Thanks for taking a look at our family history.
When I was aged sixteen I started on a family tree asking my relatives what they knew or remembered of their ancestors. For the time it was fairly good, but it only went back two or three generations. In more recent times, helped by a researcher from the Rugby Family History Group, and the internet, I have been able to continue back some 300 years to the first recorded Joseph Goddard born in about 1700
William was a coal miner On the 13th of March 1864 he married Mary Burton. They had five children. Family reputation was that William was a difficult chap given to taking a drink and indeed the couple separated for a time. The enumerator of the 1881 census stated they were living apart William took up residence with his elderly father nearby They came back together later and daughter Annie Elizabeth was born as a late arrival Mary kept the family together by seaming stockings for the CWS and being a very good needlewoman she was given the finest work spending hours stitching with a candle on one knee to see by.
At this time the horsemen took a great pride in the appearance of their animals spending considerable sums on harness decoration This carried over into their own appearance notably the narrow breeks,flat caps and "nicky tams" At ploughing matches or on the road with their carts they could be seen in full rig Winter evenings were spent in the stables fettling harness seated on the corn kists singing the ballads that became known as corn kisters When he married his wife lamented the folly of spending so much of his hard earned pay on such fripperies
Some links to stories about my parents and grandmother
Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.
Everyone has ancestors and it is only a question of going back far enough to find a good one.
We've uncovered some embarrassing ancestors in the not-too-distant past. Some horse thieves, and some people killed on Saturday nights. One of my relatives, unfortunately, was even in the newspaper business.
Southerners are so devoted to genealogy that we see a family tree under every bush.
My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the hell she is.
You can use this area to place information about family or places. Just add them in!
This is a work in progress to put some of my late father (Jeff Gray's) research on the Internet. The continued effort is to add the source data and photographs.