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« on: Saturday 15 September 07 00:15 BST (UK) »
Rhodie - got the magazine and the article was great!
I think Alice's offspring were Mabel and Vera Brown. Something odd must have happened to Alice - she was the psychic one - because Mabel went to live with her grandmother Harriet along with my grandmother Mabel. They called Mabel Brown 'Bessie' to avoid any confusion. They were cousins but brought up as sisters, and went to school in Winterborne Kingston. My great grandmother Fanny who brought me up (!) used to have a lovely photo of them together when they were about 12, dressed in long dark dresses, with white smocks over the top, and button-up boots. Their hair naturally straight had been tied up in rags to make it curly !. I have lots of snippets of information like this, living with my great grandmother Fanny from the age of 6 until I was 16.
Vera Brown was sent away to some kind of 'boarding school' until she was 16. She married Charles Sharp and they lived in East Stour. Because of an accident in childhood, she was unable to have children, and adopted 2 boys, Robert and Terry from Barnardos in London. I believe Terry still lives and works in the Shaftesbury area. Robert joined the army - national service in the 60's. I'm not sure of his movements but I believe he married a Dorset girl. Vera was a very accomplished cook and seamstress. Knitted all sorts,crocheted etc and taught me as a child. These were skills she had learned in the 'boarding school'.
I do not know much about Frederick except that he was killed in the trenches in France in WW1 - He must have been quite young and apparently it broke Harriet's heart. I have come across it before.
When you mention Nora, I think you mean Frances. Again I do not know much about her except that she was not a well woman and spent some time in a sanitorium somewhere.
Aunt Lily was a real character and lived in a tiny hamlet called Deanland, about 2 miles from 6d Handley. Her husband Steve Kimber only had one arm - I never met him, he had passed away before my time. I often used to have holidays there with Fanny her sister. They were like chalk and cheese. Lily was slim and looked like Harriet where as Fanny was stout apparently like her grandfather she used to say
Lily had 4 children I think, but I only remember 2 sisters. I can't remember the younger sister's name and only saw her a couple of times, but the other one was Bessie who lived in 6d Handley and had about 6 children. Her married name was Chalk I think.
Yes you are quite right -there were 2 offspring for John. The other was my uncle Percy who maried Eileen from Ely,and they had a son Paul a little older than me. They lived somewhere near Cheddar Gorge. Wouldn't it be great to meet up with Orpah in Australia?
Do you have any dates for Mabel's siblings? I have not been in touch with any of them since was 16.
I would like to find out the dates of death for Harriet and Henry Collis but have been unable to trace them. My grandmother used to tell me that her father Henry died just after Harriet from a 'broken heart'. Apparently they were inseparable. How lovely in those days of hardship.
Let me know if I can be of any further help Rhodie.
Kathy
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