In this Issue, we pay
our first visit to the Stedefords of Atherington, a family which
remained in the village in an unbroken line from the early 1730s to the
end of the 19th century. George Stedeford was a tailor in the village
and his will is one of the very few that survived the Exeter blitz; it
is well worth reading to see how he finally got the better of his quarrelsome
daughters.
We were very pleased when Doreen Norton accepted
our invitation to become a regular contributor to these pages. Doreen
wrote her first article for us in Issue 20 and is already known behind
the scenes to those
family members whose research she has been able to assist. Doreen
regularly visits the Public Record Office at Kew and has very generously
offered to do look-ups for those people who, for a variety of reasons,
may never be able to get there for themselves. If you would like to ask
Doreen for her assistance, she will be only too pleased to help - her e-mail address is
minnienorton@aol.
This month, Doreen has tracked down and
interviewed Victor Stentiford whose family originally came from
Chawleigh, and, in the process, recorded much information which may
otherwise have
been lost.
In Issue 23, we published some material, which had
been sent to us, on Samuel Johns who married Harriet Stettaford and
emigrated to Australia. We did indicate that the original material was
by Edward Duyker but added that the attached footnotes were the work of
another person. This month, we were contacted by Dr. Duyker ( a
distinguished historian and writer of many books) who pointed out to us that he was
the sole author of the material in question. We apologise
unreservedly for this error and for any distress it caused. Should
curious readers turn back to Issue
23, they will be able to read our revised version which rightly
credits Dr. Duyker for his work - the original file has now been
permanently removed.
