I've finally finished - well, finished enough for now - my father's collection of old black and white photos, from about 1925 to 1955. They can be found at....
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Bringing some of the characters from the past back to life
I've finally finished - well, finished enough for now - my father's collection of old black and white photos, from about 1925 to 1955. They can be found at....
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If you’re
in the same boat, or know someone else with old B+W negs they’d like to print,
this is how I did it…
I put more foil UNDER the glass, and some white card on top, each with a photo-sized hole cut in it. I put a globe inside the box (I found a 14W energy-saver “fluoro” type best as it runs cool – DON’T use an old filament job! – and it has a nice soft diffused white light. But put it down one end, not directly under the hole in the top, instead put a piece of white paper on the bottom of the box under the hole, as the crinkles and texture of the foil may show on the photos.
Set up a
tripod as shown and fix the camera to it. I tried my old Canon digital but it
was hopeless, wouldn’t focus reliably, and moved when I pressed the shutter. I
found that my digital video camera is far and away the best, using its
PhotoShot function – great zoom, auto focus up close, set to hi-res, and click
using the remote zapper. Make sure the negatives are shiny side up. And you’ll
probably need a small pane of glass to lay on top as many of them tend to curl
up over time. And turn off the room light.
Download the camera chip into your computer’s photo editor, select each image, hit “Negative” and convert that to Grayscale, then start fiddling with the Brightness, Contrast, all that stuff. Job done.
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John
Edmonds of Buckinghamshire
Most of us love a mystery, and this one has always had me intrigued.
Maybe you can make some sense of it.
Quite a few years back I came across a batch of files in the Wiltshire
CRO, designated “888 Series – The Edmonds’s of Bradford”. So I bought a copy,
on a data CD. Full of wonderful stuff about my ancestors, which is incorporated
in their stories here on “The Bones”.
But amongst them was also a Will and a Marriage Settlement for a John
Edmonds, of Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. I asked the CRO why this was
in the Series, never got a reply, and I moved on with all the other data,
forgot it.
But then that “John Hinton Edmonds” bit (see below) turned up the other day and,
wondering what might have become of him, I remembered these two files. But the
Bucks guy is definitely NOT “my” John Edmonds, the eldest Edmonds-of-Bradford son that I
missed.
But the question remains - WHY is
it in with the Bradford Edmonds stuff?? So here it is, and eventually it’ll go
down into “The Strays”. See what you can make of it.
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A Marriage Settlement was written dated 9/4/1829, between a John Edmonds
a Jeweller of The Strand London, and a Cordelia Pitter Of Oxford St
Westminster, the widow of John Pitter late of Covent Garden. It mentions her son
John Robert Pitter.
A John Edmonds (a “Widower” of this
parish - St Martins in the Field Westminster) married a Cordelia Pitter (a
“Widow” of St Mary Paddington – about 3kms away) on 11/4/1829. (Her maiden name
was apparently Elliott).
In the 1841 Census of Bucks a John Edmonds and a Cordelia Edmonds were
living in the High St of Princes Risborough. John was 70, [so born c1771], the
Head, and “Born in this County”, and Cordelia [his wife] was 72. They had a
bunch of others living with them, so presume they were running a boarding
house.
In 1851 he was 80, a Widower, born “England”, a retired Jeweller, living
in the High St of Princes Risborough.
A Cordelia Edmonds died in the Wycombe Berks Regn Dist (incs Princes
Risb) in Sept ¼ 1845, and he died Dec ¼ 1852, also in the Wycombe RD.
A “John Edmonds” of Princes Risborough made a Will on 14/10/1852, which
was proven on 27/4/1853, the execs being John Robert Pitter esq, and James
Stratton. The will mentions his “late wife Cordelia”, his daus Charlotte
(Descrepgny??) and Cordelia (Boyd), and a “friend Thomas Clapham”.
That’s about it. William Bennett Edmonds’ wife’s mother Ann Chapman came
from the Haddenham area of Bucks, not far from Princes Risborough, but other
than that, it’s hard to see any connection with this guy and the Bradford
Edmonds’s.
But WHY is his Marriage Settlement and Will in with the Bradford
Edmonds’s stuff in the Wilts CRO?? No idea!
