The website so far

Ann age 6 months with Joan GIBBON (nee McDade)

Well, Cousin Colin has spent a little time checking and we can have a URL for around ten pounds a year. I suppose the thing we have to decide is how we are going to pay for it and who will do the deed and make the purchase. The URL will be something like thegibbongazette.co.uk simply because we all know this name. The information should not be restricted to the GIBBON family though and we should all think about adding our own twigs and branches.
So what would you - YOU - like to see on our website?
Photographs, of course. The family tree, definitely. Stories about each branch of the family, oh undoubtedly. A place for messages, a place where the Gibbon Gazette and the Nathan News can be downloaded.
What else?
Once again I am asking for feedback. Please say something if it's only be quiet.

Thinking about the family

This evening, while playing a game on this here intarwebby, I was thinking. I was wondering if we should have a family website where we can keep our heirloom photographs and stories of our branch of the family. I was imagining that it would be just for family members and would need a password to get at the information. I should imagine it would cost a few pounds but surely it wouldn't be too expensive.
Should we look into this? is there anyone out there would be willing to create the pages for us? could this be the next step in the sharing of our family history?
Answers in the comments please...

John Daniel Guilfoyle

Charlie and Fani 1939.
(original picture with cousin Pat)

John Daniel Guilfoyle Seymourwas born on December 16th 1878  at 125 London Road, Southwark.

His birth was registered on 25th January 1879 just two days before the six weeks grace allowed between the birth and the registration. He was registered by his Grandfather John Nathan and it would seem that he believed that Bessie and Charles were married at this time.  They didn’t get married until 1st March 1879 when they were in Liverpool.

I have found John Daniel on the 1881 Census for Scotland. With his parents and sister Harriet. I have not found any other mention of him until  the1891 census when he is living at  5 Halley St, Chorlton-on-Medlock with his sisters Harriet and Margaret and brother Charles and a housekeeper.

Ten years later Bessie has opened the Fancy  Goods Bazaar on Cardiff road, Newport, but she has only put herself and daughter Margaret on the census.

On 30th August 1905 John Daniel married Josefa Gutiere at the Register Office, Newport. They both give their address as 44 Cardiff Road (living above the shop) He gives his father’s name as Guilfoyle Seymour (deceased) Theatrical Actor and her father is Joseph Gutiere, farmer.

This must be the Spanish girl that Aunty Mu told us about.

Less than two years later, on 8th January 1907  Daniel Guilfoyle Seymour get married to Luise Braun in Chertsey. He says that his father is Charles Seymour  a shopkeeper.  Now I am pretty sure that this is “our” John Daniel . Now he is a mechanic and when we realise that motor cars were beginning to arrive - Rolls Royce were just getting started - it just feels right.

They had a child called Karl Daniel  1st June 1913 in 7 Back, 65 Hurst Street Birmingham—probably those now famous back-to-back houses. Daniel was an motor Omnibus Driver.  On 12 September 1913 Karl Daniel died age three months. The father’s name is given as John Daniel Guilfoyle  and they have moved to Petwyn Street Stoke-on-Trent.

Charles Guilfoyle married Fani Robini in St Pancras, London. He says his occupation is Assistant Cinema Operator and his father is Samuel Guilfoyle  a compositor. Once again I am 99% certain that this is “our” John Daniel. I think he then got a job  as a steward on the ships and when he saw what America had to offer he emigrated - sending for Fani later. He lied about his age when he married her saying he was 30  when he was actually 42. I cannot find another Charles Guilfoyle on any census. I can't find a John Daniel on any census either.

I think I have finally unravelled the Uncle Charlie in America mystery

Harriet Guilfoyle Seymour

We recently discovered that Charles John Guilfoyle and Bessie Nathan had five children not four. I found the birth of Harriet Sarah Guilfoyle Seymour in Dublin in 1881 and then realised that Harriet had been a witness at the wedding of Frederic Gibbon and Margaret Annie Guilfoyle.

Recently I was able to take part in the ‘beta’ testing of the website for the British Library Newspaper Library. This will be going live very soon and we will be able to search thousands of local newspapers at the click of a mouse.

When I was asked to help in the trials I immediately put in  Bessie’s name and got loads of ‘hits’ that were reviews of performances or advertisements for shows. I put the surname Guilfoyle Seymour in and two of the hits were reports of Harriet Guilfoyle Seymour being missing from home at the age of 14. I  transcribed the reports and they are below. Yet another mystery to unravel if possible.

Manchester Evening News Saturday 8th December 1894.

Harriet Guilfoyle Seymour, aged 14, whose parents reside in Halley St, Greenheys, left home on Thursday afternoon. The girl is of stout build, has short hair and large dark eyes. She was wearing a tam-o-shanter, black & white check coat, old grey working dress and low lace-up shoes. The matter was mentioned by the mother to Mr R.A. Armitage at the City Police Court this morning and the applicant referred to the press representatives.

Manchester Evening News Fri 14 Dec 1894.

Mysterious Disappearance of a Girl

A Girl age 14, named Harriet Guilfoyle Seymour is missing from her home in Craven Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock. She is 4’ 6” in height and has a round face, brown eyes and dark hair cut short. At the time of her disappearance she was wearing a grey dress, check Ulster and Tam-o-shanter hat. Her parents would be glad to receive notice of her whereabouts.

I find it quite odd that there should be different addresses although the Halley street address is where the children were living with a housekeeper for the 1891 census. This family just gets more and more exciting!