Weekly News – 2nd March 2014

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Please note that Memberships are due at the end of this month.  If you wish to renew and continue to receive these weekly Newsletters would you kindly make a £5 cheque out for CH&DLHS and post to Darren Butler, 7 Forest Way, Great Wyrley, WALSALL  WS6 6HU.  Or for local members, £5 to any member of the Committee.    
EVENTS  
OUR SALEM BASE  is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm.  All welcome.  Following on from last week’s successful get together of ten members of the Stokes family we have now arranged a similar gathering of anyone interested in the Wilkes family to research, exchange information and copies of photographs.  It will be held on Tuesday 11th March.
REQUESTS    A fascinating email from Stuart Southall arrived this week – ‘We live in the High Street, just before Pinfold House.  We have recently had an extension on the house and during the ground work we came across some old foundations that required further inspection.  All was good in the end, but we were puzzled as to what they were, when a conversation with a neighbour brought up that there was a pub on this site called the Lord or Admiral Nelson, so it could have been part of the old cellar and I just wondered if the historical society has any information.’
RESPONSES  It seems that we are getting closer to solving the mystery of the recently discovered photographs at 33 Coppice Lane.  Malcolm Smith of Banbury emails ’My gran lived at 33 Coppice Lane pre war and I believe that her first name was Mary.  The Smith family were all boys and mainly stayed on the village.  My dad was Bill Smith, we lived next to Balls the newsagents and he was employed at Hawkins Tileries and the Stella.  Bert, the oldest lived in New Horse Road and was a miner.  Herbert had a shop in Bridgtown, Jim was a miner, Walter a builder and I’m not sure what Clarence did.  Only Jim did military service.’  Our researcher Bob has checked the 1911 census and says ’There’s no record of a Mary Jane Smith but there is a Mary Ann Smith listed at 33 Coppice Lane age 35 (b1876), wife of Edward Smith, a miner from Moira, Leics.  Married 10 years, wife has a earlier son, Horace Purshouse (b1897) on Churchbridge.  Other children are Albert (10)), Leonard (8), Herbert (7), Clarence (5), William (2) and James (2).  And Len Smith believes they belong to his family and is arranging to view the photographs this week.
Iris Norwood from Telford immediately responds to Denise’s request for information of her father Alec and his sister Doreen as evacuees at Cheslyn Hay.  Iris telephoned to say she remembered them both well.  They stayed at Harry Burton’s smallholding at Holly Bush, and Iris relates stories of their friendship during the war years and she is now exchanging photographs with Denise in the Isle of Sheppey.
Also Andrew and Jean have researched the enquiry from Angela Stokes and together with Jean’s research of St Matthews records produced the details wanted of the two John Stokes and theRebecca Hodgkins family. 
Finally, from an enquiry six months ago, we have now traced Gladstone Villa being the home of the Shorter family.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS  The Dutton family of Great Wyrley, WWI photos of Joe Dutton and Tom Sambrooks, the Hulme family with Thomas, Annie, Hilda, Gladys, Tom & Jim, Slam & Dot Perks, wedding of Jim Rogers and Ivy Martin with guests, Flo & Ernie Walker and son Bert of the Rose and Crown, a handful of Woodman Presentation and Dinner photographs withConr Bill Pearson, Jock Conroy, Herbert Bailey, Jack Turner, Herbert Pearce, Frank Bowen, Bill Lockley, Perce Perry, Fred Downton Snr, Jim Hulme, Jim Walker but mostly unnamed and a 1962 football action shot of the Talbot with Brian Smith in goal.
ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS  A sweet cigarette packet from the 1940s with a cigarette ‘card’ on the back of a photographs of a Boulton Paul P111 donated by Reg Searle.
OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington.  Copies available at £1 per report. Chosen at random this week are stories concerning the killing of publican William Poyner (28 Apr 1832),Jabez Hampton (17 Feb 1885), James Whitehouse, Martha Jane Bryan (4 Mar 1904), Edith Rock, Charles & Ada Brindley and George Rangecroft all of Wedges Mills (27 Oct 1911), John Dace, Wm Henry Browell, Phineas Baker (3 Jan 1913), Richard Benton, Henry Kingston, John Harvey, Thomas Jukes (4 July 1913), Thomas Henry Thacker (27 Jun 1913), Cheslyn Hay playing Burntwood in two cricket matches with full scorecards (29 Aug 1913 & 31 Aug 1917).
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher7th March 1914  Mr and Mrs J Pratt of the Rose and Crown Inn entertained a party of 25 to a supper and full details are given.7th March 1914  Details of the Cheslyn Hay Working Men’s Club AGM with the election of Officers and Committee.

7th March 1914  An accident of a four year old boy who was run over by a horse and trap. 

