ID numbers, highlighted in yellow, are listed below in numerical order.
ID:1 Thomas SYMES & Elizabeth HITCHCOCKE (page 1)
For the sake of context, here is a photo (taken 1960s) of the interior of St Andrews Church at Chardstock, where Thomas married Elizabeth on 6 May 1612:
ID:16 James SYMES (page 12)
In 1779, at age 25, it appears that James was initiated into the Freemasons, eventually being inducted as a member on 10 September 1781 into the Perpetual Friendship Lodge at Bridgewater [County Somerset]. He stated his profession as 'Glover', which is not inconsistent with my record of him as Yeoman/Flax Grower. If one has the raw materials at hand, why not convert them into a saleable product? From this document it is confirmed that Somerset was James's residential base, plus we already know he died there.
England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921
(Folio 131, D Lodge No.264D, E Lodge No.212E, and F Lodge No.181F [via ancestry.com].
(Folio 131, D Lodge No.264D, E Lodge No.212E, and F Lodge No.181F [via ancestry.com].
ID:43 Aaron Stark SYMES (page 23)
*Aaron rated a mention in the publication Somerset: A List of Worthies and Unworthies and Villains Born in the County (see Somerset, England, Extracted Parish Records about Symes, Aaron Stark. The biographical information it offers provides nothing new, but we must (naturally?) assume he was included under the section devoted to 'Worthies', not 'Villains'.
*Researchers should be aware that there are several individuals at around this time with the name Aaron Stark Symes. Some of the family trees on ancestry.com have confused them.
*Here is the extract from Aaron's probate record dated 24 February 1881, via ancestry.com. While it adds no new information to the existing Symes Family Tree record, it does serve to confirm the Andrews Newspaper Index Card at F2:86:
Source: England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1966.
At the age of 39 while resident at Guernsey, Aaron was initiated into the Freemasons on 30 December 1839 at the North Devon Militia Lodge. His record was annotated on 25 September 1863 with "Cert in 1st degree" ...which may represent some sort of advancement in rank(?):
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921
(Folio 274, A Lodge No.283A, and B Lodge No.199B, via ancestry.com).
ID:45 Jonathan Wyatt SYMES (Jnr.) (page 26).
The following is a copy of his probate record granted to his daughter Mary Anna Nicholls. In his will he specified that the entire estate go to his daughter Anne C.S. Griffith, of whom I have no record (see page 27):
ID:60 Thomas Anstey MANSFORD (page 36)
Not long after migrating to New Zealand, Thomas signed up with the Freemasons on 7 November 1859 (Ara Lodge, Auckland, NZ, Lodge No.348). His entry is otherwise not annotated, so it appears he may not have sustained the connection once he had secured his position at the Auckland Magistrates Court:
The Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland; Dublin, Ireland;
Collection: Freemasons of Ireland Membership Registers; Volume Number: IV.
The following document (source:ancestry.com) reveals that Aaron also sailed to China/Hong Kong between 1864 and 1867. This was not long after the conclusion of the Second Opium War between England and China, in which England was the ruthless victor.
The document also gives two previously unknown addresses:
On 12 September 1860 at the age of 27, Aaron was initiated into the Freemasons (Union Waterloo Lodge). He gave his occupation as 'Engineer'. According to the record, he appears to have been excluded on 6 May 1863, no reason recorded:
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921
(Folio 64, A Lodge No.13, via ancestry.com).
(Folio 64, A Lodge No.13, via ancestry.com).
ID:99 George James Symes SAUNDERS (page 57)
George applied to become a Freemason on 10 January 1863 at the Union Lodge, Starcross. He was 'passed' on 2 May 1864 and was 'raised' on 4 July 1864.
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921
(Folio 121, A Lodge No.444,650, via ancestry.com).
(Folio 121, A Lodge No.444,650, via ancestry.com).
Although nothing directly to do with George, the following poster from August 1839 demonstrates the extent to which the British government was willing to export people to reduce the crippling problem of unemployment in England following the Napoleonic Wars. (See my commentary about social injustice on page 58). A surprisingly high number of beggars were unilaterally declared insane and committed to insane asylums such as George's, thereby conveniently 'disappearing' the problem from the voting public's eye.
Co-incidentally, my own wife's mother was Margaret CHRISTIE, a descendant of immigrant boat-people to Adelaide in 1839. Although emigration to SA was voluntary and assisted, it was in truth just another means of reducing pressure on resources 'at home'.
ID:151 George Albert SYMES (page 75)
In 1895 George was initiated into the Freemasons at the Portsmouth Lodge, but there is no record of having eventually been made a member. In fact, his initiation record is marked: 'Excluded Rule 175'.
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921
(Lodge No.487, Folio No.281, via ancestry.com).
