What is Your Oldest Ancestral Item?

It's always a thrill to inherit or find an object that once belonged to an ancestor. I had chills when I found store tokens made by my 9th great-grandfather Henry Noldred of Ramsgate Kent England. Henry was a grocer who had his own tokens created to spend in his store in place of official money.

I was so intrigued by this new-found information that I started researching to see if I could find any of his tokens and I found that one of his existed created circa 1650!. I also learned that Ramsgate was spelled Romansgate back then. 

Once I found that one of Henry's tokens had been sold on an auction site a few months before, I became determined to find another and purchase it. I'm excited to say I succeeded! I managed to find two in England, and I bought them both. I plan on having a small plaque made with Henry's birth, death and location. Then I'll have the tokens and the plaque framed and it will have a place of honour on my wall.

This is the description of the tokens: (rosette)HEN.NOLDRED.IN.ROMANS , around beaded inner circle, three tobacco rolls / logs of wood.

Rev: (rosette)GET.IN.YE.ISLE.OF.TENNET , around beaded inner circle, HIS HALF PENY in three lines. M. Dickinson 454. Neither obverse or reverse dies represented in Norweb.

What is the oldest ancestral item you own?

Don't Overlook Tokens if Your Ancestor was a Storekeeper

Henry Noldred Token 1650s

Last summer I found out that my 9th great-grandfather Henry Noldred of Ramsgate Kent England, was a grocer who had his own tokens created to spend in his store in place of official money.

Apparently that was often done in the 17th century when storekeepers would make their own money substitute.

I was so intrigued by this new-found information that I started researching to see if I could find any of his tokens and I found that one of his existed created circa 1650!. I also learned that Ramsgate was spelled Romansgate back then.

Once I found that one of Henry's tokens had been sold on an auction site a few months before, I became determined to find another and purchase it. I'm excited to say I succeeded! A rare coin and token dealer  in England found two for me, and I bought them both. The one is in the image above and the second one I bought is below. I plan on having a small plaque made with Henry's birth, death and location. Then I'll have the tokens and the plaque framed and it will have a place of honour on my wall.

This is the description of the tokens: (rosette)HEN.NOLDRED.IN.ROMANS , around beaded inner circle, three tobacco rolls / logs of wood.
Rev: (rosette)GET.IN.YE.ISLE.OF.TENNET , around beaded inner circle, HIS HALF PENY in three lines. M. Dickinson 454. Neither obverse or reverse dies represented in Norweb.

You never know what you might find on an ancestor if you look in unusual places! The Rare Coins and Tokens site I used has a very nice search engine if you want to start your own hunt for ancestor tokens.

How I Wish I Could Ask Uncle Wally About His Family

Walter Fuller ca 1916

My grandfather Charles Fuller was born in Ramsgate England in 1893. He died young at the age of 48 in Guelph Ontario. In an odd twist of fate, his younger brother Walter, who was born in 1912 is still with us. Uncle Wally is now 102 years old!

How I wish that Uncle Wally was not deaf as a stone because I sure would love to ask him questions about my grandfather and his parents and grandparents. 

Can you imagine the stories that Uncle Wally could tell?

A Cool Genealogy Thing Happened When I was Bored

A few days ago I finished my morning blog post for Olive Tree Genealogy blog and sat back, feeling at loose ends. Okay I admit, even though I hate the word,  I was bored.

"What next" I thought. Work didn't appeal to me. My almost daily trips to Ancestry.com had pretty much exhausted those databases for my personal genealogy research for the time being. Yes, I still had mom's English ancestry to explore but I wasn't in the mood for census records. Ever felt that way? It's kind of like wanting an ice cream cone so you turn your nose up at a donut.

With a bit of a ho-hum attitude, I began googling some of my English ancestor names. I've done that before and there's not usually anything terribly exciting. But this time I found an archived Geocities website that contained "Draft Wills and Indentures, Kent". One of the many pages was called "Draft Abstract of title of Mr. john Sandwell Stead & Others to 1,2,3 & 4 William's Cottages near Ramsgate"

John Sandwell Stead of Ramsgate Kent England was my great-great-great grandfather! The 3-page draft abstract contained details on John's wife's family. Her name was Emma Sutton and I knew very little about her except that her parents were William and Ann, she was born in 1812 in Ramsgate and according to her death certificate, a sister Charlotte was with her when she died.

