19th June 2010
A variety of updates including some transcriptions of
soldiers records,
marriage records,
16th century baptisms, and a
will;
and more photographs of MIs from
Desborough Cemetery.
I've finally
smashed a brick wall that has been bugging me - the identity
of one Frederick Nursey, born 1858 at Desborough, who was in a
military prison in 1881.
28 May 2010
All the photographs I have of legible
gravestones from St Giles have been uploaded.
A few more might be retrieved by re-photographing.
Work continues on adding non-Desborough census info. Best
transcription error found on Ancestry was for
John Goode whose occupation was given as "Beast
Shoemaker". When I looked at the image, it proved to be "Mastr
Shoemaker". John's future wife's occupation at the same school
was transcribed as "Batron". Have a guess ...?
9th May 2010
A case of murder ...
read all about it!
18th April 2010
Many thanks to Jean Buswell who has been sharing some of her
research on Desborough people together with photographs of
memorials from churchyards outside Desborough. Check out her
detective work on an elusive ancestor,
John Letts.
Another 240 people have been added to the Desborough
database, including some parish records from the late 16th
century.
5th March 2010
Desborough Bishop's Transcripts 1707-1812 have now been
completed. Permit me a small Yippee! -
it's been a long haul ...
16th February 2010
Census information for years when individuals were
not in Desborough is being rewritten and enhanced to
match the data from the Desborough censuses. For those
individuals where it has been completed
you'll be able to see the full household details for all
available censuses on a single page. Taking the information away
from the 'vitals' page is also making that display much clearer
More photographs of headstones and more individuals from
Bishop's Transcripts added.
29th January 2010
Jubilee Souvenir of the Desborough Industrial & Provident
Co-operative Society Ltd, 1863-1913.
28th January 2010
Nearly 950 more individuals have been added to the Desborough
database, taking Bishop's Transcripts up to March 1794.
The older records are
starting to link up to the census information.
More photographs of headstones from both St Giles and the
town cemeteries have been added.
29th December 2009
Another 332 individuals have been added from Desborough's
Bishop's Transcripts, up to March 1765.
Some of the existing photographs of headstones from St
Giles' churchyard have been replaced and some more have been
added, bringing the total up to 121.
30th November 2009
Nearly 1000 more individuals have been added from the
Bishop's Transcripts for Desborough, up to the mid
1750s. There is a growing number of individuals, alive at the
same period, with identical first and last names
who are proving difficult to distinguish when linking children
and parents. As further information is found this may mean some
existing family links will change in the future.
Some photographs have been added of memorials from inside the
church and from the town cemetery.
5th October 2009
I've started adding records from the Bishop's Transcripts for
Desborough. The file I'm working on runs from 1707 to 1812, but
I've only reached 1717 so far. This has added another 300 odd
individuals to the database. You can review the entries extracted
from
Bishop's Transcript to date.
29th August 2009
You can now display lists of the entries extracted to date
from the
Parish Registers so you can check coverage, as well as
retrieving details by name searches.
I'm taking a break from the Great War and adding more
information from the 17th century parish records. This has added
nearly 400 people to the Desborough database
12th August 2009
155 WWI soldiers have now been identified, including 3 who were
POWs.
Some touching stories are emerging, see
Frank Crick and the letter sent by his wife; and the accidental
death of
Reuben Horsley
2nd July 2009
The Desborough census pages have all been revised to load
more quickly.
There are two new Desborough menu items:
Forenames (an
index of first names, including the date of first known use) and
Health & Welfare. The
latter has indexes for disabled
individuals and for
twins.
20th June 2009
The final section of the 1901 census has been transcribed:
District 6.
10th June 2009
The second section of the 1901 Desborough census has been transcribed:
District 5.
20th April 2009
The "Armed Forces" section in the Desborough Study has now
been extended and lists all soldiers who have been indentified
so far. Links lead, in some cases, to their full military
records.
The 'Regiments' link, under 'Armed Forces' enables you to see
which other Desborough soldiers served in the same regiment
during World War 1.
