Hilda Margaret Wilkins (1906-1992) , my grandmother. Taken in 1931, the year before she married my grandfather, Leonard Rainbow.
Archive for September, 2011
Not a Rainbow
My Dad was a posthumous baby. His own Dad died in 1929 from influenza, at the young age of 33, just five months before Derek was born. What seemed extraordinary to me growing up is that Dad knew nothing about him at all, only his name – Walter. He’d apparently never asked questions about him or even seemed interested to know about this missing part of his life.
By all accounts it was a tough childhood. Two elder brothers and later a half brother, the four boys were brought up during chaotic times by their mum, Amy in the slums of wartime Coventry. Dad didn’t tell us much about those times except that he and his mates jumped up and down with sheer delight when they discovered that German bombers had scored a direct hit on his school during the Blitz. Being an 11 year old during the war wasn’t all bad, I guess. I know he was evacuated several times to the country and stayed with families that were, according to my Dad, too posh and/or too strict and he ran away and back to Coventry every time. As far as I can tell the rest of the war was spent with the four Sanders boys running half-wild, playing on bomb sites around the city while Amy held down a job at the local munitions factory.
The image below is part of collection of digital scrapbooking pages that I put together several years ago and this particular page includes three school photos of my Dad. I’m intrigued that, even living on the poverty line Amy managed to afford to buy school photos. I definitely recognise my Dad in the first photo, not so much in the second….but the last photo is very much Derek, trying to be serious and not to break into a laugh. Its a look that strikes as chord with me as I remember him trying to tell me off for some childish misdemeanour and not quite managing the straight face. My Dad died in 2005.
Cotesbach Heritage Open Days 2011
It’s twelve months since I first became involved with Cotesbach Educational Trust based at Cotesbach Hall in the leafy lanes of Leicestershire, UK. I blogged about it at the time and since then I have been ensnared volunteered to help digitise some of the archives, specifically boxes of 200 year old sermons. Most Wednesday afternoons estate manager, Sophy Newton and I can be found poring over these dusty documents – Sophy reading out details of dates, places and first lines as I type them into the database.
Sophy Newton, estate manager and acting director of Cotesbach Educational Trust with visitors outside Cotesbach Hall
The author of some of the sermons and Sophy’s direct ancestor was the Rev. Robert Marriott, estate owner and Rector of St. Mary’s in Cotesbach. My ancestors, William Rainbow and his son John, lived in the village during the same period. William Rainbow was Overseer of the Poor and both William and John were Constables of the parish. Their signatures appear in the estate account books, claiming expenses for their work and on lease agreements for farmland. What is extraordinary for me is the realisation that it is very likely that this business would have taken place in the same room where Sophy and I work on the sermons, recreating a family connection over 200 years later.
The coachhouse at Cotesbach Hall, soon to be restored and extended to house archives.
Cotesbach Educational Trust was formed to restore three dilapidated buildings in the Estate grounds. An 18th century schoolroom is to be used as an educational resource and in addition a milking parlour and coachhouse will become a cafe, meeting area and housing for the archival material that has been discovered at the Hall, dating from the 16th century.
An old fashioned sermon
Last weekend the Estate was open to the public as part of the national Heritage Open Days project and I did a couple of stints of greeting people in the schoolroom which was fun. There was a re-enactment of a 200 year old sermon in St. Mary’s church, across the road from the Hall and guided tours around the house and gardens. I met several people who knew the Lutterworth Rainbows and had memories of their bakery which was fascinating and I even sold a couple of books ! Photos taken by my husband Graham.
Sophy and visitors talk about some of the archives on display
The Tech Savvy Genealogists Meme
As I’m coming to the end of my latest university course AND finished my book I’m hoping to devote a little more time and energy to genealogy starting with blogging and a meme is great place to jump back in. Thanks to Geniaus for the meme and Nuffield Genealogy for the link.
“I invite anyone with an interest in genealogy to participate. If you don’t have a blog and wish to participate you can write them up on Google+ or post them as a note on Facebook. Or you can just create your own document to keep track of your own goals.”
Which of these apply to you?
The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
Feel free to add extra comments in brackets after each item
Which of these apply to you?
- Own an Android or Windows tablet or an iPad (love, love, my iPad)
- Use a tablet or iPad for genealogy related purposes (several trees and three genealogy apps)
- Have used Skype to for genealogy purposes (great for Transatlantic calls)
- Have used a camera to capture images in a library/archives/ancestor’s home
- Use a genealogy software program on your computer to manage your family tree (currently Reunion, MacFamily Tree and testing FTM atm)
- Have a Twitter account (@pjscribble)
- Tweet daily
- Have a genealogy blog (um..you’re on it!)
- Have more then one genealogy blog
- Have lectured/presented to a genealogy group on a technology topic
- Currently an active member of Genealogy Wise
- Have a Facebook Account
- Have connected with genealogists via Facebook
- Maintain a genealogy related Facebook Page - Chasing Rainbows
- Maintain a blog or website for a genealogy society
- Have submitted text corrections online to Ancestry, Trove or a similar site
- Have registered a domain name (I think I have about a dozen!)
- Post regularly to Google+ (fast becoming my social media of choice)
- Have a blog listed on Geneabloggers
- Have transcribed/indexed records for FamilySearch or a similar project
- Own a Flip-Pal or hand-held scanner - (love my little hand held scanner)
- Can code a webpage in .html – (probably a bit rusty but I could do it)
- Own a smartphone
- Have a personal subscription to one or more paid genealogy databases
- Use a digital voice recorder to record genealogy lectures (I have one, but never been to a genealogy lecture!)
- Have contributed to a genealogy blog carnival
- Use Chrome as a Browser
- Have participated in a genealogy webinar
- Have taken a DNA test for genealogy purposes
- Have a personal genealogy website
- Have found mention of an ancestor in an online newspaper archive (I can get lost in newspaper archives for days!)
- Have tweeted during a genealogy lecture
- Have scanned your hardcopy genealogy files
- Use an RSS Reader to follow genealogy news and blogs
- Have uploaded a gedcom file to a site like Geni, MyHeritage or Ancestry
- Own a netbook
- Use a computer/tablet/smartphone to take genealogy lecture notes
- Have a profile on LinkedIn that mentions your genealogy habit
- Have developed a genealogy software program, app or widget
- Have listened to a genealogy podcast online.
- Have downloaded genealogy podcasts for later listening
- Backup your files to a portable hard drive
- Have a copy of your genealogy files stored offsite
- Know about Rootstech
- Have listened to a Blogtalk radio session about genealogy
- Use Dropbox, SugarSync or other service to save documents in the cloud (Dropbox, Google Docs)
- Schedule regular email backups
- Have contriibuted to the Familysearch Wiki
- Have scanned and tagged your genealogy photographs
- Have published a genealogy book in an online/digital format (in print too!)
Live blogging from the Heritage Open Days event at Cotesbach Hall.
This is the 18th century schoolroom
Wordless Wednesday – Snowflake
Restoring this photo was a labour of love, the only photo I have of my Nan as a child, Hilda Margaret Rainbow (nee Wilkins) taken around 1914. She was dressed as a snowflake for some kind of Christmas pageant.