MIDGLEYNEWS                                          Do you have any news of people or places?                                          Do let me know and I'll post them up -T.M.

When we look at        ouselves we are          seeing eons of            generations who       have gone before.

 5th January 2005
*Heather has  been doing some reseach on the microfilm records for St. Peters and has updated the information on the Midgley emigrants to Canada  for Edmund Midgley FURNISS. See
http://midgleywebpages.com/canada.html

 22nd December 2004
*Gael Huntley has found Edward Midgley born 7th August 1818 at Bolling [Bowling], Bradford who according to family tradition was a seaman at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was married to Susannah Rhodes, they had perhaps five children, one of whom married and migrated to Canada. See http://midgleywebpages.com/bradford.html

 10th December 2004
*Kevin Midgley in British Columbia, Canada says his mother and father carried out genealogy relating to the family in the 1970's. They made the trek to Salt Lake City to search the data files manually. Kevin's brother has the details of their work from that time. One pair of books in  two volumes, that Kevin's brother has provides details about those "naughty" Midgley vicars in the 1500s as well as a history of the church.
Kevin's folks [see Midgleyana ] only took the family search back a few generations. Kevin will see if he can get hold of the information in January 2005 when he visits his brother Rodney, and see how other folks research fits in. Kevin was born near Manchester and his father's family were bakers in Manchester in the 1940's. Now, Kevin says, "I bake glass".
Contact: Kevin Midgley

 25th November 2004
*John Midgley is avidly working on Midgley of Newmiller Dam, Crigglestone and Sandal Magna. John's earliest is Eli Midgley, a collier who was probably the father of Joseph Midgley b~1812 at Crigglestone, Joseph  married Mary Benn at Sandal Magna 28th October 1842. They had three children Sahah b ~ 1843 at Newmiller Dam, George William b~1844 Midgley near Wakefield and Elizabeth b~ 1847 also at Midgley near Wakefield. Download a zipped tentative G.E.D. file and P.A.F. file for Midgley of Newmiller Dam, Crigglestone and Sandal Magna.
Contact: John Midgley
You will need Winzip and a free Personal Ancestral File or P.A.F. can be helpful for importing or exporting any G.E.D file if you do not have genealogy software. I have used P.A.F. myself  [T.M.] since 2.x and 5.x is superb even for multiple spouses if your branch has that inclination!
Joke: The Italians have recently put a clock on the leaning tower of Pisa, they now have the time as well as the inclination. [yes thanxxx, I've kept my day job] Worse joke: What leaps from bell to bell about the middle of the day? The lunchpack of Notre Dame.[I've taken up a night job too]  

 23rd November 2004
*Sue Fiffer from a will proved in 1573 has an Isabell Midgley married to a son of Thomas Hemsworth [yeoman] with daughters Margaret and Isabell in the Garforth - Swillington area West Yorkshire
Contact: Sue Fiffer

 6th October 2004
*Notes have been added to Midgleyana for chapters 3-5 and 8-14, which completes the online book.

 22nd September 2004
*Sue Gabriel has added more to the family of Midgley of Malton, East Yorkshire.
See http://midgleywebpages.com/eastyorks.html

 12th September 2004
*Winston has constructed a list of families of the Midgleys of Harewood in an Excel file
see http://midgleywebpages.com/wharfedale.html

 4th September 2004
*A complete list of Midgleys of Heptonstall from the I.G.I. can be found at
http://midgleywebpages.com/westyorks.html
or directly from http://midgleywebpages.com/midg_hept.doc

 24th July 2004
*Some of the email links are now getting out-of-date. If you have provided yours to these web pages check yours is current. One way to do this is to type your name into the Google search engine within inverted commas e.g. "my name" and hit enter, if you find your name check the email link on that page, if it is not current let me know at midgley-1athotmail.com and I'll update it- Cheers Tim.