10th February 2009
The Desborough Study has a new menu item: "Armed Forces"
giving details of some of the Desborough men who lost their
lives in World War I.
The Desborough surnames index has been rewritten to load
more quickly and to enable individuals with all variants of
a name to be displayed together.
A new display option has been added to the individual's
page, so that you can show just names and vital dates.
27th January 2009
The Desborough Study link takes you to a detailed menu, and there are 2 new sections:
'Other Transcriptions' (Wills, Military Records, and extracts from books and journals), and
'Non-Conformists' (non-Church of England members).
The 'Parish Church' section now has brief biographies of most of the Vicars of St Giles.
'Historical Notes' has been renamed 'History & Glossary'. The Glossary
includes some less
familiar terms found in the Wills. Under 'History' you will also find a page about
'Enclosures'.
12th December 2009
A visit to Desborough has produced nearly 90 photos & transcriptions of memorials.
You can browse the collection from the "Parish Church" link on the menu. There are also links
on descendant trees.
In the Family Tree section the index of Individuals has been re-written after the pattern
used in the Desborough Study. I hope this will prove easier to use.
12th September 2008
Desborough Study: All but the most obscure individuals in the Desborough censuses have now been indentified,
adding nearly 1000 individuals to the study. As the study is now so big all of the pages have
been moved into a single directory. Please update any bookmarks you have made.
7th July 2008
Desborough Study:
People's locations when they were not
present in Desborough are now starting to be added - see, for example, information about
John Tailby and his family
15th June 2008
Some World War II army photos have been added to the Portrait Gallery. You may find a photo
of your father or grandfather here.
1st May 2008
Desborough Study:
Additional links have been added to the navigation bar to make it easier to move about in
the Desborough Study, and the index pages within the study have had A-Z shortcuts introduced
to improve navigation.
5th January 2008
Desborough Study:
Work continues on the census transcriptions, with links being
added to enable you to see all that's available for an individual. It's also being enhanced with
information from other sources.
18th November 2007
A new section has been added: Historical Notes, giving background information on various
topics, such as British coinage,
lace making and
weaving, and various types of
school - 'British', 'National' and 'Board'.
15th November 2007
I've been following up the Coe and Panter families of
Desborough, over the last week or two. I knew of more than one
marriage between these two families, and I wanted to get a more
complete picture. I've now found over 200 Coes and 100 Panters,
and still more to come!
26th October 2007
More Kirtley information has been added. Sadly, I discovered that I was adding the same wife and
family to two different Henry Kirtleys - both born in Tanfield,
within 2 years! I'm waiting for the marriage certificate
to sort this one out.
9th October 2007
I've added more Kirtleys to the tree - yet more railway
workers among them, plus one "oddity" - a single child in a
family of Londoners, who was born in Australia:
Louis.
The Places index has been modified to make it faster.
1st October 2007
A contact from Australia has diverted me from the Howletts to
the Kirtleys - a fascinating family, deeply involved with the
development of the Railways. A detailed write-up is coming soon,
meanwhile have a look at the most famous son:
Matthew Kirtley
25th September 2007
Check out the new transcriptions of
obituaries
10th September 2007
There are some more Howletts and more information on the
existing Howletts, plus some photographs from Meppershall Church
where John Henry Howlett was Rector for 51 Years.
5th September 2007
Two more certificates have been added, one of which has added to the puzzle of
Sarah, the "nurse child".
The family tree now includes several generations of Howletts, a
connection by marriage of the Brattle family.
27th August 2007
The site continues to grow, but more importantly, the "details" page for each person has been extensively
changed to include more family information and make it easier to
follow.
11th August 2007
Two more pages have been added to the
Portrait Gallery, and the Dunford Family information has
been updated.
5 August 2007
The Dunford Family - Business and
Bankruptcy. Some ups and downs of business in the 19th
century.
21 July 2007
Several more BMD certificates have been
transcribed, bringing the total on the site to 74. Links have now been added
to all identified names on the transcriptions.
10 June 2007
Transcribed
service records for Ernest Brattle, covering his service at
the North West Frontier, South Africa and WWI