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My genealogist niece came across this previously unseen document the other day, clearly relating to the eldest son of John Edmonds and Ruth nee Hinton of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire (see under “The Stories” – “The Cloth Dynasty That Went Nowhere”). This threw me a touch that, in all my research, I’d never run into it, or any mention of, this son.
So what we have is – he was born on 15/5/1804, the fact being attested to by Robt Hooper (Surgeon), Elizabeth Hale, and Ann Edmonds, and this was registered with Dr William’s Library in Cripplegate London on 19/12/1820. There are Hoopers and Hales mentioned at other times in the Bradford Edmonds’s story, and Anne Edmonds (nee Bennett) I’m assuming is the grandmother, wife of Elimelech Edmonds.
These “registrations” were largely of Non-Conformists (which the Edmonds and Hintons were) who needed to better “legitimise” their documentation, often as a result of being baptised in an Anglican church in later life, sometimes as a prelude to marriage to an Anglican.
A quick search also found a "John Hinton Edmonds", who had a child John Richard Edmonds in 1824, St Mary's Parish, Lambeth, with wife Elizabeth. This John's occupation was given as "coachman".
So, what’s the story of this “original” John Hinton Edmonds? (There’s been two more in the direct family line since, my Dad, and his grandfather). When did he leave Bradford (and why)? Why isn’t there any mention of him in any family records? Who is his wife? Were there any more kids? Where is he, and his wife, buried?
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I came across this photo amongst my Dad's (Jack Edmonds) files, realised I hadn't included it in previous uploads. Notes with it say...
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"Arbor Day at Yaninee School
The students at Yaninee School, pictured
outside the weatherboard building on Arbor Day, 8 August 1919. The teacher is
Miss Wakefield, the students are identified as (back row, left to right) Ray
Parker, Frank Hawthorn, Stella Opitz, Ethel Parker, Hilda Parker, Ted Watson,
Dorothy Parker, Bill Opitz, (front row, left to right) Ted Opitz, Eric Mildren,
Fred Watson, Tom Opitz."
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These are all local Central Eyre Peninsula kids who Dad grew up with. Other notes of Dad's read “I started
school here but left to go to Pinbong”, but presumably that was just before this photo was taken,
as another old photo of Jack’s, of “Peace Day Pygery” (later called Pinbong) School, and dated 19/9/1919, clearly shows him there.
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I found this website the other day, gives quite interesting concentrations of family surnames over England and Wales, as at each of the Census Returns. You may have already fallen over it, but just in case....
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Fell over an envelope of photos that were amongst my Mum's stuff (Ella nee Osborn), and found that these three I've never scanned. May be of value to someone...
Grandma Osborn (Margaret nee Gray) with her daughter Cora (Redden) and her daughter Cora |
The original "Netball Team" of the seven Osborn girls in mid-latter days, L-R Vera, Mavis, Ella, Elsie, Una, Cora, Marj |
Fairly certain this is Edward John Edwards of Stockport SA |
If you're into really early history, of the people who made you (I'm assuming here that if you get to this site you're probably from the same tribal pools as us), here is a couple of of sites you may have missed....
....each one worth digging around in if you have a cold wet Sunday afternoon and you've finished reading the papers!
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There's a new top tab titled "Needing Answers", for the string of queries that we never got around to but deserve some attention. From time to time we'll doubtlessly say - "Hey, what about that...? We never did find a decent answer for it." - and so add to it as we go along. And for all of you many West Cork descendants who have been foraging through this stuff, and want to know more, we can only say - good luck!
Cheers....
Update 23/4/22 - Three more old UK WW1 servicemen have been added over there under "Those Who Served". This is the end of this batch, but in time the Australians of WW1 and WW2 will be added, but as tags to them on the RSL's Virtual War Memorial.
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Further to the page below, as promised, the bits we found in Ancestry recently for the...
OSBORN / PAYNTER / ASH / GRAY / PEARCE / FAYERS / ATKINSON
EDMONDS / PERRY / HEALD / PUPLETT
... family names have been tacked onto the bottom of "Filing Cabinet (2)" down to the left. Like me, I hope you fall over something new and interesting.
Cheers...
Trev Edmonds
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