Wednesday 23 January 2008

My family tree now on Ancestry.co.uk

For anyone that's interested, my tree "Fitz-Henry, London, England" is now up on Ancestry and should be for unrestricted viewing. If it isn't, would someone let me know? Usual terms and conditions apply - if you want more information or see anyone you recognise, then please leave me a comment.

It hasn't got the non-related Fitz-Henrys on it, although I will put the litigious Fitzhenrys of Rock, Worcestershire on there when I have time to see if anyone has more information.

Spurs 5 Arsenal 1

Can't let last night's result pass without a mention. I'm sure I'll never have cause to post that scoreline again in my lifetime.

Friday 11 January 2008

Andrew Richard FitzHenry, and Horn or Hoon Hay

Having had no success finding the whereabouts of Horn Hay through the usual Google routes, I turned to the on-line catalogue of the National Archives. The property is listed as "Horn or Hoon Hay" in Derbyshire and searching for Hoon Hay on Google maps puts it indeed as a few miles East-South-East of Derby city.
The plot thickens though, as the deeds listed in the National Archive database gives the owner as Thomas Bradley Paget, the brother-in-law of Andrew FitzHenry senior (see the entries on the Fitzhenrys of Rock).
Hoon Hay had originally belonged to the Rev. Richard Watkins, so it was not a FitzHenry property, but had passed to the Pagets by marriage.
After the long and bitter Chancery court case, had the families become reconciled? Was Andrew FH a resident in, or a tenant of, his uncle's property?

Thursday 10 January 2008

Discovering Google books / more about Andrew Richard FitzHenry

I've now discovered the potential of Google books for finding random Fitzhenry references.
Here's one.
Andrew Richard Fitzhenry (the son and heir of Andrew Fitzhenry of Rock, Worcester) has his obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1844. It's only two lines and says:
"DERBY - March 15. Aged 36, Andrew Richard FitzHenry Esq. Late of Horn Hay."
What's interesting is that I've got his death certificate which shows that he died at 111 Great Saffron Hill, Holborn London (of consumption) on March 17th aged 35.
Ok so the date's a bit out, but what of the place? I assume that Horn Hay is the name of his estate or village, but I haven't found it yet near Derby - there is one mention of Horn Hay, but it's in Somerset.
The other interesting thing is the capital H in FitzHenry - the family may have lost the hyphen, but they haven't quite got round to putting it all into lower case.