Memory
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Misheard, Misremembered, Passed Down
I do love a good mondegreen. What’s a mondegreen? The term was coined in the 1950s by American writer Sylvia Wright, who recalled that as a child, her mother had read her a Scottish ballad. The original lyric read, ‘They hae slain the Earl o’ Moray / And laid him on the green.’ But Wright… Continue reading
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Catching a glimpse
Sometime it can be frustrating as a family historian when we catch just a glimpse of what must have been a fascinating life, and yet it seems that no record remains (at least outside those tales that must surely echo amongst their immediate descendants). Hannah Elizabeth DURLEY (nee HORNSBY) (1870-1971) is surely a case in… Continue reading
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My Grandparents’ Golden Wedding
Marriage… My CLARK grandparents were childhood sweethearts. Sadly though the story of where they now met is lost. Perhaps at school – their Girls and Boys Junior schools were next to each other; perhaps through the Church where grandma became a Sunday School teacher; or perhaps simply through growing up in neighbouring streets. Before they… Continue reading
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Moving
Did I tell you they moved my bed again last night? It’s the one complaint I have about this place. That and the problems we have with everyone’s things going missing all of the time. And also there’s no one to talk to. Half the people in here don’t even know what day of the… Continue reading
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Hop picking in Kent
My great grandad Charles William JARVIS (1861-1940) never seemed to hold down a job for very long. I’ve inherited twenty-two postcards showing scenes of hop picking in Faversham. The cards have been heavily glued into some sort of scrapbook and then taken out.One of the cards has in feint pencil on the back, ‘Bought in… Continue reading
My Ancestors 