Click on a topic to see what has been said so far OR click here to start a new topic.
The topics are - Hall Family, Thanks to Johno - Ron Johnson, Sarah Jane Neville, Henry Thomas Gent, William & Amy Chambers, John Hands, Mr Tift, Living Aboard, Mr Finch, Local Lockkeepers, Pretty Village

Topic - Family History research - Hall

This family lived at Glebe Farm, Braunston in 1901,
Are there any living relatives remaining in or near the village?
My maiden name was Hall.
Best wishes - Elizabeth   Add your comment

Is this the same Hall, I wonder?

Hello,

I am a Gt Gt Gt Grandaughter of George and Mary Hall who raised their family in Braunston during the 1800s. George was born in Sawbridge around 1811 and married Mary (maiden name unknown) who was born in Braunston about 1810. By 1841 George was an agricultural worker and then later a mechanic to the best of my knowledge. George and Mary had nine children born in Braunston including Thomas, my Gt Gt Grandfather who married Emma Cornell. Thomas, along with his brother William became brick makers/burners and subsequently moved around the country settling in the Willesden area of Greater London by the 1891 census.

If anyone has any Hall family information I would love to hear from them. The family, according to family legend, may have held some land in Braunston at some point possibly owned by Thomas or his father. I have been told that one male relative remarried late in life and died soon afterwards but this is possibly conjecture as I have found nothing further as yet…Thomas died in 1904 and is buried at the Hall family plot in Willesden/Acton.

The Hall family were an extensive one and some other surnames connected with my branch are: Butlin(?) Skinner, Puckett, Lewis, Hall Bowhay, and Puttnam.

I can be contacted by email.

Best wishes, Ann

Thanks to Johno (at Union Canal Carriers)

HI everyone at braunston, i would like to say thankyou!

i thought it would be a good idea to buy a boat, so i find one i like and then i drag my friend matty along with me, the boat was in cosgrove (milton keyenes) we are from liverpool. never sailed a boat in our lives, but i convince matty to go with my theory that its got a steering wheel and its got an engine why cant we just get in it an sail it back! cant be as hard as driving our luton vans and 7 1/2 tonne wagons,

lol how wrong was we, to cut a long story short we had been going two days, we done the second tunnel from cosgrove to braunston about 5-6 in the afternoon as we come out the second tunnel heading for braunston, i was driving matty who was map reading points out the end of the tunnel and we swapped jobs because he cant read maps to well, well matty didnt get into the drivers seat he was looking out the back window so as we come out the tunnel i look up see the bank, trees bushes! i shout matty he jumps in the seat, slams it in reverse and plonk engine falls off! we crash into the bank....we still had like 180 200 miles to do!

next day we walk to braunston looking for help , two scouse lads dirty tired and asking for help, within 15-20 min we found st johno, he looked at us an told us he was to busy, but we asked again and he knew we needed him (my gf was pregnant and only had 2 weeks left i got back with 2 days till she dropped now ive got a lovely son and i made it in time to watch him be born thanks to johno), he fixed our engine like new and more, he taught us a few things and we took it all in, thanks johno, we sent u a couple of bottles down to the pub to say thanks be nice to know if you got them.

thanks for everything mike & matty

p.s we got home in 7 days

RON Johnson

My name is RON Johnson and I lived in Braunston from 1940 until 1945, I along with my Mother and two sisters Joan and Patricia. My brother Les and sister Hilda joined us later, he served in the Royal Navy during the war years. My sister Joan married Sid Midson at Daventry and lived in Braunston for years as do her son and grandsons, she now lives in Daventry with other of her sons and daughters. I emigrated to Australia with my wife Joyce and three sons Ron Ray and Ian in 1962 and served in the Australian Army for 20yrs, did a tour in Viet-Nam with the 17Construction Engineers. It would nice if this email could be picked up by any member of the family or by anybody who knew me....I can be contacted by email

Thank you, Ron Johnson          Add your comment

Sarah Jane Neville

I have traced one of my ancestors (great grandmother) to the lovely village of Braunston and wondered if anyone could help me.

According to the census of 1891, SARAH JANE NEVILLE worked at the Manor House as Cook. Obviously, not knowing Braunston, I don't know whether the Manor House is in Braunston or in the area but the census stated it was in Braunston. The Manor was owned by Evan Hanbury and he resided there with his wife Gwendoline, son Evan R and daughter Eglantine. According to the census they had a staff of around 9 servants (one of whom was Sarah Jane).

I would be very grateful if anyone can tell me if the Manor House still exists and if anyone has are any surviving pictures from around this time, or if their relatives were in service at the same time.

If so I would love to hear from you.

Many thanks, Jacqueline Garland

Henry Thomas Gent

I've traced some of my ancestors to Braunston, Northamptonshire. They are Henry Thomas Gent 1856 - 1929 who was born in Braunston and his father Henry Gent born in 1831 in Braunston. Does anyone else have any information or links to these people?

Emily Gent          Add your comment

William & Amy Chambers -

I am looking for any information on my family history as my Great Grandparents lived in your lovely village of Braunston. My Mums (Sylvia Morgan) Grandparents were William and Amy Chambers and they had 13 children I think, the first eight children being born in Braunston then the rest were born in Abbotts Farm in Rugby. This farm has now gone but is near the site of the school of that name. Any memories would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

Kind Regards, Babs Hales         Add your comment

John Hands

My great great grandfather John Hands was a Master Miller in Braunston in 1851, can anyone tell me where the mill was and if it is still standing. They lived in High Street, but no number was given.

Jenny Woolard                   Add your comment

Mr Tift

I have recently traced my family tree surname (TIFT) to Braunston dating back to 1790 and i was wondering if any one knows where my great great grandfather could be buried or where they possibly emmigrated from. I presume the motivation was the canal and the surname is possibly Irish. If anyone has any comments I would be most grateful. We now live in Walsall and my dad is helping rebuild the L & H canal!

Karen Bickley nee Grice nee Tift                  Add your comment

Living Aboard

Can anyone "in the know" give us common sence advice about living on the canal? The more info we look at the more confused we get! We would like to try living on a wide beam in the Braunston area. We are professionals who would prefere to give it all up one day soon but all we get is frightening techno speak which scares us off. Can anyone help two ageing hippies to begin again?
Julie                    Add your comment

Topic - Mr Finch

Very interesting to read about Mr. Finch's exploits... Cannot believe the injustice of the British Judicial system.

We once had a neighbour who was an absolute toe-rag....and he ended up taking us to court !!
Fortunately the Judge saw through him and he lost the case, but the anguish of someone like this completely spoiling your life and making the lives of your family so miserable cannot be told.

In days gone by, I suspect that the boat people would have sorted him out by committing him to the cut, long ways from sight with pocketfuls of stones for company.....
Instead of which, the do-gooding social workers will waste more time and masses of public money making him comfortable until the next time.

Jill Pendleton
www.dartmooraccommodation.co.uk            Add your comment

 

Topic - Local Lockkeepers -

I have recently found the ancestor of a friend of mine - she was lock-keeper
at Hillmorton on the 1841 Census. Please could anyone tell me if there is a
register or any information held somewhere on lock-keepers at that time.
Many thanks S.W. Steane (Miss). 

And Marian wants to find out more about her great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Amos, who was a lockkeeper at Long Buckby. Add your comment

Topic - Pretty Village -

I am very pleased indeed to see this website about, Braunston and the canals surrounding area, it's a chaming village, i lived there for a year and the rest of the time in Daventry in 1980's. Hello to everyone! Best wishes for the festive season! Carmen Add your comment