me permission to publish it here. 

LONDON to BRISBANE in 141 days non-stop.   

                                                                                                                                                                                  

 On Christmas day 1867 William and Sarah Laws and 3 of their children left England for Australia in the immigrant ship “Bayswater”.   The eldest son William Camper Laws was left in the care of Sarah’s parents.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

They left from central London, probably from St Katherine’s Dock.  The small steam tug would take them to Gravesend, 50 kilometres  down the Thames along all its curves and bends . At the first bend  they pass Wapping and Shadwell where  William was born and grew up, but had probably not seen for many years.  There would be much to see on both sides of the river.  Only one of them would  ever see these things again.  Only Lily would return.

The Laws family paid their fares and travelled Steerage, the cheapest berths, conserving their funds  So they had no cabin, only dormitory accommodation with double-decker single bunks in one area with many others. William was 38 years old, Sarah was 32,  Florence 7, Lilian 6, and Ernest 3. And Sarah was very pregnant.

It was to be over four and a half months before they ended their voyage on the other side  of the world, where they would sail up  another river along all its curves and bends, 30 kilometres to the centre of another city – Brisbane.

THE ROUTE

This map is taken from Don Charlwood’s book, “The Long Farewell – Settlers Under Sail .”  It  tells the story of  immigration to the Australian colonies through the nineteenth century. There was the Old Admiralty Route which looked shorter, but was not shorter and there was the new Great Circle Route which used winds and currents to more advantage, and was much faster. Many of the Clipper ships were coming to Australia in 70 days and less, using this route. The ‘Bayswater’ used a composite route, going a fair way south to catch the Roaring Forties for the easting.  But it still took 115 days actual sailing time on the open sea. Only after the Suez Canal was opened in the next year 1869, could steamships travel to Australia and compete with the Clipper  Ships in speed and with more comfort and more safety.

The red line shows approximately the course of the ‘BAYSWATER” in 1868, sketched from eight positions noted in the report of the voyage printed in the Brisbane Courier  on Thursday 30 April 1868 Also using the exact position of the boat when the baby Lionel  was born.

             

 THE SHIP BAYSWATER

 “Lloyd’s Register of British & Foreign Shipping” for 1870/71 records the “Bayswater’ was a SHIP of 1256 tons with 3 decks.  Its length was 168.6 feet,  breadth 37.6 feet,  and depth 21.7 feet.  It was built in New York in 1847.  It is denoted as a SHIP, so it is a sailing vessel, not a steamer.

The book “Log of Logs” has some further information. The “Bayswater is denoted as a fully rigged sailing ship—with 3 masts and all the sails and not assisted by steam power. This ship was bought by the Black Ball Line shortly before its first voyage to Queensland in 1864,  when it was renamed  “Bayswater”  In 1864 it brought 281 immigrants to Keppel Bay ,Rockhampton.  In1866, Bayswater brought a  similar large number to Rockhampton. In 1868 it made its third and last voyage to Queensland but this time to Brisbane and with only  58 immigrants.

No picture of the ship has been found.  It is very likely there is no surviving picture.

  GOVERNMENT RECORDS

          

   The Queensland government had many different schemes to attract immigrants.  So there was much official paperwork about the people,   the boats they came on, the related land orders, etc.       These  papers are now in the Queensland State Archives, if surviving, and also  many on microfilm in libraries. The QSA has the 1868` Bayswater ‘s list of all passengers by name, and the medical officer’s report.

There they are – William and Sarah Laws with Florence, Lily, Ernest ,and now the infant Lionel.

 LOG OF THE VOYAGE

 The log goes with the boat and the Captain, so it is lucky to survive til now .  The Greenwich Maritime museum has the “Bayswater” log for the 1864 voyage and all the weekly newspapers printed on board.[ John Oxley Library Brisbane has Numbers 1 to 16 of these }

 Unfortunately, there is nothing  for the 1866 or 1868 voyages.  So there is nothing to tell us the daily detail of their journey.

