At rest in Overleigh 'Mary Jonas, beloved wife and mother of 33 children'

This intriguing inscription on a tombstone in Overleigh Cemetery leads to the story of multiple twin births, a 52 year marriage, and a growing business in Chester.

The Overleigh Cemetery database online includes details from the cemetery registers 1850-1950.

Mary Thomas and John Jonas were married at Chester, St John the Baptist, on the 17th June 1839

. Their first children, twins Joseph and Sarah, were baptised later that same year. After the births of Joseph and Sarah followed 31 more children – including 12 further sets of twins!

The Cheshire Collection available with Find my Past allows you to search indexes of Marriages, Baptisms and Burials. You can view the actual record if you have a subscription (or for free at the Record Office and some Cheshire libraries). Search for the surname 'Jonas' and place 'Chester' between 1839 and 1898 in all three indexes to find their marriage, multiple baptisms and burials, using just the indexes two baptisms in the same year can indicate Jonas twins.

Whilst looking after this growing brood John and Mary found the time to set up a furniture business. John, who on the 1841 census was listed as a chair maker, had, by the 1860s, set up his own cabinet making business on Foregate Street. He is listed in the 1864 ‘Morris and Co Trade Directory’ as a Furniture Broker and is recorded as a Master, employing two workers, on the 1871 census.

Selected Cheshire trade directories are available to browse and search online.

Sadly, many of the children did not survive into adulthood. Those that did were recognised in John’s will equally, with each of his children holding the same shares in his property after his death in 1892.

Cheshire

wills, already indexed and available to view in the searchroom or order copies from, will appear as part of The Cheshire Collection in early Spring 2012.

Mary survived her husband, her final contribution to the Chester, St John parish records comes in 1898 where the priest notes 'The mother of 33 children by one husband'.

Cataloguing a century of community service

It is the New Year and our opportunity as Archives students at the University of Liverpool to experience new things at the Cheshire Record Office. We are part way through the Archives course and this is our chance to put theory into practice with a two week cataloguing placement.

The Warrington Council for Voluntary Service (WCVS) supported and enhanced the work of local voluntary and community organisations in Warrington for 102 years; however, by September 2011 it had closed, and their office at The Gateway, Sankey Street needed to be cleared. As part of Cheshire Archives’ work in looking after archives for Warrington, an archivist had visited the premises and identified records of historical value. WCVS staff had brought in additional material of potential interest, and a considerable quantity and variety of boxes and binders had arrived at the Record Office.

This was the collection we would catalogue from start to finish. We began our task by unpacking and looking through all the records to give ourselves an overview of the collection, to see how things had worked and how to arrange them. Records included minutes of the various committees, reports, newsletters, advice registers and some photographs. It became apparent that the majority of the records were from the WCVS, but there were also a small number of records from related and affiliated organisations, for example ‘Learning Together Cheshire and Warrington’ and the Thewlis charities.

Coming across this photograph was an unexpected surprise as the majority of the records that we had been looking through had been administrative in nature. It brings to life the Shaw Thewlis charity’s donations of clothing and blankets to people in need.

The records told us the history of the organisation and it became apparent, as we traced many name changes, that our task of description is very important. These descriptions, once entered into the database that delivers the online catalogue, are what will allow users to search, find and have access to this part of the history of charitable support in Warrington.

We hope that our catalogue tells the story accurately and that the collection as a whole will help remember the important work that the WCVS did within the Warrington community and its impact over the past century.

With thanks for this guest post and work on the WCVS collection (D 8214) that is now available in our online catalogue.

'Restoration Man' starring Congleton Water Tower

We celebrate the starring role of the Congleton Water Tower in Channel 4's 'Restoration Man' with selected highlights of the 250 lines composed (and recited) by the Congleton Borough Treasurer W. H. Krinks on the occasion of the inauguration of the Congleton Water Works on 27th October, 1881!

To us, a rock in Horeb riven,
Has BEALES PURE WATER flowing given,
From sources searched for far and wide,
Nor left one likely source untried,
Till hill and dale had told their tale
Of fountains that could never fail -
Twin Giants, Gravity and Steam,
Together yoked, a matchless team,
To carry to each cottage door,
A beautiful, perennial store,
From elevated Corda Well,
Of pureness without parallel ...

A page, famed in our history, will
This day's great ceremonial fill;
And as ten years ago, the Park,
An epoch in our annals mark -
Another and long wished for move
In the right Sanitary groove,
To make our public health compare
Well with returns shewn any where.