MEMORIES   This week are from Bert Heminsley from an interview of 12th April 2001 giving the Heminsley’s family history and their 144 year occupancy of the Saredon Road Farm. FAMILY HISTORY by Andrew Pearson  With recent interest in the Wilkes family and in preparation for the forthcoming meeting we have prepared the Crutchley family tree from 1764 which includes the Wilkes line. There are 19 pages in total including 3 of the family tree plus additional notes, but we have condensed down to 10 half pages.
Other local families interlinked areHorton (1774), Benton(1831), Marshall (1832),
 Heminsley (1834), Garratt (1853), Wilkes (1859), 
Parsons (1868),Wood (1873), Gaskin (1874), Westwood (1878), Perry (1887), 
Knowles (1889) and Jones(1890). 
 Selected pages all available at £1 per A4 sheet.

GENERAL NEWS   Sad news received this week from Alan Brown to say that his life long friendKevin Gunn has just passed away aged only 57.  Always known as a ‘gentle giant’ he lived in Mount Pleasant, went to Pinfold Lane School in the late sixties before going on to university and becoming a chemist and our condolences go out to his sisters and their families who still reside in Cheslyn Hay. 

Weekly News – 23rd February 2014

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EVENTS  Tony Hunt is our speaker this month on Thursday evening 27th February at 7.30pm at theSalem with a new talk ‘More Murder and Mayhem around Cannock Chase’.  £1 admittance.

OUR SALEM BASE  is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm.  This Tuesday, 25th February, we have a meeting of seven members who are all researching the Stokes family at 10am.  They are bringing with them their family photographs and their family trees to exchange and update information and everyone with a Stokes connection will be most welcome.

REQUESTS  A hoard of beautiful photographs found in the loft of 33 Coppice Lane have been handed over to  our Society.  There are several postcards of soldiers from WWI as well as individual pictures including one of a couple outside their new house, a group of factory workers, a group of men outside a Working Men’s Club (not Cheslyn Hay), but the most significant clues are a wedding photograph of ‘Auntie Nance and Uncle Len’, and a 1948 copy of a birth certificate of Mary Jane Glover (25 September 1879) of Dudley.  So perhaps this Mary Jane Glover married and then lived inCoppice Lane.  All enquiries welcomed and photographs are being held at the Base.  

Denise Carter-Evans has recently visited New Zealand, accompanying her parents on a Diamond Anniversary Celebration, where she learned of an Evacuees Association and she puts in this request ‘My father Alec Edwin Carter was evacuated to Cheslyn Hay Staffordshire in 1939.  His three sisters also were evacuated to the same place – the Wheatsheaf pub.  The host mother was expecting a baby therefore could not afford to keep my father Alec, so he and his sister Doreen were sent to live on a nearby farm whilst Gladys and Mary stayed with the lady at the Wheatsheaf.  Could you please advise where I could find out more about the evacuees of this organisation please.’  Or, indeed, does anyone remember the Carter family?

John from Reigate emails ‘I am interested in the Lockett family tree featured this week and any links to my Russell ancestors. My Joseph married Ann Lockett in 1833 and they lived in Red Laneafterwards. The Society has tried to trace Ann Lockett previously but she is something of an enigma.’  So can anyone help John? 

Also Angela Stokes from Stoke has a query on whether John Stokes (1793-1874) was the son of John Stokes born 1766 and baptised in Walsall. Also if anyone had any information about the previous spouses of John and Rebecca Hodgkins (1795-1878). They eventually married in 1832 in W’ton after having several children and it is believed that the Hodgkins family were gypsies.

RESPONSES  Percy Carpenter answers Alan Owen’s enquiry about ‘Modi River’ as it is mentioned in Percy’s excellent book on Landywood titled ‘A Song of Spring’.  Percy also recalls Heather Dacefrom the 1940s/50s and Terry Carpenter remembers her from his Rugeley Grammar School days and also her grandparents who lived by the Beehive Stores.

To solve the Powell and Reaney connection, David from Canada gives all the details of all the Reaney family lines as he is part of that family.   

And David also solves the mystery from last month as to where Charles Brough died with all the details he is now in touch with Colin Roberts to exchange information. 

Our researchers have looked into the request from Dan Whitehouse of Wisconsis and Jean has all the facts starting with themarriage of James Thomas Whitehouse to Sophia Sarah Lockett on 28th October 1833 and together with Andrew has prepared a full 2 page family tree for Dan confirming the American also linking in with the Baker and Cooper families.

NEW PHOTOGRAPHS   We have been fortunate to receive a full collection of photographs that belonged to Mrs Ethel Harley who passed away last year from her daughter Elaine White.  The donation will be catalogued as the ‘Ethel Harley Collection’ and kept in a separate volume for everyone to view at the Base.  It contains numerous photographs of the Harley, Perry, Preece, Saffel and Bickley families together with wedding pictures and three snaps of Ethel Harley and her colleagues, all unnamed, at Eliott Lucas and three mystery photographs of teenage lads in the Lot in the fifties.  Other photographs handed in include more of Margaret Evans at Glovers Farm withTrisha Glover, Cornelius Whitehouse (1795-1883), Cheslyn Hay High School training with Walsall FC in 1985, two of Hawkins Tileries tipper wagons of 1946 and 1950, two buses abandoned in the snows of 1947 in Wedges Mills and a photograph of Harry Perks’ smallholding in the Lot.  

ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS  

OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington.  Available on request.

WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher 

29th February 1964  An article ‘Glancing Back 25 Years’ covers a story dated 25th February 1939 concerning a successful concert that was organised by the Mothers Union of St Mark’s Church and the play ‘Snow White’ was acted by scholars of Mount Zion Church. 

29th February 1964  The annual meeting of Cheslyn Hay Community Association was held at the Community Centre with full details.

21st February 1914  The annual meeting of the Bowling Club was held at the Red Lion on Thursday evening with election of officials and a report of the financial position.  

21st February 1914  A general meeting of the Cricket Club was held with the election of officials and Club Captain.

MEMORIES   This week we complete the memories of June Birch from an interview in 2002 involving Miss Saunders and Miss Hulse, Mr Fereday, Valentine Hassall, Betty Newman, Barbara Horton, Mary Stanley, Jean McCulloch, Howard Perrins, Albert Bailey’s shop, Samuel George Birch, Arthur & Doris Ada Evans, Wootton’s Post Office,Altree’s Fish and Chip Shop and  Nellie Pee’s Shoe Shop

FAMILY HISTORY  With such an interest in the Stokes family, we have concentrated on this tree this week, going back to John Stokes b 1762 in Cheslyn Hay.  In total there are 32 pages including 6 of the family tree plus additional notes, but we have condensed them down to 16 half pages.  Other local families interlinked are Benton, Bird, Bowen, Brough, Bullock, Foster, Hawkins, Hodgekins, Hodson, Hubery, James, Kendall, Lawson, Morgan, Morris, Owen, Parker, Pee, Perks, Rogers, Russell, Sambrook, Smith, Stanton, Steadman, Tuft, Turner, Whitehouse andWinfer.  Selected pages all available at £1 per A4 sheet.  More information on any of the above stories will be willingly provided, free of charge, via my email address below.

trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

 

 

 

Weekly News – 16th February 2014

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16th February 2014 
EVENTS
OUR SALEM BASE  is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm.  Les Rogers is bringing all of his Rogers’ photographs and documents with him at 1pm for copying and discussion.  All welcome.
REQUESTS  Alan Owen emails ‘My wife was born in Cheslyn Hay in 1943 and she often talks about “the old days”.  The other day she mentioned a place called Modi River and thought it was around the Streets Lane area.  Do you have any information on Modi River.  My wife’s maiden name was Heather Dace and she used to live in Upper Landywood.  Her dad was Herbert Dace who used to be connected to the choir at Salem many years ago.
And a request from Dan Whitehouse of Wisconsin in the USA who has discovered our site and says ’I've traced my 3rd g-grandparents to Cheslyn Hay with James Thomas Whitehouse (possibly Thomas James and sometimes Tom) who married a Sophia Sarah Lockett.  They were both born about 1799-1800 and one of their children, William (b1835) married an Elizabeth A Cooper (b1837 whose parents were Samuel G Cooper and Ann).  Some of my research shows a Samuel Cooper in the area whose DOB would fall in line for having a daughter of the right age.’  So can anyone help Dan?

RESPONSES   Following the newspaper report of 100 years ago lining up six of Cheslyn Hay’s oldest members for their photographs to be taken, we have had responses from the families ofRichard Plant and Moses Stokes, requesting copies of the photographs as well as adding to some details of their lives.
We are still looking into David’s request for his grandfather’s army career in WWI but apparently he was a popular character known by his name of Rupert when he kept the Royal Oak in Norton Lane, rather than Frank Powell.  Rupert was born 12 May 1894, was down as a beer retailer in Great Wyrley from1932 onwards according to the Kelly’s Directories, and he passed away on 6th April 1972 with his wife Ada Annie (nee Reaney) dying 13 years later.
For Bernard in Sacramento Jean has traced back the Somerfield lines back to the mid 1700s with details of Titus Somerfield and his wife and where they were buried.  Also Jean provides information of the Sayer family of Cheslyn Hay and Andrew adds to it with a 2 page family tree going back to the early 1700s.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS 

ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS  A letter dated 13 January 1950 from Jim Rogers of the Woodman to Mr Thacker resigning as Chairman of the Littlewood Pig Club.

OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington.  Copies available at £1 per report. 

Stories include soldiers in the First World War Sapper Jack Hawkins, Lieut Osmond Hawkins, Pte John Haycock (9 Jul 1915), Lieutenant Shirley Minifer Hawkins, John Farnell with sons Sgt Thomas, Pte William, Sapper Sampson, Sapper Richard and Pte George, John Hassall and sonsPte Charles, John, Bernard and Eli Hassall, and Henry Russell and sons Cpl William, Pte Thomas, Pte Albert and Gunner Silas  (20 Aug 1915),  Sapper Walter Edwin Bickley (29 Oct 1915), plus a court case involving Thomas Lockett and Bertha Pearson (15 Dec 1916), a pit fatality of Henry James Gilbert (23 Feb 1917) and a cricket match with C Hughes, WE Lane, AE Elwell, W Lawson, C Hickman, WA Parton, F Altree, H Horton, W Pearce, A Norris and J Stokes (31 Aug 1917).
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher22nd February 1964  The funeral service of Mr Frederick Thomas of 42 High Street, Cheslyn Hay, and his life.22nd February 1964  A youth service held at Salem Methodist Church involving Tony Cartwright, Keith Jenkins and the Rev G J R Jenkins. 

