Hi any one heard of the Eades family?if they are Romany as cant find much on them thanks.

Hi any one heard of the Eades family?if they are Romany as cant find much on them thanks.

Hi any one heard of the Eades family?if they are Romany as cant find much on them thanks.

Hi any one heard of the Eades family?if they are Romany as cant find much on them thanks.

Hi any one heard of the Eades family?if they are Romany as cant find much on them thanks.

i am very sorry that the board seems to be posting everything multiple times at the moment.mary has reported it to the web owners so we hope to get it mended shortly.

as regards the eades no i have never heard of them as romanies or even gypsies.but my knowledge is mainly of the travellers in the south west and the better kinown ones around the country.can you tell me what are they are from and i will make some enquiries for you.cathayb

tuesday.7pm 26thmay 2009.i am pleased to be able to tell those folk ringing and asking me that mary has come through her operation and is now in recovery.well done mary we are so happy for you.God be with you and your family.i will post more when i hear anything more.cathayb

I am looking for information on the Mckeowen Family who used to run boxing booths

for many years.

Sam Mckeowen was my great uncle, my grandmother was his sister. Her married name was Edwards.

As far as I can ascertain Sam and Esther (born HESTER Gratton) had two sons Patrick and Bernard.

My Dad often told me that it was in the booths that he learned to box.

My Fathers given name was George Edwards, but he was always called Kitchener by his Devon Family.

I hope somone can fill in a few holes for me.

Good Site.

Chris Edwards

hi chris,nice to meet you on here.i know very little about the edwards romany family in devon i am afraid and nothing about the mckeowens!!!we had an uncle ted edwards in south molten and we have some connections with the graddons of chilhampton area but not gratton!!ted edwards only had one son and he is called john and married tracey orchard.there are edwards buried in south molten cemetary but i think that teds name was orginally cornelieus or something like that and his family came orginally from wells.our family did have a lot to do with the boxing booths around devon and the south west.ronnie taylor who owned the excelsoir and also joe beckett whose mother was charlotte birch are all close kinn to us.if you can give me some approximate dates of birth or death etc i could maybe find out more.cathayb

hi again chris,i got your family now.sam and esther used to frequent the same fairs as ronnie taylor especially in barnstaple!!!sam quite liked to have women wrestlers in the ring aswell.if yoiu can look at the book -the book of barnstaple coronation to the millenium vol 2 by avril stone you will find 6 photos of sam.jis booth and esther in it at about page 160.

in the 1930s sam first introduced the boxing booths too barnstaple fair!

As a child I was privileged to be taken to the circus, where we mingled with the performers due to my Uncle Jack once being a performer himself. I also had free entry to the menagerie at the fair, along with my brother Peter and sister Roma. My parents were very good friends of SAM and ESTHER MCKEOWEN who was better known for his boxing booth, where FREDDIE MILLS, the famous boxer, was no stranger. Freddie was often seen standing outside the booth on a platform with other boxers, while the ‘Barker’ promoted a fight. i have just noticed this on this site!!!!i think chris and mary will know something about same aswell seeing this on here!!!!!mary unfortunately is in hospital at the moment but as soon as shes well i am sure she will be in contact.

we also have some edwards folki living on our site here and they had something to do with freddie mills who sam knew so i might be able to find out more for you.i will try thats for sure.

jean hope who reads the romany road journals her perants know sam so she too might be able to help you.

Hi,

Our new book may be of interest to many on this website, including those researching their family tree.

It's called Old Ways, New Days: A Family History of Gypsy Life in South London and Kent by Rosie Smith and Lindsey Marsh.

There's sections on bare-knuckle fighting, hop-picking, singing, war etc. It refers to lots of Gypsy names including Smith, Lee, Ripley, Boswell, Cooper, Deakins, there's over a hundred photos and personal stories shared. Gypsy cooking recipies, peg-making guides, song lyrics etc. More information can be found at www.marloco.com

Thanks

Lindsey

mary isnt available just yet but i am sure she will be haoppy to endorse this book.i know she has read the preview and thinks its fantastic!!!!i already have mine ordered.if you order before june 5th you can get it for 10.99.the normal selling price will be 12 .99 after that date.i think its going to be very popular so put you orders in soon.heres some little bits i have found about it from the gmb board.

I have just been reminded that almost any book can be ordered from most bookshops if you provide the Title, Author and ISBN number

so for this one

Old Ways, New Days: A Family History of Gypsy Life in South London and Kent

by Rosie Smith and Lindsey Marsh

Paperback ISBN 978 1 903427 45 3

Old Ways, New Days: A Family History of Gypsy Life in South London and Kent

by Rosie Smith and Lindsey Marsh

Paperback 104 pages with over 100 black and white photographs

ISBN 978 1 903427 45 3

Old ways, New Days is a book of photographs and reminiscences of Gypsy life in South London, Surrey and Kent by Rosie Smith, who still lives a traditional Gypsy lifestyle, and her second cousin Lindsey Marsh, who has been researching her own Gypsy roots. It is an introduction to the language, working lives, music, poetry and song of Gypsies and a record of the changes that have taken place in their way of life in recent years. With chapters on prize-fighting, cherry picking and hop picking, the book also exposes the hostility that Gypsies have endured at the hands of gavvers and local councils over the years. A remarkable book, a social history and the seldom heard voice of Gypsy life.

