The Letter That Started It All

 

 

In 1940, the Blitz was going on in London. Bombers were flying over the city and the surrounding area every day. It must have been terrifying. My mother would have been sixteen. She got it into her head to write a letter to her grandfather's brother who was still in England. This is his reply. I have to say from what he says at the close of the letter, it is clear that Ellen Tapply and perhaps Robert had stayed in touch with him. More on that later. First, for the Tapplys who are not familiar, a basic family tree.

You can see the Tapply children here. Charles E Tapply was a middle child. Of those children, Thomas, Elizabeth, and Charles emigrated to America. I have not been able to trace Mary Ann, but I suspect that the photo in Holly Jones's family's possession is an image of her. James Henry Jr. emigrated to Australia and then returned to England. Harry came to America and returned to England. The baby of the family was George. He had a long career working for the British postal service in Brighton. When he retired, I think he wanted a place by the sea, but maybe not someplace as touristy as Brighton. (think Coney Island and you would have some idea) So they moved to Whitstable. My mother, seeing this return address, simply assumed that was where the family came from. They DID come from Kent, but from Wittersham just outside Maidstone. 

Where George Tapplyy lived

As you can see, Tankerton is a small suburb of Whitstable. Whitstable is famous for its most delicious oysters. It would have been a nice retirement place, but during WWII, being right on the Thames Estuary was a liability. His good cheer in the letter is amazing.

Here is George's letter:

                                                                                                            21 Fitzroy Road

                                                                                                            Tankerton, Whitstable, Kent

My Dear Grand Niece,

            I am glad to have received your letter safely and trust that this will reach you. In 

These days of War one cannot guarantee that a letter will cross the ocean safely. I knew that my brother Charley had grandchildren, but you are the first one to approach me and I certainly return thanks for your very interesting letter. I have five brothers and two sisters but they are all dead, your grandfather Charley being the last to go. I was the youngest of the family and I have reached 76 years. Since you are part Tapply I must tell you that the Tapplys have been domiciled in Kent, England right along from Saxon times. Quite recently, a cousin of mine, Allan Tapply, a barrister, (unreadable) copied a pedigree of the Tapplys and after (unreadable) years of inquiry, search and scrutiny of parish registers, Kentish records etc. etc. he published it privately and I am glad to say he sent me a copy. He traced our branch of the Tapplys back to 1600 direct, but other branches he quotes from early Norman and even PreNorman times. You find all manner of them in the pedigree, holders of ancient manors, farmers, (unreadable), mallsters, (unreadable), grocers, tailors, etc. etc.

There are not shown in the pedigree any knights in shining armor or at least swineherds so our people in the past have not been apparently been top or bottom. The pedigree seems to show a condition of life which is very (unreadable) in Humanity “some goes up and some goes down” as Brer Rabbit says to Brer Fox when he drowned him in the well. 

However enough of the pedigree. Times are very serious and our England is now an armed camp and at present we are waiting to see what happens. People have no fear of invasion but we are afraid that it will be a long war.

There is plenty of food in the country and we get plenty although some things are rationed.

We frequently get (unreadable) alarms from the siren, but so far, we are not seriously troubled.

I have a son and daughter (who of course are cousins of your mother) Hugh is in the Civil Service and Muriel, who is not strong is at home. We live by the sea. Whitstable is near to Canterbury – 6 miles. Canterbury would please you. It dates straight back from the time of Julius Caesar who sacked it. It has a very noble cathedral about 700 years old and there are plenty of houses standing from 300 to 500 years old. We frequently go there since the architectural beauty of the old buildings pleases the eye. I think that it would please you since it is totally different to anything you have in the states.

Tell your father and mothers that I send my very best wishes to them and when you have finished with this letter please send it to your grandmother Tapply and Robert her son. And then I need not write to them on this occasion. And now, my dear girl, I wish you God speed and good fortune for the future. You have life before you and I believe you will use it well.