An updated summary of about 200 Midgley names from Harewood in the I.G.I. has been added. Winston is searching for information re Midgley of Harewood. See Harewood at: http://midgleywebpages.com/wharfedale.html

28th June 2004
*Rick Sterry has sent his photographs of New Hall Farm, Midgley and what remains of the manor moat
These can be found at http://midgleywebpages.com/new_hall.html

 5th June 2004
*Ian Midgley of South Africa has kindly sent some photographs of Midgley near Halifax taken recently. See link "Modern Midgley" from the top of  http://midgleywebpages.com/midgleywest.html

 27th May 2004
*Coming soon, photographs of New Hall Farm
Rick de Wakefield has taken some photographs of New Hall Farm, near Midgley and he will be emailing these to me soon when he returns from holiday. He says:
        Remember sending me this initial email back on 3rd Feb 2001? Well, that was
        in the thick of the Foot-and-Mouth restrictions, and I could not oblige. You
        subsequently explained that you were interested in photos of the old moat,
        and mentioned a strange roughly circular structure on the OS map, about a
        quarter of a mile from New Hall Farm.

        I finally got round to exploring the area this afternoon, though I suspect
        you have long since obtained the information you required.

        However, if you would be interested in what I found, and the photos I took,
        then I will gradly oblige. I certainly had a very interesting ride round the
        area on my mountain bike, the only downside being that I managed to lose my
        mobile phone somewhere along the route.

 4th April 2004
*Tony Ingham has provided a carefully researched GED file for Thornhill of Thornhill, feudal neighbours of Midgley of Midgley which can be downloaded at http://midgleywebpages.com/thornhill.html

 27th March 2004
*Jaqui Bell has additional information on the Midgleys of Bradford.
see http://midgleywebpages.com/westyorks.html

*New Sites for genealogical searches online are at http://midgleywebpages.com/genesites.html

 24th March 2004 
*Peter Butler has updated information concerning the marriage of Anne Midgley of Holbeck
                  See: http://midgleywebpages.com/westyorks.html

10th March 2004
*Andy Micklethwaite has an Ellen Midgley Commemorative Reunion in Almondbury planned for  September 2005 See Andy's web link and  http://midgleywebpages.com/almondbury.html

*Des Rowe has information re a Thomas Midgley born Malton whose father Mark was born at Duggleby, East Yorkshire. See http://midgleywebpages.com/eastyorks.html

 1st March 2004
*Maureen Downes has a Hannah Midgley of Goldsborough near Knaresborough born about 1777 see details at http://midgleywebpages.com/westyorks.html
*Glen Midgley in Toronto, Canada had a grandmother Florence Midgley b. 1878 d. 1980 in Toronto who reached the age of 101.5. Glen believes that Florence's lineage can be traced back to Yorkshire but has not yet found the link. See http://midgleywebpages.com/canada.html
*Ian Powers found a stray, John Midgley and wife Phoebe  of  6, Cobden Street Much Woolton, [N.E. of Liverpool] Lancs.in the 1891 census for Lancashire
 

 20th January 2004
*Important changes have been made to some of the Yorkshire Arms page images as a result of assistance from The Lord Everingham of Laxton [Notts.]
see http://midgleywebpages.com/westyorksarms.html
*As a consequence of correspondence from Everingham the arms of Thornhill, which until now had not been sourced, have provided some supporting evidence that the Thornhills are connected in some way to the Midgleys of Midgley near Wakefield.
see http://midgleywebpages.com /thornhill.html

*A new mud map of Midgley near Wakefield has been provided side linked off
http://midgleywebpages.com/midgleyeast.html  or you can go straight there by copying [Control+C] and pasting [Control+V] the following address into your location box and hitting 'enter':
http://midgleywebpages.com/mudmap.gif  then print it off 'landscpe'.

18th December 2003
*Peter Butler recently found an ancestor of his, Anne Midgley, who married Joseph Himsworth. Their son John, Joseph was born in 1861 at Pleasant Road, Holbeck, any information would be welcome.
*Ian Lang's grandfather was Norman Lesley Midgley born in Bradford in the late 1800's - early 1900's, Norman's father was William Midgley born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. Ian would be interested in any links others may have.
*Norma Jones had a great grandmother whose maiden name was Ida Ina Midgley born 1871 in Osage, Iowa. Ida's father was John Calvert Midgley born 1831, Yorkshire, he migrated to the U.S. and is buried at Wheatland, North Dakota.

