“Perhaps he was only one of the many who has drifted to these coral specks on the outer rim of civilization with the intention of severing their connection with the outside world and the memories it held” Origins in Ireland and emigration to Australia John Taaffe, my great-great grandfather’s cousin, was the eldest son of …
Author Archives: Jenni Phillips
Investigating hereditary deafness in Taaffe ancestors from County Louth
In this piece I use the terms ‘deaf/deafness’ and ‘hearing loss’ in line with current guidance from the Royal National Institute of Deaf People (RNID). The terms ‘deaf and dumb’ and ‘dumb’ are referred to as used in historical documents, but not outside of that context, as they are not preferred descriptors within the contemporary …
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My Cholderton ancestors and General Sir William Howe
Cholderton is a village in Wiltshire, about nine miles from Salisbury, and close to the county border with Hampshire. It is often referred to as West Cholderton, to distinguish it from the hamlet of East Cholderton. It is a small village, with a population of just 127 people by 1801, most of whom worked in …
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Jane Phillips, a nineteenth century Swansea nurse and midwife
Jane Edward, my great-great-great-great grandmother, was born in the Pembrokeshire village of Lampeter Velfrey on 31 May 1788. Her birth was documented in the records of Molleston Chapel, Narberth, on 04 July 1788, which names her parents as John Edward and Mary, of Lampeter. They are almost certainly John Edward and Mary Millard, who were …
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Scarlet fever in Sampford Peverell
Between January 1861 and June 1889, there were 335 burials in the Devon village of Sampford Peverell with the cause of death recorded in the parish register by Reverend George William Rossiter Ireland (with one notable exception, his wife Mary Eliza Ireland, who was buried on 31 August 1870). 300 of these burials were for …
Elizabeth, the Lady Butcher of Westbury-on-Trym
Elizabeth Louisa BEVAN, my great-great-great grandmother, was born in 1843, the eldest of at least eight children of Charles BEVAN and Elizabeth GRIFFIN. Her father was a butcher by trade, working in Stoke Bishop and Westbury-on-Trym. He later took over from her maternal grandfather, John GRIFFIN, as landlord of the Three Stars on Stoke Road. …
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Edward MASON and the magazine at Monmouth
In my last post, I told the story of John MASON who lived in the “most haunted house in Monmouth”. Now we go back in time to John’s grandfather Edward MASON, who was mayor of Monmouth during a turbulent period of British history. His story, even though it occurs almost 30 years after the Gunpowder …
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My MASON ancestors and their haunted house in Monmouthshire
Around the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, my 9 x great-grandfather, John MASON, lived with his family at Bailey Pit near Monmouth, described by the Great British Ghost Tour website as “reputedly haunted by the ghosts of a cripple and a murdered maid”. This source goes on to describe phenomena including the sound …
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Francis Parker BAILEY and his two families
I first encountered Francis BAILEY as a gentleman’s servant on the marriage certificate for his son Henry BAILEY, who married Harriet GARRETT at St. Margaret’s Church in Roath, Cardiff on 17 May 1875. Henry was born in Martock, Somerset, so it stood to reason that my search for Francis should begin there, but his life …
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Marriages at Bedminster: part 3
In the first part of this investigation into unusual marriage practices in Bedminster, there was an eccentric clergyman at the centre of the story, while in part two Bedminster’s growth and reputation seem to have contributed to its popularity as a marriage destination. Would civil registration resolve matters? With another eccentric clergyman in charge of …
Jenni Phillips - Genealogy 