Woodstock.Dorothy Mary Prior born 1897

[TheRichJohnson]

Hello

I'm Richard Johnson and my great grandmother was Kate Prior born in Woodstock in 1871. I believe her father was James Prior but based on your research that I've followed I believe she was the daughter of the other James Prior (both were born in 1841) so I suspect they were cousins. I am only just starting on the journey to trace my ancestors. I live in London so have the public records office 5 minutes from where I work and I intend to visit Woodstock to do more research. If I can help fill any gaps I would be more than happy to help - by the looks of it we are distant cousins!

Best regards

[gingerslf]

Hi Richard
ANOTHER JAMES PRIOR!

I hope I am on the right track..lol

I have Kate C Prior born in 1871, father James born 1841.

In 1891 aged 20 Kate was living in Paddington, a Housemaid, no 44 Leicester Gardens.

Are you sure they are not the same people?

Seems to be a big coincidence!

My grandmother was Dorothy Mary Prior (Hemmings) daughter of Mary Ann Prior Hemmings b1867 daughter of James and Harriet Hemmings. 

She was incredibly hard to track down as my mum always thought her mums maiden name was Prior.
 
It turned out she found a Baptism certificate which gave her correct name as Hemmings. 

My mum also believed that her mum was born in Woodstock and was surprised when I tracked her down to born in  Cowley Workhouse Oxford!

Keep in touch...I no longer live in Woodstock, but visit mum frequently. If you do visit, it is a beautiful little town.

Steve
gingerslf yahoo.com

BTW..You will find NO census for Woodstock 1861...Someone lost it!

[TheRichJohnson]

Hi

That's definitely her. Do you mean Leinster Gardens Paddington (as there is no Leicester Gardens)? I used to live near there. This fits because my father told me that Samuel Johnson (his grandfather) and Kate met whilst she was pushing a a pram in Kensington Gardens. Samuel was in the Coldstream Guards I'm told and may have been guarding the palace.

They married in Sheffield in 1891(!) I suspect that they had to run away for the usual reasons (!) but latterly they lived in 9 Putney Park Road near Barnes which I visited with my father a couple of years ago - he had spent a lot of time as a child with them. He last saw her in 1942 before he went off to South Africa for flight training.

A story that came through is that a) the family had owned land which was taken away from them by the Marlborough's and b) Winston Churchill used to pull her pigtails in church (presumably St. Martin's at Bladon) - he was 3 years younger so one can imagine an annoying kid doing that!!

I visited Woodstock about 25 years ago when I did a conference in Blenheim Palace and stayed at The Bear but had no idea I had family connections there at that time.

Re: James Prior - there are definitely 2 born in 1841. One married Harriott Hemmings the other married either Sarah or Frances Laughton. I am going to visit the Public Records Office in the next couple of weeks to get the relevant certificates.

Check out this reference: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=1324 (do a find on Prior)

I am very keen to find out about this branch of the family and to meet any long-lost relatives and help their quest too where I can. My email address is: (*).

All the very best

Richard

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[gingerslf]

Yes it is Leinster, someone copied it incorrectly from the original transcript.

Yes there were 2 James Priors born 1841, coincidentally I 'think' one married on my mothers half sisters side, to the Laughtons as you mentioned.

You stayed in The Bear 25 years ago, well at that time it was THE place to stay, film stars, nobility, etc, anyone who was anyone stopped there.

Your email addy was removed before I had time to make note of it.
Mine is my username at yahoo.com

reagrds
Steve