My Happy Day at the FHC

Yesterday I had a very productive day at the Family History Center.  My films on Knockholt, Kent, England parish records came in, allowing me to find baptism, marriage, burial, and even birth dates in some lucky cases on my ancestors and their families.

I was looking for a few specific items: the baptism of Emma Bond Hayman, her marriage to Charles Whitehead the of marriage of of her parents, Richard and Mary, and the burial date of her father Richard Bond.  I was hopeful that I would find Mary's, maiden name, as well.

I was very surprised when I found out that Richard Bond 21 Feb 1841, as I had previously searched FreeBMD for his death certificate to no avail.  I searched again when I got home and found a Richard Bond, died Jan-Feb-Mar 1841 in the Bromley district of Kent.  I had done some research and knew Knockholt was in Sevenoaks district, except that I missed the part that said it was placed in Sevenoaks in 1969... oops.  Prior to that it had been placed in Orpington and prior to that, it was in Bromley (from 1837 - 1934).  A good reminder to do as thorough historical research of the towns my ancestors are from as I do for my genealogy research.

Although I did not see Richard and Mary Bonds marriage record, I did find baptismal records for their 14 children, including my direct ancestor Emma's birth date as well (15 May 1811, christened 9 Jun 1811) - thank you to the overzealous minister who wrote in both!  I also found many burial and marriage records.  I now have a lot of records on order from the GRO, which I hope will arrive in the next two weeks and may give me Mary's maiden name.  From there I will go back to the films to fill in my research.

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Week #4

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:


Week 4: Learn about your local public library’s inter-library loan (ILL) policy. Pick a genealogy-related book that you want to read that is not in your library’s collection. Ask the librarian how to request the book from another library. Find the different library systems from which you can request books through your own library, as this can dramatically increase the number of genealogy books to which you have access. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experience with requesting items through your library’s ILL service.



I adore inter-library loan.  As a college student, I tend to use the universities system, because I can do it from my couch, while for the public library I have to go in to request an item.  I recently received my first ILL for a genealogy book.  While looking for films on Knockholt, Kent, England from the FHL, I noticed a book that seemed useful: A History of Knockholt in the County of Kent by David Waldron Smithers.  This was published in England in 1991 and is currently out of print.  Only 3 libraries in the USA own it, according to WorldCat: Princeton, Harvard and the Library of Congress.  I ILL requested it through SU and a couple weeks later arrived the apparently never before used (it is pristine!) book from Princeton University.


This book is FANTASTIC!  It was written by a lifelong resident of Knockholt and it mentions surnames such as Bond, Whitehead and Wells.  Are they my Bonds, Whiteheads and Wells'?  It was a small town, so I am sure there is some relation (hopefully I will know for sure when my films come in...)  It also gives the towns history, beginning in the stone age, has photographs, gives information about the parish church records and has more information that gives a genealogist a background on the town their ancestors came from.


If you are new to ILL, be sure to check out WorldCat.  According to their website, "WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information."  Although not every library in the world is a member, most large libraries, particularly in the US, are and it will give you an idea of what books are out there and where they are located.

Surname Saturday: Bond

In the new year, I am finally going to start doing the Surname Saturday theme.  My plan is to go alphabetically through each of my surnames in order to get them all on the internet and, hopefully, meet some more cousins:-)


The second surname for the year is Bond.  The Bond's were located in Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent, England.  After marriage, Emma Bond Whitehead moved to Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England.  I currently have 3 microfilms on order at the Family History Center for Knockholt.  These will hopefully arrive in the next week and I will write a follow-up post once that occurs.



