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  • #6305
    TracyTracy
    Participant

      The Hair’s and Leedham’s of Netherseal

       

      Samuel Warren of Stapenhill married Catherine Holland of Barton under Needwood in 1795. Catherine’s father was Thomas Holland; her mother was Hannah Hair.

      Hannah was born in Netherseal, Derbyshire, in 1739. Her parents were Joseph Hair 1696-1746 and Hannah.
      Joseph’s parents were Isaac Hair and Elizabeth Leedham.  Elizabeth was born in Netherseal in 1665.  Isaac and Elizabeth were married in Netherseal in 1686.

      Marriage of Isaac Hair and Elizabeth Leedham: (variously spelled Ledom, Leedom, Leedham, and in one case mistranscribed as Sedom):

       

      1686 marriage Nicholas Leedham

       

      Isaac was buried in Netherseal on 14 August 1709 (the transcript says the 18th, but the microfiche image clearly says the 14th), but I have not been able to find a birth registered for him. On other public trees on an ancestry website, Isaac Le Haire was baptised in Canterbury and was a Huguenot, but I haven’t found any evidence to support this.

      Isaac Hair’s death registered 14 August 1709 in Netherseal:

      Isaac Hair death 1709

       

      A search for the etymology of the surname Hair brings various suggestions, including:

      “This surname is derived from a nickname. ‘the hare,’ probably affixed on some one fleet of foot. Naturally looked upon as a complimentary sobriquet, and retained in the family; compare Lightfoot. (for example) Hugh le Hare, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.”

      From this we may deduce that the name Hair (or Hare) is not necessarily from the French Le Haire, and existed in England for some considerable time before the arrival of the Huguenots.

      Elizabeth Leedham was born in Netherseal in 1665. Her parents were Nicholas Leedham 1621-1670 and Dorothy. Nicholas Leedham was born in Church Gresley (Swadlincote) in 1621, and died in Netherseal in 1670.

      Nicholas was a Yeoman and left a will and inventory worth £147.14s.8d (one hundred and forty seven pounds fourteen shillings and eight pence).

      The 1670 inventory of Nicholas Leedham:

      1670 will Nicholas Leedham

       

      According to local historian Mark Knight on the Netherseal History facebook group, the Seale (Netherseal and Overseal)  parish registers from the year 1563 to 1724 were digitized during lockdown.

      via Mark Knight:

      “There are five entries for Nicholas Leedham.
      On March 14th 1646 he and his wife buried an unnamed child, presumably the child died during childbirth or was stillborn.
      On November 28th 1659 he buried his wife, Elizabeth. He remarried as on June 13th 1664 he had his son William baptised.
      The following year, 1665, he baptised a daughter on November 12th. (Elizabeth) On December 23rd 1672 the parish record says that Dorithy daughter of Dorithy was buried. The Bishops Transcript has Dorithy a daughter of Nicholas. Nicholas’ second wife was called Dorithy and they named a daughter after her. Alas, the daughter died two years after Nicholas. No further Leedhams appear in the record until after 1724.”

      Dorothy daughter of Dorothy Leedham was buried 23 December 1672:

      Dorothy

       

       

      William, son of Nicholas and Dorothy also left a will. In it he mentions “My dear wife Elizabeth. My children Thomas Leedom, Dorothy Leedom , Ann Leedom, Christopher Leedom and William Leedom.”

      1726 will of William Leedham:

      1726 will William Leedham

       

      I found a curious error with the the parish register entries for Hannah Hair. It was a transcription error, but not a recent one. The original parish registers were copied: “HO Copy of ye register of Seale anno 1739.” I’m not sure when the copy was made, but it wasn’t recently. I found a burial for Hannah Hair on 22 April 1739 in the HO copy, which was the same day as her baptism registered on the original. I checked both registers name by name and they are exactly copied EXCEPT for Hannah Hairs. The rector, Richard Inge, put burial instead of baptism by mistake.

      The original Parish register baptism of Hannah Hair:

      Hannah Hair 1

       

      The HO register copy incorrectly copied:

      Hannah Hair 2

      #6303
      TracyTracy
      Participant

        The Hollands of Barton under Needwood

         

        Samuel Warren of Stapenhill married Catherine Holland of Barton under Needwood in 1795.

        I joined a Barton under Needwood History group and found an incredible amount of information on the Holland family, but first I wanted to make absolutely sure that our Catherine Holland was one of them as there were also Hollands in Newhall. Not only that, on the marriage licence it says that Catherine Holland was from Bretby Park Gate, Stapenhill.