 

W is for waiting

Well today we are waiting-waiting for the train, waiting for the bus, waiting for the rain. Of course genealogists are always waiting for certificates to arrive by post and waiting for more records to be indexed. Then they wait for them to be digitized and then wait for them to be uploaded to web.
Now I'm sorry but you will have to wait for the real W post as I've been called away. X Y & Z are scheduled but unfortunately the topic I had planned is not ready yet for scheduling.

U is for Unknowns

Don't you just love it when you can't find a mother for the child because the christening record only gives the father's name. Who had the baby?  A woman did of course but she's not even given a mention.
Then there are the ones where the father is unknown. Well there had to be a father but obviously he doesn't want to admit to being the father or the mother doesn't want him to have anything to do with the baby.
Sometimes in the UK National Archives you can find the father's name if the parish was wanting to have him pay maintenance. Look for bastardy papers.

T is for Trains(and bridges)

Building a railway bridge North Queensland

Lionel Edgar Laws( x) Railway bridge gang North Queensland

How do trains get across a river? They have to have a bridge. So Lionel Edgar Laws (1868-1945) sub-contracted to build  railway bridges at the beginning of the 20th Century. The railway system was progressing north along the east coast of Queensland. The family shifted to Gladstone while he was working on the bridge over the Raglan river.
Lionel (1893-1981) and Richard(1895-1918) enrolled in the Gladstone School on 21 January 1902. Lily enrolled on 23 March 1903 and Jessie enrolled on 21 March 1904.
In the 20 November  1903 edition there was an article in the Morning Bulletin  Rockhampton listing donations to the Rockhampton General Hospital appeal. The Lionel Laws bridge gang gave 1 pound 11 shillings.

S is for Shearmur Album part 6

My Shearmur family came from Wotton under Edge in Gloucestershire. Georgina, my great great grandmother came to Australia in 1864. She has left a photo album that has been handed down in the family to one of my cousins. Unfortunately there are no names , dates or places on the photos. I have put some on previous blogs ( http://familytreeblossoms.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/shearmur-family-album.html) but here is another.

The photographer for this one was Zephaniah Dodson and he had a business in High St Swindon in the 1870's(1)   In the immediate family of Georgina's I cannot find a matching sibling with a son in this time. So who are they? I might just have to admire the photo.

 

This one was taken in London by H Turner who had a business in Poplar London from 1871 to 1874( different dating on back of photo) (2) but this photographer was at Bedford Place Commercial Rd E. Poplar from 1871 to 1874.  She doesn't appear to be wearing a wedding ring. Is this Elizabeth Margaret Shearmur youngest sister of Georgina?  Did she visit her sister Arlette Bodnum in London and have this photo taken?

There  are always more questions for me and no answers. Does  anyone know any Shearmurs?

(1) http://www.swindonviewpoint.com/content/high-street-goddard-arms-1885 

(2) http://www.photolondon.org.uk/pages/details.asp?pid=7879

P is for Picnics-One Dunlop Bottle Opener and Picnics

Picnics have featured in our families for quite a long time.
Grandfather John Armitstead took the family to The Washpool outside Warwick and other places near Warwick Queensland.

Jack and Florrie Armitstead with Grandma

Gillie  and Florrie's brother  Ken Gillie enjoying a picnic.

Dorothy and Rene Armitstead with family friends at The Washpool

Laws Family enjoying picnics.

Growing up in Warwick Queensland our family
 owned a chicken farm. This led to very busy
lives for our parents but they always managed
to find time to take us on picnics.
 Cousins at the Washpool about 1953

Meanwhile cousins on the other side of the family were enjoying picnics too.  Nothing beats eating outdoors.