Yours Affectionately,

George Tapply

One note about Allan Tapply's book. I have a digital copy. While I find it very interesting, I am not in agreement with all his "facts". Allan Tapply claimed that in his interview with George he "knew nothing of his brother's families" which we can see is patently untrue. Maybe Allan wanted to stick to Tapplys still in England, but there are  Tapplys in Australia and New Zealand as well as the descendants in the States of Charles, Thomas, and Elizabeth. For the most part, Allan's family research was pretty good.

This is the letter I saw as a child that, in combination with the family reunion photo, got me started with an interest in family history. Who knew?

Tapply Lumber

 

Charlie and Bob Tapply outside Tapply Lumber

Over the years, there have been a few pictures posted to the family Facebook group of the Tapply Lumber Building on Culley Street.  By the way, these wonderful pictures are thanks to Buzz and Tina Tapply. I'm thinking they were taken in the forties, just based on clothing, but the tail end of the car in the top photo may place this more into the fifties. Everyone assumes I think, that this is where the story begins. However, Charles Tapply Senior, or Charlie (as I knew him) began in lumber a bit earlier.

Going through the Fitchburg Sentinel, I found an ad for the original Tapply Lumber location.

Tapply Lumber at 245 Lunenburg St.

The location on Lunenburg Street, or Route 2a has a modern building on it. It's located near the crossing of 2a and the John Fitch Highway. With a little more searching I found the notice of the purchase of Culley Street and the fate of the old building.

October 1940-The purchase of Culley Street

This places the establishment of the Tapply Lumber as most of the family knew it in October of 1940. He and his son Robert Nathan or "Bob" took over the established business at that location.  Buzz, Chuck, and Launa all have memories of the inside of that building. Both Buzz and Chuck describe the basement, where the custom cabinetry was built and lumber was stored. The upper floor had offices and 17 semiautomatic lathes. They all describe the elaborate belt and pulley system suspended from the ceiling that ran across the whole shop and powered the machines. Chuck described barrels in the basement the size of a 55-gallon drum. You would put in the wooden turned pieces with scraps of sandpaper and it would tumble them smooth similar to a rock tumbler. Launa has a particular memory of the loading dock which you can see more clearing in the contemporary pictures below.

She said, "The area down on the right was a loading dock, inside on the left of it was a huge ancient scale about waist high. Behind that was bedrock graduating up to the ceiling(main shop floor and about 15-20ft beyond the spectacular elevator run with an ancient amazing big chain and wheels." The back of the building had been built right into the granite ledge!

So what did Tapply lumber produce? Anything turned; handles, spindles, decorative work for houses, cabinets... I found some ads that give you some idea of what came from their shop.

A few of the regular ads that ran in the Sentinel

The ad for the knotty pine confirmed what I had heard; Charlie Tapply built my grandmother's last home on Rogers Avenue. Brainard's bedroom was completely paneled in that knotty pine. When it became a guest room, sleeping surrounded by all that paneling was a real trip.

Buzz said that they also took part in a fifties craze. The tubing for the original Hula Hoop was made in Leominster. Tapply Lumber made the wooden plugs that joined the two ends and made the hoop. Chuck confirmed this and adds that the kids from the fraternities at Fitchburg State came to Tapply Lumber for the "paddles" used in initiations. 

And where did all the lumber come from? Well, Bill Tapply had a lumber operation in Brookline, New Hampshire. All in the family.

Bill and company hauling lumber

It wasn't all smooth sailing, however. There was a large fire in March 1951.

19 March 1951

It was a large enough fire to make the front page of the Sentinel. Here is a bit of their coverage.

“Although officials theorize that a spark from the basement boiler ignited shavings in a nearby waste bin, the cause was still being probed today…”

“The bulk of the loss was in the cellar where lumber was stacked. The office on the street floor of the one-story  brick and wooden plant was untouched as was the shipping room, storage room and the major part of the plant…”

“Flames lurked at the west end of the Mohawk Express Garage also owned by Mr. Tapply”

“Mr Tapply said that his full crew of 25 workers would work as scheduled today, despite the fact that heat destroyed some of the lathe belts. The lumberman also stated that the plant was engaged in ‘some government work’ including turnings for airplane emergency life rafts.”

