Zephalonius, a Hoy there.

I'm interested in Hoy(e)s of N Essex.

Over the past 17 years I have traced my ancestors as they made their way around a very small area where Essex, Cambs and Suffolk join, - from Helions Bumpstead to Schudy Camps to Castle Camps (1530-1588) thence to Wixoe and Birdbrook then up to Bradley 1780 then Stetchworth 1820, Cambridge and then to London 1875.

A fairly well defined path and I'm totally at a loss to explain an apparent connection with Gestingthorpe.

In 1592 at Castle Camps and then exactly 50 years later,1642, at Gestingthorpe two boys were baptised Zephalonius Hoye. As far as I can tell these two were the only Zephalonius' ever registered in England!
Yet I believe there was another earlier one - an "illustrious" ancestor who perhaps fought at the defence of Cephalonia about 1485 - after the fall of Byzantium to the Turks. Perhaps he was a mercenary in the service of Venice, who managed to keep control over their trading post, perhaps he earned the nickname Cephalonius Hoye.
What do your contributors think?

The Byfords of Great Maplestead

I wonder if you, or any of your bloggers can help? My family all came from Great Maplestead - five generations from the late 18th century to the middle of the 19th, all agricultural labourers, conventional families will loads of kids and no great surprises. The trouble is, I've traced the entry in the parish register for the marriage for the couple who started the Byfords in Great Maplestead, but I can't discover where they came from!

Joseph Byford (B abt 1764) married Sarah Sibley (b abt 1762) at Great Maplestead church on 20th July 1784 by special licence. The banns had been read the previous 3 sundays. The stayed together until their deaths about 50 years later. In 1841, they were living at New Barns, Great Maplestead. Their children included George, Joseph, James, Mary, Rachael, Robert and Thomas. Richard Deal (Beal?) was a witness to the marriage.

So who were they? How did they get there? Did they need some sort of settlement certificate in those days? If anybody has any ideas I would be very pleased to hear from them.

Posted by Richard Byford

phone number 01296 615111.

Printing photos from the site-The Whittles

I have visited your web site for Foxearth & District Local History many
times. As my nan and grandad lived in Foxearth for many years and are buried in the grave yard at Foxearth. I have searched through the photos of Foxearth on your web site and would like to try and get a copy of the Coronation Supper photo as my grandparents are in this picture. I wondered if you could help.

regards
Linzi Allen

Linzi

I'm glad you visit the site often. It would be nice to know the names of your grandparents. The photo was borrowed only briefly from the owner. All these photos are stored at the maximum resolution that their original quality allowed, so you can actually print them out with a decent printer at full resolution. As far as I am aware, there are no copyright restrictions on any of these photographs as long as they are for personal use. If you tell a digital print shop the URL of the photo (the address at the top of the browser) they'll be able to produce a print that looks pretty good. We use ACD See to print the photos. If you use 'Best' quality at both ends you can get pretty remarkable prints. Beware, though. Although Hewlett Packard say their ink doesn't fade, beleve me it does.

Andrew

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My grandparents were Gladys and Bertie Whittle
they lived in Claypits. So I spent much of my childhood in Foxearth

Linzi