Newly Discovered Cousins!

Some of you may have heard a loud, high-pitched shriek earlier this week and wondered if it was an air-raid warning. No it was just me and our new found cousins connecting through www.british-genealogy.com

 You might remember that I rediscovered this picture and wondered who it was.
I put it onto Brit-Gen and asked the experts what the uniform was. I am delighted to say that it was discussed and it appears to be a British Petty Officer's uniform and the star on the collar indicates the type of job he was doing. Either Cook, Steward, Wireless or something like that.



I had sort of deduced that it could be one of the sons of the real Uncle Charlie, both of whom died in WW2 and then there was another post on the thread with the next picture and the poster said that this was her Granddad's Dad - making him her great grandad Daniel Seymour



This Daniel Seymour was married to Luisa Braun and had been lost at sea in the early 1920s

I sat for ages in front of the computer, scrolling up and down the thread, not really believing my eyes.

Let me introduce you to the man that began live in December 1878 at 125 London Road, Southwark, London. The name his grandfather registered him under was John Daniel Guilfoyle Seymour. John for his maternal Grandfather, Daniel for his paternal Grandfather and the Guilfoyle-Seymour surname because this was the name that Charles Guilfoyle-Seymour used as his stage name.

This is the man that I have long called "the false Uncle Charlie because he borrowed his brother's name when he "married" for the third time. A bit more searching and I found his Merchant Seaman's record card - with a picture. He lies about his birthplace on there, saying that he was born in a) London Australia and b) Koolgartie W.A.
These records say he was 5'6 1/2" tall with brown eyes and black hair and a dark complexion - so he has inherited the olive skin that I have. It says that he is British and his father is Irish.

There is a third record amongst these MN cards for a Charles Daniel Guilfoyle who was, apparently, born in London Canada in 1881. The photograph tells me that it is the same man.

I sent a message to the person who posted the new picture and eventually modern technology allowed us to talk via Skype, Pamela - Ela I think of her - had her Mum, Patricia, with her and we sat staring into our screens and being amazed at the family likeness. Patricia told me that Daniel and Luisa had five children, one of whom died as an infant. That Daniel had been at sea for most of their marriage and she had either gone with him or had found lodgings in his next port of call and waited for him until the last time when he said "get a house in Liverpool, this is a bad ship I don't want you to come on this one." She got the house and waited and he was "lost at sea". We know that what he actually did was "marry" Fani in 1920 and in 1924 he immigrated into New York and spent the rest of his life being Charles John Daniel Guilfoyle in Nesconset, New York State. He is buried there with Fani

Pamela sent me this picture of her Grandfather John Benjamin Seymour, Son of Daniel and Luisa. Once again that family likeness is plain to see.

Oh how I wish this family had been more communicative, although Daniel would have had to keep his family unaware of the fact that he had married twice more after his Spanish Bride.

Patricia said that Luisa could not speak English, she was born in Germany, and she was afraid to make too much fuss about his disappearance incase she was deported or something


The last picture is of Luisa on her 100th birthday. Isn't that wonderful? She outlived Daniel by about 20 years I think. The gentleman second from the right is John Benjamin and the other gentleman is his brother

I will be adding more information as we get to know each other.

Edith Gibbon, Daughter of James and Mary

Edith is the one less talked about. I remember Dad talking about Aunty Lil and Uncle Jim, oh and Aunty Beat who was the mother of Mai Jones, but Edith was never talked about.

I decided to make a concerted effort to find more about her. I looked on the 1911 census and found James and Mary Gibbon with Lily but no -one else. Edith was at home with her parents in 1901 so I looked for a marriage and found one!
On the 18th June 1903 Edith married Thomas Cooper at St Matthew's Church Maindee. Her address is given as 22 Llanwern St, (this is the address for James and Mary on the 1901 census) Thomas Cooper's address is 1 Rose Street.
This is very exciting because we live just around the corner from Rose street!

I then looked for Edith Cooper on the 1911 census and found her and Thomas living at Station House, Abercarn with their daughter Doris Mary Frances Cooper age 8.

I then went back to the indexes and looked for a birth record for Doris and got the bonus of an image of the page of the Baptisms register for St Matthew's Church Maindee where she was baptised on 6 May 1903. I then searched for a marriage for Doris and found one in the Gloucestershire, Bristol Marriage Index 1644-1939. She was married to Reginald Munro at St Nathanael, Redland Bristol on 19 September 1931. I have not yet found any children or a definite death date for Doris. Munro is a surprisingly common name.