Launa said the ceiling downstairs was never the same after the fire. Leave it to Charlie and Bob, they were open and running the next day.

Members of the younger generation also have fond memories of visits to the building.

Kevin Tapply said, "I have a few memories of visiting Grampa and Uncle Bob... I was enchanted with this overhead belt system that drove all the machinery. I can still remember the smell of the fresh-cut wood"

And Mark added  "I'll always remember all the sawdust. It's not that much different from my shop where I build cabinets today."

Charlie left the business eventually and Bob bought him out. Bob continued, according to Launa, until his death in 1977.

Here are a couple of more contemporary pictures of the building. In the first, you can see the loading dock. The second is from the opposite side of the building.

 Woodworking has definitely been in the blood of this particular branch of the Tapplyy family. My thanks to Buzz, Tina, Chuck, Launa and Mark for their help gathering information for this post.

Charming Old Photos Tell Us the Family Story

Eugene H Rogers- Sign painter by trade, fine art painter by avocation

When I look at the old photos that people add to their trees, I can often tell so much about the person by looking at the expression or the body language. But what fascinates me are the really old photos where the pose is not a formal portrait in a studio, but something that shows a bit about a person's profession or home life or surroundings. 

Eugene didn't make his living as a fine art painter, but there's no doubt from this photo what his hobby was. Aside from the paintings, I can look at his clothing, the chair, the brocade wallpaper and the bare wood floor and tell something about the studio where he worked. I can also date this from 1880-1890 based more or less on the things I see.

Daisy Tapply Schaefer and her husband George

This picture show my grandmother's elder sister Daisy with her husband in a very early model of some sort of car. The very early Henry Ford Quadricycle was similar. From the clothes, I would say after 1900 but before 1910. She married George in 1902. 

Clyde Merton Keene- grocer

This is Clyde Merton Keene, whose grandmother was one of my Farrar relatives. I like that he is pictured in his grocer's apron complete with stains. I didn't notice until looking more closely, that he is in a wheelchair. Probably a story there.

Sidney Douglas Farrar

Sidney Douglas Farrar, another of my Farrar relatives,  played first base for the eight seasons for the Philadelphia Quakers and later for the Philadelphia Athletics. The left one is a studio shot, but the right photo is a real gem complete with a player in motion in the background.

Violet Louise Baldry

Violet Baldry was the half sister of some of my English Tapply relatives. My guess is this nurse's uniform dates from some time in the 1920's.

Helen F Harrod practices what she teaches

This photo obviously came from a newspaper article about Helen F Harrod. She was a music instructor at DePauw University.

Isaac Estill Harrod

Isaac Harrod lived and worked for the railroad in rural Kansas. This was a studio shot, but he's wearing his everyday clothes and I just love the dog in the picture. You get a real sense of him as a character in this photo.

Marie Tapply with Warren on her lap

This is my Aunt Marie, Bob Tapply's wife. I'm told this was taken in the old Tapply home at the top of  Pearl Hill Road. Again, look at the old stove, the china breakfront and the clothes. It gives this informal photo real character.

Francis Braedreck Rogers family

Here's the Francis B Rogers family in front of their home. Not only do you get a good look at the house, but each person in the picture is doing something a little different. You have the two children in front of the fence with their toys, the man by the steps reading, the couple posed by the hammock. I count no fewer than thirteen people in this clever photo. Rogers was my cousin through the Aaron Rogers line.

Belinda Cooke aka Sr. Mary Columbia

I have fewer photos from the Cooke side, but these two are gems. First my cousin the nun. A formal photo but in her full habit with what looks like a wreath of flowers circling her head.

Cooke home in Clooningan, Sligo, Ireland

This is the Cooke homestead. My guess would be in the 1920's. Again you get a sense of the place. Look at the thatched roof, the whitewashed walls, the bicycle propped by the gate. It's a little slice of a moment in time.