        Then I noticed that one of the witnesses on Samuel’s brother Williams marriage to Ann Holland in 1796 was John Hair. Hannah Hair was the wife of Thomas Holland, and they were the Barton under Needwood parents of Catherine. Catherine was born in 1775, and Ann was born in 1767.

        The 1851 census clinched it: Catherine Warren 74 years old, widow and formerly a farmers wife, was living in the household of her son John Warren, and her place of birth is listed as Barton under Needwood. In 1841 Catherine was a 64 year old widow, her husband Samuel having died in 1837, and she was living with her son Samuel, a farmer. The 1841 census did not list place of birth, however. Catherine died on 31 March 1861 and does not appear on the 1861 census.

        Once I had established that our Catherine Holland was from Barton under Needwood, I had another look at the information available on the Barton under Needwood History group, compiled by local historian Steve Gardner.

        Catherine’s parents were Thomas Holland 1737-1828 and Hannah Hair 1739-1822.

        Steve Gardner had posted a long list of the dates, marriages and children of the Holland family. The earliest entries in parish registers were Thomae Holland 1562-1626 and his wife Eunica Edwardes 1565-1632. They married on 10th July 1582. They were born, married and died in Barton under Needwood. They were direct ancestors of Catherine Holland, and as such my direct ancestors too.

        The known history of the Holland family in Barton under Needwood goes back to Richard De Holland. (Thanks once again to Steve Gardner of the Barton under Needwood History group for this information.)

        “Richard de Holland was the first member of the Holland family to become resident in Barton under Needwood (in about 1312) having been granted lands by the Earl of Lancaster (for whom Richard served as Stud and Stock Keeper of the Peak District) The Holland family stemmed from Upholland in Lancashire and had many family connections working for the Earl of Lancaster, who was one of the biggest Barons in England. Lancaster had his own army and lived at Tutbury Castle, from where he ruled over most of the Midlands area. The Earl of Lancaster was one of the main players in the ‘Barons Rebellion’ and the ensuing Battle of Burton Bridge in 1322. Richard de Holland was very much involved in the proceedings which had so angered Englands King. Holland narrowly escaped with his life, unlike the Earl who was executed.
        From the arrival of that first Holland family member, the Hollands were a mainstay family in the community, and were in Barton under Needwood for over 600 years.”

        Continuing with various items of information regarding the Hollands, thanks to Steve Gardner’s Barton under Needwood history pages:

        “PART 6 (Final Part)
        Some mentions of The Manor of Barton in the Ancient Staffordshire Rolls:
        1330. A Grant was made to Herbert de Ferrars, at le Newland in the Manor of Barton.
        1378. The Inquisitio bonorum – Johannis Holand — an interesting Inventory of his goods and their value and his debts.
        1380. View of Frankpledge ; the Jury found that Richard Holland was feloniously murdered by his wife Joan and Thomas Graunger, who fled. The goods of the deceased were valued at iiij/. iijj. xid. ; one-third went to the dead man, one-third to his son, one- third to the Lord for the wife’s share. Compare 1 H. V. Indictments. (1413.)
        That Thomas Graunger of Barton smyth and Joan the wife of Richard de Holond of Barton on the Feast of St. John the Baptist 10 H. II. (1387) had traitorously killed and murdered at night, at Barton, Richard, the husband of the said Joan. (m. 22.)
        The names of various members of the Holland family appear constantly among the listed Jurors on the manorial records printed below : —
        1539. Richard Holland and Richard Holland the younger are on the Muster Roll of Barton
        1583. Thomas Holland and Unica his wife are living at Barton.
        1663-4. Visitations. — Barton under Needword. Disclaimers. William Holland, Senior, William Holland, Junior.
        1609. Richard Holland, Clerk and Alice, his wife.
        1663-4. Disclaimers at the Visitation. William Holland, Senior, William Holland, Junior.”

        I was able to find considerably more information on the Hollands in the book “Some Records of the Holland Family (The Hollands of Barton under Needwood, Staffordshire, and the Hollands in History)” by William Richard Holland. Luckily the full text of this book can be found online.

