Genealogy

We have received messages via this website from people looking for their ancestors and living relatives.

Please contact this website if you have any information on the following names:

PUCKERIDGE

Phillip Puckeridge from Wollongong, NSW, Australia is searching for the origin of his surname and looking for any help with tracing his ancestors or living relatives.

November 09 - Kevin Puckeridge has responded from Warrawong - "all the Puckeridges are related - there is a lady who has three big folders on the Puckeridges in Woonona.  All I know is my father's family come from Scotland and we are part aboriginal.  

December 31 - Message from the Editor - I have made contact with the lady who has the three files on the Puckeridge family research. Please contact me via the contact form on this website for more information.

 

CHIESA

My maiden name is Chiesa (Italian for church), and I was brought up in St.Albans (Chiesas have been based in or near St Albans since the 1840s).
This is where Puckeridge comes in.
Andrea Chiesa is shown in the 1841 Census as living in Puckeridge:-
Andrew Chasa, age 50, 'born Foreign'.
Esther (wife), age 35.
Children Andrew (13), Charles (10), William (9), Theresa (5).
Andrea  was a watch and clock maker by trade, but in England, in 'reduced circumstances', he is described in documents as 'laboror' or 'hawker'.
The family moved to St Albans soon after the 1841 census, as Andrea died there in 1845 and Esther in 1850 (both from TB), leaving the children orphaned and having to work. The son, Andrew , doesn't appear in the St Albans records. Did he stay behind in Puckeridge and raise a family there? Are there descendents of him still in Puckeridge?

CANNONS GARAGE

"I came across the Puckeridge Village web site when doing some family research.

I lived with my family in Puckeridge from 1931 until 1949 when we left Puckeridge to live in Australia. If you have any "missing links" from those years I may be able to help you.

My father was the owner of Puckeridge Garage (opposite White's butcher shop) and Cannon's Coaches."

Elizabeth Davies

 

PUCKERING:

"I'm looking for any descendants of the Puckering family, who originated from Puckeridge in the late 1600's to mid 1700's."

Mark Puckering

 

WREN:

The family came from the Puckeridge/Braughing area.

Does anyone remember the Wrens?

 

SPENCER or PAGE:

Florence Emily Spencer came from Puckeridge. Her father was a hay/straw dealer who lived in the centre of the village in the early 1900s. Florence married William Augustus Page.

Roy Spencer Page, their son, spoke often and fondly of Christmas in Puckeridge.

The Spencer's lunch of beef and goose was cooked by Arthy, the baker, and bought up to the house.

The massive farm shire horse, the grooms, the huge carts of hay and straw were sent down to the various mews in London.

Florence had a renowned ability to 'magic' away warts and unsightly blemishes - apparently 'patients' would turn up at the house out of the blue from far and wide, supply a hair from their head and Florence would make up a 'potion' including best steak and hair, bury it in the garden and within a week the offending blemish would disappear! It was said Florence inherited this ability from her own mother.

The Spencers had a fair few cottages in and around Puckeridge, and when Mr Spencer died, it was found that he insisted in his Will that all his tenants were bequeathed life tenancies and, of course, this was carried through. The cottages were sold one by one as the tenants themselves pased away, with the profit from each sale going towards updating the remaining cottages and so on until the final couple of cottages were sold shortly after Florence's own death.

A year or so ago the person who contacted this website was watching The Antiques Road Show on BBC1 . There was someone showing a collection of photos and amongst them was one of a shop in Puckeridge some time around 1900-1930 and above the shop window was the name 'PAGE'.

Does anyone have a picture of this shop or any information about it?

Does anyone remember a Page or Spencer family?

 

WE ARE ALSO LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ON:-

 

THE GRANGE, HIGH STREET, PUCKERIDGE to add to the information in History Articles.

and

THE PUCKERIDGE BILLIKEN

Carolyn Englert, a resident of the USA came across this little statue, labelled "Billiken", in her grandmother's china collection.

The Billiken was first produced in 1909 by an American art teacher and illustrator, Florence Pretz of Missouri, as a good luck charm. Florence Pretz had seen a vision of this mysterious figure in a dream. It became popular in Japan and is still being produced in a folk art way in Alaska.

The Puckeridge Billiken was produced by Grafton China. A transfer stamped upon the Billiken's back shows the hart of Hertford upon a representation of rivers inside a shield. The name Puckeridge is carried in a ribbon underneath the shield.

If anyone has any more information on this please contact the website.