Adele Cosgrove-Bray's

Meditations in the Cyber-Realm

Recent Entries

3rd-Jul-2009 01:45 pm - family trees and writers

Anyone with an interest in the Adshead, Ashbrook, Bray and McGowan family tree is welcome to visit http://hubpages.com/hub/Four-Branches where I’ve created a webpage with photos about this.

Today we have monsoon rain, which is a pleasant change from living in an oven turned on full. This heat wave has not been fun, and fortunately Ygraine was already booked to be groomed this week. Her coat is so thick and dense that she really suffers during hot spells. She’s much happier today. Actually she’s wrapped round my feet as I type this. She’s pretending to be asleep but she’s waiting for walkies. One move from this chair, and she’ll be spinning in excited circles.

When I helped the groomer, Lisa, to he car with her equipment, the door slammed shut. I’d forgotten to put the catch on and so I was locked out. The front room widows were open, and a neighbour--a slender teenager who’s twice my height (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration…) climbed through easily and opened the door for me.

Monday’s meeting of Riverside Writers was fun, as usual. We were joined by two new people, including Jonathon Mayhew who’s recently signed a three-book deal with Bloomsbury. His website is at: http://www.jonmayhew.co.uk/ He talked about the importance of networking in person and online, and also about the enormous amount of re-writes an MS undergoes before the publisher finally gives to go-ahead.

Did I mention that the group is talking about putting together an anthology? We’ve begun looking at prospective printers, as it will be a self-publishing effort.

Index:genealogy, pets, riverside writers

12th-Jul-2008 10:59 am - genealogy for Bray and Adshead

I'm posting this here so I can find it again! My family history probably won't interest most of you, but this is mostly for my benefit anyway...

Source: Agnes Bray’s own notes.

Amongst the documents handed to me by Mum (Agnes), there is little concrete information about the Bray family. The above handwritten chart shows my paternal grandfather’s family – George Edward Bray, who married Elsie Adshead.

If you’re interested in the Adshead family, there is a Yahoo! group dedicated to researching that, which has a huge amount of information freely available to members here:- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adshead/ Most of the Adshead family lived – and still live – in the Cheshire area. It’s one of Britain’s most ancient family names, and its origin is open to some debate – “Axe head” maker being the most favoured. There are some notes on the Adshead family history at:- http://www.adshead.com/

The Bray family name can be found in Brittany, Ireland, Cornwall and Scotland – and is thought to have travelled outwards from Brittany with the Normans. My grandfather’s family came from Lincoln and Rostherne in Cheshire – you can see some photos of Rostherne here:- http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/rostherne.html which includes a photo of St Mary’s Church which has a carving of Cernunnos. This site:- http://genforum.genealogy.com/bray/ has a huge amount of information.

Source: http://brayfamilyonline.com/bray-family.php
Bray Family Tree

"The Bray/Brays (Northampshire), Bedfordshire, Gloucestershire, Surrey, Devonshire, Cornwall - all decended from William DeBray, who in 1088 witnessed the Charter of Battle Abbey.

"Note: (History has it that after the Battle of Hastings when William of Normandy won the Battle over Harold of England in 1066, William was said to have set up his tent upon the spot where the English Standard had stood. Years later about 1088, those who fought with William signed the Charter in the Abbey erected in the place of the tent.)

"The Senior line of William DeBray were the Lords, Sir Edward Bray had the Seat at Sherre, he was knighted. Bearing in his Arms a thorne with a crown in the middle. In memory, it was for his finding the crown of King Richard in a bush in Bosworth Field. Cecil Nicholas Bray - Langford Hill, Cornwall One of the last Seats in Southwest England the name Bray is very old in England as you can see from some of the feats of Chivalry they performed."

In addition to the links already given above, there is this:- http://adele-cb.livejournal.com/4053.html?thread=41429 which is something I wrote here on LJ a few years ago.

Index:genealogy

27th-Jul-2006 10:42 am - summer garden 2006

summer garden 2006
Originally uploaded by __Adele__.

The arching crimson spikes of Crocosmia lucifer tower over a rambling pale pink patio rose in one corner of our garden. Look how scorched our lawn has become! Everyone’s lawns are in a similar poor condition due to this unrelenting heat. We’ve had 115 degrees F twice here, which is most unusual for England.

My brother told me an amusing heatwave story in an email:-. ”Went into town yesterday mid-morning. Saw lots of people looking over the parapet of the Mersey Bridge at Bridgefoot, and coming up smiling. So had a look myself when I got there. In the water are a load of square-ish building stones that have been there for years, and at low tide they are barely awash. Every one had a pigeon sitting on it, some up to their necks in the lovely cool water!”

My mother has visited my father three times this week. For the few moments that he was awake he seemed not to recognise her, which is frequently the case now. She’s already upset as her brother, John McGowan, died on Tuesday (July 25th) after a long battle with cancer.

The McGowan family certainly has a long history, as I mentioned in this post:- http://adele-cb.livejournal.com/4053.html Therefore I was most interested to learn of Kathleen McGowan’s book, The Expected One, the first in a partially-fictional trilogy which allegedly claims to trace the author’s lineage back to Mary Magdalene. Mary is believed by some to have carried the Dragon bloodline of the Anunnaki. I would very much like to see her genealogical research, to compare her family tree to my own. Take a look at the author’s website, if you wish:- http://www.emeraldtablets.com

Index:books, family, gardening, genealogy

12th-Nov-2005 06:52 pm - a little bit of history

This is a copy of a document which proves that my grandfather, John Joseph 'Jack' McGowan was awarded a medal for his role at the Battle of the Somme. He survived being shot in the leg, exposure to both nerve and mustard gas, then being buried under earth dislodged by a mortar bomb.

There is a concise article describing this World War One battle here:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/battle_somme.shtml

You can read about the Kings Royal Rifles here:- http://www.regimental-art.com/kings_royal_rifles.htm

Index:family, genealogy
Emotion:relaxed

8th-Nov-2005 02:18 pm - ancestral origins

My mother has placed into my care a huge stack of genealogical research. Little of it seems to be in any logical order; documents which, for the most part, are loosely bunched together and poorly labelled. There are many rolled-up family tree charts which I have barely even glanced at yet, plus my mother’s own notebooks. There are also collections of letters, including a large pile of my own, written to my parents, and which date back from when I first left the parental home. There are bundles of birth, marriage and death certificates for people who left this Earth centuries ago.

( Read more... )

My mother began research into genealogy some twenty years ago. She recently asked if I might be interested in taking over her work, and I agreed. So now I’m the official family archivist. That does sound rather grand, doesn’t it! In practise, it means our spare bedroom is now full of very dusty plastic bags crammed with unidentified documents.

Where do I begin to create some form of order?

Index:genealogy
Emotion:thoughtful

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