Descendants of Richard Bond
---------------------------
1-Richard Bond d. Bef 1841
 +Mary b. Abt 1798, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent, England, d. 3 Nov 1862,
  Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|--2-Emma Bond b. Cir 1812, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent, England, d. 24 Feb
|    1877, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|   +Charles Whitehead b. Cir 1811, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England, d. 13
|    Mar 1887, Sundridge, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |--3-Hannah Whitehead b. Abt 1836, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |--3-William Whitehead b. Abt 1838, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |   +Caroline Feust b. Abt 1840, Westerham, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |  |--4-Edward Whitehead b. Abt 1863, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |  |--4-Rose Whitehead b. Abt 1866, Chelsfield, , Kent, England
|  |  |--4-Emma Whitehead b. Abt 1869, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |  |--4-Sarah Whitehead b. Abt 1874, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |  |--4-Minnie Whitehead b. Abt 1880, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |--3-Charles Whitehead b. 10 Oct 1840, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England,
|  |    d. 12 Oct 1902, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
|  |   +Mary Ann Hayman b. 11 Mar 1845, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England, d.
|  |    16 May 1877, Barton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
|  |  |--4-Benjamin Thomas Whitehead b. 31 Oct 1866, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent,
|  |  |    England, d. 11 Apr 1906, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
|  |  |--4-Joseph Whitehead b. 2 Nov 1869, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England,
|  |  |    d. 4 Apr 1936, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
|  |  |--4-Charles William Whitehead b. 12 Jun 1872, Burlington, , Ontario,
|  |  |    Canada, d. 27 Dec 1927, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
|  |  |--4-Rosanna Whitehead b. 5 Jan 1875, Barton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada,
|  |  |    d. 2 Dec 1924, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
|  |--3-Jane Whitehead b. Abt 1847, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |--3-George Whitehead b. Abt 1849, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |--3-Emma Whitehead bap. 29 Jun 1851, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England,
|  |    bur. 26 Oct 1852, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |--3-Edward Whitehead b. Abt 1853, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|      +Barbara b. Abt 1859, Seal, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|     |--4-Edward George Whitehead b. Abt 1880, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent,
|     |    England
|     |--4-Edith Hilda Whitehead bap. 31 May 1891, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent,
|     |    England
|     |--4-William Gordon Whitehead bap. 28 Dec 1891, Halstead, Sevenoaks,
|     |    Kent, England
|--2-Hannah Bond b. Abt 1820, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|   +William Morgan b. Abt 1820, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|  |--3-William Morgan b. Abt 1846, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|--2-Richard Bond b. Abt 1820, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent, England
|   +Sarah b. Abt 1820
|  |--3-Hannah Bond b. Abt 1839
|  |--3-Bond b. Abt 1841
|--2-James Bond b. Abt 1825
|--2-George Bond b. Abt 1826
|--2-John Bond b. Abt 1828
|--2-Samuel Bond b. Abt 1831

They arrived!

Yesterday my two other microfilms arrived at the FHC. I went through the Halstead marriage records, still none for my ancestors, but a few for their siblings. The roll also happened to have marriage banns from Knockholt, Kent, where I have relatives from! Again, none for direct ancestors, but some for siblings, including one of the siblings from Halstead, who married a man in Knockholt. That was a nice surprise:-) The records from Roccaromana, Caserta, Italy also came in and I can't read them. Now, obviously I realize I can not read the Italian, but it is so tiny (it's one of those small microfilms) that I cannot make out any of the words/letters. I am going to buy a magnifying glass, but I'm not sure that will help enough. Any recommendations are more than welcome!

Today my birth/death/marriage certificates came in from Buffalo. It took just a week and a day from ordering them, which is really decent time. Unfortunately, the marriage record couldn't be found, but the index was fuzzy, so I think I must have guessed the wrong year. Next time I'm there I'll check the library microfilm, which might have the record.

I received death certificates for:

• Charles Herman Eichhorn, which has his parents names, Nicholas Eichhorn and Dora Schneider, and shows I had the right family in Canada! Now I have to continue my search there and eventually back to Germany. He was buried at Buffalo Cemetery and hopefully his wife is next to him, as I have no idea when she died.
• Elizabeth Whitehead, my great aunt, who died at 9 days old. The death cause is different than the one listed in the church records; this one makes more sense (cerebral hemorrhage).
• Maria Tross, which has her maiden name as Strassheim (on a marriage record of her child it looked like Crossheim or Crosshein). It also says she was buried in Buffalo Cemetery, so hopefully I can find some info on her husband (Wenzel/Wesley Tross) there and in her obituary.
• Mrs. A. [Barbara] Fleeman. She died in 1870, so there is pretty much no information, other than she was born in France about 1824, but no maiden name. Also no cemetery, but based on her probate file, they might not have been able to afford burying her.
• Adam L. Fleeman. Not my ancestor as hoped, but rather his grandson, who died at 3 months, 24 days. He is buried in Forest Lawn, so I will go visit next time I am in Buffalo.

I received birth certificates for some of the siblings of my ancestors as follows:

• William Tross Eichhorn, son of William F. and Augusta (Tross) Eichhorn.
• Clara Evelyn Eichhorn, daughter of the same.
• Adeline Whitehead, daughter of Charles and Anna M. (Sanderson) Whitehead.
• Amelia Angela Maria Casilla [sic] daughter of Marcantonio and Carolina (Izzo) Casillo.

Time to go update the Legacy file:-)