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Old 01-01-11, 22:28
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Default Google, google and google again!

I have had Mary Maynard on my tree for about 15 years. She was a dau of my 4xg-grandfather and was probably born at Kempston, Beds. She married James Whiteman in 1764 and had some children, but I only knew of the ones who had died as they appeared in the C of E burial register; there were no baptisms for any of them. Mary's husband, James, died in 1773.

I found someone called David Whiteman b abt 1767, who lived long enough to be on the 1841 and 1851 censuses in Woburn, Beds and pencilled him in as their son as David is a common name in the family and his place of birth, Kempston, fitted. I felt I couldn't ink him in without making some further connection.

When the LMA records were added to Ancestry I discovered in 1784 Mary Whiteman has remarried to the widowed husband of her sister, one William Nichols. I thought it likely they returned to his home town of Woburn and looked for burials for them. I couldn't decide on a definite for William Nichols as there were too many to choose from, but did find a possible match for Mary in 1806. I couldn't guarantee this burial as there was no age recorded.

Today, I was watching the Morecambe and Wise 1976 Christmas Special (very funny, but as I've seen it once or twice before I was googling randomly at the same time) and tapped in "David Whiteman" Woburn and one of the results was this:

http://www.bedscc.gov.uk/communityan...innwoburn.aspx

David Whiteman ran The Windmill Inn in Woburn from 1807 to 1824 and before him were William Nichols (I guess he died then, as there's a burial to fit in Nov 1787) and then Mary Nichols who died in 1806 and a nice picture of her probate inventory!! Now I just need to get hold of her will

Result!!
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"Something has been filled in that I didn't know was blank" Matthew Broderick WDYTYA? March 2010
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Old 01-01-11, 22:42
ElizabethHerts ElizabethHerts is online now
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What a great result, Merry!

It proves that googling is well worth while. Isn't it odd though - I have some people in my tree that I think will show up and don't, but others who I don't think are likely to pop up have lots of information on them!
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Old 01-01-11, 22:46
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Oooh, here's a quote from the Beds Archives site:

The value of Bedfordshire wills as a source is reduced by the loss of all but a handful of the probate inventories. Nevertheless, Bedfordshire wills are indexed by personal and place names and by occupations from the 1480s, when the series starts, until 1857, when local probate jurisdiction by archdeaconry courts was superseded by a centralised national system.

So, Mary's inventory is one of only a few to survive!
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"Something has been filled in that I didn't know was blank" Matthew Broderick WDYTYA? March 2010
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Old 01-01-11, 22:47
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I absolutely agree, Elizabeth. I also have lines whose names may be fairly rare, but are difficult to google because they match up with other things.
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"Something has been filled in that I didn't know was blank" Matthew Broderick WDYTYA? March 2010
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Old 02-01-11, 17:22
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Oh, wow! What luck.
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Old 03-01-11, 11:13
Olde Crone Olde Crone is offline
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I wish I could be more disciplined though when I google!

I was googling yesterday, looking for a photo of a small village in Scotland, which I found, but then got sidetracked into a DNA project for a surname in my tree and THEN found a serious medical study for women with that surname somewhere in their history, who have all died of ovarian cancer.

I have had some fantastic genealogical breakthroughs by googling, things I would never have found by the ordinary research routes. Quite often googling an obscure place name pays off too - I picked up an eight year old message about a (misspelled!) place name AND the lady who had left the message still had the same email address. We are third half cousins, I from the first marriage, she from the second. We have been able to fill in the blanks for each other. As neither of us knew the other existed, it's unlikely we would ever have found each other, especially as we each only had half the story!

OC
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Old 03-01-11, 11:44
Jill Jill is offline
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There are some good finds out there, OH can never understand why I'm looking for something AGAIN, but you never know when something new will pop up. Some cousins disappeared to Rhodesia in the fifties when the father went to help build the Kariba dam. Just found an Aussie newspaper report from this December which has an interview with one of the family, they left Zimbabwe in 2003 for a new life in Australia.
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Old 03-01-11, 14:08
Olde Crone Olde Crone is offline
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Oh, how comical, lol!

At a loose end again and spurred on by this thread, I just randomly input a name from my tree...and came up with a message from 2004. All I have to do now is to try to contact the poster!

OC
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Old 03-01-11, 17:56
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Oooh, I've just realised I had found various docs indexed at the Beds CRO for a David Whiteman, but until now hadn't known if he was mine as mine says he was a tailor on the census, now I know he was also an innkeeper I can include all these bits and pieces about David Whiteman, Victualler, of Woburn
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"Something has been filled in that I didn't know was blank" Matthew Broderick WDYTYA? March 2010
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Old 03-01-11, 18:45
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Thanks for the reminder, I've found a load of stuff on a site I haven't seen before about my Sartoris family.

Such as this report into Mary Ann Sartoris's death
http://www.rushdenheritage.co.uk/peo...s1913echo.html

They aren't blood relatives, but they caught my interest and I have done a lot of research into them and their lives.

Thanks Merry!
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