Today's Photo - St Michael's Church, Longstanton, Cambridgeshire

1 June - St Michael's Church, Longstanton

Visiting Roots in Longstanton and Oakington, Cambridgeshire

All Saints Church, Longstanton

After a couple of days of enjoying sightseeing around the city of Cambridge, it was time to venture out to a couple of the nearby villages of Oakington and Longstanton.  In 1852, my great great great Grandparents, Edward and Maria (nee Gee) Golding, along 27 other members of their family made the brave decision to leave Cambridgeshire and boarded the ship Epaminondas bound for South Australia.

It seams that poverty and hardship in agrarian communities was common and after in the after-math 19th Century Enclosure Act combined with an agricultural depression and an intensifying Industrial Revolution many families were literally forced to leave Oakington to seek a better life in the United States of America and Australia.  The Golding and Gee family members chose to emigrate to the free Colony of South Australia.

St Michaels Church, Longstanton

Armed with maps, camera I caught the bus to Longstanton, wondering if I would be able to find any links to these families.  After a bit of a walk, and checking directions I was came across All Saints Church, and then St Michael's Church, Longstanton. Members of the Gee family worshiped at both of these churches.

 I was particularly interested in St Michael's Church, as this is where Edward Golding and Maria Gee were married. I was surprised to find that the quaint little church was no longer used for worship and unfortunately it was locked up.  A note on the door advised that a key could be obtained from the old rectory next door.  I had hoped I would be able to borrow the key,

St Michael's Well

but to my disappointment there wasn't anyone home when I knocked. I did however, wander amongst the old gravestones, peeked in through the windows and took photos of St Michael's Well.

The well is now covered with a Victorian wellhead.  The local historians advise that for hundreds of years the local children were not baptised in the church font but in the well at the front of the church.  It is believed that this custom could have dated back to Medieval times.  The practice was stopped in the late Victorian Era. I wondered how many of the children from the Gee and Golding families were baptised in this well.

As I walked along the country road (about 2 kms) through to the next village of Oakington, gazing at the lush green fields, I could help thinking of how hard it must have been for my ancestors to leave such a beautiful area.  Hunger pangs were setting in as I finally made it to the outskirts of Oakington, (no wonder it was nearly 3pm in the afternoon), so I stopped at the only pub in Oakington, The White Horse, for a quick snack, the locals kindly gave me directions to my last destination for the day, St Andrews Church Oakington. 

St Andrews, Oakington

After a short walk through the village, guided by glimpses of the square bell tower I found the Church, surrounded by old and wearied gravestones, some with inscriptions that you could read, but many that were too worn or covered with moss. The Church was open, so I was able to spend some time inside, and did find a reference to a possible descendant of the Golding Family.  On the memorial dedicated tho those who had lost their lives in WWI, there was the name Hubert Golding.

I spent some time looking at all the old gravestones at the back of the church and a kind couple walking their dog, stopped and chatted to me.  They gave me a brief  run down on the history of the church and reinforced it's non conformist history.

It was getting late, so it was time to catch the local bus back to Cambridge.

Old gravestones at the back of St Andrew's Church, Oakington

Those Places Thursday - Planning by UK Genjourney

Time is ticking by soooooooo quickly!  In less than three weeks I will be winging off to the UK.  I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all the things I hope to have organised before I left.  I guess they will still be here when I get back.

Elizabeth Taylor

In my last blog I listed a number of action points that would assist me in making the most of my research time. Now I have to make the hard decision on which branches of our family tree to focus on.  In other words Rationalise!!!

If you follow my other blogs,Family Stories, Photographs and Memories and

The Other Half of My Family Tree- stories of my female ancestors,  you will know that I am fascinated by the story of Elizabeth Rushworth (1843-1927). 

Elizabeth and her husband William Taylor (1833-1928) came from Burnley, Barnoldswick and finally lived in Colne, Lancashire, and it is for this reason that I have decided to base myself in Lancashire for four weeks. I hope to be able to connect with their descendants and check out all the local resources (Libraries, museums, newspapers) to help to put together a more comprehensive picture of their family and way of life.

There are three other branches of our family tree that I would like to follow up on.  The first being the Goldings/Gee families who immigrated from Oakington and Longstanton, Cambridgeshire to Adelaide, South Australia in the mid 1852 on the "Epaminondas". Edward

Golding and Maria Golding (nee Gee) were my great-great-great grandparents. They immigrated with their brothers, sisters and children seeking a new life in the colony of Adelaide, in South Australia.

Also, I plan to visit Daybrook, Arnold in Nottinghamshire.  My great-great-great grandfather  Lynn David Shepherd and his wife Elizabeth (nee Mariner) were born and married in Daybrook.  Lynn was a soldier in the Battalion of 69th Regiment of Foot and fought in the Napoleonic Wars. When he returned from the war he joined the Royal Veteran Corps bound for New South Wales, Australia. Lynn, Elizabeth and their children came to Australia on the "Orpheus" arriving in Sydney cove on the 19th September 1826.

Hannah Nesbitt's Grave

The final branch that I plan to explore is that of my great-great grandmother on my mother's side, Hannah Nesbitt (1827-1913) who lived in Alnwick, Northumberland.  She married Francis Newman (1820-1852) in 1847 and they travelled  from England to South Australia in 1850 on the "Boyne". Unfortunately Francis died while seeking his fortune in the Victorian gold fields, and Hannah remarried my great great grandfather William Herbert  (1818-1881)and they settled in the copper mining town of Burra in South Australia.

There are a number of family stories that say Hannah and her family lived in or near the castle at Alnwick.  I am assuming that her family were on the staff at the castle.  There are also stories that some members of the next generation returned to Alnwick to visit their family.  It would be nice to see how much truth is in these tales.  Of course there is also the bonus side to visiting Alnwick! That is to be able to tell my grandsons that I visited the Castle where Harry Potter was filmed!!!!

Of course I plan to keep an open mind and if the opportunity arises and there is a chance to delve into other branches of our family tree, that will be a bonus.