28th February 1914  Full details of the Primitive Methodist Church concert and prize distribution in connection with the Adult Bible Class.  

28th February 1914  The annual meeting of the Cheslyn Hay branch of the Junior Imperial League with all details and names of those involved. 

MEMORIES   Some response after Norma’s memories of last week.  Firstly, about where Cow Shed Row was and also Denise Nicholls (nee Scott) emails saying that she wishes to contact Norma as she was a friend of her sister.  Denise remembers Snapes Farm as being haunted and relates stories of the ghost as well as Irene Wright recalling strange ‘goings on’ at the farm mentioning the Snape sisters – Mary and Maggie, who married Lol Wood.

WORLD WAR ONE COMMEMORATION PROJECT    
This week ‘Memories’ come from June Birch after an interview in 2002 recalling her life being born in the Colliers Arms in 1932 and her stories of  George and Lily Coates Arthur and Doris Ada Evans, William and Caroline Jones (nee Turner) and Lizzie Plant.
FAMILY HISTORY  This week we delve in another well established Cheslyn Hay family - the Locketts.  Andrew has produced two trees going back to Moses Lockett marrying Jane Whitehouseon 16 October 1780 with details of all eight children, all born in Cheslyn Hay, and their family trees linking in with other local families such as Baker, Bennett, Benton, Cole, Cooper, Crutchley, Dace, Dawkins, Evans, Greensill, Heminsley, Hickman, Jones, Martin, Mitchell, Morgan, Pearson, Perks, Perry, Plant, Potts, Purshouse, Russell, Sanders, Smith, Tolley, Webb, Westwood, Whitehouse and Williams.  8 pages at £1 per A4 page, but individual pages available if required.  The other line is Job Lockett (b1781 in Cheslyn Hay) who marries Jane Westwood in 1807 and contains another two pages with local names of Baker, Bolton, Cross, Follows, Jones, Martin., Perks and Walker, and although Andrew is confident that Job is the son of Moses, but as yet he cannot find his baptism to prove the connection.     
GENERAL NEWS  

Weekly News – 9th February 2014

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EVENTS   Our Chat n Char Morning this month is this Thursday 13th February in the Lecture Room at the Salem starting at 10am and the theme is ‘Alley Cats’.  Also the Jackpot of ‘Play your Cards Right’ is now up to £10.

A coach trip to Bletchley Park has been arranged for Thursday 10th July 2014  and it includes a £15 entrance fee for four hours around the premises, enough time to enjoy your own sandwiches or to buy lunches there, and followed by an afternoon in Banbury.  Total cost is £23 and there are 78 places available on the two coaches, but one coach has already been fully booked.  Priority will be given to members of course but if interested please reserve your seats now through Roger on 01543 372856.

OUR SALEM BASE  is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm.  All welcome.

REQUESTS  Bernard Jackson from Sacramento asks for help with  his Jackson relatives living during the 1775-1830 timeframe.   Joseph Jackson (1751-1813) and Lucy Jackson (nee Davison) of Holly Bush Hall and Bloxwich had nine children.  The first five were born in Bloxwich and their oldest  daughter, Eleanor (Nelly) Jackson (b1775) married Titus Somerfield (also spelled Summerfield) at St Peters, Wolverhampton on 16 Mar 1794.  Titus Somerfield was from Bloxwich and was an awl blade maker and they had at least two children, Prudence (1796) and Henry (1802).  Also their Joseph’s fourth daughter, Mary Jackson (b1784) married Edward Sayer who was a farmer from Great Wyrley but the date of marriage and any issue is unknown. Any help on the Jackson, Sayer or Somerfield lines would be most appreciated.

Also David Powell is following up the WWI experiences of his grandfather, Frank Powell, a miner, and also licensee of the Royal Oak in Great Wyrley before and after the Second World War.  His full name was Rupert Frank Burville Powell and family folklore suggests he signed up before 1914, served in South Africa, was sent to the Western front relatively early in the war, was captured and was a prisoner of war, maybe for four years, until the armistice.  David suggests he could have served in the South Staffords, as the first battalion was posted to Pietmaritzburg just before the war and was recalled immediately to join the BEF.  In 1911 the Powell family lived in High Street in Norton Canes and in 1920 he married Ada Annie Reaney at St Marks in Great Wyrley.  David also asks if the Frank Powell listed on the Great Wyrley Memorial plaque could be his grandfather, and whether the Reaney names on the plaque are connected to Ada Annie.                     

