Love Travel and Family History…. and when I can do both at the same time…. that is a bonus.
Up to now, I have been researching my Paternal Lines. They are from the Midlands of England…..Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire. Names – Perkins, Benford, Bailey, Mason, Spencer and Sleath. In the early 1900′s, my father, along with his parents, left the village of Claybrooke Magna, Leicestershire and headed to Western Canada, advertised as the Land Of Opportunity.
My mother, a MacMillan, was the daughter of a Scot who went to South America in the mid 1870’s. He married in Peru and my mother, the youngest child, was born in Coquimbo, Chile. Following the death of her father, the remaining family went to Chatham, Kent where the eldest son was living following the end of WW1. Her mother died in the Spanish Flu Epidemic and she eventually came to Canada in 1921 with her sister and brother-in-law to live on the frontier of Prince George, BC.
I have travelled to the UK many times, and I know my roots go deep in the Midland soil. There is nothing I like to do better, than walk along the country roads that my ancestors walked. Some of those roads go back to Roman times. Fosse Way and Watling Street intersect at High Cross, LEI, where Edwin Benford once owned land.
In the past few years, I have made a number of trips to Asia. I spent a total of 6 months visiting a friend who was working on the island of Okinawa. Coming and going, I was able to stop on the mainland and visit Kyoto and Nara as well as check out the small islands of Ishigaki and Iriomote, not far off the coast of Taiwan. Next up was a visit to China, then Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia and Thailand. I was also priviledged to take a Mekong River Cruise from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City….folllowed by a land adventure in Viet Nam.
Most recently, I visited Peru and Chile in South America. I was able to spend time in La Serena and Coquimbo where my mother grew up and where my Grandfather MacMillan was buried. Modern technology allowed me to share my experiences on a daily basis via pictures on FaceBook. My Stories I am able to share on my WordPress Blog. For future generations…should technology change when I am no longer able to keep things updated…I have used Blog to Print..to publish my Blog Stories in HARDCOPY…..and the Will of Nathaniel Mason from 1728 which I have in Print Form (from the Archives at KEW), and which is part of a post on this blog site (in the Cloud)…. will still be able to be read 300 years from now regardless of where technology goes!
A Genealogist goes Wandering 
My Great Grandfather was Thomas Perkins born 1856 Butcher, I think we are related
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Hi,
I believe my 2X greatgrandfather is Joseph Perkins son of a Thomas Perkins and Dorothy Dewbury who was christened at Sharnford in 1795. Children born earlier were christened in Burbage….starting around 1783. I still am not 100% sure that I have the correct family but I am working on that assumption. There are several Thomas Perkins in the area…too bad that was such a common name…however maybe they are all connected as Joseph Perkins was a Butcher as well. The children were Sarah,(1783) Elizabeth,(1785) William,(1787) Ann,(1789) Hannah,(1790) Joseph(1792 dies), Thomas (1793) who marries Elizabeth Rayson and Joseph (1795) who marries Ann Mason of Withybrook, my family line, and the twins Edward and Mary (1798).
If your Thomas was born in Burbage in 1856..perhaps he is the son in one of these other families. Is he connected with the Anchor Inn in Burbage? Bye for now, Louise
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My great-grandmother was Betsey Benford who married Arthur Edwin Richards, Iron Founder. I am delighted to have found your website. (I am doing my family history). They had eight children. Elizabeth, Ada, Ethel, Frances, Ellen, Grace, William and Ida Doris. We have recently found and tidied up the grave containing Betsey, Arthur, Frances, and Ada in Saffron Hill Cemetery, Leicester. Ethel my grandmother married John Colban Bird. There was a William Bird lodging with Benfords in Claybrooke and Benfords living in Belgrave, Leicestershire so it becomes possible to see how my ancestors met their partners ! Janet Bradshaw
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Great you found my website…there are Benfords the world over.
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My Great Aunt, Margaret Lucy Hopkins lived in Claybrooke from about 1896 to 1900 when she was 8 -12 years old. She writes in her memoirs about St Marys church Claybrook, “We had chairs, not pews, and a certain lady from the Hall always sat in the front row. She appeared to be ‘perched’ between two chairs on some kind of extra cushion: she was certainly wider than one chair could accommodate. We younger girls always looked out for the arrival of the Nixon family – they came down in their carriage from Claybrook Grange – and we got quite a thrill to notice the dresses of the ladies….”
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My husband’s mother’s grandfather was the second Thomas Fredrick Benford. (We think the first one, who had the same name but was called Thomas, died as a child), her grandfather was called Fredrick and was a tailor in Kettering. I’ve got some great old photos and stories of him and his family on my flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/lechner5/3971753434/in/album-72157622217519667/
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Nice website! It’s been five years, but do you recall where you found the photo of Edgar Gorer in your June 26, 2014, blog?
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You know I don’t remember where I got the picture…think you are related to David Bruce? ( we have been friends for 40 years) ….and I am wondering if I found it among his family pictures. Also I may just have googled his name and it came up.
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