RootsChat.Com

Does anyone know where Brough Fen is exactly?

Googling "Brough Fen" brings up Borough Fen which is a civil parish in the north of Peterborough.

In the 19th Century it was in Northamptonshire.

Ken

Mike, what a wonderful site, you have clearly done an enormous amount of work! I am thrilled to see the Thompsons back a further two generations.

As you may have gathered, my link to William Thompson is through my mother's side and the marriage of Mary Anne Thompson (William's daughter) to William Bradley. Their son, William (why is everyone called William  ) was my grandfather. He died fairly young, from a burst appendix so I never met him.

I am intrigued by the Rachel Bowles problem. I assume the Rachel in the 1891 and 1901 censuses was from Toseland? I notice there are a few William Thompson / Rachel marriages after 1881 but none from the Dronfield area. The Rachel death in 1876 (4th Q. Derby 7b/274) is a bit suspicious as it is not really the "right" area. But why would he say he was widowed in the 1881 census.

Regards, Ken

In a recent thread I was directed to the Bassetlaw Museum which does not appear to be mentioned in this list of resources.

http://www.bassetlawmuseum.org.uk/index.asp

This Museum covers northern Nottinghamshire, in particular the towns of Retford and Worksop. I was  particularly impressed with the Museum's collection of photographs, all of which appear to be high resolution and freely downloadable. To quote the Museum:

"In 2002 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £78,000 to Bassetlaw Museum to enable the purchase and digitisation of 20,000 negatives taken by professional photographers Edgar Welchman and Son of Grove Street, Retford between 1910 and 1960."

"The photograph collection contains over 27,000 photographs of the towns and villages of North Nottinghamshire and people who lived there from about 1870 to the present day. 8,000 general photographs from the museum's collections have been added to the Welchman Project images."

The collection can be searched by subject, people (names), places and dates. All photographs have some sort of description, many group photographs have a list of the people present.

Congratulations Bassetlaw Museum - a great resource!

That's a lovely photo. 

Yes, it's one of only two of my mother at about that age. Although quite small, it is in very good condition, I love it too.

Retford is in the north of Nottinghamshire, it may be listed as East Retford in your atlas.