RESPONSES  The mention of Mrs Lilian Perks attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace in 1945 and later being awarded the BEM prompted Pamela Bate to add full details of her great-nephew and grandson of Joe Baker, Sam Haycock, who was born at Arcadie in Station Street being awarded the same honour in last month’s New Years Honours List.

More information from our researcher Vi for Roger Knowles with details of Fred Leach/Leech who joined the Norton Territorials (Harrisons Engineers) and lived on the Walsall Road in Churchbridge.  Vi supplies four pages of his war record..
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS  Watling Street, Churchbridge in the 1950s, the Razza in the 1940s, Cross Street in the 1950s, two local scenes from the 1920s, a layout of Hudson’s workshop in 1962, WPCChristine Moore, Mabel & Margaret Evans, Peter Cole, Keith & Darol Dace, Minnie, Hazel, Frank & Ralph Kingston, the Webb family at Glover’s Farm in the 1930s with Floss & Ted andWilliam Evans, Lol Wood excavating coal, a Youth Hostel school trip in 1985 with Debbie Phillipsand Adele Longdon and a marvellous colour photograph of the office staff of Elliot Lucas with none of the sixteen being named.                                                                                 

ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS  A beautiful framed picture showing  the Cannock & Leacroft Rescue team, winners of the Cannock Chase Rescue Cup 1936-7-8, donated by Mrs Elaine White and is being displayed at our Base.  No-one is named on the picture.                                

OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington.  Copies available at £1 per report. names included in court cases and other stories are Charles Jones, James Seabridge, George Sperring,Lewis Yates, William Bills, Thomas Whitehouse, Henry Robinson, George Bill, James Pearson (7 Feb 1885), a sale by auction at the premises of James Breakwell, ‘who is leaving England’, in Little Saredon of all his household furniture, 2 sides of bacon and a fat pig (7 Feb 1885),George Mason, Henry Russell, Richard Davis (18 May 1894), Seth Brian (25 June 1894).

WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher           

15th February 1964  In an article ‘Glancing Back 25 Years’ a story is republished from 11th February 1939 concerning the annual treat for the 400 people of Cheslyn Hay, who are 60 years of age and over.

15th February 1964  The funeral of Mr William Thomas Hawkesworth of 218 Streets Lane,Upper Landywood, and coverage of his life.

MEMORIES  Our latest book ‘Tales of Cheslyn Hay’ has been well received by Norma in Baltimorewho emails ‘Your book was fascinating to me!! Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down and read it from cover to cover.’  And stories in the book touched on her family and friends from sixty years ago including William Robert Bowen, George Whitefield Bowen, John Bates, William Parkes, Jack & Sid Snape with Mary & Maggie Snape and Dorothy Onions.

FAMILY HISTORY  After an excellent response on the Dace family tree last week Andrew has produced a 6 page family tree of the Brevitt family right back to James Jnr who was born in Cheslyn Hay in 1772 right up to date interlinking with local families such as Hugh Brotherton (b1738),Amey Baker (b1782), Hannah Marshall (b1814), James Perry (b1833), William Perks (b1856),Clara Brough (b1864), Clara Nightingale, Beatrice Wilkes (b1891), Henry Weetman (b1832),Fanny Tew (b1866), Elizabeth Turner (b1871), George Hubery (b1893), John Henry Whitehouse (b1865), George Parbrook (b1884), Ellen Hawkins (b1854), Amelia Bate (b1870) and Emma Simms (m1906).   All available at £1 per A4 sheet.

GENERAL NEWS    Vic Mitchell’s new hard backed railway book ‘North of Birmingham’ will be available from 22nd February.  The same as ‘Walsall Routes’, it is a hard backed book, 96 pages with 120 photographs and it covers ‘to Bescot and Lichfield including the Chase Railway’.  Priced at £16.95, we will be selling it to our members at £15.

Last month in January, we have had another 132 sightings of our local scenes on staffspasttrack.  Hacketts Butcher’s Shop 21, High Street 21, Garretts Shop 19, Salem 18, Brittania Picture House 17, Woottons Post Office 15, Albert Hawkins Shop 11, Walter Hackett 10.

Professor Stephen Badsey is giving a talk at the Museum of Cannock Chase in Hednesford on ‘British Propaganda and Recruiting for WWI on Thursday 27th February at 3pm.  Tickets are priced at £2 and available by phoning 01543 877666.

