The Greenwood Tree – December 2024
Posted on 24th November 2024
The theme of the December issue of The Greenwood Tree is Large Families. Editor Paul Radford previews the edition which will be mailed to members at the end of November and which SDFHS members can already view or download from the Members’ Area of the Society’s website.
If it had been a competition to see which member could find the largest family in their tree, Barbara Wallace would have been the winner. She tells the story of her 4xgreat-grandparents and their 19 children, who in turn produced 75 grandchildren. If that was the largest family in the December edition, there were two close competitors. John Damon and Liz Craig both came up with tales of ancestors with 17 children.
In a first for The Greenwood Tree, three Society members living in three different countries – Caroline Custard, Linda Haney-Sonley and Ryan Weller — wrote a joint story on discovering through DNA and other research that they are related via the Miller and Gapper families of Wootton Fitzpaine in Dorset. They also discovered a large number of first cousin marriages in their tree.
Karen Hansen’s ancestors suffered an unusual double tragedy. Her great-great-grandfather lost his wife when she gave birth to twins, their ninth and tenth children. He remarried but died a few years later leaving his widow with 12 children to bring up, 10 of them not her own.
More than a dozen members responded to the Large Families theme, including Keith Howell whose forebears felt encumbered by their old Somerset farming surname of Porker. One changed his name to Porter and another preferred to live with the name Parker. There are other stories outside the Large Families theme too. Richard Smith explains the role of a Cryer of the Court and researches the Dorset characters who have filled that role.
In our continuing interview series, The Greenwood Tree editor meets Robin Ansell, local and family history expert and author.
Ted Udall reports on the Society’s recent AGM in Yeovil where three new Life Members were appointed. The three – Dorothy Bower, Jane Ferentzi-Sheppard and John Tanner – write about their voluntary work for the SDFHS.
Regular features include Dorset Spotlight, this time on Studland, the SDFHS Photo Project, the Dorset History Centre Roundup and Letters to the Editor.
Paul Radford