Research Forum

I have heard from the Somerset Archives that on the back of the portrait of John HARRIS is this writing.  Does anyone know which Lodge this refers to and where Channel Road was?

Does anyone know where I can find a photograph of the original house or cottage where the walnut tree pub now stand

Thank you 

Conrad 

Sarah Luffman BATT was baptised at Congresbury on 13 December 1829. According to the baptism record she was the daughter of Mary BATT “Single woman”.

Mary BATT married Edward PAIN at Wick St Lawrence on 31 March 1831 having previously been married (on 11 June 1816) to Susannah HERVEY who died in about December 1827.

At the time of the 1841 census Edward and Mary PAIN were living in Wick St Lawrence with a number of children from both of Edward’s marriages. Also living with them was Sara PAIN (sic) aged 10.

Sarah Luffman BATT married Francis PARKER at Wick St Lawrence on 15 July 1850. She gave her father’s name as George BATT. I have always harboured the suspicion that Edward PAIN was Sarah’s father. A recent DNA match to a descendant of Edward’s brother has given weight to this theory.

What has always intrigued me is where Sarah’s middle name of Luffman came from. I can’t find anyone of that name amongst the ancestors of either Edward PAIN or Mary BATT. There are a number of LUFFMANs living in Somerset at the time of the 1841 census (for example) but none with an obvious connection to Wick St Lawrence. Nor have I found any BMDs for a LUFFMAN there or nearby between 1700 and 1840.

Any thoughts or theories on the likely origin of the middle name of Luffman would be greatly appreciated.

Seeing Pat's  request for more items in the research forum I am eager to know what a "Holder-On" was. Whilst researching my husband's maternal line, I found his Grandfather described as this in the 1901 Scotland Census.

ALEXANDER LECKIE born 14.3.1873 in Ireland was living with his parents ALEXANDER born 1837 Ireland and MARTHA born 1839 Ireland. His youngest sibling MINNIE was born 1887 in Greenock, Scotland where the family were living in 1901, whilst brother THOMAS was born in Ireland 1881. So, sometime between 1881 and1887 the family moved to Scotland. Unfortunately, the surname LECKIE seems to be common in Ireland, so the trail has gone cold.

In 1911 Census Scotland ALEXANDER Jnr. was still in Greenock but moved to South Wales between 1911 and 1916 when another daughter was born there. in the 1939 Register ALEXANDER Jnr. is recorded as a Retired Boilermaker in Penarth. I assume he was employed in the Clydebank shipyards prior to moving to S. Wales to continue in the shipyard there.

1. Is a "Holder-On" linked to shipbuilding?

2. How can I get further back in Ireland with such a common name and no other evidence of where in Ireland the LECKIE line originated?

Can anybody recognize anyone in this photograph it’s supposedly take in WSM 

and I think it may relate to my family 

thank you so much 

C Culliven 

As posts on here have largely dried up of late, I thought that I would take the opportunity to seek help with a brick wall which I have been attempting to break down for the best part of 20 years. The connection to Weston is real, but a few steps removed. So, I’m taking a bit of a liberty….

On 22 November 1915 Frances Mary SAMBAY married William Leslie ALLEN at the Register Office in Kensington, London. William was born in Australia and had enlisted in the Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force at the start of World War 1. Following his discharge at the end of the war, he re-enlisted in the Royal Air Force.

William and Frances had 4 daughters. The family lived in Kensington until the start of World War 2 when they were evacuated to Weston. They set up home in Bridge Road.

Frances’ paternal grandfather is my brick wall. He married Sarah Harriett PAGE on 28 May 1855 at the Parish Church, Kensington, London. According to the marriage certificate his name was Mergia SAMBAY. He gave his occupation as Indian Cook and that of his father (whose first name was not given) as “Gentleman”. He gave his age as 50 and his address as 9 St George’s Terrace. (Note: At the time of the 1851 census the occupants of that property were: Eliza Mellis born Scotland. Her son William born Scotland 1825. Her daughter Catherine born London 1829. Isabella Ashmead (Servant) born Norfolk 1827. Jessie Smith (Cook) born Scotland 1813.) The witnesses were Harriot Waite and Maria Page.

Mergia and Frances had 3 children all of whom were born in Kensington. 2 of them died in infancy from Whooping Cough. Although Sarah has been found in Kensington in censuses from 1841 onwards no trace has been found of her husband. To complicate matters his first name has been recorded (on the birth and death certificates of their children) in various different forms:

• ·       Mergia

• ·       Mergengee

• ·       Mugagee

• ·      Messinger

• ·      Minngay

“Mergia” apparently died sometime between January 1863 (approximately when his son John was conceived) and 11 March 1864 when his daughter Catherine Amelia died, but no trace has yet been found of his death. His children Catherine and John both died of Whooping Cough within 4 months of each other so it is possible that he also contracted and died from the same condition. No death or burial record for “Mergia” has been found.

I’m looking for any information at all regarding “Mergia”. The contents of his marriage certificate suggest that he was born in India. Was he? Who were his parents? When did he come to this country? Was he here at the time of the 1851 census? If so, where? He must have been here in 1861, but where? When and where did he die? Where is he buried?