This day to see the MAYOR elate
With great delight, inaugurate
Our WATER WORKS, proclaiming them
This ANCIENT BOROUGH'S diadem -
Each sparkling drop, a precious gem,
Of greatly more intrinsic worth,
Than all the jewels upon the earth;
And thus addressing the great crowd,
To hear each word in silence bowed,
And all of this grand fete day proud,
In language, terse, brief, clear and loud:
YE BURGESSES, my word assures
These WATER WORKS to you and yours,
A heritage, while time endures.
What would your ancestors have given
For such a blessing sent from heaven?

But I forbear more wearying rhyme
Which now but wastes your precious time.
Pray with your censure of this jingle,
Let this old kindness freely mingle,
And I'll this rhapsody conclude
With feelings of deep gratitude.

Just 30 lines as a taster - and while it makes us smile, it must reflect an appetite to celebrate the contribution of science and Victorian engineering to public health. Not to mention, of course, the miracle of running water.

(We enjoy it here, of course, because it reminds us of the joys of council collections!)

Out with Romany at Wilmslow Library

George Bramwell Evens (1884-1943), known as ‘Romany’, was Britain’s first broadcasting naturalist. A Methodist minister living in Wilmslow, he presented ‘Out with Romany’ on BBC Radio Children's Hour in the 1930s and 1940s which described his travels in the countryside with horse Comma, dog Raq and companions Muriel and Doris. Among his 13 million listeners were future naturalists David Attenborough and David Bellamy.

Romany's gypsy caravan, sited opposite Wilmslow Library

Stones dedicated to Romany and his dog Raq
in the memorial garden close to his vardo

A popular and prolific author, Romany also wrote a number of wildlife books and nature stories for children and a fantastic collection of these are kept in the Reference section at Wilmslow Library. Copies of the ‘Romany Magazine’ produced by the Romany Society, an active local group whose patron is Terry Waite, are also held here.



Books from the collection: top large print published 2002 by Isis

bottom published 1942 (third edition) University of London Press

Thank you to Wilmslow Library, for this first contribution highlighting special collections held at reference libraries across Cheshire.

Heritage Open Day in September provided the ideal opportunity not only to open the Record Office for behind the scenes tours of our own historic building, converted from warehouses 25 years ago – but also to showcase our unique contribution to building heritage, collecting and caring for the historic plans that contain a wealth of information and evidence of buildings past and present.

Plans in the Chester Cathedral collection document its restoration over two centuries. Two years ago a condition survey was carried out, and a programme of conservation scheduled for plans that had been stored rolled, some filthy and damaged. Two years later and the searchroom map table was covered with our selection of highlights to celebrate the conserved and repackaged collection.

The display included beautiful examples of the work of Richard Charles, known as R. C. Hussey working in 1844.

Between 1868 and 1876 Sir George Gilbert Scott carried out major restoration work, considered by some to be a virtual rebuild. He was the most prolific Victorian architect of over 800 buildings, responsible for gothic style workhouses, town halls and prisons and most famously for the Albert Memorial and the Grand Midland Hotel/St Pancras station in London. His style was equally reflected in the designs on show for the organ screen and Bishop’s throne.

His grandson Giles Gilbert Scott was as prolific in terms of iconic designs that include the Battersea and Bankside power stations and the K2 red telephone box of 1924! His designs for the Cathedral date from 1911-1913.

Angela, the conservator dedicated to the Cathedral project, was on hand in the conservation studio with examples of dirty plans and the materials used in the process of cleaning, repairing and repackaging. Once more by far the most popular behind the scenes experience at the record office for visitors who get the chance!

'Mystery' photographs, much head-scratching and debate at the Record Office!

When we asked for help sorting a backlog of unidentified photographs an intriguing journey into Cheshire’s past began. This is the story so far…

The initial aim of the project was to add more photos to our existing digital collection Picture Cheshire and raise awareness of the fantastic original material available here at the Record Office and in Cheshire Libraries. The first stage began in August when twelve members of NADFAS volunteered to organise hundreds of photographs according to place. The photographs contained a mix of subjects - people, places, buildings, streets, events and more (even some of a garden hedge and vintage graffiti!). Thanks to their efforts over 90% were identified, and just one box remained ‘unknown’.

We then realised that there was great scope for involving the general public in this project, and set about creating a Flickr exhibition of a selection of these ‘mystery’ images. By opening up the debate in this way we hope not only to identify these photographs but also add to our existing knowledge of Cheshire.

The next stage involves our volunteers packaging the photos to preserve them. We can then take them out to libraries across the county. We hope that local people will enjoy scrutinising them and will be able to contribute information, memories and anecdotes about the people and places featured in the photos. Watch out for a collection coming to a library near you! In the meantime, if you can help with any suggestions about these three images, please comment below or why not take a look at Flickr and see if you recognise any of our mystery photos?