        William Richard Holland (Died 1915) An early local Historian and author of the book:

        William Richard Holland

         

        ‘Holland House’ taken from the Gardens (sadly demolished in the early 60’s):

        Holland House

         

        Excerpt from the book:

        “The charter, dated 1314, granting Richard rights and privileges in Needwood Forest, reads as follows:

        “Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Leicester, high-steward of England, to whom all these present shall come, greeting: Know ye, that we have given, &c., to Richard Holland of Barton, and his heirs, housboot, heyboot, and fireboot, and common of pasture, in our forest of Needwood, for all his beasts, as well in places fenced as lying open, with 40 hogs, quit of pawnage in our said forest at all times in the year (except hogs only in fence month). All which premises we will warrant, &c. to the said Richard and his heirs against all people for ever”

        “The terms “housboot” “heyboot” and “fireboot” meant that Richard and his heirs were to have the privilege of taking from the Forest, wood needed for house repair and building, hedging material for the repairing of fences, and what was needful for purposes of fuel.”

        Further excerpts from the book:

        “It may here be mentioned that during the renovation of Barton Church, when the stone pillars were being stripped of the plaster which covered them, “William Holland 1617” was found roughly carved on a pillar near to the belfry gallery, obviously the work of a not too devout member of the family, who, seated in the gallery of that time, occupied himself thus during the service. The inscription can still be seen.”

        “The earliest mention of a Holland of Upholland occurs in the reign of John in a Final Concord, made at the Lancashire Assizes, dated November 5th, 1202, in which Uchtred de Chryche, who seems to have had some right in the manor of Upholland, releases his right in fourteen oxgangs* of land to Matthew de Holland, in consideration of the sum of six marks of silver. Thus was planted the Holland Tree, all the early information of which is found in The Victoria County History of Lancaster.

        As time went on, the family acquired more land, and with this, increased position. Thus, in the reign of Edward I, a Robert de Holland, son of Thurstan, son of Robert, became possessed of the manor of Orrell adjoining Upholland and of the lordship of Hale in the parish of Childwall, and, through marriage with Elizabeth de Samlesbury (co-heiress of Sir Wm. de Samlesbury of Samlesbury, Hall, near to Preston), of the moiety of that manor….

        * An oxgang signified the amount of land that could be ploughed by one ox in one day”

        “This Robert de Holland, son of Thurstan, received Knighthood in the reign of Edward I, as did also his brother William, ancestor of that branch of the family which later migrated to Cheshire. Belonging to this branch are such noteworthy personages as Mrs. Gaskell, the talented authoress, her mother being a Holland of this branch, Sir Henry Holland, Physician to Queen Victoria, and his two sons, the first Viscount Knutsford, and Canon Francis Holland ; Sir Henry’s grandson (the present Lord Knutsford), Canon Scott Holland, etc. Captain Frederick Holland, R.N., late of Ashbourne Hall, Derbyshire, may also be mentioned here.*”

        Thanks to the Barton under Needwood history group for the following:

        WALES END FARM:
        In 1509 it was owned and occupied by Mr Johannes Holland De Wallass end who was a well to do Yeoman Farmer (the origin of the areas name – Wales End).  Part of the building dates to 1490 making it probably the oldest building still standing in the Village:

        Wales End Farm

         

        I found records for all of the Holland’s listed on the Barton under Needwood History group and added them to my ancestry tree. The earliest will I found was for Eunica Edwardes, then Eunica Holland, who died in 1632.

        A page from the 1632 will and inventory of Eunica (Unice) Holland:

        Unice Holland

         

        I’d been reading about “pedigree collapse” just before I found out her maiden name of Edwardes. Edwards is my own maiden name.

        “In genealogy, pedigree collapse describes how reproduction between two individuals who knowingly or unknowingly share an ancestor causes the family tree of their offspring to be smaller than it would otherwise be.
        Without pedigree collapse, a person’s ancestor tree is a binary tree, formed by the person, the parents, grandparents, and so on. However, the number of individuals in such a tree grows exponentially and will eventually become impossibly high. For example, a single individual alive today would, over 30 generations going back to the High Middle Ages, have roughly a billion ancestors, more than the total world population at the time. This apparent paradox occurs because the individuals in the binary tree are not distinct: instead, a single individual may occupy multiple places in the binary tree. This typically happens when the parents of an ancestor are cousins (sometimes unbeknownst to themselves). For example, the offspring of two first cousins has at most only six great-grandparents instead of the normal eight. This reduction in the number of ancestors is pedigree collapse. It collapses the binary tree into a directed acyclic graph with two different, directed paths starting from the ancestor who in the binary tree would occupy two places.” via wikipedia

        There is nothing to suggest, however, that Eunica’s family were related to my fathers family, and the only evidence so far in my tree of pedigree collapse are the marriages of Orgill cousins, where two sets of grandparents are repeated.

