I loved Susan Smith’s star letter about the old Bible in the November issue. I have had a similar experience. I am a member of Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk), which has brought me nothing but joy! Everyone in the Ancestry ‘family’ is so kind. Back in 2013 a lady contacted me having found my tree online. She was clearing out her mum’s things, and among them was a family Bible printed in 1752.
Apparently, her grandfather had bought it in a junk shop. She wanted to return it to the right family, as her mum was very fond of it.
In 1788 it belonged to Richard Dennis, my 4x great grandfather. My 3x great grandmother Mary Elizabeth Dennis is the first person listed on the family tree page. She was born on 11 January 1800 at 10 o’clock in the morning.
What fascinates me about the small old Bible is the size of the print. It must be size 6 or 8 point, and isn’t easy to read in good light with my contact lenses in. So I have no idea how people managed to read it in 1752 by candlelight with no glasses.
I have also received an amazing vellum scroll all the way from Australia from someone whose grandfather knew an old relative of mine. It is dated 1788, and kept inside a beautiful leather case. It gives Josiah Dean Tyssen and his issue the right to use this coat of arms. The Tyssen family motto is Post mortem virtus virescit (“Virtue flourishes after death”), which is amusing as I don’t think many of them were very virtuous while they were alive.
The sender also sent me a lovely letter written by the governor of Victoria in 1926, thanking my relative Josiah Tyssen for looking after him in his hour of need.
Tracey Hillon, by email
EDITOR REPLIES Family historians are indeed a lovely bunch. I hope that you enjoy our
ERRANT SPELLINGS
Regarding Alan Crosby’s column on the spelling of family names (September), my great great grandfather was baptised in Great Fransham, Norfolk, in 1767 as Mark Ewin, served for almost 30 years in the British Army as Mark Ewing, was married in Gaywood in 1815 as Mark Hewing and was buried there in 1851 as Mark Ewen. The last of these spellings has endured in the family.
The historian C L’Estrange Ewen, whose family was also from Norfolk, researched his surname in the early 20th century. He said that “the modern Ewen (England) and Owen (Wales) are both derived from the early Ywein, Iwayn, etc., and as late as the 16th century the two names were interchangeable”. He listed 500 variants of the “often indistin