Mum, Dad & Sue at The Washpool. We would have cooked chicken, salad and bread and soft drink. Of course we needed a bottle opener for the soft drink bottle-no screw caps then. The local tyre retailer had given us a beauty- a large one about 20cm long with an end like a tyre to use for the opener. However disaster struck, we left it in the grass at The Washpool. By this time the tyre retailer did not have anymore so we were without this magnificent bottle opener.




HOWEVER a year later we returned to The Washpool and there it was lying in the grass-
definitely a long lasting Dunlop Tyre company bottle opener.

Picnics continue- we had  picnics for our Laws family reunion at the Gold Coast in 1983














and for the Holmes Family reunion at Pittsworth
in 2000

Now a little bit older  so we need more comfort by the Condamine River, Warwick

L is for Lofthouse-Joseph Platt Lofthouse

Joseph Platt Lofthouse  1813-1857

Joseph Platt Lofthouse II 1848-1921

On  5th November 1812 James Lofthouse married Jane Platt in Checkley Staffordshire. At the Checkley parish church on 23rd August 1813 Joseph Platt Lofthouse was christened. He was my husband's great grandfather.
Joseph Platt Lofthouse quickly followed in his father's footsteps as a surveyor. From Gateway to the Past website http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/leisure/archives/collections/OnlineCatalogues/GatewaytothePast/home.aspx it was discovered that he had surveyed large areas of Staffordshire, particularly near Milwich in the 1830's. Copies of the surveys are available at the William Salt Library in Stafford.
After his marriage to Elizabeth Reeves on 9th September 1840 in the Holy Trinity church at Berkswich Staffordshire he continued his surveying. They were blessed with 2 daughters-Elizabeth ( 1842-1857)and Louisa (1844-1868).
His surveying must have been exceptional as he was called to London in the late 1840's to survey the Kensington area for the Great Exhibition of London in 1851. While the family were there Joseph Platt Lofthouse II was born in Lambeth on 9th April 1848.
The plan of estates in the parishes of Kensington and St. Margarets Westminster, in the County of Middlesex. was purchased by Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851. [1860] which is bound into the volume  Miscellaneous pamphlets : Prince Consort, Woolwich, South Kensington &c. &c. NAL Pressmark: 802.AA.0053. Several years ago a lithograph of the plan was on sale for 600 pounds-way beyond our budget I'm afraid.
Joseph continued surveying in Staffordshire until his death on 30th November 1857. Shortly after, Elizabeth died leaving the children to be under the care of Uncle Thomas Reynolds Lofthouse and Aunt Ann Reeve(Mrs Thomas Reeve)-nee Ann Reeves and the Lofthouse grandparents.
In the 1861 census James Lofthouse was living in Hopton Staffordshire still listed as a surveyor and now had Jane his wife, Louisa and Diana Jane his granddaughters and Joseph Platt his grandson living with him. Also there were 2 servants Ellen Holford and Lorenze Brain and a visitor Harriet Platt aged 29.
James died later that year. So in 1871in the census Jane is widowed but running a farm of 30 acres. Granddaughter Diana Jane and grandsons Joseph Platt Lofthouse and Thomas Clark Lofthouse are living with her. Ellen Holford is listed as a servant still but there is another servant Arthur Fradley aged 11 who looks like he might be from the neighbouring family as they are Fradley's.
Joseph Platt Lofthouse is listed as a civil engineer aged 22. Thomas Clark Lofthouse was the son of Thomas Reynolds Lofthouse,  the other son of James & Jane Lofthouse.
From the 1879 Post Office Directory for Stroud, Gloucestershire  Joseph Platt Lofthouse II was listed as an architect, civil engineer and  surveyor to the Local Board. By 1881 he is living in Landsdown, Stroud, Gloucestershire with his sister Diana Jane, his cousin Thomas Clark Lofthouse and Caroline Synnach, a servant. He is working as a civil engineer and town surveyor.
Now he had to take a trip across the country to Caistor Lincolnshire in 1887 for his marriage to Ellen Josephine Dixon on February 22. Here begins the lies.On the marriage certificate he says he is 34 when he is actually 39 but I guess as Ellen is only 18 he wants to appear younger.
Claude Gilbert Lofthouse joined the family on 14 November 1887.
In 1890 Joseph was fined for not appearing as a juryman. As he was listed as living at 52 Hammersmith Rd, Hammersmith London in the 1891 census I guess he'd left Stroud without telling them he was shifting.
Again in the 1891 census he is creative with his age-39 this time when it should be 43.  Ellen Josephine and 3year old Claude are there and Joseph is working as a civil engineer and surveyor. At the same address we have Ellen Josephine Dixon, his mother-in-law, sisters-in- law Mary aged 14 and Norah aged 3, and brothers-in-law Samuel aged 13, Sidney aged 11 and Lionel aged 8 as they had shifted from Caistor Lincolnshire. Thomas Dixon, Ellen Lofthouse's uncle was also living there.
By 1901 they had shifted to 30 St James Square Kensington London and again he has a creative age of 49(should be 53) and he is an engineer and surveyor. Claude Gilbert is at school and from other records we know it was Merchant Taylors School for boys.
Now in 1911 Joseph Platt gets more creative. He's single, 52(no-he's 63), a civil engineer and boarding with a widow at 6 Albert Terrace, Towcester.
There is no trace of Ellen Lofthouse in the 1911 English census. Family stories have it that she went to Argentina for some time. There are records of her travelling to Buenos Aires in 1914 and on the passenger list it has her as a permanent resident of Argentina. So maybe that was where she was in 1911.
Poor Joseph Platt Lofthouse ended his days in Rowton House 103 St Dunstans Rd Fulham,,Middlesex on July 16 1921. At that time his son Claude was also living in this single men's accommodation.

