The Jollyman Letters: project progress February 2017
This month has been a fascinating trip over the Solent into the past.
We’ve been on a family history research trip to the Isle of Wight, where we managed to meet up with some Hansfords and Youngs.
Sadly, these family members ‘departed this life’ long ago, but their beautiful, weathered headstones were a bittersweet joy to find.
This gravestone, with two funny little chubby faces at the top, was found in Brading churchyard. It’s a shared grave for Martha Young and three of her children.
The inscription reads:
In Memory of Martha the wife of Iohn Young Who Died Feby ye 14th 1762 Aged 36 Years
Iames Young died April ye 24 1759 Aged 5 days
alfo Ieney Young died Feb the 17 1760 Aged 4 m
alfo Ann died July the 17 1763 Aged 10 Years
A faithfull Friend A Wife most dear
A loving Mother sleepeth here
My life was short my Grief the less
Blame not my Haste to Happiness
We also visited Ryde cemetery, where some wonderful work is being done by Ryde Social Heritage Group to preserve, photograph and record the grave inscriptions and locations, which made it easy to locate the graves I wanted to include in my family history books. I met up with Ann Barrett, who has a Ryde family history website I’ve visited several times, so it was great to actually meet her in person.
While staying on the Isle of Wight, I’ve also had a chance to look at the inscriptions in our old Cornock family Bible and Hansford/Young family Bible, which helped me to find two new relatives for my family tree. I now have 969 people on it!
My first book, The Hansford Letters, is really taking shape now, and with the photos I’ve taken of Isle of Wight locations connected with our family’s stories, I hope to get it finished in a few more months.
I visited Temple House, the lovely old Victorian family home of the Hansfords in George Street, Ryde. Sadly, it has fallen into decay and has been bought by a big consortium which is in the process of ‘doing it up’ (a.k.a. completely ruining it) by adding a modern-style covered walkway to link it to the derelict 1920s Royal York Hotel next door without any regard whatsoever to the historical background of either building. I suppose I should be grateful they haven’t bulldozed it to make a car park!
It seems like Ryde Social Heritage Group has its work cut out to preserve Ryde’s historic beauties before our cruel modern world – and the Isle of Wight Council’s planning department – destroys them all.