When we share our family histories with people who aren't passionate about genealogy, I think photos like these bring history alive- especially for the very young. I can think of a million questions a young person might ask when looking at these photos. What a teachable moment! And don't forget to document anything you might know or might have heard about the photos in the family album.  

If this topic interests you, check out Maureen Taylor's website here.

They Shall Not Grow Old

This is a post I had meant to make back in November or December, but the research involved overtook me. November was the 100th anniversary. You may have heard about Peter Jackson's new film They Shall Not Grow Old. It's a wonderful film, long overdue, paying tribute to the soldiers of World War I. The best part of  it is the fascinating technology involved in what Jackson did. He took old footage, colorized and cleaned it up and then sync'ed voices and dialogue with the film. The results are simply amazing. HERE is a sample. If you are interested in HOW he accomplished this, there is another bit on YouTube HERE. It's still out there in theaters and I urge you to try to see it.

What also interested me was the genealogical possibilities. Apparently that occurred to other folks as well.  Lisa Louise Cooke recently discussed the documentary portion at the end on the Genealogy Gems podcast.  After I saw the film I wondered just how many men in my tree HAD served in WWI. Now I have covered the service of my grandmother's brother, "Harry" Tapply,  in a previous post. But it took me almost three months to compile a complete list. Some are American, some are from the British side of my tree. Many times, if the name was too common, I couldn't verify the service; there may be some omissions. Some of the older British soldiers served in the domestic "service corps" and some of the Americans in the Coast Guard. However, this is the list I came up with.

Right around 70 men in my tree served. Some gave their lives. I decided NOT to distinguish that here. Service is service. When I think about the men in Jackson's film telling their stories (he used old recordings from the British War Archives) I wonder what my relatives would tell us. I'll bet the stories would be fascinating.

Lil' Punkins for a Throwback Thursday

Melissa, Melanie and Holly Jones on the steps in Lunenburg some time in the late 50's. For my cousins, here's how we are related.

Another cute picture from the Tapply cousins and very timely.

A Nostalgic Look Back

From the left: Cindy Tapply Letarte, Susan Tapply Ingraham, William R Tapply Jr. and Joyce Tapply Bingham

To me, this photo looks like it ought to be a promotional photo for a classic TV sitcom. It's just such a nostalgic photo of a particular time. These are my Tapply cousins about 1960. The race car looks like something straight out of  "The Little Rascals".

Susan Tapply Ingraham explains that her grandfather Charles built a small subdivision of homes on Maple Parkway in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. Maple Parkway was on a small hill, so perfect for a race car in the summer or a sled in the winter. Here's what Susan was able to tell me about the photo:

"Some of the homes were built by Grandpa Charles and I think he named the road. Uncle Chuck, Charles Jr. built some. Uncle Bob, Charles's son raised his family there also. It was a wonderful neighborhood where all the boys would build their carts and race down the hill. We had huge games of capture the flag in the woods behind the houses and also went sledding on what is now Walmart Mountain. The Ruggles family, four boys, would hold Jimmy Fund fairs and the entire neighborhood would become involved. We had wonderful memories in that neighborhood that Grandpa Charlie began. Uncle Bob's daughter, Launa, still lives there. She has carried on the Tapply construction creativity in her remodeled childhood home" (The Jimmie Fund is a charity that raises money to fight pediatric cancer)

Mark Tapply added that the race car was built by his father, Chuck and by Robert Tapply's son, Buzz.
For those trying to keep score with all the Tapply names, here's a greatly simplified chart for the names in this post:

I love photos that evoke a certain period and this one really does!

Happy Blogiversary!

Tapply Family 1927

Yesterday, was the four year anniversary of this blog. Of course, it completely slipped my mind. I know there must have been something over at GeneaBloggers, but I missed that until a message arrived in my inbox. Thanks to you all.

For this blogiversary, we have the picture that piqued my curiosity as a child. This is the Tapply family reunion in 1927 at the family homestead on Pearl Hill Road. We've had a lot of debate back and forth over the years about exactly who all the people are, but you can bet they're all Tapply family somehow.

