Hello everyone. I count myself very fortunate not to have been in Florida for Hurricane Ian's passage through the state this week. Pictures from there look quite awful. If you haven't lived through an actual hurricane, you have no idea how noisy they are. I was in New Jersey back in 2012, and I remember taking the dog out to the back yard late at night in the worst of the storm. Neither of us stayed out there too long! The noise made it sound like you were standing in the middle of a major railway intersection with a dozen trains coming at you from all directions! Like many houses in the North East of the US ours had wooden, clapperboard siding. Later, in the morning light I found that the storm had stripped leaves from the trees and smashed them up, embedding 1/8" (3mm) long shards of leaf embedded in our siding, all over the windward side of our house, quite remarkable.
I'm not going to say as much this month as I have been under the weather for a couple of days with an early season flu.
Accidental finds
When you talk to anyone keen on genealogy they'll frequently mention being distracted by BSOs (bright shiny objects!) that take you away from what you were searching for and often even cause you to forget what you were doing. I had one of those moments this month, I cannot now remember why I was searching the website of the Old Bailey (the UK's central criminal court) but I came across a very interesting case. Alfred Coy Hows was not himself on trial but instead was the chief witness in the trial of his brother-in-law, Joseph Smith, who, he claimed pointed his gun at Alfred with the intendt to shoot. Alfred's daughter was also a witness. As it happens, Joseph was acquitted, though after reading the transcript I am surprised! Read for yourself here: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse. ... 610505-429. What do you think?
(I should also say that in the very next case: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse. ... 610505-430 Smith pled guilty to a second, similar case and got 6 months bird for it!).
I draw three lessons from this:
- you will see that Alfred's name was spelt Howse in the court record. So, for any record before 1900, ignore the surname's spelling and try a few others
- try to keep a note of your unfinished business before you go chasing squirrels
- there is ALWAYS more to be found; even when you think you have someone pegged, you can often be surprised. For instance, Alfred was listed as a butcher in every other record that we have seen for the man, but in the court case, he describes himself as a "miller & baker"!
Video
Some months ago, I was asked if I would speak about my study to other member of the Guild of One-Name Studies. I mentioned this in last month's newsletter and was pleased to recognize 6 or 7 readers in the list of those attending the webinar live. The Guild recorded the session and has made it available for public viewing here: https://one-name.org/howesons2/. Hope you enjoy it.
Guild members helping members
I've spoken before about how Guild members frequently look out for other members' studies. I have a Guild friend in New York. HIs study concerns the Cuono surname, whose origin is in Sicily. As a sideline, he collects and trades old photographs. He sent me a note one night saying that a fellow trader had just purchased a couple of albums concerning a Howes family and had recorded a youtube video with his findings. The prime subject was a lady named Ruth Vincent Howes. A quick check of our master file revealed that . . . she wasn't yet in it! So I did some quick research. She was the daughter of a New York banker and she was sent to China by the YWCA to act as a secretary to their missionaries, one of whom she married in Shanghai in 1923.
Ruth's father was James, the banker. His father was Charles, a coachman from Stradbroke in Suffolk who married in North Wales, moved to New York and worked in a gas works. His father was Joshua, a maltster from Worlingworth, again in Suffolk. For more detail see Ruth's record: https://howesfamilies.com/getperson.php ... ee=Onename.
I contacted the trader and negotiated a price for a few scans of copies of just a small part of the photos, some of which we have put online already. If this looks like your family, you might want to get in touch with the trader direct. His name is Kameron Trumbo and his eBay handle is Gravity Goods https://www.ebay.com/str/gravitygoods. You can find him on youtube also. We'll be adding the other photos we bought to the family's online records in the coming days.
Monthly progress
With less of my time spent on the water this month, we added nearly 1,200 people to our file! We finished on 199,561 people, meaning that almost certainly we will pass 200,000 this coming month.
That is a massive achievement (he said, modestly!). There have been months in the past where I have pushed myself to keep up a pace of about 800 new people per month. I think it's time to ba a bit more relaxed about that now. I'd also like to catch up on a few books that I have bought and not yet read! I'm not saying that my enthusiasm for this study is waning at all, just that I should have a little more balance in my life!
Thanks for your continued support, folks.
Paul
Man about the House - September 2022
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- Posts: 3
- Joined: January 21st, 2010, 9:47 am
Re: Man about the House - September 2022
Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for all us Howes. As usual a very interesting newsletter, Very Big Thank You.
Re: Man about the House - September 2022
Thank you, Helen. Much appreciated
Paul
Paul