Waterfall Family Research

Amy Johnson Crow in an email yesterday, posted her memories of 9/11 and mentioned that we should all write about our memories of that day, so here goes. I was living in central London at that time and working as a children's nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital.  I had been on a study day that day and when it had finished, I had returned a book to a shop as it had not been printed properly.  When I got back to my flat I put on the tv, and all that was on was pictures of the first tower after it had been it. I phoned a friend and asked her if she was watching the tv and she said she was as well and we couldn't believe what we were seeing, especially when the second plane flew in to the second tower. We both watched the towers collapsing and realising that the world no longer seemed a safe place. I also thought of a patient, whose father spent a lot of time working in NY, hoping that he was alright. I can't remember if he was in NY at the time, but I do remember that he...

When I first started tracing my family history I spoke to a cousin of mine on my mother's side of the family and was given some photos.  Of the photos, three didn't have any information about those in the photos, so I am looking for some help. This photo, I believe was taken between the wars, possibly in the 1920s at the time of a family death.  The man in uniform is wearing the uniform of the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry.  The only other information is that I believe they are from my Breeze/Williams side of the family from Radnorshire/Breconshire in Wales. The next two photos, I believe are of the same two people and taken around WW1.  The man is wearing Royal Navy Uniform and his cap says HMS Achillies on it.  Again, I believe they are from my Breeze/Williams side of the family. Can anyone provide any more information on these photos?

Since I last wrote about my 2x great grandfather David Cynon Jones , I have managed to find some newspaper reports on him, regarding his bigamist marriage.  These newspapers are kept at the British Library in London and they are on microfilm and are not currently available online. The first report is dated 18th January 1911 and it is from the South Wales Daily Post.  It seems that David had been arrested on a charge of desertion of his wife Martha Jones, but when arrested he confessed to being married a second time (the first anyone had known), and this report is from his trial at Carmarthen Assizes.  The second newspaper report is from the Carmarthen Journal dated the 20th January 1911, and this report details David being tried at the Newcastle-Emlyn Police Courts. This was not the first time that David ended up in the newspapers.  In 1906, 1907 & 1909 I have found him mentioned as Arthur Clifford (his alias) winning prizes at the Eisteddfods for ...

Over the past few months, I have been concentrating my family research on my Bewsher line.  The Bewshers are on my paternal great grandmothers side of the family and they come from Westmorland and Cumberland. When researching this line, I have to be careful with regards to the spelling of the surname, as I can't just search for BEWSHER, I also have to look at the various other ways in which it can be spelt.  For example; BEWSHEAR, BUSHER, BEWSHAR, BEUSHER, amongst others, During my research, I have hit the proverbial brick wall and at the moment I am unable to find a way through it.  At the top of the tree, I have a James Bewsher who according to the censuses was born about 1780 in Asby, Westmorland. At some point before 1815 he married a Jane , who according to the censuses was born about 1783 at Hutton John, Cumberland.  So far in my research I have been unable to find a marriage for James and Jane and I haven't found a baptism for James in Asby either. In o...

Finding an ancestor with a criminal past, can stir up all kinds of emotions.  If the ancestor is a distant relative or far removed by time, then it may be interesting or exciting to find out what they got up to.  So far in my research I have found two ancestors with a criminal past thanks to Findmypast's Criminal Records.  The first was known about within the family, while the other was a completely new discovery.  Today I am going to write about the former. David Cynon Jones was born in 1877 in Llandysul, Cardiganshire, Wales.  In the 1881 and 1891 census' he is living with his parents Evan and Margaret Jones in Llandysul.  Between 1891 and 1897 he becomes a printer and on the 24th December 1897, he marries Martha Evans in Newcastle Emlyn Register Office. Martha and David, live with with Matha's family at Velindre in Carmarthanshire and they go on to have two children, Jonathan Ifan Ifor Evans and Hugh Ceredig Jones in 1898 and 1899 respectively. Th...

A lot of my paternal side of my family were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), and can be traced back to the 1700s in Coventry.  When World War One broke out, they did not fight due to being contentious objectors as Quakers were pacifists. But this did not stop some of them from helping the war effort.  One  ancestor William Waterfall joined the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU).  The FAU was established during WW1 and was later revived during WW2. Click here for a history of the FAU. WIlliam Waterfall joined the FAU on the 16th June 1915 and served in Section Sanitare Angalise 19 attached to the French Army for most of the war and in 1917 he was awarded the Croix de Guerre.  William was discharged in November 1918. The Society of Friends have published the personnel cards for all those who served in the FAU in World War One.  To view and search the database click here . Croix de Guerre Certificate awarded to William Waterfall in 19...

Over the past few months I have been working on a new website for the Waterfall name.  The new website has now gone live  and at the moment it only contains information on those Waterfall that came from Warwickshire, hopefully soon, I will be able to add the information of other Waterfalls from Derbyshire, Yorkshire and London. If you would like to contribute to the website, then there is a link to a form that can be filled in, which I will add to the site.  The website is www.waterfall.name Please feel feel to leave any comments.