By the time I finished reading the papers and analyzing the information contained, I knew much more - that she had brothers William Sutton (a blacksmith) born ca 1816 married to Fanny; Robert Sutton born ca 1819 married to Charlotte Elizabeth and Samuel Cowley Sutton born ca 1820 married twice, the second time to Elizabeth Petts. Emma also had two sisters - Phoebe married to a Mr. Little and Mary Ann married to a Mr. Crunden or Crumden.

Exact dates and locations of marriages of Emma's siblings was given. So were locations. This draft document was quite a find! Naturally I rushed back to Ancestry.com to start searching the census and other English genealogy records.

Four hours later I took a break. In my few hours of research I found quite a bit on Emma's siblings in the 1851 and 1861 census records. I didn't get to 1871 or later yet but I will.  I was able to verify that Emma didn't have a sister Charlotte (the one mentioned as being with her at the time of her death in 1875) but she did have a sister-in-law Charlotte. That is likely who was with Emma and that's an interesting cautionary note - to be careful assuming modern-day meanings for relationships.

I knew from my 17th century Dutch research that often the term "Brother" could mean brother-in-law and "Sister" could mean sister-in-law, but I hadn't thought to apply that to my English ancestry.

Other interesting (and possibly important) finds were that two of Emma's brothers were blacksmiths. Often such occupations in England were passed from father to son and that meant there was a very good chance that Emma's father William was also a blacksmith. No guarantees of course but a viable working theory. 

I also found many church records for Emma's sister Phoebe who left Kent and settled in Yorkhire. Thanks to her move, I was able to find her marriage entry in a parish church (the actual image) and learn that  father William Sutton was a blacksmith.

Aha! That helped confirm that a couple named William and Ann Sutton I'd previously found  living in 1851 in Ramsgate were almost certainly my 4th great-grandparents.  William was recorded as a blacksmith (and a pauper) but I had no proof that my Emma's father was a blacksmith. This find added more weight to my assigning this couple as my 4th great-grandparents.

I actually learned many details that day  - such as realizing that the name of one of John Stead and Emma Sutton's daughters (Phoebe Little Stead) almost certainly was in honour of Emma's sister Phoebe (Sutton) Little.  Little things perhaps but all helping to build a more complete family history.

Summing up I know now that my Sutton ancestry is:

Gen1: William Sutton born ca 1775 in Barking Essex married Ann (surname uknown) born ca 1777 in Tilmanstone, Kent

Gen 2: Emma Sutton born 1812 Ramsgate Kent died 1875 Ramsgate Kent married 1831 Ramsgate John Sandwell Stead

Today if I have time I am going to hunt for William Sutton and his wife Ann. I'm also going to find out about the four cottages that my ancestor John Sandwell Stead had title to. Also on my list is to find out about Barking Essex and Tilmanstone Kent. All these details add to my family history and I'm excited to get started.

Another Genealogical Mystery Solved

This photo was taken in Ramsgate Kent England in April 1906. It is one my grandmother Fuller gave me many years ago, of her brother Frank at age 16.

Grandma always told me that her little brother drowned in Ramsgate Harbour at the age of 18 and that was why she herself was terrified of the ocean and never swam. In fact when I was a little girl and went to stay with her one summer, she would only let me have about 1 inch of water in the bathtub!

I never thought to question Grandma's story.... but on looking through Doris' Genealogy Box I spotted a receipt in the name of Ernie Simpson.
It was dated August 1, 1908 from F. W. Matthews, Funeral Director in Toronto Ontario (Canada) and showed a $40.00 bill paid for "Funeral Furnishings and Services" for the "late Frank W. Simpson" This was Grandma's brother Frank!

Further searching turned up an earlier receipt dated July 24, 1908 from St. James Cemetery in Toronto for $4.00 paid for "...the ground of North Grave Lot 134, Block C, Ravine" in the cemetery.