        A list of Holland ancestors:

        Catherine Holland 1775-1861
        her parents:
        Thomas Holland 1737-1828   Hannah Hair 1739-1832
        Thomas’s parents:
        William Holland 1696-1756   Susannah Whiteing 1715-1752
        William’s parents:
        William Holland 1665-    Elizabeth Higgs 1675-1720
        William’s parents:
        Thomas Holland 1634-1681   Katherine Owen 1634-1728
        Thomas’s parents:
        Thomas Holland 1606-1680   Margaret Belcher 1608-1664
        Thomas’s parents:
        Thomas Holland 1562-1626   Eunice Edwardes 1565- 1632

        #6301
        TracyTracy
        Participant

          The Warrens of Stapenhill

           

          There were so many Warren’s in Stapenhill that it was complicated to work out who was who. I had gone back as far as Samuel Warren marrying Catherine Holland, and this was as far back as my cousin Ian Warren had gone in his research some decades ago as well. The Holland family from Barton under Needwood are particularly interesting, and will be a separate chapter.

          Stapenhill village by John Harden:

          Stapenhill

           

          Resuming the research on the Warrens, Samuel Warren 1771-1837 married Catherine Holland 1775-1861 in 1795 and their son Samuel Warren 1800-1882 married Elizabeth Bridge, whose childless brother Benjamin Bridge left the Warren Brothers Boiler Works in Newhall to his nephews, the Warren brothers.

          Samuel Warren and Catherine Holland marriage licence 1795:

          Samuel Warren Catherine Holland

           

          Samuel (born 1771) was baptised at Stapenhill St Peter and his parents were William and Anne Warren. There were at least three William and Ann Warrens in town at the time. One of those William’s was born in 1744, which would seem to be the right age to be Samuel’s father, and one was born in 1710, which seemed a little too old. Another William, Guiliamos Warren (Latin was often used in early parish registers) was baptised in Stapenhill in 1729.

          Stapenhill St Peter:

          Stapenhill St Peter

           

          William Warren (born 1744) appeared to have been born several months before his parents wedding. William Warren and Ann Insley married 16 July 1744, but the baptism of William in 1744 was 24 February. This seemed unusual ~ children were often born less than nine months after a wedding, but not usually before the wedding! Then I remembered the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Prior to 1752, the first day of the year was Lady Day, March 25th, not January 1st. This meant that the birth in February 1744 was actually after the wedding in July 1744. Now it made sense. The first son was named William, and he was born seven months after the wedding.

          William born in 1744 died intestate in 1822, and his wife Ann made a legal claim to his estate. However he didn’t marry Ann Holland (Ann was Catherines Hollands sister, who married Samuel Warren the year before) until 1796, so this William and Ann were not the parents of Samuel.

          It seemed likely that William born in 1744 was Samuels brother. William Warren and Ann Insley had at least eight children between 1744 and 1771, and it seems that Samuel was their last child, born when William the elder was 61 and his wife Ann was 47.

          It seems it wasn’t unusual for the Warren men to marry rather late in life. William Warren’s (born 1710) parents were William Warren and Elizabeth Hatterton. On the marriage licence in 1702/1703 (it appears to say 1703 but is transcribed as 1702), William was a 40 year old bachelor from Stapenhill, which puts his date of birth at 1662. Elizabeth was considerably younger, aged 19.

          William Warren and Elizabeth Hatterton marriage licence 1703:

          William Warren 1702

           

          These Warren’s were farmers, and they were literate and able to sign their own names on various documents. This is worth noting, as most made the mark of an X.

          I found three Warren and Holland marriages. One was Samuel Warren and Catherine Holland in 1795, then William Warren and Ann Holland in 1796. William Warren and Ann Hollands daughter born in 1799 married John Holland in 1824.

          Elizabeth Hatterton (wife of William Warren who was born circa 1662) was born in Burton upon Trent in 1685. Her parents were Edward Hatterton 1655-1722, and Sara.

          A page from the 1722 will of Edward Hatterton:

          Edward Hatterton 1722

           

          The earliest Warren I found records for was William Warren who married Elizabeth Hatterton in 1703. The marriage licence states his age as 40 and that he was from Stapenhill, but none of the Stapenhill parish records online go back as far as 1662.  On other public trees on ancestry websites, a birth record from Suffolk has been chosen, probably because it was the only record to be found online with the right name and date. Once again, I don’t think that is correct, and perhaps one day I’ll find some earlier Stapenhill records to prove that he was born in locally.