Rule 175 appears to be a straightforward case of overdue subscription. I did not find any subsequent evidence of re-application.
ID:158 Ellen SYMES (page 82)
To compliment and balance the photo of modern day Whitechapel which I printed in the SYMES Family Tree, I include here a print by Gustave Dore of Whitechapel from 'London' of 1892. Whitechapel was evidently not a wealthy area of London:
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ID:193 Augustus Edward Cheesman MANSFORD (page 90)
On 14 July 1916 at age 30 when he was still a Clerk and well before he became Mayor, Augustus signed up with the Freemasons at the United Manawata Lodge, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921
(Lodge No.1721, Folio No.190, via ancestry.com).
ID:219 Noreen Dorothy Maud STOKES (page 98)
I forgot I had this photo of Mum hamming it up at home with her shiny new Order of Australia Medal on the day after the award ceremony at Government House, Adelaide:
I should add that if you would like to browse samples of Noreen's concert reviews from newspapers during her decade in Singapore in the 1950s, you can open the following webpage...
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Searchresults.aspx?q=noreen+stokes&lang=
ID:220 Lawrence ('Lawrie') GORE SYMES (page 101).
Some new detail about Lawrence from his grand-daughter Lisa in New Zealand-
* Lawrence's precise birth-date was 4 July 1909.
* According to her, the actual date of death was 22 October 1991, caused by a heart attack while mowing the lawn at his residence (61 Motti Rd, Papamoa, Bay of Plenty, NZ). However, a recently released cemetery record (New Zealand Cemetery Records 1800-2007 via ancestry.com) reads "age 82, DOC 25 October 1991". I'm not sure what the acronym DOC stands for... perhaps some sort of death certificate? ...any help appreciated. The three day difference may simply have been the time it took to issue a certificate.
* Lisa wrote that Lawrence spelled his name 'Laurie'.
* Lisa also wrote that Laurie always signed official documents using the surname Gore-Symes, but used 'Symes' for anything else.
* Lawrence was buried at the Bay of Plenty Cemetery, Tauranga, Thames Valley, Bay of Plenty, NZ.
ID:221 Evelyn GORE-SYMES, aka "EG-S " (page 102).
On the photo CD I should have included this photo of Maj. John Gordon COATES and his bride Bobbie BISHOP in the entry for their friend Evelyn GORE-SYMES. This was probably a poignant event for my aunt Evelyn as she was at the time in the throes of separating from her wartime boyfriend Charles Szladitz, a Hungarian bank manager. On the photo CD there is a photo of her at the wedding looking decidedly glum. I retain some very personal letters between Evelyn and Charles in the archive, but have not included them on the Symes Family Tree photo CD.
ID:225 Albert Victor SYMES (page 105).
I was emailed in mid-2014 by Elizabeth Smith, who wrote that Albert Victor SYMES, her step-father, was known as Vic, "a very gentle kind man". She kindly provided me with the marriage certificate of Vic and his first wife Julia Margaret NASH, which revealed that Julia's father was a bank manager, viz:
Elizabeth also provided documentation of Vic's wartime medal:
More information at http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/63054076/person/42100094851
Vera May Martin Jennings before her 1932 marriage to Alfred David Sutton.
Vera with Vic, probably sometime in the 1960s
Vera and Vic at the beach (undated).
ID:245 Evelyn Edith SYMES (p.110).
The following undated newspaper clipping from an unidentified newspaper indicates that Evelyn and William had more than the one child I recorded in the SYMES Family Tree. At the time of the article there was also at least one grandchild:
ID:274 Sally Joyce Rohan WILLIAMS (p.114), AND
ID:276 John Gareth SYMES (p.114).
Gareth and Sally kindly sent me the following photo taken at their mid-2014 get-together at Lelant:
My favourite photo ever :))
ID:320 Lisa Ann PURCELL (p.126)
* Lisa's middle name is spelled Anne, not Ann. My apologies.
* In a lovely email from Lisa and Oahu, they informed me of the birth of a son, Seth Hercules TUKUNIU, on 6 December 2014 in New Zealand. Seth is now a member of our 14th generation. Congratulations and wide grins from Seth's grand-uncle (moi :)
ID:350 Rianna Dawn PURCELL (p.131)
* Rianna's correct birth-date is 8 July 2006. My apologies.
ID:351 James Martin PARKER & Anna NORDVALL (p.132)
Welcome to a brand new Alexander PARKER, born in Sweden on 11 March 2015, an honorary member of our 15th generation:
ID:362 Luke PARKER & Emma WILLIAMSON (p.132)
Hello to Luke and Emma's new son Zavier Williamson PARKER, born in Wellington, NZ, on -----
and Zavier's already had a visit from gran, Celia SMITH:
