April 2013 - Howse it going?

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mardler
Site Admin
Posts: 306
Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

April 2013 - Howse it going?

Post by mardler »

Wow. That was quick: April flew by. At the start of the month, I went to Rootstech, a conference in Salt Lake City for family historians and the tech community that serves us. Very stimulating. If you have ancestors from Italy or have struggled to find American probate records, the next few years are going to be very interesting as Ancestry.com and FamilySearch made some big promises to bring these to the public.

Do you have Welsh ancestors?
The National Library of Wales just published its first batch of online newspapers, with more to come in the next months. Actually, although published in Wales, the newspapers reported news from across the UK and sometimes beyond. The first record I found concerned a lady named Howse in London convicted of attacking her sister on the latter's wedding night! These newspapers are completely searchable, FREE to everyone and available at:
http://papuraunewyddcymru.llgc.org.uk/en/home?

James Knox Polk House
James Knox Polk was the 11th president of the USA. This man named after him grew up in Tennessee, moved to Kansas where he had five sons: Fred, Roy, Vernon, Swain and James, all born between 1877 and 1890.

A correspondent recently provided us with a copy of a photograph of the five fine boys, which we still need to put online. Do you have any connections to this family? Our correspondent would like to hear from you. Please do get in touch.

Charge of the Light Brigade
Readers of past columns may remember reference to Sergeant Major John Howes. Originally from Wymondham in Norfolk, he fought in the Crimean War in Southern Russia. His particular claim to fame was that he was the last man off the field of the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, the battle immortalized by Lord Tennyson. John Howes made his subsequent home in Birmingham and became something of a local celebrity, so much so that Birmingham council agreed this month to name a road in a new housing development after him. It's a building site at present but the local councillor has agreed to provide us with a picture of the sign when it is erected. To read this man's story, see: http://howesfamilies.com/people.php?id=5

Top value DNA tests
Curious about your House/Howes/Hows/Howse ancestry? Through my membership of the Guild of One-Name studies, I am able to offer a 37-marker yDNA test from FamilyTreeDNA for £80 (about US$125/C$125/A$120), postage included. yDNA is passed from fathers to sons and thus tracks surnames very closely. (Sorry, ladies! You'll need to find a male relative whom you would like to test)

You don't need to be named Howes/etc to take advantage of the this pricing. If you are interested, let me know.

Is there a Freemason in the House?
Freemasonry has a long tradition in the English-speaking world. They have recently made a large collection of papers available online. I took a look at several examples and it seemed to me that to fully understand them you need to be a mason. Both my grandfathers were masons but I am not. Is there someone out there with more knowledge who might be prepared to help by mining the data for Howeses?

Be careful with your data
This study would be impossible by pen and ink, but it is difficult to lose paper! Unfortunately with electronic data it is very easy to lose it. So I close this month with a small warning: take regular back ups and ensure your backups are in different places just in case you have a catastrophe.

I had a computer crash earlier in the month and lost a whole day of work which then took another day to re-enter. It was a reminder to me, and I hope you too.

In closing
Finally, we entered almost 800 names during the month and surpassed 75,000 people in the database. Thanks to everyone who has contributed. We still have a long way to go but I'm very pleased to have come this far in 5 years.
Paul
phowes7@yahoo.com
Posts: 12
Joined: December 16th, 2009, 11:37 pm

Re: April 2013 - Howse it going?

Post by phowes7@yahoo.com »

Hi Paul,

Again another great newsletter. I forward these to my daughter and twin granddaughters, 12th and 13 generation, from America via Thomas Howes, England. Thanks again for you tireless and selfless work.

Paul Arthur Howes
Boston, MA USA
mardler
Site Admin
Posts: 306
Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

Re: April 2013 - Howse it going?

Post by mardler »

You're very welcome, Paul. It's fun.
John Elkin
Posts: 1
Joined: May 1st, 2013, 3:52 pm

Re: April 2013 - Howse it going?

Post by John Elkin »

Thanks for the Welsh newspaper link. I tried searching for my surname, and the first search result amazingly also had a Howes connection! In 1893, a Frederick Elkin was up before the Marylebone magistrates for kissing a married woman - one Annie Howes. It's a small world!

John Elkin
Bracknell, UK
mardler
Site Admin
Posts: 306
Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

Re: April 2013 - Howse it going?

Post by mardler »

Thank you, John. Apologies for not seeing your note until now. Amazing co-incidence!
Paul
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