           

          Subsequently, I found a list of the 1662 Hearth Tax for Stapenhill. On it were a number of Warrens, three William Warrens including one who was a constable. One of those William Warrens had a son he named William (as they did, hence the number of William Warrens in the tree) the same year as this hearth tax list.

          But was it the William Warren with 2 chimneys, the one with one chimney who was too poor to pay it, or the one who was a constable?

          from the list:
          Will. Warryn 2
          Richard Warryn 1
          William Warren Constable
          These names are not payable by Act:
          Will. Warryn 1
          Richard Warren John Watson
          over seers of the poore and churchwardens

          The Hearth Tax:

          via wiki:
          In England, hearth tax, also known as hearth money, chimney tax, or chimney money, was a tax imposed by Parliament in 1662, to support the Royal Household of King Charles II. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Parliament calculated that the Royal Household needed an annual income of £1,200,000. The hearth tax was a supplemental tax to make up the shortfall. It was considered easier to establish the number of hearths than the number of heads, hearths forming a more stationary subject for taxation than people. This form of taxation was new to England, but had precedents abroad. It generated considerable debate, but was supported by the economist Sir William Petty, and carried through the Commons by the influential West Country member Sir Courtenay Pole, 2nd Baronet (whose enemies nicknamed him “Sir Chimney Poll” as a result).  The bill received Royal Assent on 19 May 1662, with the first payment due on 29 September 1662, Michaelmas.
          One shilling was liable to be paid for every firehearth or stove, in all dwellings, houses, edifices or lodgings, and was payable at Michaelmas, 29 September and on Lady Day, 25 March. The tax thus amounted to two shillings per hearth or stove per year. The original bill contained a practical shortcoming in that it did not distinguish between owners and occupiers and was potentially a major burden on the poor as there were no exemptions. The bill was subsequently amended so that the tax was paid by the occupier. Further amendments introduced a range of exemptions that ensured that a substantial proportion of the poorer people did not have to pay the tax.

           

          Indeed it seems clear that William Warren the elder came from Stapenhill and not Suffolk, and one of the William Warrens paying hearth tax in 1662 was undoubtedly the father of William Warren who married Elizabeth Hatterton.

          #6259
          TracyTracy
          Participant

            George “Mike” Rushby

            A short autobiography of George Gilman Rushby’s son, published in the Blackwall Bugle, Australia.

            Early in 2009, Ballina Shire Council Strategic and
            Community Services Group Manager, Steve Barnier,
            suggested that it would be a good idea for the Wardell
            and District community to put out a bi-monthly
            newsletter. I put my hand up to edit the publication and
            since then, over 50 issues of “The Blackwall Bugle”
            have been produced, encouraged by Ballina Shire
            Council who host the newsletter on their website.
            Because I usually write the stories that other people
            generously share with me, I have been asked by several
            community members to let them know who I am. Here is
            my attempt to let you know!

            My father, George Gilman Rushby was born in England
            in 1900. An Electrician, he migrated to Africa as a young
            man to hunt and to prospect for gold. He met Eleanor
            Dunbar Leslie who was a high school teacher in Cape
            Town. They later married in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika.
            I was the second child and first son and was born in a
            mud hut in Tanganyika in 1933. I spent my first years on
            a coffee plantation. When four years old, and with
            parents and elder sister on a remote goldfield, I caught
            typhoid fever. I was seriously ill and had no access to
            proper medical facilities. My paternal grandmother
            sailed out to Africa from England on a steam ship and
            took me back to England for medical treatment. My
            sister Ann came too. Then Adolf Hitler started WWII and
            Ann and I were separated from our parents for 9 years.

            Sister Ann and I were not to see him or our mother for
            nine years because of the war. Dad served as a Captain in
            the King’s African Rifles operating in the North African
            desert, while our Mum managed the coffee plantation at
            home in Tanganyika.

            Ann and I lived with our Grandmother and went to
            school in Nottingham England. In 1946 the family was
            reunited. We lived in Mbeya in Southern Tanganyika
            where my father was then the District Manager of the
            National Parks and Wildlife Authority. There was no
            high school in Tanganyika so I had to go to school in
            Nairobi, Kenya. It took five days travelling each way by
            train and bus including two days on a steamer crossing
            Lake Victoria.

            However, the school year was only two terms with long
            holidays in between.

            When I was seventeen, I left high school. There was
            then no university in East Africa. There was no work
            around as Tanganyika was about to become
            independent of the British Empire and become
            Tanzania. Consequently jobs were reserved for
            Africans.