Realizing this must be for Frank's burial I searched Ancestry.com Vital Statistics for Ontario and found Frank's death certificate.


Grandma's brother Frank Simpson died of appendicitis in St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto Ontario on 22 July 1908 at the age of 18, he did not drown in Ramsgate Harbour. I think now that Grandma made up the death by drowing story to cover her own fear of the water and to keep her grandchildren cautious when around water.

A search of Ancestry.com Ships Passenger Lists revealed that Frank arrived in Quebec Canada in May 1907 on board the ship Southwark. 14 months later he was dead.

When I was a teenager Grandma gave me a book The Blacksmith of Boniface Lane that Frank had won for perfect attendance in the Cavendish Baptist Sunday School in Ramsgate in October 1902.

Frank was 13 years old and I don't think he ever read the book as it is in perfect condition.

But I treasure it as a memento of the brother who meant so much to my grandmother. I would never have known the true story of Frank's death nor where he is buried, had it not been for different preservers saving documents. And if it were not for my Grandmother giving me Frank's book and photograph, I would not have been able to piece together a little visual tribute to Frank's memory.

A Photograph Leads to More Genealogy Discoveries

In my mother's boxes of items from her apartment, I found 2 photographs both marked on the back in my grandmother's writing. One was a photo of Grandma's brother Ernest (Ern) Simpson with his daughter Doris.


Ern's photo was written on the back "April 21st 1923. Wait[ing for t]he Canada on the [dock?] at Liverpool" My mother had added the names "Doris & Ernest Simpson" in block printing

The second photo was of Ern's wife Cordelia Cook. Auntie Cordie's photo was harder to read but it said "[-----------] alone S S Canada April 1923" I love that Auntie Cordie is on board the SS Canada and you can see the funnel and other ship structures in the background.

Ernie was born in 1883 in Ramsgate England, the eldest child of my great grandparents David & Sarah (Stead) Simpson. As kids We saw quite a lot of Uncle Ern, Auntie Cordie and their daughter Doris. They would often drive from Toronto to Ajax for a visit.

I know quite a bit about Ernie as he and his wife Cordie came to Canada in 1908 and settled in Toronto where he ran a Grocery Store.

A search of Ancestry.comlast year found Ern and Cordie's arrival in Canada in 1908 but I had never gotten around to checking other years in case they went back to England to visit family. So the 1923 photo was a very nice surprise!

The photographs in Mother's possessions sent me scrambling back to Ancestry.com but nothing was found for their sailing from Liverpool to Canada in 1923. I did find their departure from Canada to Liverpool in 1922 and the passenger list shows that they were headed for his mother's house in Ramsgate.

His paternal grandmother Sarah (Page) Simpson, shown here in the picture of Ern in 1885, lived with his mother until her death in 1921 so sadly Ern would not be seeing her on the 1922 trip.

When Doris died in her 90s, all of her papers and photographs came to me for safe-keeping. She and her parents were preservers, there were oodles of documents. Curiosity compelled me to look through the box at the time but I confess that I never scanned or studied them in depth.

Although I am bogged down with boxes from my mother's apartment, off I went to pull out the tub with Doris' belongings - and to my delight I found several documents that provide more detail on her father Ernie.


Ernie's original birth certificate from 1883 was in Doris' Genealogy Box, as was his wedding certificate (the original) from 1907. In a strange "small genealogy world" kind of way, I happen to have my great grandmother's bible which has the entry of his marriage written the same day it occured.

I also have several lovely wedding day photos of Ern and Cordelia, found in an antique photo album belonging to Doris. One is the full wedding party and the rest are of the happy couple.

The bible is another story. After Great-Grandmother Simpson died in England, the bible was given to my grandmother's sister's step-daughter who gave it to her daughter who immigrated to Australia to live! That's confusing isn't it? So Great-grandma's bible was in the hands of a non-blood distant relative who very graciously mailed it to my mother when she asked for it many years ago.

So now I am digging through my mother's cousin Doris' Genealogy Box and will write about what I find there that relates to my Uncle Ern Simpson and his family.