We are now accepting memberships for 2014/15 at £5 and will include Weekly Newsletters, unabridged, and researches of our archives will be free to all members.  Apply via my email address -

trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

Weekly News – 2nd February 2014

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2nd February 2014
EVENTS  
OUR SALEM BASE  is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm.  All welcome.
REQUESTS   Ray Franks called in at the Base on Tuesday with a marvellous Victorian photograph, of a gentleman in his 30′s and his wife, from his mother’s collection whose maiden name was Potts.  On the reverse side is written ‘Nanna Hollis parents to William and Margaret Thomas - 1883?  9 children – 6 survived – 2 sons – 4 daughters.’  Does this fit into anyone’s family tree that is connected to the Thomas family?
Norma from Baltimore has received the Vic Mitchell’s railway book ‘Walsall Routes’ and finds it a delightful read but adds ‘I lived in Holly Lane, Upper Landywood, but there was never a station there between 1935 and 1956.We always went to Cheslyn Hay to catch the train.  The book mentions one so does anyone remember or know anything about it?  I lived a stone’s throw from the railway line as well.’
RESPONSES  We are able to provide Roger Knowles with a couple of names for his WWI research on the 2nd North Midland Field Company Royal Engineers (TF) known as the Norton Territorials (Harrisons Engineers) listing five Cheslyn Hay men involved.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS Three more photographs of the Brough family with Edward, Herbert, Dennis, Wes & Harold in 1936, also Muriel & Ken Howarth, and Mary (nee Burrows),Barry Moore outside Owen’s Fish & Chip Shop, Ivor Hodgkiss and a stewards day out in 1950 withCharlie Turner, Sid Potts and Frank Knowles.  
ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS  Birth certificates of Dorothy Kingston(1911) and Emmanuel Moore (1917).
OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington.  Copies available at £1 per report.  Court cases involving Handel Whitehouse, Mary Davis, Sarah Westwood (20 May 1892), William Henry Whitehouse, Martha & Benjamin Boddy, Thomas Lunt (21 Oct 1893), Henry & Mrs Turner, Arthur Preece (15 Jun 1894), Hadyn Whitehouse (5 Jan 1912), Isaiah Pearson, Elizabeth Ann Clewley, Richard Albert, George Henry & James Turner (12 Apr 1912) and Mary Daisy Belcher (15 July 1912) plus the funeral of the Rev William Crutchley (27 Jul 1894) and the unveiling ceremony of the War Memorial (21 Aug 1921).
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher  8th February 1964  A Cheslyn Hay Madrigal Society concert at the Salem.

8th February 1964  Cannock Rural Council meeting on making Station Street Cheslyn Hay into a ‘No Waiting’ area. 

8th February 1964  Cheslyn Hay Wesley Guild meeting involving Nellie Doughty; Anne Alsopp, Mr W Baxter and Sheila Cartwright.

7th February 1914  A sale by auction at the Crown Hotel, Cannock, with full details of properties sold in Cheslyn Hay including a house and shop situated at the junction of High Street and Landywood Lane occupied by Mrs J Crutchley, a plot of building land fronting upper Station Street, Cheslyn Hay, and on which was two ancient cottages now disused.  Also two freehold cottages, No’s 95 and 97 Station Street, Cheslyn Hay with large gardens at the rear.

7th February 1914  A Don tournament at the Working Men’s Club organised by the Bowling Club with over 80 competitors and listing the prize-winners.

7th February 1914  The proprietor of the Red Lion Mr G H Seedhouse invited seven old age pensioners to have their photographs taken.  The names of these old age pensioners are Messrs H Kingston, T Hawkins, M Stokes, R Plant, W Taylor, G Brown and W Stevens and their combined ages total 549 years.  (We have this photograph in our archives – Mike) 

MEMORIES    We complete the memories of Vic Allman this week covering the development of the Churchbridge Motor Group right up to the demolishment of the buildings in 2000 to make way for the Bitmingham Northern Relief Road.  Also touching on the lives of Vic’s parents George and Lilian Allman and Vic’s rallying days with Arthur Storey. 

WORLD WAR ONE COMMEMORATION PROJECT   There is only one name on our War Memorial that we have no information of at all and that is Reginald Rowley and we are desperate to complete our research within the next few weeks.  Can anyone help?
FAMILY HISTORY  Andrew has produced a 15 page family tree of the Dace family right back to William Jnr who was born in Cheslyn Hay in 1740 right up to date interlinking with local families such as Hand, Whitehouse, Baker, Lawson (Wedges Mills), Crutchley, Perks,  Burgess, Pearson, Savage, Dawson, Bate, Seager, Brough, Carpenter, Westwood, Rogers, Wood, Leeke, Lindop, Steadman, Brevitt, Wynn, Dutton, Biddle, Lockett, Follows, Clewley, Causer, Wilcox, Hood, Thomas, Altree, Deakin, Sharratt, Jervis (Saredon) and Jones.  Relevant pages are available at £1 per sheet.
GENERAL NEWS  
Robyn Wall from Melbourne in Victoria comments on the Stokes and Bird link from last week with her own Hawkins family and emails ’My great grandfather Thomas Hawkins married Elizabeth Bird and their youngest child,  Benjamin, my grandfather, emigrated to Fremantle/Perth in Western Australia and marriedFlorence Perry also from Cheslyn Hay.  They had 8 children and my father, Joseph, was the third youngest. Anyway we have Alice Ada marrying Harry Stokes listed on our family tree but her mother was Matilda and her father was Godfrey Dorrington Hawkins, my great uncle, whose parents were Thomas Hawkins and Elizabeth Bird, my g-grand parents. So Alice Ada Hawkins and Harry Stokes must be my cousins.  