K is for Kate-Kate Elizabeth Armitstead( born Hoyle) and her family

Kate Armitstead

Kate Elizabeth Hoyle was born in the second quarter of 1877 in Bury North, Lancashire England the sixth and youngest child of John and Elizabeth Jane Hoyle. Sadly her father had died in late 1876 aged 37 so he never saw his youngest daughter.

Elizabeth Jane Hoyle married again in 1886. This husband, John Beswick died in 1888 once again leaving Kate's mother a widow. 

By the 1891 census  Kate, her mother and a brother Thomas were living at 7 Wroe's Yard, Bury and Kate was a cotton weaver. Thomas was working as a  road corporation labourer.

Now some happy news-Kate married William Armitstead( my grandfather's eldest brother) on 6th August 1898 in Bury.

In the 1901 census they were recorded as living at 79 Gigg Lane Bury and William was a house carpenter/joiner. More good news as they had a son Henry Mawson who was one year old at the census. Between 1901 and 1911 she and William had 5 more children. One son, John, died at age 4 but the 4 girls Elizabeth, Margaret, Kate and Jessie and Henry are all listed on the 1911 census when the family was living in a 5 room house at 11 Milton Rd Prestwich. William was working as a joiner.

Two more daughters were born Edith and Doris but Edith died aged 1 year.

Now we have more good news as Henry marries in 1926, Elizabeth(Ciss) marries in 1927, Jessie marries in 1939 and Doris marries in 1948. Even more good news as 6 grandchildren arrive.

During World War 2 granddaughter Jean McLennan pictured above spent a lot of time with her grandparents and has told me that they had an  air raid shelter in the garden and they would all have to go there when the siren went.

Jean McLennan

The daughters Margaret and Kate didn't marry but they ran a  shop in  Whitefield for many years. Margaret enjoyed travelling and went on cargo boats as well as passenger ships. In 1949 she took William on a cruise to the Canary Islands leaving Liverpool on the 8th April 1949. 

Kate Elizabeth lost her husband William  in 1954 aged 81.

 In 1957 Margaret travelled on the Albemarle leaving Liverpool on 25th January going on a round trip to South America.

Sadly Kate Elizabeth died in 1958.