I'm working on another Civil War post. More to come soon. In the meantime, Happy Blogiversary to me!

Some Recent Discoveries....The Tapply Immigration Mystery Partly Resolved

As you know, I've been teasing out the puzzle of great-grandfather Charles Tapply's immigration. Family stories had him "stowing away" to come to America. Professional genealogists tell us that story is right up there with "grandma was an indian princess".  Seldom true. But I have recently found a few more clues from records that are now available online.

Ellen Tapply appears as Mrs. Tapply along with Annie and Daisy on the manifest for the steamship Bolivia in June 1881. The Bolivia was on the Anchor line and this journey took them in steerage from London to Castle Garden Immigration Station  in New York. (Ellis Island wasn't opened yet) The two pictures above are of sister ships on that line. I'm thinking the one on the left is the closest image.

Ellen Tapply was only 26 years old and Daisy was an infant. The passenger list doesn't reveal much more about them besides age, gender and country of origin. I looked for someone of the right age to be an incognito Charles, but haven't found that yet. I will go over the list more carefully, but what I mostly see are family groups.

This is a period photo of Castle Garden. I'm thinking Charles had already arrived and was there to meet them. The evidence for this is what I found next.

The newest piece of information to go digital was immigration documents. Jon had already gotten this one, but I had been convinced that immigrants filled in a much more extensive question document. Apparently, NOT.  One thing I've learned doing indexing for Family Search (data entry for files they've photographed to make them searchable) is that they wrote down as much or as little as the immigrant volunteered. So if you gave the city, county and country or origin, they often wrote it all down. Charles is very specific here. He arrived "on or about the 10th of March 1881". So now to find a boat arriving in New York around that time. Well, so far nothing. But I will continue to look.
I've tried using just his age, just his first name, just his last name, and variations on that. I also tried using Ellen's maiden name and her mother's surname. I figure at the very least he was traveling under an alias.

This is the type of record I'm looking for. We have Charles Freed. The age is correct, his occupation is given as carpenter which isn't too much of a stretch. The problem is that the Nederland arrived in New York in August of 1881. If Charles were going to lie to immigration, I suspect he would have just been vague and given the year. So this isn't Charles.

I also found the documents for his father James Henry Tapply and his brother-in-law Stephen Hodge. Nothing so far for Thomas. In those days wives and children were grandfathered in when the man took his citizenship. That's a shame, because there's always interesting information.

At least with this latest information we know that he didn't sail back and forth. It settles the question of the timing of Daisy's birth. (when I thought he has arrived earlier, I wondered about that) I still think about that young woman traveling with a tiny infant and a 3-year-old in steerage for a long ocean voyage. The motivation for a new start must have been strong. This doesn't completely discount the story Charles told his children and there is still a bit of mystery there for me to pursue.
Good. I like a good mystery.

Remembering Brainard Winslow Rogers

Brainard, about 1983

My brother has always referred to our Uncle Brainard as "the gentle giant" and I think that describes him perfectly. As you can see, he carried on the name from our Civil War ancestor, Winslow Brainard Rogers, which was probably both a point of pride and a bit of a burden. (although I never heard him complain)

Brainard Winslow Rogers was born in 1933, almost a full decade after my mother.  He grew up in the house on Garfield Street and later the first house on the corner of Rogers Avenue and North Street.  His childhood was at the height of the Great Depression when my grandfather finally went to work for the department of streets (most probably through a WPA program) and my grandmother briefly had a little shop to bring in extra money.

Uncle Brainard and me, Christmas 1954

He enlisted in the Air Force at the end of the Korean War, but ended up fulfilling his service in various reserve units. I remember him going off to serve with the SeaBees in Biloxi and coming back appalled at the heat and humidity! Generally, though, he seemed to enjoy his reserve weekends.

