Hi,
Wonderful to hear from you!
Major developments since I last wrote...
- Have found a thing called the "Cheshire Bishop's Transcript" (not scheduled on Ancestry.com) yesterday which specifically schedules the Christening of George Moseley Lander on 25th Sep 1809 to the parents George Lander and Alice (Gilbert) at Church Lawton in Cheshire. Church Lawton is right on the border with Staffordshire and a particularly important place to the Gilberts. This is a key town on the Trent-Mersey Canal which links to the Bridgewater Canal and was engineered by Brindley and his team. Additionally, it stands on the main road notrth to Manchester from Litchfield where Thomas Gilbert was MP. Hope to schedule photos of Church Lawton on Ancestry.com shortly.
- The court case of Gilbert versus Royd has revealed a list of Gilbert connections and the connection to the Royds. This in turn has found invaluable links and allows the assemblage of much of the family tree as well as revealing that George Moseley Lander was one of 4 children. In addition to John Gilbert Lander, there was also William Henry Lander who turns up living at 19 Prospect Place in Wolcot, now a suburb of Bath and who served in the Royal South Gloucester Light INfantry Regiment and also Lydia Lander who I have had little time to analyse. Interestingly enough 19 Prospect Place is currently on the market for some 400,000 pounds and I have asked the agent for details to allow me to see actually the building where they lived. Hope to schedule these on Ancestry.com also.
- Have traced why John Gilbert Lander does not appear on the 1841 Census ANYWHERE...He was in PRISON!!! John went broke and was sent to the notorious Fleet Debtors' Prison in 1840, but left quite swiftly. It had been around since the time of William the Conquerer, but was closed down shortly after 1840. Since John looks to have been in a partnership with George Moseley Lander, it is hard to see how he would have escaped from being sent to Debtors' Jail too, but I have been unable to find him there and the UK Prison Service says that it does not have records that far back.
- Have also found a link to the Gould family whose most excellent web site
http://www.natgould.org by the so called "Gould Diggers" schedules links of our family.
- New documents turned up in the 1990's and many of these are scheduled in a rare book that schedules comprehensive data INCLUDING the transcription of various Wills which are highly detailed, noting peoples relations. I have now ordered this book from Amazon, (there being only two copies available) called, "Agents of Revolution" (Paperback) by Peter Lead (Author). If I am correct, it will allow the family to be traced back to about 1400AD.
- Have also found evidence of a vicious split in the family in the early Nineteenth Century. The railways meant uttter death to the canals and leading the charge against the railways in Parliament was the Duke of Bridgewater, HOWEVER, it appears that some of the descendents of the Gilberts used their fortune to help FINANACE the growing railway network in the UK, creating quite a serious rift.
Finally, the 94,000 DOLLAR QUESTION... The postcard that you have... I know from this end, speaking to my grandmother long ago that all three were together when they visited England during the First Wold War. The key quesiot is WHERE did they visit. A big clue to this, I believe is the POSTMARK franking the stamp on the corner. COUld you advise what the POSTMARK says on it?
Best wishes
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