Reproduced by kind permission of The Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove
What’s New?
Wednesday 18 November 2009
What’s been happening?
It’s that time of year again - short days, long nights, and weather no good for gardening or golf! So what better way to pass one’s time than to dive head first once again in to the family history research.
The web site continues to attract attention and I have had some wonderful new contacts from people who are connected to our family and who have sent me loads of new information. It’s not all on the web site yet but I am working on it. (Honestly!!)
Web site makeover
I have spent some considerable time recently ‘freshening up’ the web site and adding more information to the family tree pages - and there’s still loads more to do. There is too much to detail here so just have a browse and tell me what you think. Before doing so you might want to take a look at the new ‘Help’ pages so that at least you know how things should look in your browser.
The Missing Thomas Cowley
You will see that I have added a ‘Thomas Cowley’ as the first son of Francis Cowley (1806) and Emma Woolgar. I have known of Thomas’s existence since I started the family history research, but his origins are a bit of a mystery. There is a christening record for Thomas that shows his parents as Francis Cowley and Emma. (In fact there are two christening records with different dates, but that’s another story!) In both the 1841 and 1851 censuses he is listed as ‘son’ of Francis, but in the 1861 census he is shown as ‘nephew’. So for the time being he is in the tree as a descendent of Francis - but his days may be numbered!
The Great Gulley Mystery
I have made contact via Ancestry.com with a lady who has the ‘Gulley’ family in the fringe of her family tree. Between us we have unearthed something of a mystery surrounding the marriages of John Elford Gulley. John was married three times. His first wife died and we believe that he then married her sister, a practice that was illegal until the advent of ‘The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act’ in 1907. Just to compound his felony it seems possible that he married his third wife whilst the second was still alive and kicking! At the time of writing this I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a copy of the third marriage certificate. Watch this space!
I do hope that you are all continuing to enjoy the web site. Please keep your stories and your photographs coming so that we can share the memories of our ancestry.
Peter Cowley
Technical note: When you re-visit the web site after I have updated it, you may find that you have to click on your browser’s ‘refresh’ button in order to see the latest changes. Alternatively, press function key F5.
The web site continues to attract attention and I have had some wonderful new contacts from people who are connected to our family and who have sent me loads of new information. It’s not all on the web site yet but I am working on it. (Honestly!!)
Web site makeover
I have spent some considerable time recently ‘freshening up’ the web site and adding more information to the family tree pages -
The Missing Thomas Cowley
You will see that I have added a ‘Thomas Cowley’ as the first son of Francis Cowley (1806) and Emma Woolgar. I have known of Thomas’s existence since I started the family history research, but his origins are a bit of a mystery. There is a christening record for Thomas that shows his parents as Francis Cowley and Emma. (In fact there are two christening records with different dates, but that’s another story!) In both the 1841 and 1851 censuses he is listed as ‘son’ of Francis, but in the 1861 census he is shown as ‘nephew’. So for the time being he is in the tree as a descendent of Francis -
The Great Gulley Mystery
I have made contact via Ancestry.com with a lady who has the ‘Gulley’ family in the fringe of her family tree. Between us we have unearthed something of a mystery surrounding the marriages of John Elford Gulley. John was married three times. His first wife died and we believe that he then married her sister, a practice that was illegal until the advent of ‘The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act’ in 1907. Just to compound his felony it seems possible that he married his third wife whilst the second was still alive and kicking! At the time of writing this I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a copy of the third marriage certificate. Watch this space!
I do hope that you are all continuing to enjoy the web site. Please keep your stories and your photographs coming so that we can share the memories of our ancestry.
Peter Cowley
Technical note: When you re-
If you don’t want to be notified of changes to the web site, please use the ‘General Contact’ form to unsubscribe.
© Peter Cowley 2008
