#OnePlaceStudies Looks like my #BoatFamilies tree has just collapsed even further. Extremely high possibility that John Mays, John Mees, and John Meese are actually the same person. All I have to do is prove it! (and choose the 'correct' spelling!)
That website is amazing, I'm using it too. I've also got a fair number of Cheshire folk on my tree, mostly from Middlewich, Odd Rode, Runcorn, and Ellesmere Port.
#OnePlaceStudies #BoatFamilies
Welcome to #BoatFamilies research 😆 I recommend working them out on paper first before you commit to the tree, it's going to get messy! (you will regularly be heard muttering 'you've got to be joking' and 'oh no, not again'!)
I have Odd Rode records all over the place in my #BoatFamilies tree! It's a shame there isn't a website or social media for that study, although I will add the link to the Society's page for it on my website. #OnePlaceStudies
#OnePlaceStudies #FamilyHistory
I now have 38 men from #BoatFamilies who died or were killed during the First World War. Not all are on the tree yet, very much a work in progress and an ongoing project.
app.weare.xyz/public/boat-...
#OnePlaceStudies Some lovely media has been added to my #BoatFamilies site. Click on Albums rather than all media & then it's easier to see the collections. 30 years of marriages at Braunston have just been added today :)
Forever grateful that FamilyHistorian has a merge records option. I do very carefully check every name before I add people to the #BoatFamilies tree but mistakes are still made!
Now at 1500 boat men and women, plus children, and loads more to add..
#OnePlaceStudies
Current status of my #BoatFamilies research 😱 Paper everywhere, multi coloured pens, banging my head on the desk. It's chaos, they're all related to each other! #OnePlaceStudies
I'm spending tonight as I mean to go on - doing #BoatFamilies #OnePlaceStudies research! Finding more & more connections, gradually collapsing them all into one relationship group. It's not a tree, it's a giant tangled pile of cobwebs!
Best wishes to everyone for a peaceful 2026, may peace find you💜
#GenHour Finding #BoatFamilies WW1 men is down to luck and chance, this article from 1940 was enough for me to find Oliver Jones. Very unlikely I'd have found him otherwise as no service record survives.
Newspaper clipping from 1940. Death of Veteran Canal Boatman. Mr. E. Jones, of Whixall The death occurred on Saturday of Mr. Edward Jones, aged 91. at the residence of his son. Mr. Fred Jones, Moss Cottages, Whixall. For many years he was employed as a boatman on the Shropshire Union Canal, spend- ing over 40 years in the Whixall district. In the course of his work he fetched many cargoes of coal from Black Park Collieries. Working with two donkeys, as his father, Mr. William Jones, had done before him, he later changed over to horse power and was eventually succeeded by his son. Mr. Fred Jones. His grandson, Fred Jones, junr., now operates a motor boat. Mr. E. Jones, who retired at 75, was proud of his connection with four generations of canal boatmen. His wife died 20 years ago. One son was killed in the last war and four sons and four daughters survive him. The funeral took place at Whixall Parish Church on Thursday.
#OnePlaceStudies Sometimes finding my #BoatFamilies WW1 men looks like this⬇️
There is actually enough here for me to be able to find and name him - Oliver Jones b1893, KIA 24 July 1916. Remembered at Thiepval.
#OnePlaceWednesday Working on tracing my #BoatFamilies WW1 men, lots to find who aren't in the tree currently. Luckily, between the service record and newspapers for the injured/killed men, I'm mostly able to find them. Got a couple of tricky ones who are going to need a process of elimination. Fun!
I have a folder titled Wills to Sort 🤣 It's complicated because there's Buckby Wharf, #BoatFamilies, & my family and some Wills fit into more than 1 category! I started buying Wills when the report first came out because of the threat of rising costs, so I have a nice little back-log 😆 #Genhour
#GenHour Lots of research coming up for me. Of my 70+ #BoatFamilies men in WW1, 8 are already on the tree and 5 are part researched. That leaves a lot to find! And will probably create more men who served once I find their brothers, brothers-in-law, and cousins. Definitely a long-term project!
#OnePlaceWednesday Using various convoluted methods I've found around 70 men from #BoatFamilies who served in WW1. I think it's time for a spreadsheet, for analysis & for a research log. Should I have started the spreadsheet at the beginning of my research? - yes, shush!
#UKCanals An ongoing project to record and remember the young men and boys of #BoatFamilies during the First World War.
#RemembranceDay More men have been added to the #BoatFamilies list of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the First World War.
#OnePlaceStudies
#BoatFamilies and the First World War - finding these young men who served is proving difficult but so far I have found 20 young men who made the ultimate sacrifice. Their stories will be told, for now I'm just remembering their names. #OnePlaceStudies #RemembranceSunday
I don't think mine is much better! Most of the wills are for the land owners around the area rather than Wharf residents, especially pre 20th century.
And as far as #BoatFamilies go the percentage is probably closer to 5% at best🤣
#OnePlaceWednesday
The boatmen who died were:
captain Charles Bexon born c1832 Loughborough, married with children
William Taylor born c1840, not married
Jonathan Holloway born 1856 Oldbury, not married. Jonathan was identified from a photo by his family some days later.
#UKCanals #BoatFamilies #OnePlaceStudies
Yesterday I came across an interesting pronunciation challenge. It 'looks' like COLCLOUGH may have sounded like COKLEY (Staffs 1800s). Going to need more research to confirm but more of my #BoatFamilies may have just connected together! #OnePlaceStudies
#OnePlaceWednesday The Whitehouse #BoatFamilies are so complicated, I now have an entire A4 notebook full of them, trying to work out who belongs to whom. For every question I answer, I create 5 more! They are slowly unravelling, although it would help if they weren't all called Joseph or Thomas🤣
#OnePlaceStudies FreeReg.org.uk helping me out today. Staffordshire marriage records are hit and miss on the main sites. FreeReg is giving me the much needed occupation for #BoatFamilies. Of course, now I have even more Whitehouse boatmen to find 🤣😭
Bliss. Husband left yesterday for a week long Scout camp. Son left this morning for a 3 day trip with his girlfriend.
I am all alone in the house!!
Music on, chocolate & snacks at hand, ready meals for dinner. Time to deal with the Whitehouse #BoatFamilies 💪 #OnePlaceStudies
Ok, wee tech problem going on here 😭 Try this link instead to read about Charles' illustrious career!
#OnePlaceWednesday #OnePlaceCourtCases #BoatFamilies
Charles Pilgrim, a man of many names, and even more convictions. Boatman, baker, carter, horse dealer, and thief.
#OnePlaceWednesday #BoatFamilies
#OnePlaceWednesday I'm still working on Charles Pilgrim & his not very successful criminal career. I think it's around 20 convictions so far! Just got to find his death and then I can write him up. #BoatFamilies
@sarahhistory.bsky.social Linslade question for you! Whichello's Wharf - know anything about it, where the name came from etc? I'll be adding Linslade to my #BoatFamilies places soon & was hoping you'd had some info. (I've already 'borrowed' general stuff from your website!) #OnePlaceStudies
#OnePlaceStudies 4 wives, 4th wife was niece of 3rd wife & had same name & place of birth. Both 'reputed' children were born around the time of his marriage to their respective mother. Connections to 2 other #BoatFamilies and I also found a probable niece or cousin while trying to find a daughter.