Weekly News – 26th January 2014

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EVENTS  The Principle Archeaologist of Staffordshire CC is our Guest Speaker on Thursday 30th January 2014 talking on ‘The Latest Developments of the Staffordshire Hoard’.  7.30pm at the Salem – £1 including refreshments.   

OUR SALEM BASE  is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm.  Everyone is welcome.
REQUESTS  Roger Knowles is working on a talk and display concerning the Norton Territorials (Harrisons Engineers)  from their formation in 1907 to the end of WWI and is after any information, stories, photographs etc that anyone may have as there were many Cheslyn Hay lads who had enlisted.  Their official title was the 2nd. North Midland Field Company Royal Engineers (T.F.)   
We have received a plea from Iris who has had her address book stolen quite some time ago and wishes to contact her old friend Janet Lowbridge who used to live in Cheslyn Hay but that was 8 years ago.  The only information we have is that her husband Joe used to work at Featherstone Prison as an instructor and they had a son Ryan who was then at school leaving age.  Janet used to work at the Post Office in Cheslyn Hay but then left to work on the tills at a supermarket.  Can anyone help?
RESPONSES  More information on the two names of Joseph Stokes on our War Memorial comes from our researchers that link the two families together through Leonora (nee Owen) of Hill Street,Alice Ada (nee Bird) and Hannah (nee Tuft).
Our researchers have also come up with all the lines in the Buckley/Walker/Bowen/Bates family trees.  Andrew gets back to Thomas Buckley (b1823 in Haywood) who marries Elizabeth (b 1819 in Great Wyrley)  and the Buckley family settle in the Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay area throughout the 1800s and together with Jean they have shown links with the Hubery, Bray, Hawkins, Masters, Thomas and Simmons families.  

We have looked into David’s enquiry as to where Charles Brough (b1854) was buried and information has been provided including ‘Florrie’ b1888 of 72 Station Road connecting to Derek Smith and the Smith family.   There also seems to be a link with Eckington in Sheffield and there’s proof that he was separated from his wife Mary and went to gaol and in all probability he died in Lancaster in 1927.

ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS  The story by Ray Franks of his great uncleRichard Franks together with 26 evocative letters written from the front in WWI before being killed on 19th August 1917 aged just nineteen.
OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington.  Copies available at £1 per report. a full report and scorecard of the Cheslyn Hay cricket team versus Hammerwich with W Lawson, W Horton, J Greensill, G Whitehouse, R Evans, E Marshall, G Wootton, E Field, M Hampton, W Askey and A Mitchell (4 May 1906), William Baxter (3 Sept 1932), Ruby, Frank & Bert Hackett, Harold Woollaston (28 Oct 1932), Leonard Charles Kingstone Turner (10 Nov 1933), Albert Ernest Whitehouse (2 Sept 1939), William & Anne Westwood (17 Jan 1941), George Haywood(31 Jan 1941), Ronald Plant (21 Feb 1941), Samuel Kenneth Roberts (6 Mar 1953).
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher

1st February 1964  A full halk page report on the problems of the residents of Rosemary Road and Low Street since the working of an opencast site began in 1956 at the back of their houses.  

1st February 1964  Activities of the Salem Women’s Own with Mrs Jenkins, Mrs A Smith, Mrs McCulloch, Mrs A Smith, Miss S Cartwright, Mrs K Hackett and Mrs T S Hudson. 

1st February 1964  Annual supper of the Woodman Bowling Club mentioning Mr W J Lockley,Mr W Ansell Mr J Lockett, Bert Walker, Frank Bowen, Jack Cartwright, Fred Downton,Harold Peach, Roy Peach, Mr A Brace, Derek Richards, Philip Spencer, Len Angel, Derek Moore, D Richards, W Pearson, A Brace and Mr Brookes (Bridgtown).

31st January 1914  Court case of Frederick Birch of The Lot was charged with stealing coal.

31st January 1914  A pigeon shooting match between R Marshall Jnr and W Parsons with full scores including an incident in Landywood after the match.

MEMORIES  We continue with more of Vic Allman’s memories this week, but of the war years and the development of Churchbridge Motor Garage Ltd in the 1940s.  Recollections of Bertram Perks, Doctor Tomkinson, Tom Goodman and Mr Kingston are included.
WORLD WAR ONE COMMEMORATION PROJECT   Another unusual, and tragic, story this week concerns George Roland Benton who joined the army in 1908 but left in 1911 to emigrate to Australia.     
FAMILY HISTORY   This week we look at the Jones Family Tree, where we have 5 members searching the name.  On our Family Tree Database we have two Jones’ lines back to William Jones(b1801) and his wife Mary (b1799) and another line where Mary (b1819), daughter of William, marries Joseph Hawkins, the patriarch of Cheslyn Hay.  Other families linking in to this family areBrevitt, Bate, Garratt, Fisher, Devereux, Dakin, Dunn, Bould, Whitehouse, Savage, Brearley, Guy, Woodward and Crutchley.
GENERAL NEWS  
We are now accepting memberships for 2014/15 at £5 and will include Weekly Newsletters, unabridged, and researches of our archives will be free to all members.  Apply via my email address -
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS 

