Letters

I had a major glitch with my computer a week or so back and lost a lot of the contents of my e-mail "filing cabinet". Fortunately the address list remained intact; however, if any of you have contacted me recently and not received a reply, please write again.

Peter Hinton sent me a lengthy compilation of his researches into the early records of the Blenko Glass family. I've not had time yet to enter all the data into my computer but I can see that there are probably some errors or at least discrepancies in my records. I must spend some time trying to puzzle it all out.

Peter and his mother Sheila recently visited his great-aunt Eilean (b. 1919) who is now living in Northern Ireland. Eilean is the daughter of Rebecca Jesseman Blenko and William Murphy; Rebecca was the daughter of William John Blenko by his first wife Rebecca Jesseman. Peter has also made contact with descendants of Lilian Mary Blenko (Rebecca's sister) who married E.T. Stevens in 1904 and emigrated to Christchurch, New Zealand.

A letter from Jack Blincoe, who lives near Oldham, sought information about William Bates Blinko (1789-1856) who was a lighterman in Horsleydowm, Surrey. William was born in Clerkenwell and married (his second wife) Charlotte Babington at Camberwell in 1832. James Blinko (1799-1871, relationship to William unknown) was also born in Clerkenwell and married Elizabeth Frances Babington there in 1818. James was also a waterman and pilot in Horsleydown; these two must have been related! What's more, James' father John (1744-1775) was almost certainly linked to the Blenkos, also of Clerkenwell, Keep digging, folks, there's more to be discovered!

Another treasure trove of data came from Julie Stuart-Thompson; Julie has obtained access via the internet to the General Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths and offered to let me have the Blencow/Blinco (etc) records for the database. Jill Dudbridge had trawled the ledgers at St Catherine's House pretty thoroughly, as far as 1900. I asked Julie to download the post-1900 records. These I now have; but it takes a lot longer to enter the records into the computer than to print them out. I am working my way through, doing a print-out in a standard format and will eventually deposit the lot at Northants Records Office. Before I do that I'll get it all into the computer. The later records are particularly useful: The death records also give date of birth and the marriages also give the name of the spouse. If you have a record you are searching (back to 1837) let me know, or maybe contact Julie direct: <yulie.st @ btinternet.com>

Mary Blincoe wrote from Balham telling of (mis)adventures in Australia last year. She and her sister Dorothy were in the Blue Mountains where they both had a fall. Mary said. "I bounced, but Dorothy sustained a really bad fractured ankle. She spent the next two weeks in a Sydney hospital before flying home for further surgery." Nothing duanted, the sisters now plan a visit to the Scottish island of Iona and a train journey in South Africa.

Phil Bailey in Australia has been corresponding with me, Anne Burton and others about his Blencowe ancestors from Brackley. Phil paid me the compliment of asking my permission to quote extensively from our Blencowe book. I take this opportunity to tell you all that I have no feelings about copyright matters. Mention where it came from, but quote away to your heart's content!

Sandra Smith wrote from North Baddlesey (near Southampton) asking if 1 could add to the village record of the Vicar Ralph Blencowe who in 1582 "taught school" in the room over the old gateway leading into the monastery. I had a note of this record but could not add to it; it's one of very few such early records in southern England and Ralph is a very uncommon name within the family. Sandra's interest was in parish rather than family history; she told me that the village is keen to remember old connections and has named a street after the Blencowes.

Tina Stapley wrote at Christmas to tell that she has given lectures on Lady Anne Blencowe's cookery and that her book is attracting a lot of interest. A Special Christmas Event at Hampton Court Palace featured 18th Century cookery. They baked Lady Anne's ‘Great Cake’ and Tina was sent a complimentary ticket to attend.

A letter from Mary Jane Grutzmacher opened up a very interesting discovery. She asked if I had ‘any tidbit of information on Annie Marie Blencowe who may have been born in or around 1861 somewhere in Minnesota. Her parents were from England. She Annie Marie (Blencowe) Jewby married my grandfather, William Carter Jewby, and had three children. I have no idea when they were married but they had children in 1888, 1889, and 1901 respectively. She is listed in the 1910 census as well as the 1920 census. We are running into brick walls with that entire part of the family!’

I replied ‘If this is who I think it is, it's exciting! Thomas Blencowe, a druggist, went from Towcester in England to USA "to sell medicine to the Indians". Whilst there he and his wife Elizabeth had children John Franklin in Illinois c.1856, Anne M in Minnesota c.1858 and Arthur in NY c.1861.

The family returned to Towcester, probably because Thomas' father Timothy was ailing and needed help. Timothy died and Thomas sold up in 1873 and some time after returned to USA; they hadn't liked the severe winters and settled in Lynchburg VA. Anne M. was in Towcester with her parents in the 1871 Census and, so far as we know, went to Virginia with them.’

Mary Jane contacted one of the family of her aunt Alice Elizabeth (Jewby) Tiller who remembered having two short conversations mentioning that Annie Marie's father was a druggist who lived in Lynchburg, Virginia. So, that clinched it! I was able to tell her that she had numerous relatives in Virginia and also in Kidderminster U.K. (Colin Blencowe). Mary Jane asks if the photo she sent me had any resemblance to her great-grandfather; maybe Fran Blencowe and family can comment on that. Mary Jane can be contacted: <mjgrutz @ yahoo.com>

Another interesting one came from David Blencowe of Box Hill, Victoria who wrote. ‘I am, as I understand it, a fourth generation Australian Blencowe. My father is Sidney Louis (Lou) Blencowe and his father was Sid Blencowe who spent much of his working life managing copra plantations in New Guinea. One of Sid's many siblings, Lou, was killed at the age of 17, during the Gallipoli Landings and his photograph in his Scots Guards uniform takes pride of place in my hallway.

Anecdotal information suggests that the Blencowes in Victoria have tended to be market gardeners, at least in my grandfather's generation.’

I replied: ‘When I first got your email I thought, "Here's another descendant of John Blencowe who emigrated from Brackley to Tasmania in 1831". However, the computer came up with something quite different.

A Sidney Walter Blencowe's birth was registered at Kings Norton 1stQtr 1908. His wife was Louisa, and he served in the Australian Army in WWII. His father was probably Sidney [Sydney] bapt 31 Dec 1882 Souldern, whose marriage was registered at Kings Norton 4thQtr 1907, spouse Louis[?] Smith, this must surely be the right family. This Sidney can be traced back pretty reliably to 14thC Adam de Blencow of the village of that name near Penrith.

I was interested to hear of your Grandad's PNG connection. I spent a couple of months there looking at agricultural development projects, mostly at the Popondetta end of the Kokoda Trail. I look forward to hearing more from you!’

David replied: ‘My Grandfather mostly worked on Kaa-Kaa island. I was told that he was in PNG either side of the war but returned to Australia while the conflict was on. Just to add some more to that picture, his wife Eileen Mary, (known as ‘Peg’ remained in Australia, after the boys came along, but, from the stories they used to tell, she must have enjoyed the lifestyle in the early days. Sid died at Christmas, 1974 but Peg lived on for another 10 years.’

An e-mail from Marilyn Astle told that she and the family are leaving the Gulf and are repatriating to Canada, She can still be contacted at <marilyn.astle @ yahoo.com.ca> but her mailing address will be Box 32, Sangudo, AB TOC 2A0, Canada.

I know Marilyn has enjoyed her work at Fujairah Women's College but it should be good to be closer to family and friends and in more stable political surroundings.