Genealogy Chat

If I remember rightly, Kempston in Bedfordshire is not that far from the Northants/Hunts borders? so maybe give Northants a try. The CRO is at Northampton for Northants. A number of my ancestors continually strayed from Northants to Beds, Hunts, Herts and back to Northants. Northants has many many nonconformist records. Janet

So they are Olde, Olde, Olde, Olde Crones then?? Merry

Merry I know for a fact that there are a large number of extremely elderly people in Gawsworth, Cheshire, some of them are at least 300 years old. Out of a total of over 200 people born and named Green over the centuries, only a handful have died. And no, they are not in the surrounding areas either, cos I've looked, oh boy have I looked. My current theory is that when anyone called Green heard the Grim Reaper calling, they took themselves hastily off to a remote quarry, where the bones of their ancestors must be six feet high! Olde Crone

If only Yvonne - I have been searching (in the right places lol) for about 10 or 12 years......... How do all these bodies go missing?? (never mind the will for a moment!)........I could accept that sometimes the burial entry doesn't get added to the register, but for FOUR known deaths????? I'm sure the fact that no children were baptised either must be the clue, but no one at any RO is admitting to there being any non-conformist burial grounds in the area(s) at the correct time period........ So it must be alien abduction....... BIG SIGH!!! Merry

EXACTLY lol!! Merry

HH doesn't stand for Hemel hempsted then, its Hitchen Herts! Idjit! jess

Oh dear Merry, fancy forgetting your H's lol......and you are usually so good......only joking lol......Lilly

CONFESSION!!!!! I CANNOT believe it!!!!!!!!!!! Hubby said ''Why are you writing about Hemel Hempstead??'' and I thought, ''What an idiot'' and reminded him about the missing will of my rellie, Nathan Maynard, who lived in HH. .......................''But he lived at Hitchen'' said hubby......... B****r - he's right............................So for every mention of Hemel Hempstead in this thread, read Hitchen, Hertfordshire!!!!!! Aaaagggghhhhhhhhh!!! TIP: Never rely on your memory for anything in this game!!! Humble apologies!! Merry (PS have deleted some OOO's, Jess!)

Merry - be a darling ,please remeove some of your OOOO's, they are sending my eyes doolally having to jiffle across the page! Jess x * waves to Gill - i am a Berkhamstead-ian, born in St Albans!*

Ooooh Jill, You live nearly!!! I couldn't ask you to trawl cemeteries when I have never found any burial records for any of these people!! I can't understand it....except that maybe they were non-conformist and they I have not sourced the right denomination...... The missing burials for KNOWN people are: Nathan Maynard between 1750 and 1762, supposedly in Hemel H....... The wife of the above, (name unknown) who died within the same time frame...... William Maynard between May 1765 and Feb 1766, supposedly in Kempston, Beds....... The wife of William M (name unknown) who died between 1749 and 1751 in Kempston Beds..... All of these bodies seem to have been abducted by aliens!! Merry

''Grey area'' is the word(s)!!!! I do wish the grandson had been a bit more helpful in his memoirs!!! He certainly implies he spent the years 1750-1762ish in Hemel Hempstead.......but as I don't know what job grandfather did I can't make an educated guess as to whether he might have travelled, or whatever......... Think he was probably a farmer........and prob not C of E......No baps for his grandson or grandsons six siblings (good job I have their names from the next generation of memoirs!!) but more worrying is this complete derth of burials...ANYWHERE!! ...... Maybe I need to travel up there...... Or commission Jess' dad to be my Dr Watson!! Merry (Oops - doorbell!)

He lived in another county when will was processed? How about NORFOLK- I know for certain that there are parishes that overlap the counties and that there is a bit of a grey area with the Hertfordshire Union (just one example).

As mum isn't here yet (lol) - I thought I would read up about Wills on the LMA website.........Hmmmm.....nothing about the Consistory Court of London suggests they would have any wills for Hertfordshire testators (that I can see)???.......But HALS seemed quite certain.............. Any ideas anyone?????? Merry

I know you will all understand when I say how thrilled I am to have discovered some relatives from the 18th century called Silvester/Sylvester and Parthena/Parthenia Emms/Emes/Emmes!!!!!! nell

Oh POOP!! (can I say that?) HALS said (Feb 2005) ''Thank you for your enquiry of 27th January regarding a will for Nathan Maynard. Our wills index was checked for this name and all the possible variants but nothing was found. It may be worth contacting the London Metropolitan Archives for the Consistory Court of London which includes some Hertfordshire testators. You could also try Huntingdon Record Office. Yours sincerely Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies/sw'' I had already tried Huntingdon RO and they said they didn't have anything.....Have not tried LMA yet, because I hate to close the last door! At least whilst I haven't contacted them I can't say it isn't there!! Olde Crone - 7 couples named James and Margaret....... Hmmm - Hubby is related to whole villages in the early 1800's........the gene pool was so small I'm amazed they managed to carry on......They didn't go by such ''unusual'' names as James and Margaret though.........!! lol Merry (who won't be back for hours now, as my mum is coming over to talk and talk and talk for hours and hours and hours!! See you later!)

*Waves to Alter * Thats the lot my dad is Secretary to! Shouts Daaaaaaaaaaaaad...... Jess x

Merry, Done a bit of trawling and it seems that HALS are the people that will have a record of the will if anyone has-have you already contacted them? Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

Yes, and can I suggest a logo? 'I did it my way' Olde Crone

Merry Are you getting a little hysterical, dear? You OBVIOUSLY don't have seven couples, all in the same village at the same time, all breeding and all called James and Margaret, or you wouldnt be screaming at such a simple thing as a man being known by four different names. Olde Crone, off to hurriedly knit some GR jumpers,one size to fit all.

OC......NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Merry! x