Weekly News – 19th January 2014

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EVENTS  
OUR SALEM BASE  is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm.  All welcome.
REQUESTS  A request from John Buckley in Bedworth tracing his Buckley/Walker/Bowen/Bates family lines.  Jonathan Buckley (1852 -1926) married Eliza Walker (1852 – 1935) and both were born in Great Wyrley. They had six children and all born in Cheslyn Hay – Sarah Elizabeth Buckley (1872 – 1951) married Thomas Bowen in 1893 and living at 199 High Street in 1901 with 5 children, Eliza Ann married and moved away by 1901, Mary Gertrude (1879 – 1965) married Joseph Thomas Bates in 1898and living at 207 High Street in 1901, Martha Rose (1881 – 1914) living in Lancashire in 1901, James Edward (1884 – 1970) died in Coventry, Jonathan Wilfred (1888 – 1961) married and moved away in 1940.  Jonathan and Eliza lived at different addresses in Station Street, Cheslyn Hay, from 1881 to 1935 when Eliza died.  Has anyone any of these links to their family trees? 
And a request from David Whitehouse who emails ‘Would you mind looking through your parish records for a burial of Charles Brough born 1854.  The last address I have for him is in the 1891 census on Station Road in Cheslyn Hay shown as an Engineer or Engine Driver.  In the 1901 census his wife Mary is still on Station Road and shown as a widow but I am unable to find a death registration and have gone through all the deaths between 1891 and 1901 manually with nil results.  My hope is that he was buried in Cheslyn Hay or Great Wyrley and there is some kind of burial record that would narrow the date of death down to a year and possibly quarter.’
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS  Some Brough photographs including two of Selwyn who was a Pilot Officer and killed during the war, Herbert, Christine, Mary Ann, Wes & Ivy, Hettie, Edward, Dennis, Harold, Eunice, Eddie, Betty, Florrie and Emma with the Warrender family of Hatherton Street, Tom Cooper, Mary Burrows, Thomas ‘Slam’ Perks with another unnamed Cheslyn Hay couple, Horace & Janet Wood, and George Dutton in the 1949 Carnival.  All available on request.
ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS  
OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington.  Copies available at £1 per report.  A random research reveals the following names - John & Edward Hatton, James Shorter, Samuel & Joseph Savage, Richard Wood, Thomas Wilson (13 April 1839), Dr Alex Cook (16 Aug 1883),Richard Turner (5 Oct 1894), Henry Hawkins, Frederick Wm Preece (16 Nov 1894), Arthur Morgan, Lizzie Mears, Miss Lockett (22 Dec 1894), John Parsons, Thomas Hand, Thomas Richard & James Doughty, George Wesley (28 Aug 1903), James Whitehouse, Martha Jane Bryan (4 Mar 1904).
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher
25th January 1964  Just one story of the proposed closure of Great Wyrley-Cheslyn Hay railway station and the objections raised.
24th January 1914  The funeral of William Dawkins of Queen Street, Cheslyn Hay with a full account of his life including his involvement in the Indian Mutiny.
MEMORIES  We continue with the memories of Vic Allman this week recalling all the old Cheslyn Hay shops in the 1920 and mentioning Bill Ansell, Archie Potts and Edgar Thomas as well as a train crash through the unopened gates in Station Street. 
WORLD WAR ONE COMMEMORATION PROJECT   We still require information on more than 40 names for this project but this week we have received details of the name Ben Smith from Churchbridge who is buried in Buxton in Derbyshire.  It is a tragic tale of three family names on our War Memorial and an enquiry of what became of the unfortunate orphaned daughter Florence Annie Smith. 
FAMILY HISTORY   This week I have chosen the Potts family where we have researched them back to George Potts born c1612 in Broseley where they remain until the first Cheslyn Hay connection is in 1825 and the family tree extends to 7 x A4 pages available at £1 per page linking into the families of  Walker, Whitehouse, Crutchley, Evans, Bown, Evans, Birch, Chetter, Lockett, Thomas, Clarke, Benton, Corbett and Hawkins.  There are four members researching this tree and can be contacted to exchange such information.  If you wish to have your own family tree summarised please forward your family name to the email address below.
GENERAL NEWS  

24th January 1914  Over 400 children assembled at Salem Schools for the annual treat of the Band of Hope. There was a full programme naming Joseph Hitchens, Mr and Mrs Sydney Hawkins andMiss Mincher.

24th January 1914  An account of Nancy Cunningham’s prison life is touched upon.

RESPONSES  Our War Researcher Bob has looked at Joseph Stokes‘ records for Marion and explains why he is on our War Memorial even though he died in 1920 giving details of his family and his war record.