Brainard was brought up on the tales of the animals in Thornton Burgess and while he did some hunting in his younger days, by the time I knew him he was a birder and conservationist. He was sensitive and a bit shy, but very warm when you got to know him. My cousin, Lynn,  shared a memory of Brainard and his famous "walks" in the woods. Everyone in the family got to do one of these sooner or later and they were memorable.
"I remember all those long walks (fondly and not-so-fondly) he liked to take in virtually any kind of weather.  When I was young, I didn't appreciate it during the winter months - but he sweetened the deal at the end, wisely, with cups of hot cocoa at a diner. Dad's form of walking was infamously closer to almost -jogging, speed walking.  When I did move back to Fitchburg for my first year of college, and he was still doing his 5-mile per day walk in the hills behind Burbank Hospital, he was a bit taken aback by how fast I had become.  Our regular walks were almost like races and I was proud that he seemed to find it a challenge to keep up with me sometimes!  When I came home from California with my husband-to-be, and Dad offered to take Mike for a 'walk', Mike returned exclaiming "That was no WALK!", and Nancy immediately chided him, knowing what he could be like to walk with!"
Lynn is right. Speed-walking was about it. I remember huffing and puffing along behind him- I was young and in fairly good shape. He was middle-aged and could run circles around me.

In his adult life, he was a plant manager for various large power stations at the Boston Navy Yard,
Pease Air Force Base, Fort Devens and Fitchburg State College. He was Stationary Steam Fireman, which means he lit and monitored the big boilers.  At the college, he had a huge plant to take care of and Lynn said she found the boilers quite intimidating. He didn't. He used the hot boiler surface to cook up apples and make home-made apple sauce for a tasty snack.

For a shy person, Brainard got around. I probably could have shaved a few years off my research if I'd had him as a resource for genealogy. He was an avid fan of railroad lore and probably knew all about our railroading ancestors. He kept far-flung contacts in the family with Roger Frost and family of the Smith branch and Holly Jones' brother Dwight Jones of the Tapply branch.  I believe he was also in contact with Wally Cambridge and Sherman Coates as well. He would mention names in passing, but genealogy was not on my radar at the time. What a shame!

Grandma Kinsey, Jim, Jill, Lynn and Brainard- 1965

Brainard was married first to Judy Kinsey and has three children: Jim, Lynn and Jill. When he married Nancy Elliott, as the children grew up, he became more active in birding and the camera club. He grew a luscious vegetable garden every summer. They took some nice trips and really got to enjoy life. Lynn and her husband had them out to California. This story is very typical:
"One of my favorite memories of all was when he and Nancy came to visit Mike and I in Southern California, and we all went to dinner at a local restaurant.  Now, my father had never in my lifetime taken a sip of alcohol.  At his second wedding to Nancy, he drank a flute of ginger ale.  So imagine my surprise when my husband talked him into ordering one of the delicious peach daquiris that the rest of us were enjoying - and he LOVED it, and looked just like a kid in a candy store, sucking that drink down rather quickly.  As I remember, he wandered off for a lengthy time shortly thereafter, and we were concerned and sent Mike looking for him.  Maybe he went to the bar and had another one, who knows?"

Brainard was taken from us far too soon, on the 9th of September in 1990. He would have been 83 on the 19th of this month. He is missed by his two girls, his wife Nancy, his grandchildren, and all of us who knew him. People always underestimated my uncle. Those of us who loved him knew better.

The Great Grand Challenge: Crunching the Data

 A little while back, Randy Seaver of Genea Musings posted the great-grand challenge. You can find out more about it here.  He also posted some brief directions for the challenge:
1) We each have 16 great-great grandparents. How did their birth and death years vary? How long were their lifespans?
2) For this week, please list your 16 great-great grandparents, their birth year, their death year, and their lifespan in years. You can do it in plain text, in a table or spreadsheet, or in a graph of some sort.
3) Share your information about your 16 great-great grandparents with us in a blog post of your own.

I thought this sounded like a fine idea, but as you can see, I have a bit of a problem. The paternal ancestors are still a bit lacking. Food for future research. However, I decided that I would see what I could do with the maternal side for great-great grandparents and both sides for great-grandparents. So, here is what I found presented in a fan chart.