 2nd October 2003
*Alan and Jacqui Bell have details about James Midgley born about 1877 in Bradford. He married Mary Ellen Greenwood. James's siblings and parents appear in the 1881 census his own family moved to Buckfast and later Buckfastleigh in Devon.
see http://midgleywebpages.com/bradford.html

26th August 2003
*Thankyou to Ann Heany of Lancashire who has added a little more to the Midgleys' of Midgley near Halifax. This information appears as a link titled 'The Brooksbanks and Midgleys ' off the page
http://midgleywebpages.com/midgleywest.html

*Joyce Hanson has discovered a decorated item apparently made by Arthur Midgley, the Quaker. She says "I have an exquisite blue and white with gold trim piece made by Arthur Midgley in 1908.  It is a round piece with a lid. The scene is intertwined dragons.  Inside the piece is a note written by Arthur Midgley to the Quaker Preacher in Sedley, Virginia.  He made this piece for the preacher's wedding gift.  Reverend Coney was originally from England and a friend of Arthur's.  Reverend Coney never had any children; thus the piece was given to my great aunt, a staunch Quaker woman and devoted friend to Reverand Coney and his wife and it is now in my possession.  He must have been a humorous man, as the note says something to the effect that he doesn't know what dragons have to do with saving souls".
Joyce is interested in selling the piece.  She does a lot of genealogy work, and found the page http://midgleywebpages.com/rochdale.html and would like to see if any family members are interested in getting the piece back into their family.  If anyone is  interested please contact Joyce Hanson

*Elizabeth Otty of Bardsey, Wharfedale writes that she can recognise the photograph of Bardsey Grange even today at http://midgleywebpages.com/wharfedale.html
The hill that the people in the photograph are standing on is called Castle Hill and was an anciently fortified position [?Iron Age]. Elizabeth thinks that the oldest part of Bardsey was Bardsey Grange. According to the present residents it was a refuge for monks on their way to and from Kirkstall Abbey and York. The Grange was also the birthplace of William Congreve the 1600's dramatist. Oliver Cromwell's treasurer, Baron Thorp also lived here, Elizabeth believes Congreve and Thorp were related. Elizabeth is writing a history of Bardsey and she would like to contact anyone who has an historical knowledge of the area .
Contact Elizabeth Otty

*Guy Midgley in South Africa contacted the visitor's book recently and let us all know that the author of Midgleyana Dr. John Franklin Midgley was his grandfather. Ian Midgley [see below] believes Guy could be his second cousin, Ian hopes to exchange notes.
See http://midgleywebpages.com/safrica.html
*Ian Midgley will be travelling to Yorkshire in  October 2003 and expects to visit Midgley and Haworth/Keighley/Bingley and the surrounding area. Ian is interested in any suggestions re places to visit, two days will never be enough! If you have any relevant Midgley sites to visit Ian will be happy to hear of your ideas.
Contact Ian Midgley

*Wayne Sladen has sent a pdf of his U.S. descendants, William Midgley & Anne Hartley of Keithley which can be downloaded at http://midgleywebpages.com/westyorks.html
                       or http://midgleywebpages.com/america.html

*Joseph Stocks has sent some information about a book written recently by Doris Naylor nee Midgley of East Yorkshire with some photographs of their branch taken in the 1890's at
http://midgleywebpages.com/eastyorks.html

*John Armitstead adding many names for East Keswick [WRY] from 1841 to 1901 at
http://

*Tom Lee adding more to the Manor of Stanbury near Haworth, a link from
http://midgleywebpages.comhaworth.html

*Patricia Junkin see Heptonstall at http://midgleywebpages.com/midgleywest.html

*Howard Benson see Gomersal at http://midgleywebpages.com/westyorks.html

*Peter Evan's photographs of stones on Midgley Moor, side-linked off
http://midgleywebpages.commidgleywest.html

*Yesterday I was in another bookshop which also had a copy of the book (price $AUS40). I thought I'd let you know in case you know anyone who might be interested in obtaining a copy" of this book?
Contact: palmerjim@ozemail.com.au
         ph: Australia, Victora  61 3 9428 5917