 In 1959 again Margaret set off and she  travelled on the  Beechmore to Chicago leaving London on 9th September. Another trip beckoned in 1960. This time to Auckland New Zealand  from London on 21st October. This must have been to visit her sister Elizabeth McLennan who had migrated in 1958 to be with her daughter Jean.

Kate and William's descendants are now spread across the globe from England to Australia and to New Zealand.

 

J is for John Laws

Now John Laws was an uncle, a great uncle,   a first cousin once removed, and  a 3G grandfather. Get the picture there are many John Laws or ... John Laws in my ancestry but the most puzzling is my 3G grandfather.
 He married Hannah Murray on 20th May 1822 in the church of St George the Martyr, Southwark Surrey England. 

The next record we find of him is the christenings of the 4 children, Selina, Amelia, George and William on 28th September 1831 in the church of St George in the East, Middlesex.

Here it has his occupation as mariner and the abode as Princes St when William was born. Interestingly Selina was born in Ratcliff Square, Amelia in North St Limehouse and George in Tarling St and these were recorded in the christening record.

From Selina's marriage record in 1842 at the church of St Leonards in Shoreditch her father is listed as John Laws engineer and again in Amelia's marriage record in 1845 in the parish church of Bow, John Laws is the father and again an engineer.

However by 1859 when William  married in Alverstoke, Hampshire John was was listed as a butcher and also in the marriage record of Hannah, the younger daughter, in 1860 in Alverstoke, Hampshire.
Where and when did John die? The only indication I have of his death is a reference in the apprenticeship record of William's in 1843 of William being an orphan. His mother was not dead so it indicates that his father was dead.
In the 1841 census he is not living with the family. Where is he? Is he on a ship, living somewhere else or dead? John Laws is a common name so it has been difficult to pin him down without much to go on.
So who were John's parents, when was he born, when did he die? Did he have siblings? All questions yet to be answered and so little information to go on.

I is for Ida Emilie Robertshaw

Ida Emilie was a very uncommon name in the 1850s to 1880s. This was very useful for me as I was trying to track down a particular family.
My GG Grandfather William Frank Laws had 3 sisters. I was able to follow Selina Laws and her marriage to Henry Sedgwick in 1842 and then the family through the various census returns. I could also follow Hannah Maria Laws and her marriage to Charles Johnson and their family through the census returns.
So with Amelia Laws marrying Thomas Cook Richardson in parish church of Bow on 23 August 1845 began a mystery tour. By 1851 in the census returns we have them  living at 7 Norfolk Place Mile End Old Town
Thomas Richardson, aged 27 saddler and harness maker  born in St Neots Huntingdonshire
Amelia Richardson,  wife, aged 26, waistcoat maker born in Limehouse Middlesex
Amelia Richardson daughter aged 4 born in Finsbury
Anne Richardson daughter aged 3 born in Mile End
Ida Richardson daughter aged 1 born in Mile End.

So far so good.

Now I purchased the birth certificates of the daughters.
Amelia Rosene Richardson born 24th July 1846 at 23 New North St Shoreditch  Middlesex,
father Thomas Cook Richardson saddler and mother Amelia Richardson formerly Laws
Amie Hannah Richardson born  27th February 1848 at 7 Norfolk St Stepney Middlesex, father Thomas Cooke Richardson saddler  and mother Amelia Richardson formerly Laws
Ida Emilie  Richardson born 30th October 1849 at 7 Norfolk St Stepney Middlesex, father Thomas Cooke Richardson  saddler and mother Amelia Richardson formerly Laws

Still looking pretty good.