For the known ancestors (great-great-grands) on my maternal side the average birth year is 1828. The birth years run 47 years from 1806 (Benn) to 1853 (Johnson). The average life span was 63 years. (Men had an average of 60 years and women an average of 65) A little noodling on the internet told me that life expectancy for men born between 1800 and 1830 was 38 years at birth and by age 5 had increased to 55 years. This would be due to the large number of infant deaths, as I have discovered working on my own tree. Women could be expected to live 39 years at birth and it jumped to 59 if they survived to age 5. Overall, my maternal great-grands beat the average by almost 5 years.

When I looked at the great-grandparents on both sides things improved. Of course we can imagine that between 1850 and 1900 more women survived childbirth and more babies survived to age 5. The great-grandparents fell into the years where medical care was more available and all of the great-grands on my tree worked in occupations other than farming.  The Industrial Revolution made a real difference in their lives. That had to have improved their chances.

The average birth year for the great-grandparents was 1850. This spanned 52 years between 1820 (Fitzgerald) to 1872 (Smith). The average life span for my paternal great-grandparents was 73. (70 for the men and 76 for the women) On the maternal side the average life span was 79 (80 for the men and 78 for the women). Looking again at those general statistical averages, my great-grandparents did significantly better- about 20 years.

Finally, I looked at my grandparents. The average birth year here was 1887. There was a span of 20 years in births-much closer than the previous generations. Both sides show the differences in a modern life with modern health problems; both grandfathers only lived to their 50's. This was actually just about average for men in their birth years. My grandmothers lived to be 95 and 93. These women exceeded the statistical average by almost 30 years.

So what does all of this tell me? It's interesting data, but what does it mean? When I look at my family tree now, especially at this fan chart, I see something more than numbers. I think back to my study of history in school where I was struck by the lives of our ancestors: the war, the disease, the lack of medical care, the dangers of daily life. I was amazed at our survival. Now some might say this is Darwinism in play. I see the great-great grandfather who just happened to father a child just before marching off to the Civil War- only to die. I see the great-great grandfather who lost sisters older and younger to vicious Maine winters and croup. Why the four infant sisters, but not him? And of course I think of all the women who survived 6 and 8 and 10 childbirths under the most basic conditions when other women did not. I can't help but think there is something more at play here. It first occurred to me several years ago as I began this work on the tree, although I can remember thinking about this long before. I heard someone on Finding Your Roots express just the right sentiment in almost the exact words I have said to myself for years: for of all of the war, disease, accident and happenstance, we in the current generation are the result...the very lucky result. If you're thinking this implies the need for a measure of gratitude, a bit of awe and some responsibility, I would agree.

Setting the Scene- Ellen Freed Benn

    This is Ellen Freed Benn, the matriarch of our particularly large branch of the Tapply family tree. There is no date on the picture, but it's bound to be early. She had12 children in all, 11 living. Her ancestry is a knot still to be totally unraveled. I've been working on that for a while now.

     Sometimes it's worth sending off for vital records, even if they cost a bit. This was once of those times. The family Bible said that Ellen Benn was born in Sutton Valence, but her records didn't turn up there. Oh, I found a christening entry, but no birth record. When London turned up on the hints in Ancestry, I had to know more.
    From this record we have an exact birth date, a place, her father's occupation and some information about her mother. By March, when this certificate and the christening entry were filed, her mother  Mary Ann Frid (Freed) was recorded as "deceased".  Perhaps this was in childbirth, birth complications, or illness. Life was tough back then in the poor neighborhoods of London. A little research into Somers Town has told me that.
     Crawley Mews doesn't exist anymore. At some point when roads were straightened and reorganized, the road and the mews disappeared.

    This is the corner of Eversholt Road where Crawley used to be. The mews would have been behind the houses on the left. If you look at the cross street of Lidlington, behind these houses, you can see a wide garden space that must have been the mews at one time.

