Rev Alfred Pickles

[keyless]

Hi, I found your blog last night, read both your stories and was very touched by them.
 I am related to Alfred though his mother, Jane Bracher (not Breacher), the sister of my 3xgreat grandfather, Joseph Bracher.  They were 2 of a family of seven children, the youngest of whom died as an infant. All the others, with the exception of Jane, emigrated to Australia through the 1850s and went on to produce a huge clan of Brachers.

It would seem likely than Jane died sometime between 1851 and 1861, very probably before Seth Pickles.  Such an event would go a long way to explaining why Aunt Priscilla and Alfred were living together in 1861, the unmarried sister being a natural choice to fulfil the housekeeper role for her widowed brother and his son

Jane Bracher came from a Baptist family.  She was born in Kidderminster, Worcs, where her parents were married and all her siblings bar the youngest were registered at the Union Street Particular Baptist Chapel.  The family had moved to the Bradford area by the time of the 1941 census.  The father, John , and brother Joseph were wool combers -wool combing was then an apprenticed trade with seven year's apprenticeship being the norm.  Seth Pickles was a wool comb maker in 1841.  Priscilla was registered at the General Baptist Meeting House, Queenshead (now Queensbury) on June 30, 1837.  It's easy to see how their lives came together.

[ashgroveguy]

Thanks for the correction and the info. I will correct the blog..and the family records. I am severely vision impaired, so unless documents are really clear I often have problems deciphering them and have to make guesses, with the hope that someone somewhere will correct me. I have also made some assumptions based on info available. The misinterpretation of Janes name explains why I had problems tracing her.
Clara and Joseph Pickhills were my GGG grandparents, with Seth, Priscilla and my GG grandfather Rickinson (Clara's maiden name) being their offspring. Rickinson married Elizabeth Appleyard, they had thirteen kids amongst them George Rickinson Swan Pickhills who came out here some time in the first half of the 1800s, became a steamboat captain and was one if the original pioneers exploring the Darling river, and establishing Bourke. That us a long, fascinating story that is coming up. The family to that stage had a very tragic history, and my GG grandmothers story is also very sad. Interesting that so many ended up in Australia, possibly due to the gold rush, I dare say.  If you would like to swap info and research please email me -Tim - at (*)

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[keyless]

It's not just you who has problems with reading old documents.   Bracher isn't the only name to be spelled and/or described in just about every way imaginable. 
A correction to my earlier notes - further fishing today has revealed the Priscilla P who was registered at the Queenshead Baptist Chapel is not "our" Priscilla.  Her mother was a Mary Dawson.  I must admit I was slightly puzzled at the combination of the Baptist chapel-attendee living at The Old Dolphin Inn (which is still in business by the way )
  Have you seen the Clayton Heights Methodist church memorial to Clara, Seth and Priscilla?  That ties them all together beautifully.
Whilst my connection to the Pickles/Pickhills is very tenuous, I have enjoyed looking into their records - the hunt is a lot of the fun in this game.  I haven't followed them to Australia - though I did take note of Elizabeth taking some time to grow old disgracefully out here.  Do you have an online family tree I could take a peek at some time or will I have to wait for the blogged telling of the tale?

[ashgroveguy]

Lol. Poor Elizabeth, two arrests in Goolwa for both foul language in public (would love to know exactly what she said), and fir stealing some butter . She was actually staying with George Rickinson Swan (GRS from hereon in), and it wasn't a personality trait. She returned to England shortly after - to London, for some reason, and in early 1900s died at Tooting Bec Mental Asylum of "Senile Decay" (dementia), so would appear to have been happening for a while. Three of her and Rickinson's brood moved out here - GRS (my great great uncle), Frederick William (my great grandfather, also moved to Bourke and was also a Master on a steamer also doing the Darling and the Murray rivers runs), and Clara, who moved to Tasmania for some reason, married into a well-to-do family, had one daughter who married with no children. I am the last of the line, and due to many nasty events over the years got fed up with my family, changed my name and headed iff without them.  Henry Moorson Pickhills is the other interesting one. Joined the Admiralty at 14 and died in Bengal in his early 20s. Have all his induction papers which includes a description of him, and statutory declarations from Elizabeth and Rickinson allowing him to join. Fascinating stuff. Rickinson is the other family member who declared himself bankrupt. He was an articled clerk. Family seems to have moved around a lot (Clara died at Old Dolphin). I do have the church inscription. I had traced Clara's side back to Robin Hood's Bay/Fylingdales in late 1580s. Had it all entered up in family tree software on my iPad, upgraded to a new iPad and very stupidly deleted the family tree app from the old iPad before transferring all my info to the new one, so lost the whole file...weeks and weeks of work. I'm sure it is still there...just need to find out how to retrieve it. Have started doing trees on both Ancestry, and Genes Reunited but because it us so long and complex, and redoing data you have already done on computer I haven't really had the enthusiasm to do it all online. I also recently had more eye surgery, and with having to adjust to that, and white cane training and all that I have dropped the ball for quite some time. Just getting back into it now. I trying to trace sll lines of the family...a big job...so all info is embraced lol. Like you, I love the hunt, and find the remoter branches of the family fascinating. Blimey, we are all connected to so many families

[ashgroveguy]

Keyless, you have made ne feel guilty about letting the online tree dangle, so have started updating and expanding the one on Ancestry.com.au, under name Pickhills Family Tree. Names are there, though some dates to be added. Would be interested in getting the Bracher data, at least for a couple of generations, being connected through Seth.