My Current Interests

Family History

I am stuck on the following branches of my family tree and would appreciate any information that you may have. All place names are in the UK, unless otherwise stated.

1. John Linley of Sheffield, born around 1812. The problem here is that the name is a common one and there is more than one candidate on the IGI. Who were his parents?

2. Any further information on the Frost family who lived at Pakenham in Suffolk in the 1700's and 1800's. From where did this branch of Frosts come from originally? I do not have access to the parish church registers, but I believe they must go much further back than the information I have from the IGI.

3. The family of stone masons with surname Hill who lived in Harden, near Bingley, Yorkshire in the 1700's and 1800's. Where did this branch of Hills come from originally?

4. George Greaves, born in Sheffield in around 1880. This family had a naval tradition, so perhaps he was overseas in when the 1901 census was taken. Where did he end up?

5. I have spent some time researching a John Smith (futile I know, but don't laugh) who lived in the York area with foster parents, probably George and Mary Peckitt in Haxby, from about 1900. He seems to have been born in Manchester or Sheffield in about 1895 and I know that at one time his father, also John Smith, was a bricksetter. Somehow he ended up in York, where he stayed until volunteering for service in World War I in 1914. His sister was Nellie Smith, born around 1889, who lived in the Trafford Park Village, Stretford and became Nellie Hughes. I cannot find a birth certificate for neither John nor Nellie. I would be very interested if anyone out there has any more information on this family. Who was their mother, for example, and why did John move to the York area?

 

Other Interests

From time to time I get interested in computers, football, TV (especially old repeats, history, quiz shows, Emmerdale) radio, music, science, the French language and the history and foundations of mathematics.