Comments

Dear Pat,

I was thrilled to read your article about the Weston Worthy John Gregory the other day! I have been researching the Gregory family in north Somerset for some years, many of whom were Quakers, and on reading your information I wondered if I had this John Gregory on my tree.

I was thrilled to find that John Gregory is my 4xgreat-uncle! I had a feeling of real pride on reading that he and his sons had made such a mark on Weston society for so long!

Thank you, Pat, for your research which has helped me no end on putting more flesh on the bones of my forebears!

With kind regards,

Jill Cotton

I have been researching the farms in my village of Weare as a lockdown project, it has kept me sane!  It has proved very revealing on rural life and work.  I have also found interesting snippets to the lives of residents by using British Newspaper Archives,  from court cases, house sales to even what the bride wore at a wedding! I hope this helps.

Margaret

Friendly Societies were early Insurance Companies specialising in specific risks such as funeral costs. The National Archives and/or Somerset Heritage will hold some records I would think.

David Boley has pointed out to me that on Page 355 of Pam Slocombe's book there is a paragraph about the Mark Friendly Society, which might have been known locally as the Mark Club.  If anyone has family papers which mention the Friendly Society I'm sure that he would be interested.  It was mentioned as late as 1865 in the Western Gazette when it met in the Pack Horse Inn.

This is purely a guess.  There are 9 men who are "Members of Mark Club" buried between 1800 and 1809.  It could be a form of Burial Club which covered the costs of the burial.  The Vestry Minutes might refer to it.  There is no mention that I can see in the book "Mark, A Somerset Moorland Village" by Pamela Slocombe.

Hi WSMDFHS members

As a 'lockdown' project I've been undertaking the history and development of Hill Road, Weston - super - Mare, mainly focussing on Hill Road north of Milton Road to Trewartha Park.

Specifically, I've been researching the individual houses  which were mainly built over a 40 year period starting with Hans Fowler Price's Tyn - y - Coed built in 1862 - and the biographies of many of the residents who lived in the houses in the style of the TV series 'A House Through Time'.

Many Hill Road names and families are involved in this research project but if any members have already done research on any house, family or individuals in Hill Road then I'd love to hear from you, and especially if you know of anyone who previously lived in Hill Road, or visited relatives who lived there, and would be willing to share their experience of living there.

We have lived in Hill Road for 35 years so we rather feel like historical artefacts ourselves now..!

If you have any old photos or images/pictures of Hill Road, Deeds/documents &c and are willing to share them, I would love to hear from you and would be more than happy to discuss and share my research to date.

thanks in advance for any interest & enquiries

kind regards - Keith Graham