    This all looks very leafy now, but the descriptions online of Somers Town at the time are of real poverty. Charles Dickens' childhood home is only a block away.

This is from a book about the mews of London. Imagine now that John Benn kept his "rig" and his horse in the stable and mews below. He and his wife and child lived above. 

    The neighborhood of SomersTown is near Old St. Pancras Hospital, St. Pancras Station and King's Cross Station (of Harry Potter fame). Today it's a very mixed bag of working people and immigrants. Even then, the police blotter that  cousin Holly found describes some blocks as very affluent and some as quite poor. To give you some context, I found an antique map where you can just read "Crawley" inside the red circle. I suspect the three horizontal buildings there are the mews. The modern map below shows how changed it all is.

    For Americans unfamiliar with London, I'm including a wider map too.

     After her mother's death, Ellen went to live with her Freed relatives in Kent. First she lived with her aunt, then an uncle. I believe this aunt is the "mother" who presented her with the family Bible. My research leads me to think that her father may not have survived long after her mother.  I don't find anything that's certain, but he seems to disappear. The police notes Holly found come from the London School of Economics and they chronicle an officer walking his "beat" in 1898. He makes note of a "cab master who is a considerable proprietor" living on Crawley Mews. So Crawley Mews continued to be home to London cabbies for a time.

     The police blotter also records that "the gardens of Oakley Square remain private". I was trolling around the internet trying to find some very early pictures of Somers Town. I found a few pictures of Old St. Pancras church and the railway stations, but the picture that made me smile was this one.

This picture from that very time is of the hippo in Regents Park Zoo. Somers Town is right on the edge of Regents Park. With the local green space closed to them, I like to think that maybe John and Mary Ann Benn took a stroll through Regents Park and perhaps enjoyed a look at the animals in the zoo. It's a nice thought, since their happiness was so brief.

Common and Uncommon Surnames

                          TAPPLY                                                                                                      TAPLEY

As I've mentioned before, I get a lot of inspiration for my searching from listening to podcasts about genealogy. Two of the best are from Lisa Louise Cooke. Her Genealogy Gems podcast has lots of good ideas. She also has a podcast through Family Tree magazine. In the February podcast she talked with several experts about how having an unusual surname can be an asset in genealogical research. I wouldn't strictly call the Tapply surname unusual, but the spelling with two P's seems to have been a variant that developed in a particular area of Kent. In early census and birth records, all my Tapply relatives were actually Tapley. So if you are a two-P Tapply we are most certainly related somehow. What's even more exciting is that there are all sorts of resources online to explore the popularity of your surname. The map on the left is the incidence of the Tapply surname in modern England. The right is the Tapley surname. You can see that southeastern England and Kent are hotbeds for Tapply and Tapleys. My cousin Sue tells me that her brother (living in Kent) runs into other Tapplys and Tapleys all the time wanting to know his village of origin or which family line he belongs to.

Why would this matter? Well, let's say you're having trouble pinning down where your relatives with the unusual surname emigrated from or immigrated to; this map might give you a start deciding where to look. It also tells you whether the name has remained "active" or is dying out.

This map tells me where in the world I am most likely to find Tapply with my particular spelling. You can see that the highest incidences are in the United States, England, Australia and Canada. Change the spelling to Tapley and you can add in New Zealand.

Going one step further you can see that most of the Tapplys in the United States are people I know are directly related to me. Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Colorado would be where they are. Since Charles Tapply Senior had only 3 sons and mostly daughters this map reflects the children and grandchildren of Bob and Charlie Tapply. The only outliers are Tennessee and New Jersey. That might be interesting to explore. (There are some Tapplys in the U. S. descended from Charles's brother Thomas J. Tapply. ) Since the highest incidence of the Tapply surname on the first map was in the United States and on the second map it appears to be direct relatives, I think we can say that the name is declining. 

You can see where this would be useful in tracking down relatives and determining where they fit in the tree. Be sure to click on the two links I've included and see if you can track down an unusual name in your family tree.  I think this is lots of fun.