The year 2005 marks the 50th Anniversary of the completion of the
Family History compiled by Richard Hayward and Brenda Osborne. It
was a major undertaking, covering the inter-connected families of the
Stentifords, the Haywards and the MacLarens.
In various Issues over the past four years, we have been updating and
correcting the Stentiford information and now we are in a position to
expand some of their findings. Over the next few months, we hope to mark
the Anniversary with a series of articles about the Stentifords they
researched. There will be some surprises on the way and, maybe, some
controversy but you can't get away from the fact that the Hayward -
Osborne History was, for the age in which it was written, something of a
triumph for the compilers. How many researchers today would actually
take the trouble to visit every church individually by appointment, in
order to search the registers? How many people would take the trouble
over a period of months to visit family members all over England in
order to record their memories? Centralisation of registers in the Devon
Record Office, the GRO Index (does any reader still remember the old St.
Catherine's Index?), access to census returns, the Internet - none of
these things existed in 1955 so hats off to Richard and Brenda for
giving the family of Robert and Elizabeth Stentiford such a great start
in their search for their history.
We are very grateful to Robin Holmes who sent us an open letter which
we include as our third article this month. It contains Stentiford
information from one of the dozens of Devon parish registers not
included in the IGI - not much you might think but such a help to
researchers seeking a break-through, a missing piece of the puzzle that
will help them to connect with other information they have. We should be
very pleased to hear from any more researchers of other names who just happen
to find Stentiford information as they make their own finds.
Finally, our thanks to anyone who helped Mark Stentiford with
sponsorship in the London Marathon. Mark contacted us to say:
"Many thanks for all of your support &
sponsorship. I completed last Sunday's Marathon in
4 hours 34 mins. Hard work but very worthwhile! I
haven't finished totalling up my sponsorship money yet but I'm hoping to
have raised between £1500 - £1750."
The money goes to the Foundation for the Study of
Infant Deaths - a super result for a very worthy cause. Well done, Mark!
