When we started this website, had anyone told us it would still be going and growing in three years' time, it is doubtful if we would have agreed. But at that time, we hadn't realised the nature of the support we were going to receive. What has made this family history website pretty well unique has been, and continues to be,  the willingness of family members, not only to read each Issue, but to take time and trouble to write out what they know of their own history to add to the rapidly-growing knowledge base. 

So we'd like to say a very big "thank you" to all our Contributors and especially those who featured in the 2004 Issues either as writers or as researchers of the material for articles. They are

Rita Montano, Rita Poirier, Pat and Roy Hewitt (2 articles), Geoff Ledden, Doreen Norton (5 articles) Reg Hubber, Roy Hayter (2 articles) and Reg Norton (2 articles).

Roy Hayter brings the year to an end with another article about Sir Francis Drake. Drake brought a water supply to Plymouth as a matter of self-interest. However,  this act led ultimately to the development of the town of Dock (which became Devonport) and the creation of the great City of Plymouth - a place which has provided homes and work for countless ancestors over the centuries - in the end, everyone reaped the benefit. 

"The Devon Weekly Times" had a huge readership , far larger than its circulation figures would suggest. Each edition was passed from reader to reader until the pages fell apart, and the same trains which took the paper out to Crediton, Bow, Morchard Bishop and beyond, took the inhabitants of those places back into Exeter to visit shops and theatres for fares as low as 6d. We've looked at the Christmas editions for 1861,1862 and 1863 to see what entertainment was on offer.                   

Keep in touch,

Muriel and Richard

Link to Office of National Statistics for information on how to obtain copies of Birth, Marriage and Death certificates.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/registration/default.asp