            A war had broken out in Korea. I took a day off from
            high school and visited the British Army headquarters
            in Nairobi. I signed up for military service intending to
            go to Korea. The army flew me to England. During
            Army basic training I was nicknamed ‘Mike’ and have
            been called Mike ever since. I never got to Korea!
            After my basic training I volunteered for the Parachute
            Regiment and the army sent me to Egypt where the
            Suez Canal was under threat. I carried out parachute
            operations in the Sinai Desert and in Cyprus and
            Jordan. I was then selected for officer training and was
            sent to England to the Eaton Hall Officer Cadet School
            in Cheshire. Whilst in Cheshire, I met my future wife
            Jeanette. I graduated as a Second Lieutenant in the
            Royal Lincolnshire Regiment and was posted to West
            Berlin, which was then one hundred miles behind the
            Iron Curtain. My duties included patrolling the
            demarcation line that separated the allies from the
            Russian forces. The Berlin Wall was yet to be built. I
            also did occasional duty as guard commander of the
            guard at Spandau Prison where Adolf Hitler’s deputy
            Rudolf Hess was the only prisoner.

            From Berlin, my Regiment was sent to Malaya to
            undertake deep jungle operations against communist
            terrorists that were attempting to overthrow the
            Malayan Government. I was then a Lieutenant in
            command of a platoon of about 40 men which would go
            into the jungle for three weeks to a month with only air
            re-supply to keep us going. On completion of my jungle
            service, I returned to England and married Jeanette. I
            had to stand up throughout the church wedding
            ceremony because I had damaged my right knee in a
            competitive cross-country motorcycle race and wore a
            splint and restrictive bandage for the occasion!
            At this point I took a career change and transferred
            from the infantry to the Royal Military Police. I was in
            charge of the security of British, French and American
            troops using the autobahn link from West Germany to
            the isolated Berlin. Whilst in Germany and Austria I
            took up snow skiing as a sport.

            Jeanette and I seemed to attract unusual little
            adventures along the way — each adventure trivial in
            itself but adding up to give us a ‘different’ path through
            life. Having climbed Mount Snowdon up the ‘easy way’
            we were witness to a serious climbing accident where a
            member of the staff of a Cunard Shipping Line
            expedition fell and suffered serious injury. It was
            Sunday a long time ago. The funicular railway was
            closed. There was no telephone. So I ran all the way
            down Mount Snowdon to raise the alarm.

            On a road trip from Verden in Germany to Berlin with
            our old Opel Kapitan motor car stacked to the roof with
            all our worldly possessions, we broke down on the ice and snow covered autobahn. We still had a hundred kilometres to go.

            A motorcycle patrolman flagged down a B-Double
            tanker. He hooked us to the tanker with a very short tow
            cable and off we went. The truck driver couldn’t see us
            because we were too close and his truck threw up a
            constant deluge of ice and snow so we couldn’t see
            anyway. We survived the hundred kilometre ‘sleigh
            ride!’

            I then went back to the other side of the world where I
            carried out military police duties in Singapore and
            Malaya for three years. I took up scuba diving and
            loved the ocean. Jeanette and I, with our two little
            daughters, took a holiday to South Africa to see my
            parents. We sailed on a ship of the Holland-Afrika Line.
            It broke down for four days and drifted uncontrollably
            in dangerous waters off the Skeleton Coast of Namibia
            until the crew could get the ship’s motor running again.
            Then, in Cape Town, we were walking the beach near
            Hermanus with my youngest brother and my parents,
            when we found the dead body of a man who had thrown
            himself off a cliff. The police came and secured the site.
            Back with the army, I was promoted to Major and
            appointed Provost Marshal of the ACE Mobile Force
            (Allied Command Europe) with dual headquarters in
            Salisbury, England and Heidelberg, Germany. The cold
            war was at its height and I was on operations in Greece,
            Denmark and Norway including the Arctic. I had
            Norwegian, Danish, Italian and American troops in my
            unit and I was then also the Winter Warfare Instructor
            for the British contingent to the Allied Command
            Europe Mobile Force that operated north of the Arctic
            Circle.

            The reason for being in the Arctic Circle? From there
            our special forces could look down into northern
            Russia.

            I was not seeing much of my two young daughters. A
            desk job was looming my way and I decided to leave
            the army and migrate to Australia. Why Australia?
            Well, I didn’t want to go back to Africa, which
            seemed politically unstable and the people I most
            liked working with in the army, were the Australian
            troops I had met in Malaya.