The hunt continues.

The Reunion - March 2015, Photo heavy

 For all the cousins who couldn't be at the reunion. These are a few of the quieter moments.

Most of the time we couldn't hear ourselves think let alone hear what anyone was saying. Cousin Andrew looks like he is putting a message in that water bottle - perhaps he was...




 I look like I am giving Cousin Colin - better known in my blog as Admiral Lord Onassis Bluefunnel - a bit of a telling off. I think I was just asking if he had seen one of his nephews yet. Sitting facing him is John Stewart, the son of our dear departed Cousin Jacky. Colin and Jacky are the children of Mary Gibbon who was the daughter of Mary Clode, second wife of Frederic Gibbon. Still with me? Good

 Alma Cassandra Serenity Rogers made her debut with the family age three weeks. I'll just say now how proud I am of her Momma for bringing her and facing what was quite an overwhelming crowd. They stayed long enough for everyone to coo a little over such a sweet little cutie but the increasing noise was disturbing her and Momma was worrying. We were all delighted to meeti her and look forward to her seeing us properly in the future. She is the daughter of Hannah Smith who is the Daughter of Mark Smith who is the son of ME, Ann Macey, who is the daughter of Bernard Gibbon who is the sone of Frederic Gibbon and his first wife Margaret Annie Guilfoyle.

 Anwyn Elizabeth Geran has nearly the same lineage as Alma but Anwyn's Momma is Kerry Ann Smith, Hannah's sister. Winnie, as she likes to be known had a lovely time meeting all her cousins and doing some colouring. She was really very good, and very polite and well mannered. This is always a good thing as far as I am concerned.

 Rory Geran is Daddy to Anwyn and to Bleddyn. He is a good and caring Daddy and he looks after my Granddaughter very well. This is a good thing because I would have to "tell him off!" if he didn't

Richard Williams is the son of Jacky Carlson. I think he thought it was just a kid taking the pictures so it didn't matter. He didn't know that even though she is just ten years old Miss Emily Roberts was the official photographer - and she did really well considering that some of the adults didn't take it seriously - next time eh Richard?

Emily is the daughter of Andrea who is the Daughter of Ann Macey you know the rest of that line eh?

Martyn Jeffry Smith drove down from university in Liverpool specially to be at the reunion. He got to see all the cousins he hasn't met before and to look at the charts and trees - harder than exams is what he muttered to his Momma.
Martyn is the son of Michael Smith, who is the son of Ann Macey

Colin Macey came because he is the driver and we needed someone to help carry all the folders and scrap albums - at least that's what he said. He enjoyed sitting and talking to the familoy he married into although he had no idea how big that was because I told him I am an only child. This is true, I just come from a big family

 Some of the younger generation had never met their cousins. Ava Holloway is one of those. Her Momma is Sophie who is the daughter of Amanda, who is the daughter of Bernard Baggott, who is the son of Muriel Baggott, who is the daughter of Frederic Gibbon and Margaret Annie.

Sometimes a wee boy needs a moment of contemplation - or perhaps he was just waiting for the stars to stop circling his head. Bleddyn spent his afternoon crawling under the tables then trying to standup and banging his head on the metal framework. This made him see stars and deafened us because he screamed for his Momma. Once he had done this twice he realised he had his Momma's undivided attention. He probably had a real headache when he got home. He is brother to Anwyn

Kelly Alicia Smith is sister to Martyn. She rearranged her shifts in work to make sure she could be at the reunion. We all like this dedication to family.

 Rhiannon and Danielle Williams are the daughters of John Stewart - see paragraph two for the lineage. With them in this picture is Hayley - I believe it is Hayley who is the partner of Kristian who is the brother of Rhiannon and Danielle.

Rebecca Chambers is the daughter of Kathryn Chambers who is the Daughter of cousin Jacky. This makes Kathryn the sister of John Stewart and Richard. There are small people in this picture but I am a little muddled with their names. They are all on the family tree and if anyone wants a copy of the details then just email me

MAndy is the wife of John Stewart and I think that the pretty young lady sitting next to her is Emily, one of Mandy's grandchildren

 The little gentleman on the right of this picture is Zac, I know this because he told me. He is a grandson of John Stewart so is descended from Frederic Gibbon and his second wife Mary Clode

 Even though cousin Katherine Susan Powell couldn't join us because she had tonsilitis we still had a cake to celebrate her birthday. We send get well soon messages to Katherine

 Bernard Baggott showed us that even great grandfather's still have the knack of soothing babies to sleep. He is holding one of his great grandsons. Bernard is the son of Muriel Baggott as I said above.

