Heather Rosine Eveleigh (1935 - 1990) was the granddaughter
of William Stentiford and Emma Mogford. We met this family briefly in
Issue 14 when Janet Hiscocks introduced us to her "Uncle Bill"
in an article about the Stentifords of Zeal Monachorum. Reg Hubber, who
was married to Heather Eveleigh for over 30 years, made contact after
reading that article. Two nice things have happened since: Janet has
been able to make contact with Daphne Oram (William Stentiford's granddaughter) and
has shared with her lots of information about her family and Reg Hubber has filled in many gaps
by writing his late wife's family history. Roy Hewitt has added a
memorial as a tribute to the only son of William and Emma who died in
the First World War when he was only 20.
Our second article in this Issue comes from Doreen
Norton who has been helping to track down ancestors of Debbi Maenhout and
Melissa Holmquist. Not all the material needed to complete a family
history is available on websites and in spite of working very hard over
the years and making a visit to England to do more work, Debbi and
Melissa still had gaps in what they knew about their ancestors - the
Kellard family. Doreen has been searching in the Portsmouth area on their
behalf and has been able to add more information, taking on a new role
as a "house detective" in the process.
Descended from a Mary Ann Stentiford from Dock,
the Kellards kept alive the name Stentiford, or Stenteford as
they sometimes spelt it, for many years, using it as a middle name and
even as a name for their house at one time. Doreen has provided us with
a fascinating glimpse into the lives lived by British naval personnel
and their families in the past, moving house at very little notice and
crossing the globe to ensure that Britain really did rule - not just the
waves - but the entire British Empire as well.