            I migrated to Brisbane, Australia in 1970 and started
            working for Woolworths. After management training,
            I worked at Garden City and Brookside then became
            the manager in turn of Woolworths stores at
            Paddington, George Street and Redcliff. I was also the
            first Director of FAUI Queensland (The Federation of
            Underwater Diving Instructors) and spent my spare
            time on the Great Barrier Reef. After 8 years with
            Woollies, I opted for a sea change.

            I moved with my family to Evans Head where I
            converted a convenience store into a mini
            supermarket. When IGA moved into town, I decided
            to take up beef cattle farming and bought a cattle
            property at Collins Creek Kyogle in 1990. I loved
            everything about the farm — the Charolais cattle, my
            horses, my kelpie dogs, the open air, fresh water
            creek, the freedom, the lifestyle. I also became a
            volunteer fire fighter with the Green Pigeon Brigade.
            In 2004 I sold our farm and moved to Wardell.
            My wife Jeanette and I have been married for 60 years
            and are now retired. We have two lovely married
            daughters and three fine grandchildren. We live in the
            greatest part of the world where we have been warmly
            welcomed by the Wardell community and by the
            Wardell Brigade of the Rural Fire Service. We are
            very happy here.

            Mike Rushby

            A short article sent to Jacksdale in England from Mike Rushby in Australia:

            Rushby Family

            #3996
            TracyTracy
            Participant

              The following is an e-mail from the past, composed on July 01, 2010. It is being delivered from the past through FutureMe.org

              Dear FutureMe,
              The Absinthe Cafe
              Dawn and Mark had a bottle of Absinthe (the proper stuff with the WORMwood in
              it, which is illegal in France) but forgot to bring it. Wandering around at
              some point, we chanced upon a cafe called Absinthe. Sitting on the terrace, the
              waitress came up and looked right at me and said “Oh you are booked to come here
              tomorrow night!” and then said “Forget I said that”. Naturally that got our
              attention. After we left Dawn spotted a kid with 2016 on the back of his T
              shirt. We asked Arkandin about it and we have a concurrent group focus that does
              meet in that cafe in 2016, including Britta. Dawn’s name is Isabelle Spencer,
              Jib’s is Jennifer….
              The Worm & The Suitcase
              I borrowed Rachel’s big red suitcase for the trip and stuck a Time Bridgers
              sticker on it, and joked before I left about the case disappearing to 2163. I
              had an impulse to take a fig tree sapling for Eric and Jib, which did survive
              the trip although it looked a little shocked at first. As Eric was repotting
              it, we noticed a worm in the soil, and I said, Well, if the fig tree dies at
              least you have the worm.
              At Balzacs house on a bench in the garden there was a magazine lying there open
              to an ad for Spain, which said “If you lose your suitcase it would be the best
              thing because you would have to stay”.
              Later we asked Arkandin and he said that there was something from the future
              inserted into my suitcase. I went all through it wondering what it could be,
              and then a couple of days ago Eric said that it was the WORM! because of the
              WORMwood absinthe syncs, and worm hole etc. I just had a chat with Franci who
              had a big worm sync a couple of days ago, she particularly noticed a very big
              worm outside the second hand shop, and noted that she hadn’t seen a worm in ages
              ~ which is also a sync, because there was a big second hand clothes shop next to
              Dawn and Mark’s hotel that I went into looking for a bowler hat.
              Arkandin said, by the way, that Jane did forget to mention the bowler hats in
              OS7, those two guys on the balcony were indeed wearing bowler hats, and that
              they were the same guys that were in my bedroom in the dream I had prior to
              finding the Seth stuff ~ Elias and Patel.
              Eric replied:

              And another Time Bridger thing; a while ago, Jib and I had fun planting some TB stickers at random places in Paris (and some on a wooden gate at Jib’s hometown).
              Those in Paris I remember were one at the waiting room of a big tech department store, and another on the huge “Bateaux Mouches” sign on the Pont de l’Alma (bridge, the one of Lady D. where there is a gilded replica of Lady Liberty’s flame).
              I think there are pics of that on Jib’s or my flickr account somewhere.
              When we were walking past this spot, Jib suddenly remembered the TB sticker — meanwhile, the sign which was quite clean before had been written all over, and had other stickers everywhere. We wondered whether it was still here, and there it was! It’s been something like 2 years… Kind of amazing to think it’s still there, and imagine all the people that may have seen it since!
              ~~~~

