I didn't look at it too closely, as I didn't have lots of time and then I forgot about it.
Leicester, England
What rang the old memory bell was a couple things... one quite literally was bells. While looking into the Old North Church in Boston, made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem titled, "Paul Revere's Ride", which begins, "Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere," I came across an intriguing web page on the church's bells, which were cast in 1744.
The other thing that rang a bell, was a chat I had had with someone who told me about their family tree, and how it was filled with Elizabeth's. I had to chuckle since my Mom's family was filled with Elizabeth's too. After this chat, I resolved to look into some old papers I had that outlined the family tree to count up the Elizabeth's.
I found the papers covering my dad's father's family, which came to Pennsylvania from England shortly after William Penn founded Philadelphia (some of them in around 1703 and some later in the 1820s). They were cordwainers (shoe cobblers) in the New World as there was little infrastructure here to support the trade that they had for generations in the old country. Family legend has it, they nearly starved to death, being not so good shoe cobblers and shoe salesmen.
So they built a foundry, and dug out the old trade, bell founders. Ding!
Saint Margaret's, Leicester, England
This Church was started in the mid-1100's, largely built in the 13th century and extensively rebuilt in the 15th century.
The Front Door of the Church
Picture Source
I then rediscovered the dusty old note card. What I found inside it was a typed note from Frank(lin) Mousley to my grandfather, dated March, 1954. I believe Franklin was my grandfather's uncle and he was an officer in the US Navy.
What astounded me was what the note card said. Everyone called my grandfather "Bud", I've never found out why.
"Bud: I've been to St Mrgts and explored the church records - our ancestors lived, for centuries - in St Mrgt's Parish at Humblestone and Belgrave Gates - The bells for this church were cast with the assistance of John Hose - John Hose, heir of his father (another bell founder), claimed liberties of Leicester in the year 1366 and his family came from the town of Hose (a small village outside of the city proper)"
Note: I think claiming liberty means he was a "freeman" in the time of serfdom. It may mean his apprenticeship was over. I'll look more into this.
The card continues on the reverse saying,
"William Hose [Smith]'s daughter Sarah (born 1803) married Joseph Mowsley on Christmas Day, 1826. I will mail you complete details later."
I've dug the place up from end to end, looking for what he might of sent later. So far all I've found is a picture of Franklin Mousley in his Navy uniform which I will scan in later and add to this entry.
P.s., I got so side-tracked I never did finish counting up the Elizabeth's!
Added Later:
I found a about half of "those details later". I'm still putting it together, its complicated by the fact that the men in the family liked to use the same name, generation and generation so figuring out which Joseph Mousley (there are 5 of them) is which, and which Richard Mousley (there are 4 of them!) is which is a bit of puzzle since they are numbered and the numbers apparently refer to a chart I don't have. The earliest Richard Mousley lived in "Appleby Magna, Leicester (second listing, second from the bottom)" in 1592 and was a cordwainer.
The Hose's are puzzling for the reason. Both the Hoses and the Mousleys lived in Leicester and apparently married into each other's family more than once.
Franklin Mousley - "Old Stormy Weather"
I never met this man. He was my grandfather's uncle, making him my great-great-uncle(?)
6 comments:
Interesting ancestry you have there, Iggy. Good luck in your search to find more. *hugs*
I just love family history. It is cool that you can trace yours so far back. I this it is special that families pass names down from generation to generation. We usually use first names of one generation as middle names of the next generation. Did you ever figure out how many Elizabeths you have????? Interesting post.
Kewl. If I recall there are alot of Johns in my daddy's side of the family. Them a nd some names that you dont normally see these days (like Erma, Orville and Leon just for starters).
Oh and grandpa's brother is a great uncle...not a great great. I know, it's confusing to me too. Mimi's sister (the sister to the gramma that died a little over a yr ago) was my great aunt. She was great aunt Catherine but we always just called her aunt Dixie or aunt Dix. How they got Dixie out of Catherine, I'll never know.....
Ok, let's see if this makes sense:
Your father's brother is your uncle.
Your grandfather's brother is your great-uncle.
Your grandfather's uncle would be his father's/mother's brother, making him your great-great-uncle.
My aunt did a whole geneology thing, on her side of the family, traced them all the way back to a village in Germany back in the day of William The Conqueror. I have a copy of all the documentation and charts she did, with what pictures she could find. It's very fascinating.
My Dad's done (and still doing) some work on tracing back our family tree too. So's my Nan. I think "Thomas" and "Joseph" are the most common names in our family tree.
Did you ever get around to counting the Elizabeths in yours?
Like ChicagoLady said... Your Grandfather's uncle would be your great great uncle.
I've not counted the "Lizzies" yet, perhaps I'll feel more up to it this weekend.
Thanks for helping me get the "great-great-...." thing straight! I've nearly a degree in math but I have a heck of a time following along with any of those "my wife's brother's son's friend's mother" things...
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