1861 Census
Rose Richardson is listed at 8 Clarence Sq Alverstoke Hampshire as a niece of William Laws shipwright foreman.  Also OK.
Where were the others? I couldn't find a Thomas Richardson family anywhere.
So I left them a while. A cousin wanted to see the marriage certificate of Hannah Laws and Charles Johnson.
It had 15 October 1860 in the parish church of Alverstoke Hampshire
Charles Johnson of full age mercantile clerk of Hackney, father Henry Johnson bookseller
Hannah Maria Laws of full age spinster of Gosport, father John Laws Butcher
Witnesses: William Laws ( brother) and Amelia Richardson Cooke.
Could this be Amelia Cook Richardson?
Back to the 1861 census and yes.
Amelia Richardson Cooke wife aged 30  born London Middlesex gentlewoman was living at 10 Mountrath Street,Walsall, Staffordshire with
Amy Richardson Cooke daughter aged 12 born London Middlesex scholar
Ida Emilie Richardson Cooke daughter aged 11 born London Middlesex scholar
No Thomas Richardson Cooke and I'm yet to find him. Perhaps they moved to Walsall as it was the area known for the best saddles and Thomas was a saddler. Amelia does not say she's a widow.
So to the 1871 census and there are no Richardson Cookes. You can imagine I'm getting frustrated by this time but I will not be beaten.
Perhaps the girls are married. Yes Ida Emilie has married Francis Lee Robertshaw 16 July 1870 in the Walthamstow Parish Church Essex.
Now I go to the 1881 census for the Robertshaws-again no luck. Really tired of these vanishing people but thought they may have emigrated. I do not have a worldwide subscription to Ancestry.com to check the travel records. I did not want to wait to go to the Genealogical Society of Queensland so I tried my trusty friend Google. There was a family tree of Ida Emile Robertshaw and her husband Frances Lee Robertshaw on Rootsweb. The Robertshaws had emigrated to USA. Finally a breakthrough. Ida Emilie really made it easy to search as there were no others in the time that I needed to find her.
Sadly I found Amelia Richardson Cooke died of TB on the Isle of Wight in 1868 and that is why she wasn't on the 1871 census.
Now I had to find out what happened to the other 2 girls. I eventually found that they had emigrated too to the US but that is another story.

Photo of Ida Emilie published with permission.

H is for Henry-Henry Armitstead

Henry was a very interesting fellow.

He was the second born son of George Mawson and Jane Armitstead and was born 18th August 1875 in Bury Lancashire. In 1891 (from the English census) he was a maker up at the paper mill. From 1896 to 1900 he was at Owens College, Manchester studying for a science degree. Unfortunately he failed in 1899 so had to repeat in 1900. He studied Chemistry, Mathematics and Geology.  He was Assistant Master under Leeds School Board, 1899-1900  at Radcliffe Bridge Schools and in 1900 was a Physics Demonstrator, School of Science, Llanelly. At the 1901 census on 31st March he was living with his parents at 35 Dumers Lane  and working as a school science master. From 1901 to 1906 he was a  lecturer in Physics, Presidency College,5, Humayoon Place, Calcutta, India. No records  of his mode of travel to India have been found so far ( probably too far to swim).
In 1908 he had a book published

Practical & Theoretical Geometry for Schools.  H Armitstead, B Sc  Prizeman, Victoria University of Manchester and Temporary Professor of Mathematics, The Presidency College Calcutta.
Published by Longmans, Green, and Co.
39 Paternoster Row, London
New York, Bombay and Calcutta 1908


From India he somehow got to China ( probably didn't swim) and then travelled on the Empress of China from Hong Kong to Vancouver Canada. On 29th May 1909 the US Border Crossing papers list  his last permanent residence as Calcutta India.
Off he went again and must have travelled across the US as he left the USA from New York  on the SS Cedric bound for Liverpool and arrived on  23rd June 1909. As his brother George Mawson Armitstead lived in Massachusetts I guess he visited his family before leaving for England.
This well travelled relative was off again. This time he left Liverpool  on  27th October 1910 for Montreal Canada on the Lake Manitoba of the Canadian Pacific Railway Shipping line.
Again in 1913 he arrived in Quebec Canada on 14th August 1913 from Liverpool and is stamped as a returning person to Canada.
Now the trail goes cold until his death on 16th January 1921 in Bury, Lancashire. His probate was declared and the beneficiary was his sister Florence Crabb. He was buried in the All Saints Graveyard, Stand, Lancashire England.
The family tales of Henry (or Harry as the family called him) being a professor and being in India had been proved at last.