              The Flights

              I wasn’t all that keen on flying and procrastinated for ages about the trip. I
              flew with EASYjet, so it was nice to see the word EASY everywhere. I got on the
              plane to find that they don’t allocate seats, and chose a seat right at the
              front on the left. The head flight attendant was extremely playful for the
              whole flight, constantly cracking up laughing and teasing the other flight
              attendants, who would poke him and make him laugh during announcements so that
              he kept having to put the phone down while he laughed. I spent the whole flight
              laughing and catching his mischeivously twinking eye.
              I asked Arkandin about him and he said his energy was superimposed. I got on
              the flight to come home and was met on the plane by the same guy! I said
              HELLO! It’s YOU again! Can I sit in the same seat and are you going to make me
              laugh again” and he actually moved the person that was in my seat and said I
              could sit there. Then he asked me about my book (about magic and Napolean). He
              also said that all his flights all week had been delayed except the two that I
              was on. He wanted to give me a card for frequent flyers but I told him I
              usually flew without planes ~ that cracked him up ;))
              ~~~

              The Dream Bean

              Eric cracked open a special big African bean that is supposed to enhance
              dreams/lucidity so we all had a bit of it. The second night I remembered a
              dream and it was a wonderful one.
              (Coincidentally, on the flight home I read a few pages of my book and it just
              happened to be about the council of five dragons and misuse of magical beans)
              In the dream I had a companion with magical powers, who I presumed was Jib but
              it was myself actually. It was a long adventure dream of being chased and
              various adventures across the countryside, but there was no stress, it was all
              great fun. Everytime things got a bit too close in the dream, I’d hold onto my
              friend with magical powers, and we would elevate above the “adventure” and drop
              down in another location out of immediate danger ~ although we were never
              outside of the adventure, so to speak. At one point I wondered why my magical
              freind didn’t just elevate us right up high and out of it completely, and
              realized that we were in the adventure game on purpose for the fun of it, so why
              would we remove ourselves completely from the adventure game.
              In the dream I remember we were heading for Holland at one point, and then the
              last part we were safely heading for Turkey…..
              The other dream snapshot was “we are all working together on roof tiles” and
              Arkandin had some interesting stuff to say about that one.
              ~~~

              There were alot of vampire imagery incidents starting with me asking Eric if he
              slept in his garden tool box at night, and then the guy who shot out of a door
              right next to Jib and Eric’s, in a bright orange T shirt, carrying a cardboard
              coffin. He stopped for me to take a photo (and Arkandin said it was a Patel pop
              in); then while walking through the outdoor food market someone was chopping a
              crate up and a perfect wooden stake flew across the floor and landed at my feet.
              The next vampire sync was a shop opposite Dawn and Mark’s hotel with 3 coffins
              in the window (I went back to take a pic of the cello actually, didn’t even
              notice the coffins). Inside the shop was an EAU DE NIL MOTOR SCOOTER Share, can
              you beleive it, and a mummy, a stuffed raven, and a row of (Tardis) Red phone
              boxes.
              I had a nightmare last night that I couldn’t find any of my (nine) dogs; the
              only ones I could find were the dead ones.
              ~~~~

              Balzac’s House

              The trip to Balzac’s house was interesting, although in somewhat unexpected
              ways. (Arkandin was Balzac and I was the cook/housekeeper) The house didn’t
              seem “right” somehow to Mark and I and we decided that was probably because
              other than the desk there was no furniture in it. Mark saw a black cat that
              nobody else saw that was an Arkandin pop in (panther essence animal), and Dawn
              felt that he was sitting on a chair, and Mark sat on him. (Arkandin said yes he
              did sit on him ;) The kitchen was being used as an office. Jib felt the house
              was too small, and picked up on a focus of his that rented the other part of the
              house. (The house was one storey high on the side we entered, and two storeys
              high from the road below). There were two pop ins there apparently, one with
              long hair which is a connection to my friend Joy who was part of that group
              focus, and I can’t recall anything about the other one. Dawn was picking up
              that Balzac wasn’t too happy, and I was remembering the part in Cousin Bette
              that infuriated me when I read it, where he goes on and on about how disgusting
              it is for servants to expect their wages when their “betters” are in dire
              straits. Arkandin confirmed that I didn’t get my wages.
              The garden was enchanting and had a couple of sphinx statues and a dead pigeon ~
              as well as the magazine with the suitcase and Spain imagery. Mark signed the
              guest book “brought the cook back” and I replied “no cooking smells this time”.

              #3108

              Pseu was pleased to be able to report back to Benedict at base camp in Holland that her disguise was working well. Nobody had questioned her alias, her codes remained uncracked. Communications between them had been scrambled skillfully, no data had been poached, and to date nobody had ovadosed.

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