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Other Countries / Re: Bray Family - St. Petersburg, Russia
« on: Monday 06 July 15 15:31 BST (UK) »
Thanks so much for that. We have definitely skipped a generation here. Always tricky when there is no one left alive to ask about these things, and even when they were still alive the information has obviously become confused with advancing age!
I'm completely new to this Rootschat thing; do we have to use this or can we exchange information by email, which I find infinitely quicker and less cumbersome?!
Do you have any dates for William Bray - birth or death, please? I have a copy of a newspaper article (Evening Star - 13.9.58) with an article on the "Centenary of Traction Engine Pioneer" which includes a photograph of Mr. William Bray with his two sons on his engine of 1858". It also says that "In the Great Exhibition 1862 the Bray Company (then of 12 Pall Mall, London) showed an engine built for the government for permanent service at Woolwich Dockyard." I am told that many years ago the "family solicitor" confirmed that this William Bray was my stepfather's great great grandfather, although at the moment I cannot quite make these dates work so the info is doubtful.
Family members: Arnold Denys Bray b.19.12.27 in England and his brother Valerie Charles Bray b.19.8.1919 - I am sure this should be 1917 - in Uchtomskoe, nr. Moscow. The dates now become suspect because V C Bray and parents Alexander & Mary Bray (nee Stepanova) were supposed to have come over to England in one of the last British ships to leave Russia during the revolution. Alexander had a brother who remained in St. Petersburg, name unknown at present, and possibly another brother Harry who was living in Romford at one point.
This is messy! If we are allowed to email I could send you scans of a few documents that I have in the hopes that we can help each other out. Have you any particular purpose in your research or general interest?
I think Henry Bray had a brother who remained in St. Petersburg after the revolution, because in the 1950s Alexander was working in the fur trade and visited St. Petersburg once or twice a year. After a while, apparently the brother asked him not to visit any more because it could cause him problems with the communists, so they never spoke again.
Whew! Can you sort anything out of that, whilst I try to construct some sort of tree with the info I have at present?
I'm completely new to this Rootschat thing; do we have to use this or can we exchange information by email, which I find infinitely quicker and less cumbersome?!
Do you have any dates for William Bray - birth or death, please? I have a copy of a newspaper article (Evening Star - 13.9.58) with an article on the "Centenary of Traction Engine Pioneer" which includes a photograph of Mr. William Bray with his two sons on his engine of 1858". It also says that "In the Great Exhibition 1862 the Bray Company (then of 12 Pall Mall, London) showed an engine built for the government for permanent service at Woolwich Dockyard." I am told that many years ago the "family solicitor" confirmed that this William Bray was my stepfather's great great grandfather, although at the moment I cannot quite make these dates work so the info is doubtful.
Family members: Arnold Denys Bray b.19.12.27 in England and his brother Valerie Charles Bray b.19.8.1919 - I am sure this should be 1917 - in Uchtomskoe, nr. Moscow. The dates now become suspect because V C Bray and parents Alexander & Mary Bray (nee Stepanova) were supposed to have come over to England in one of the last British ships to leave Russia during the revolution. Alexander had a brother who remained in St. Petersburg, name unknown at present, and possibly another brother Harry who was living in Romford at one point.
This is messy! If we are allowed to email I could send you scans of a few documents that I have in the hopes that we can help each other out. Have you any particular purpose in your research or general interest?
I think Henry Bray had a brother who remained in St. Petersburg after the revolution, because in the 1950s Alexander was working in the fur trade and visited St. Petersburg once or twice a year. After a while, apparently the brother asked him not to visit any more because it could cause him problems with the communists, so they never spoke again.
Whew! Can you sort anything out of that, whilst I try to construct some sort of tree with the info I have at present?