*Martin Midgley the Yorkshire detective
Most victims know their attackers, one case in East Yorkshire though had no obvious motive. But when the chips were down, Martin and his team tracked the suspect using all the clues at their disposal. See The Unsung Detective

*A different model for our legendary folk hero 

*Visit from Jim Palmer
Jim has posted information about his forebears, the Midgley's of Rochdale, Lancashire. Jim visited in June 2002 and showed some of the artifacts produced by his forebear, Arthur Midgley. Arthur used cups and mugs from the early 1900's and painted intricate designs on them including his monogram and crest of crossed keys, wards down. Included in the collection was a book referencing the Quaker Midgleys' of Rochdale.With Jim's help I will be in contact with the author and hope to post the details and photographs therein on the Rochdale page.
Footnote: Peter Evans a Pennine walker and photographer noted in an email :
"I set out to find Robin Hood's well on Pendle Hill last week. It's not marked on the map and I was delighted to find it at first go. It's not really a well but a spring. There are few true springs in the Southern Pennines, but this is one, and owes its existence to a layer of limestone trapped under Pendle's gritstone cap. It was a Holy Well marked by a cross in medieval times. But gets its name from Robin Goodfellow - a Celtic sprite - later becoming 'Robin Hood' when the ballads became popular. It's now sometimes called Fox's Well. George Fox, drank from its waters, saw God up on Pendle Hill and founded the Quaker Movement.
I did come across an interesting web page by John Crawshaw. He writes about the well on Holcombe Moor and puts forward an alternative reason as to why there are so many wells named after Robin Hood". See
http://www.bath.ac.uk/lispring/sourcearchive/ns6/ns6jc1.htm

*Calderdale Justice!
Marian Griffith JP read the information about the Halifax Gibbet  and wanted to include it in an exhibition about the history of justice in Calderdale. Calderdale Magistrates Court on Harrison Road, Halifax, had an Open Day on 27 April 2002 and Marian organised a small exhibition called 'The Way We Were'. Negotiations were in progress to have the gibbet blade, a model of the gibbet & other artefacts on display. At the time of contact Marian was not sure what information would come with the items.

*Visit by Richard Skilbeck and wife
The descendant of the emigrants, Richard Skilbeck and Sarah Midgley visited during Easter of 2001. Richard lives in Koroit, Victoria, Australia where the drought has hit hard. We had a pleasant lunch and a good interchange of news and views.

*Aussies in a lather over census
British and U.S. Census forms have been archived for 100 years. Not so the Australian Census forms. Although Van Diemen's Land kept a weekly muster, concern was raised recently regarding the storage of original documents. Libertarians were pitched in battle against genealogists amongst assurances by the government that privacy would be maintained. Many remained sceptical but were offered the option in the census of choosing that their details be archived.
Many believe that personal information should be erased after the data that has been gathered for government planning purposes has been collated.
From 1828 the census was never archived, probably in an attempt to cover convict origins. The Australian 1891 census was pulped after the statistics had been collected. Debate has raged as to whether the census personal data should be placed in a time capsule to be opened next century. August 2001

*Longevity
Martha Meakin [nee Midgley] of Normanton, West Yorkshire will have travelled around the sun 105 times by October 2001. Is this the oldest Midgley that can be substantiated? Investigations by normal mail have been pursued to determine Martha's lineage, but no reply has been forthcoming. Could check the 1901 census. Contact: Tim Midgley if you can substantiate any Midgley who has lived longer.
 

*Riddle of naked axe victim of Midgley.
A gory tale from the Western Daily Press Thursday 31st May 2001
A wealthy businessman who was hacked to death with an axe in a bedroom at his luxury home was naked when his body was discovered, police said yesterday.
Detectives investigating the murder of Daniel O'Brien, aged 41, are trying to trace friends and associates of the entrepreneur.
It is believed his partner, Jan Charlton, found him handcuffed and gagged in the bedroom of his 275,000 pound home in Midgley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, last Wednesday.
-News item kindly supplied by Roland Haigh.
*Jonathon Midgleyof Brisbane found a "Scencible" occupation as a perfumerer. He makes a range of fragrances under the name of Damask.  See: Midgley debunks aromatherapy

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