Correspondence from Steve Crookes

Return to index

Email to Steve Crooks, October 2006. Thanks for sending all the certificates. I have now processed them and sent you a copy of the revised cd (including the certs).I thought it was interesting that Lily was born after her father Henry Albert died. To start producing children when you are 50 is unusual and to die before they are born is very unusual. It would be quite interesting to find out how Henry died. 1900 must have been a very momentous year for that family and not just because that was the year when Queen Victoria died. Although Henry died quite young (it seems to me, I'm older than he was) his grandparents had long lives (George in particular living to be 81!) and that must be good for your genes! 81 was a fine age in 1869. Do you have any idea who was the father of Henry Albert? This is where the current work on DNA might prove interesting. If Harry (=Clara 1931) ever had any male descendants they might have some of the male DNA and so we could track down their origins. My guess is that John Brind of Sheffield is your distant cousin and could provide the DNA. If you look at Brind/ft/parish/geomaria.html you will find a George Brind who was born in Aldbourne in 1788, exactly the time your ancestor George was born. However for some reason my cd lists a couple of other marriages and not one to a Sarah. Possibly Sarah was a third marriage for George? This would make sense since the children of the two Georges are born at different times. However it is very odd that William was born in 1840 but was not living with your ancestor! It therefore seems likely that two George Brinds were born in Aldbourne in 1788 and since at the time George was the name of the king I guess this is likely. The frustrating thing is that young William (and other members of that family) does not appear to have been anywhere else (according to the online version of the 1841 census). I wonder if a mistake has been made somewhere! I'd be interested if you have any suggestions. Jonathan Brind