5th March 2005 - Ewers pt. 2
A reply to to the "Ewers Plea".
Hi Peter
Browsing for no particular purpose I came across Julie Lowenthal's letter to you. I doubt whether my information is of much use in her struggles with the 'many Ewers'!
For what it is worth my wife was daughter of Elsie Park (née Young) who was born in Pollicott in 1895 her parents being George Young (born 1866 and buried in Ashendon churchyard ) and Loisa (née Ewers) who was probably about the same age . They had five children in all and Loisa died about 1897/8 and, like George, may be burried at Ashendon,
Loisa and her a sister Annie married two brothers, respectively George and Henry (Harry) Young. The 1881 census shows the family of William Young born at Leckhampstead.)
'Harry' and Annie lived at at one of the cottages known as 'The Hill' by Ashendon church, where Annie remained, before the cottages were renovated) until she died possibly in the late 1970's.
All that, for what it is worth just might help Julie sort out the many Ewers who undoubtedly feature in the Ashendon Parish records.
Many thanks. (E&OE!)
Douglas L. Cooke
3rd March 2005 - Pollicott Farm/Manor
The following series of emails (slightly edited) were exchanged between Peter, Felicity and the great great granddaughter of the owner of Pollicott Farm c1830. She would like more information - do you have historical pictures or information regarding Pollicot Farm as requested below? If so, let Peter know and he can pass them on - if you are happy to, then we can add them to the web site too.
Hi Peter,
Came across your web page and would like to say thanks very much for the photos of the village. My grt grt grandfather was Thomas White who owned Pollicott Farm from c1830 until his death in 1867, when his wife Mary and one of his son's Frederick took over.
I wonder if there are any photos of the farmhouse in your collection. I did find one of the rear of it on the Bucks County Council site which has some great photos of the area. I would like to see what the farmhouse looks like from the front.
It was also nice to see the interior of St Mary's Church and know that my family would have worshipped there. I know some of them are buried in the graveyard.
Congratulations on your site.
Regards,
Annette Weckert
Australia
Later the same day the following addendum was received
I have sent you an email re the White's of Pollicott Farm and mentioned a photo on the Bucks County Council site which says 'Pollicott Farm', but I have just seen the photo of Pollicott Manor on your site and think that is what they have listed as Pollicott Farm. Can you clear this question up for me please?
I know Thomas White had 436 acres at Pollicott Farm in 1851, so perhaps his farmhouse is not as 'grand' as the one I thought to be his!
Felicity was able to give the following answer
Hello Annette,
Which farmhouse is which will depend on its exact location. There is Upper Pollicott which has Valley Farm (which may have been called something different) at the end of the lane, and this is an imposing house, as Pollicott Manor at Lower Pollicott (a mile down the road). Pollicott Manor was the farmhouse for Manor Farm until about 18 years ago when it was sold. The current farmers of Manor Farm live in a separate, smaller house. [...]
Glad you like the site !
Best wishes,
Felicity
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Hi Peter and Felicity,
Thanks for your replies. So I take it that the photo on the Bucks Council web page is incorrectly named as Pollicott Farm and should be Pollicott Manor?
The two photos of Pollicott farmyard on your website would be the farm that Thomas White owned? [...]
Regards,
Annette
---
Hello again Annette,
Sorry to have taken a little while to get back to you. The photo on the Bucks. C.C. site is indeed what was known as Pollicott Farm, and now known as Pollicott Manor, although it looks different now, having been ‘renovated’, not always in the best taste! The current and previous owners have tried to undo some of the renovations and to restore it to what it would have been like, (apart from the mod. cons.) You could try e-mailing them for information if you like, although both husband and wife are not good at reading their emails very often!! Their immediate predecessor also did a lot of research on the history of the house, one James Nye. Geoffrey and Lisa Perkins’s email addresses are:- [...] and [...]. Hope this is of interest.
Regards,
Felicity
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Hi Felicity,
Thanks so much for the information. At least I know now that it was Thomas White's home, so that is great.
I will email Geoffrey and Lisa to ask if they know anything of the White's ownership. The previous owner you mentioned- James Nye, is he still around?
I have a fair bit of research on the Whites, including Thomas' Will which mentions all this children from two marriages, so if you have anyone looking for the family, I'd be happy to help.
Thanks once again for your help.
Regards,
Annette
Peter received the following plea recently - can you help? Please send help and information to Peter who will forward it on.
Have been very interested in your website on Ashendon as have recently found out that I have a connection to the Ewers of Ashendon. Mary Ewers b1810 in Ashendon was my great great grandmother. She married James White and moved to Chearsley. Do you have any contacts who can help unravel the huge numbers of Ewers living in Ashendon in the late 18th century?
Thank you for such an interesting web site - a refreshing change from all the rubbish out there!
Julie Lowenthal (nee White)
18th October 2004 - Knibbs
An amateur genealogist, researching his family name Knibbs found the references to John Knibbs (here and here), although not one of his ancestors, a fellow Knibbs was, and sent the following mail;
John or Johnny as referred to at the website you mentioned was John Heny J KNIBBS who sadly died in California in 1982 (aged 72). His infant brother John was from Lower Pollicott buried at Ashendon which must be nearby and is to the west of Aylesbury. His father, John Brazell KNIBB and antecedents came from Quainton.
We have a lot of detailed info for John in America where he married two if not three times but I didn't know that he was involved with the railways before he emigrated nor that his sister was there growing oranges! He had 3 sisters. John became a mail clerk in America. I wonder if the Bob CHERRY who wrote the piece at the website in 1992 knew who was his first wife, a lady called Jean. Perhaps he married her before emigrating. Of interest the KNIBB/S and CHERRY families intermarried so Bob and friend Johnny were probably related!
It's really exciting when we can piece together items such as you sent.
Thanx a lot for the posting.
24th June 2003 - Waste Freighter
At the Annual Parish Meeting complaints were made about the waste freighter and I promised to look into it and get back to you. The responses I received were:
a) the reason we (AVDC) moved from the skip to the freighter was because of the ''potential for abuse'' (e.g. hazardous non-domestic waste) and therefore the inability of the Council to comply with its legal '' Duty of Care''. Virtually all authorities who had skip schemes have either changed to freighters or abandoned them and become reliant on the Household Waste sites or the chargeable bulky waste collection service.
b) The service is provided during the week and for only a few hours at a time, as this is the only way we can provide any sort of service to the parishes and control the wasted deposited. Between them the parishes received 225 visits last year.
In providing a driver he is meant to assist customer and ensure that only domestic waste is deposited. He is of course required to be courteous and helpful at all times. A fact that he will be reminded of today.
I know that this does not answer the main point of timing being more convenient but do not think that we can do too much about that. If next time the freighter comes and you have problems do please let me know by e-mail or phone.
Margaret Morgan-Owen
Councillor
Tel. 01296 651114
24 June 2003
We received an email from a former Ashendon resident who was at the 1970's Ashendon Fete (Bucks Herald) who puts the date of the Fete as before December 1971.