Theodre Retchford

[Johnhurtado]

Hello everybody,

Looking for information about my great grandad, He was born in 1880 in Redditch. how can I find out if I still have relatives around, or property or anything whatsoever.. thank you for any help..

John

[Yegvard]

Hi John,

Sounds like you're new to this. I've done a bit of digging and there's a minor problem before you start. Don't worry though you can work through it. There appears to be a similar name transcribed in the 1851 census - PETHFORD, and perhaps others. The censuses were every 10 years from 1841 for Redditch. If you find a transcription anywhere - you must ALWAYS check the original image.

The 1881 census is online and free at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp

If you're only browsing then you can probable get the online community to do look-ups for you. Otherwise it's a Latter Day Saints family history centre or Worcester record Office, which is also a LDS Family History Centre. Or buy you're own Cds.

All wills and probate records, post 1857, are available. £3.50 each I think. You must specify very accurately though - a copy of the national index to about 1950 is in Birmingham Central Library. The Redditch and District Needlemakers Almanac to about 1936 is in Redditch Local Library and some useful church magazines.

Biased comment. Join The Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry - local meetings throughout West Midlands, with over 5,000 members. The Bromsgrove branch meets tonight,12 July. at 7.45pm at The Methodist Centre, Stratford Road, Bromsgrove across from The Dolphin swimming pool. (N.B. no August meeting.)

Good luck
Mike

Bromsgrove Branch Chairman BMSGH

[Ross Thomas]

Hi

Here is a Retchford reference in my history of Richard Hall (1774-?) of Leek, Staffs.

Cheers, Ross of Canberra

Some or all of the Richard Hall family returned to Staffordshire and Cheshire and this is likely to have occurred in the 1830s. It may be that they lived in other locations between their residence at Langford, Oxfordshire and the return north as a daughter Mary Ann Hall had married James Retchford at Edgbaston, Warwick on 1 July 1831 and they had four children:
James born 1835
Edmund born 22 July 1838, Christ.19 Aug 1838 (Alcester Vol 16 Pg 143)
Jane born 1840 at Studley
Richard born 13 March 1842 (Alcester Vol 16 Page 113)

The census 1841 reveals the Retchford family living in Studley (a small town on the outskirts of Redditch, Worcestershire) with children James, Edmund and Jane. James’ occupation was listed as a needle-grinder and Mary Ann’s as a bonnet-maker. Also under the same roof was a George Hall, 15 years, also a needle-grinder who was listed as born outside the county. In September 1847 in the district of Bromsgrove, the death of a James Retchford was recorded (Bromsgrove Volume 18, Page 17), presumably the husband of Mary Ann. Bromsgrove spans, rather confusingly, the boundaries of the counties of Hereford and Worcester, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

Mary Ann Retchford (stated age 39 years) came out to South Australia the following year (1854) with the boys Edmund (age 15) and Richard (age 13) on the “James Fernie”. It departed Birkenhead, Liverpool on 18 August 1854, arrived Port Adelaide on 17 November and carried mainly Scottish passengers. Thirty poor souls died en route, mainly from cholera.

The eligibility criteria for emigration were that married adults had to be under 40 years of age and Mary Ann just made it by one year – or did she? Mary Ann was born in 1806 and would have been 48 – did she fake it or was it the fact that she had two healthy sons. I think she faked it given the age on the manifest but it might have suited those in charge to overlook the discrepancy.

The captain on the voyage was Bartholomew Daly and the ship’s surgeon was Charles H. Graham. After nineteen days of quarantine, on 5 December 1854, the 349 passengers at last set foot on Australian soil. This relatively fast voyage lasted 92 days – the average length of the voyage to Australia in those days was 111 days while the shortest voyage on record was 83 days.