Archived News - Geneology
Good Evans, what a do!
Do you remember, back in the summer, the search for relatives of the late Kenneth George Evans, of Eaton Bray? Linda Budd had asked Gazette readers for help, while she was researching the family tree of her partner, Richard Evans.
They had thought that Kenneth - Richard's uncle - had died in the Second World War.
Then they found out that in fact he survived the war, and died in 1995.
And Linda was trying to find out if Richard had any other family members in this area, with the help of our readers.
The couple were delighted to be contacted by relatives they had never met, after the mention in the Gazette.
Linda has now dropped me an email to say that they have all been in touch regularly by email and phone.
And at the weekend, she and Richard were invited to a big Evans family reunion in Eaton Bray, to celebrate several family landmark birthdays.
She said: "From our first introduction to our final farewell this afternoon, we were both given such a warm and genuine family welcome.
"Richard has now met an aunt he never knew he had, four of the five cousins and a whole host of other close relations.
"He has gone from being the only Evans family member left in our area to becoming a member of a large and warm extended family.
"Without the assistance of your paper, we may never have found them all."
Thanks to everyone who helped them to find their family.
Source: Anne O'Donoghue, Gazette Gossip, Dunstable Gazette, 28 November 2007
Any Gurney Connection?
Born and brought up in Dunstable, little did I realise until very recently that one side of my family came from Eaton Bray and were in fact part of the Gurney clan.
My great great grandfather Thomas Stevens married Elizabeth Gurney at Eaton Bray Parish Church in December 1849. Elizabeth was a local girl and in the 1841 census she was living at Church End, Eaton Bray with her parents - father Matthew (aged 40), mother Sarah (also 40) and her siblings Mary, William and Anne. When she married Thomas it looks like she had two children already, Naomi and Priscilla and by 1851 she, her two children and Thomas were living in the Comp and he was a shepherd. They also had three children together, Jesse, Sarah and Edward and it is Sarah Stevens who is my great grandmother.
I then found the family had moved to Dunstable by 1861 and were living at the Rising Sun public house in Edward Street.
I just wondered if there was anyone else who might be doing some family history work and had found that they have any connections with this branch of the Gurney family - or even the Stevens'. If so I would love to hear from you (please use the contact page).
Source: Focus, November 2007
Search for Kenneth's relatives
I told you last week about a search for relatives of the late Kenneth George Evans, who used to live in Eaton Bray. You'll remember that I'd been contacted by someone looking back through family history and searching for information about Kenneth.
Linda Budd is researching the family tree of her partner Richard Evans, and needed a helping hand from Gazette readers.
She was looking for more information about Richard's uncle Kenneth George Evans.
They had thought that Kenneth died in the Second World War, but then found out that in fact he survived the war, and died in 1995.
The last known address that she could find for Kenneth was in Knights Close, Eaton Bray.
Richard's father was killed when his RAF plane came down on Dartmoor in 1941, on the day before he was born.
As he never knew his own father, he was very interested to hear that his uncle had survived the war.
I was pleased to hear that, following the mention in the Gazette, they have been contacted by various helpful folk - and an email has winged its way to them from one of Kenneth's sons.
Linda and Richard have now discovered several generations of relatives that they didn't know existed.
And they would like to thank everyone for all their help.
As I always say, if you want to know something, ask a Gazette reader.
Source: Anne O'Donoghue, Gazette Gossip, Dunstable Gazette, 13 June 2007