G is for George Mawson Armitstead

George Mawson Armitstead ( my great grandfather)was born in Kendal Westmoreland England in 1851 son of a beerseller William Armitstead and his wife Agnes Mawson Armitstead. The Murgatroyd-Armitstead partnership of carpenters and joiners was dissolved in November 1850 and so when George  was born his father was a beerseller. Shortly after George's birth the family  moved  from Kendal to Preston. Did they use the Kendal to Preston canal to take the family of 7 ( William,  Agnes, Margaret, Mary Ann, Isabella, Hannah and a very young George)  to Preston in the early 1850's? In the 1861 census the family were living at 35 Berry St Preston and father William was listed as a carpenter- back to his trade. As he had been fined for having a noisy beerhouse after hours on a Saturday night maybe he thought he should go back to carpentry. Agnes his wife was not listed but Mary Ann aged 16 was a cotton weaver, Isabella aged 14 was also a cotton weaver, Hannah aged 12 and George aged 10 were both scholars. By now Margaret Ellen aged 21 and cotton weaver had married James Clarkson aged 25 and a cotton cloth looker so they were there too with their one month old son William
In the 1871 English census George was listed with his father and both were house carpenters. By 1873 George had moved to Bury Lancashire as he married Jane Fairclough in 1873 in St Maries Roman Catholic Church. They had 10 children but only 6 reached adulthood.

 One of these children  was another George Mawson Armitstead and he was born on 4th May 1885  while the parents were living  at 71 Britain View, Hardys Gale in South Bury. George senior was listed as a joiner-journeyman  By 1901( from the English Census) George junior is an apprentice toolmaker and living with the family at 35 Dumer's Lane Bury Lancashire.
George junior married Margaret Jackson in the Church of St Paul, Astley Bridge, Bolton,  Lancashire on  September 6 1904 and was listed as a fitter and his father was listed as a joiner. Margaret's father Thomas was listed as a blacksmith. Witnesses were William and Elizabeth Jackson, her brother and sister.
 By 1909 they had 2 children Harold Mawson and Hilda.
George Mawson left Liverpool on September 14 1910 on SS Haverford and arrived in Philadelphia Pennsylvania on September 25 1910
Margaret and the children followed on the  "SS Zeeland" leaving from Liverpool to arrive in Boston Massachusetts  on 10 Nov 1910
Two more children, John and Stanley, were born in the USA
In the 1920 US census the family were living in Quincy Norfolk, Massachusetts and George was listed as a toolmaker in a shipyard
In the 1930 census the family were living in Revere Suffolk, Massachusetts and George was a die maker for a die manufacturer. Hilda was now a stenographer for an insurance company. Harold was now married.
In the 1940 census George Junior was  aged 55 and living with Margaret aged 56 and Stanley aged 27 who was now working as a clerk in the gas industry. They now lived in Winthrop Ave Revere,Suffolk Massachusetts
There was even a third George Mawson Armitstead and he was the son of Stanley and Edith Armitstead and was born in 1946 and sadly died in 2012. He had been keen on cars and favoured Stan's old car which featured on his Facebook page.

F is for Flo-who was the affectionate friend Flo?

Grandfather Armitstead's photo album was the usual old family album-lots of lovely photos but no names and no places or dates. He came from Lancashire to Australia in 1911 on the SS Medic arriving in Sydney on 5th February.
I really like this photo but have been unable to identify her. Is she from the UK or is she an Australian friend? I guess I will never know.
Grandfather's sister was Flo but it doesn't look like her writing that I have on postcards from her.