As much of the countryside between Middlesbrough and Whitby seems to have been designated the “Captain Cook Heritage Trail” we decided that our own travels this week constituted the Joseph Potter Heritage Trail. We had a full and rewarding time with excellent weather and I’m sure that John and Marion will both have something to say about their impressions.
Todays new extract from the Newman family history website comes from the London and Southwark section
A brief biography on four generations who shared the same significant first name. Click here to view the article.
This historic photograph taken on Boxing Day 1910, shows four generations of Newman, each bearing the name Hugh whose lives span a period of a century and a half. The first Newman of our family to be given this name was Hugh Newman (1689-1746), a bricklayer and builder of Epsom. The name passed to several cousins and nephews, who took pride in his success, and provides a link between the family before and after its move to London.
To see the rest of this article click here
Please check back for more updates and new discoveries posted daily.
Progress on preparing the text for the book is moving steadily. It is effectively complete but I am still tweaking sections, adding new information and trying to sort out the illustrations. Monty Newman in Australia and I have had a couple of profitable face-to-face exchanges on Skype; Marion Sumpter is carefully proof reading chapter by chapter and Adam Livick-Newman has promised to come and see me before the month is out.
As you will see from the attached photo, I have pretty regular assistance from Gregory, my Aquatic Armenian cat from Lake Van, whose pedigree is almost as long as the Newmans. My desk, is piled high with files, photos and books, all needed for navigating through the growing branches of the family tree. The word count currently stands at 61,000 words.
The idea that one has somehow reached an end point is just not tenable as most days bring something new. Yesterday’s post brought revealed the discovery of a previously unknown document referring to our remotest ancestor, Robert Newman the elder; whilst today’s post delivered three more BMD certificates, not to mention emails !
Check out our forums… if you havent registered nows a perfect time to do so. Click here
News posted today by Seraphim Newman-Norton that the tour around Yorkshire will begin next Tuesday
Next week, John Townsend (Hereford), Marion Sumpter (Falmouth) and I will be visiting sites in North Yorkshire associated with Joseph Potter. We will be staying just outside Middlesborough but plan to visit Stokesley in Cleveland, where Joseph was born in 1769; Great Ayton, where he lived with his aunt and uncle and attended school; and Whitby, where he first went to sea in 1788. Armed with his own account of these early years, we hope to understand how the local landscape influenced this ancestor’s choices. Although much will have changed in the intervening 240 years, we hope there will be sufficient “footprints” to guide us time travellers. Watch this space, as we shall report back on our potterings in the North !
Keep an eye out for new photos and information when available on our forums, fingers crossed for new discoveries and an insight on Joseph Potters birth place.
Todays new extract from the Newman family history website comes from the Joseph Potter section
Joseph Potter recalls an uncle who made his fortune in eighteenth century London as a diamond cutter as well as two of Joseph’s half-brothers who inherited his wealth.
In his Memoirs, recalling the year 1792, Joseph Potter writes:
“We arrived safe in the River Thames and moor’d her abreast of the Tower of London. It came into my mind concerning a rich uncle I had in London which I had never seen, likewise two of my father’s oldest sons of his first wife’s children, Thomas and Ralph Potter …… He died possessed of about one hundred thousand pounds besides all Bell Alley, Coleman Street, belonged to him. He died when I was an infant and my mother alive, but Thomas and Ralph never once wrote to acquaint my mother with his death as the two shared the effects between them….”
To see the rest of this article click here
Please check back for more updates and new discoveries posted daily.
We here at A Newman Family History are pushing snippets of our website daily, however did you know we are constantly updating the articles and photo gallery.
This week we added two new articles to the London and Southwark and the Distaff catagories we hope to add more in good time.
We hope to report on these articles in our daily showcase section soon.
As well as website articles and new photos in the gallery we have customised our forums to look a lot nicer, we hope you like the design.
Thank you to all family members who have already signed up and introduced themselves. Hopefully we can become a centre-point for Newman family discussions.
Progress on the book has been good we have now entered editing/proofing stage and hopefully by the end of this month be able to start pushing for release.
Check out all the new additons to the site at http://www.newmanfamilyhistory.com/
This has been a short website update by Trevor the administrator of A Newman Family History.
Todays new extract from the Newman family history website comes from the London and Southwark section
Hugh Newman, was Court Crier of the Rolls Court, but met his end at his own hands.
Hugh Newman (1778-1827) was the fourth son of John & Margaret Newman. He was six when the family moved to London. In 1805 he married a young widow, Ann Mathews, who bore him one son before her own early death. Hugh was employed as Porter and Court Keeper (Crier) of the Rolls Court in Chancery Lane, Westminster but lived with his infant son, George, in the same house as his brother-in-law, William Leedle, in Gibraltar Row, St. George’s Fields, Southwark.
To see the rest of this article click here
Please check back for more updates and new discoveries posted daily.
Todays new extract from the Newman family history website comes from the Distaff & families descended from Newmans section.
Between 1850-1900 the population of Australia rose from 405,000 to 3.7 million, the majority of whom came from emigrants from the British Isles.
Between 1850-1900 the population of Australia rose from 405,000 to 3.7 million, the majority of whom came from emigrants from the British Isles. One of these was Mary Jane Newman (1851-1905), eldest surviving daughter of Samuel John Newman (1826-1886) and Mary Jane Pollard. At the age of 17 she undertook the fourteen week voyage, probably disembarking at Melbourne in March 1868.
To see the rest of this article click here
Please check back for more updates and new discoveries posted daily.
Todays new extract from the Newman family history website comes from the London and Southwark section.
Thomas George Newman (1840-1933), like his grandfather, Joseph Potter, answered the call of the sea to serve as an Able Seaman in the Royal Navy.
Thomas George Newman (1840-1933) was the fourth and youngest son of Samuel Hugh Newman and Elizabeth Myres Potter. As a grandson of Joseph Potter, doubtless he had been told many tales by his grandfather. Bored with school, from which he frequently truanted, and unhappy with living with an aunt who seemed to favour her dogs more than him, he began to think of running away to sea. Twice he set off for Chatham Dockyard but at that time was not tall enough to serve, so was brought back until, finally, having grown to 5 foot 6 inches tall, he was accepted on HMS Waterloo as a Boy 2 Class on 9 August 1857 for ten year’s service.
To see the rest of this article click here
Please check back for more updates and new discoveries posted daily.
Although Hugh Newman of Epsom (1689-1746) left a son Samuel (born 1733) his heirs appear to have been the descendants of his daughter, Mary (1725-1780), who on 13 November 1750 married William Storey (or Story), tailor, at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden. The family retained ownership of property in Epsom as late as 1892, when what had previously been held by copyhold was converted to freehold.
You can read more on our forums, click here to go to the topic.