Here Admiral Lord Bluefunnel photo-bombs Pat White, daughter of Muriel Baggott and Annette Jeffrey Smith, mother of Martyn and Kelly.The lovely hair in the foreground belongs to Charley Baggott, granddaughter of Bernard.

There were 50 people in that room and we didn't manage to get clear pictures of them all. Next time we will set up a group photograph and then try and get everyone looking at the camera at the same time. It was a good day even if the Skype didn't wotk. We are now exploring the intricacies of Skype software so that next time ... next time it will be HUGE, you'll see.

Chindits and Dennis GIBBON

This is a short one today. I was pointed in the direction of a website about the Chindits - a special forces group in WW2 that fought the Japanese in Burma - and I went to have a look because Dennis GIBBON was a Chindit and fought there in the jungle for a couple of years. He rarely talked about it.
There are some film clips on the site so I had to look, just to see if he was on one of them.
He is.

http://www.chindits.info/FilmClips/Index.html

Look at the one where General Orde Wingate is inspecting the men. You get a shot from alongside Wingate then a shot of Wingate full face. Then the shot goes back to being alongside him and just for a second you can see the GIBBON nose next to Wingate's face.

I send the link to cousin Russell, eldest son of Dennis, and he confirms that even though it is only one second of film it is definitely Dennis. Russell is pleased because he was only a teenager when Dennis died so seeing him on film is a bonus.

Weekend at the seaside

We spent the bank holiday with the two youngest grandchildren, and their parents of course

They had the greatest fun with their fishing nets in the rock pools while we sat in the sun and talked and enjoyed the lovely weather and the beach. Then they walked back to the caravan and we strolled back to the car and drove there to find the boys washing the sand off their feet while watching CeeBeebies .
A smashing weekend.

Uncle Steve and Aunty Doreen

I have just received this picture from Seth DeGeer, grandson of Uncle Steve and Aunty Doreen.

Isn't that wonderful? Now you can see just how beautiful Aunty Doreen was. That beauty was still so evident even in old age and she maintained her elegance too.

Aunty Doreen and Aunty Chris

Most of you know through my emails that Aunty Doreen passed away at the end of April. Sandy (daughter of Stephen Henry and Doreen) and Bob were able to be with Stephen (son of Stephen and Doreen) and Annette and with her so that was a little comfort to them.

I searched my pictures file but I don't have a single picture of Aunty Doreen to share with you. I wonder if Sandy or Steve have a picture of their wedding?

We didn't see Aunty Doreen much when I was small. We visited them in various houses around Cardiff. There was one rather wonderful place that I remember as a country cottage. Steve was just a little boy then and Sandy and I - and I think cousin Bernard or perhaps it was Yvonne and Jacky - anyway we went across the field to the stream where we picked some watercress. We all thought it would be rather wonderful to have it for tea and carried it back triumphantly.

The leaves were washed thoroughly and when we all sat down for tea I noticed that everyone tried the watercress except me and Aunty Doreen. My Mum asked me why I wasn't eating it and I replied "Sheep walked in that water." everyone except Aunty laughed and carried on munching. Aunty caught my eye and gave a little tiny nod of her head as though she too knew about the sheep and their dirty feet.

Then came the news from Cousin Pete in Canada that Aunty Chris had died on 11th May and with her passing we, that's all the grandchildren of Frederic GIBBON became the older generation.

sometime in the 1950s

I have several memories of Chris, mostly they are memories of Chris and Val and Kath because it seemed that until Chris left to work in Africa the three of them came as a package.
I know this isn't true but it did seem that way. to a small person. Chris worked in the offices of an architectural firm and one of the reasons she went to Africa was because she had fallen in love with her boss. It's amazing what you can overhear when you are lying quietly on the hearthrug "reading".

I don't know details but I do know she came to my mother for advice and my mother told her to find a new job because he was married and never going to leave his wife and family or risk losing his reputation, while at the same time not giving a fig for Chris's reputation.

Cornwall 1952/3

 My mother was usually right. As a result of this advice Chris got a job in the Crown Services and went to Nyasaland, as it was then. From there she went to Borneo and places east and eventually she found a job in the Yukon in Canada.

She was always full of fun when she was young, although she could be the responsible big sister to the other two.

I don't have any up to date pictures of Chris so if anyone does please could I have a copy for the blog and for our website. That's the website we have had for a year and not done anything with yet.

Chris, Val and Kath with Ma standing behind them