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This history is divided into sections, representing 31 out of a possible 32 lines of ancestry (one is now, sadly, lost in the mists of time, and beyond recovery), as follows:
Generally, no individual is named, more recent than my grandparents (apart from birth details for my parents' generation). I have recently, however, begun adding information on individuals of my parents' generation who are known to have no surviving children.
(For Beadle/Bidle see Pollard, for Bramley see Spence, for Birket, Sandys or Carus see Foster, for Raper see Richardson, and for Bond see Sutton).
This website now includes pages on:
the siblings of 13 generations of my forebears
the first cousins of my grandparents and the four generations preceding them
the second cousins of my grandparents
the brothers- and sisters-in-law of my grand- and great-grandparents
It also includes a small number of transcripts of original documents, as follows:
the 1766 diary of my 5x great-grandfather Dodshon Foster
selected correspondence of my 7x great-uncle James Birket, 1770/1783, all either to or referring to Robert Foster
extracts from diaries of my 4x great-grandfather Robert Foster, 1771 and 1781/1784
the journal of my 5x great-grandfather Robert Walker's visit to America, 1773/1775
selected correspondence, and extracts from the journal, of my 3x great-grandfather Robert Spence
selected correspondence of my 3x great-uncle Robert and 3x great aunts Ann and Margaret Spence, to their cousin Robert Foster
my great-grandmother Elizabeth Spence Watson's 'Family Chronicles' and Reminiscences
4 sympathy letters on the death of my great-grandfather Robert Spence Watson, from Peter Kropotkin, Fanny Stepniak, and Felix Volkhovsky
The Children's Christmas, by Robert Spence Watson and Myles Birket Foster, Jr (scanned, not transcribed)
the Reminiscences of my great-great-uncle Frederick Binns
my grandmother Mary S.W. Pollard's 'A Few Reminiscences'
Mary S.W. Pollard's diary (work in progress, transcripts by Katherine S. Coleman, Lucy R. Beck, Julia Whitaker, and myself)
Francis E. Pollard's 1897 Griffin diary (transcript by Katherine S. Coleman)
a number of letters between Frank Pollard and Mary Spence Watson (transcript by Katherine S. Coleman)
three war diaries, 1944 to 1946, compiled by my late father, Sidney Beck
There is also a page for Special Mentions . . . .
There are separate pages on my son's maternal ancestry.
If anyone finds a link with their own family, on these pages, I'd be very pleased to hear from them. And if I've got anything wrong, which is more than likely, or have missed anything important out, that you know about, I really would like to know. If there is no image for a particular ancestor, that is because none is known to me. If you know otherwise, I'd be delighted to hear from you. Please also let me know if you find broken links—I'm sure there will be some, but I'd like to keep them under control if possible.
Please note the copyright statement at the bottom of every page. I will usually be willing to grant permission for use of material from this website provided a suitable acknowledgment is made, with a hyperlink to my website. I am unlikely ever to grant permission, however, to extensive passages of text cut and pasted, then posted onto commercial websites such as Ancestry. If this is ever done without my permission in advance I am likely to contact the website concerned to report a copyright violation, and require them to remove it.
These family history pages were last revised on 2020-02-10.
© 2000–2020 Benjamin S. Beck