Available in June

Good Luck Rosie.

Good luck Lindsey

HEAR YE O HEAR YE.....

mary has just rung me herself from the hospital.operation has been 100%success!!!she has had all her tubes removed,they are taking her off the morphine.she has been out of bed.she didnt lose her thinking at all after the operation.she is for the first time in years with out pain.the doctors are over the moon about her.shes done far better than thery expected!!!it really was a pioneering op and mary herself didnt think she would make it.some of the phone calls i had from her the week before she went in would have made your hair stand on end!!!!living wills and last suppers!!!!.it has been very worrying.but mary wants to thank you all from the bottom of her heart as she says she knows it was our prayers to God that have brought her through so well.

give thanks with a grateful heart all ye folkis!!!!!

rosie and lindseys book!!!!!

hey my copy arrived this morning and i am reading it avidily.what value for money worth twice the price and more.its had me in tears to read of folki still living the way we do on our site here in somerset.real gypsy ways.i love it,i will always value it.what an heirloom to pass on to our kids and grandkids.i just cant say enough good about it.everyword is true and everyword is how me and joe and our chavvies live.do get your selves a copy as soon as you can.you wont regret it.right i am back to read it again!!!

mary news of= mary is home and doing wonderfully.all will be well with her in the future.she is now nearly pain free and eating and enjoying her food.welcome home mary!!!we love you loads.look forward to you and brian coming to convalese here soon.i will spoil you rotten.elizabeth hope sends you her love and hopes to meet you while your here.love cathayb

Hi Cathby. Thanks so much for your kind message. I'm really pleased to read your comments about our new book as both Rosie and I are really excited about it's release. Rosie was great to work with and we had a lot of fun along the way, but can you believe it - we have never actually met eachother lol. Many thanks once again, your comments are greatly appreciated and I wish you all the best too, Lindsey xx

yippppyyyyyyyyy mary is doing well so very pleased to hear that feel like its chrismas or sank thank you cathay for letting us know how she's doing as i have been thinking about her a lot i didnt know you where such good friends or i would of ask for news of her sooner i am so pleased that she will no longer have to be in pain and she is a brave women to have the op i know i would be trashed to death if it was me,

anyways wishing well to mary and family loves rosie xxx

p's thank you about the book again cathay xx

and linsey my cushty cuz when we do end up meeting i know i is gonna be such a bad in fluance on you hahahaahaha woo hoo lol xxxxxxxxxxx

rosie

hi guys.this is getting to be a great meetingplace for us all!mary will be delighted when she gets back on line to see whats been happening on here.i know the next two journals are about ready and they will be coming our way soon.i cant wait for them.well see you around folkis and if any of you would like any help with family history mary and i will do our best.

ROMANY ROAD is a non-political, non-profit-making society, our aim being to share and enjoy memories and reminiscences of Romany Life. We are not a family history society

to unknown romany.i hope you didnt think i meant romanyroad was a history society?i know its not.its recollections of a wonderful way of life!but many of us are interested in family history aswell and love to help anyone else that is interested or put them in touch with folki that can help them.

i have permission from mondo to share this with you and as it talks of some of the ways of the past i thought you may enjoy it.cathayb

From: pookerthegib

Hi Cathayb,

There certainly is an anomaly here regarding what my mother told me about her parents and grandparents, and what information I have found through my searches of the records.

Firstly, my mother Sarah Redworth (her maiden name) said that my grand father had a "Bow Top Wagon" and that she was born at abbeywood. They also lived with her "Quote" Blind old Granny, that she would sit and read to her from the Bible and referred to her Grand Father as "Old Joe the Welshman".

According to my elder brother who is 86 and still remembers the old chap; says that none of the family could understand him because of his strong accent that was a mixture of Welsh and Romany. (Did he live in Wales part of his life??)

Mother also remembered the get together's where there was fiddle playing and dancing which she described as being similar to Spanish dancing. These jigs apparently were being dance on a door which was placed on the ground to allow the dancer to heel and toe and stamp to great effect.

My Grand Father William Redworth married Grand Mother Elizebeth Sutton who was a Gorja woman that lived at the Rats Nest Chislehurst. I have no proof as to where the Rats Nest address really was except for another Genealogist, who has been told by peope living at the now; Foots Cray area as having been in the vicinity of what is now called Recory Lane Sidcup.

He also believes that there was a large gypsy encampment behind the Rats Nest address which where in fact Brick Fields. My own records show that my Maternal Grandparents, the Redworth, were married at the Parish Church North Cray july 1896. Both ages stated to be 20 years old. I have not found any reference to the family in any of the census's.

In the 1891 Census, At Ladywell Buildings Lewisham.

I have Joseph Redworth Head age 37 Born at Middlesex

Kate Redworth Wife age 39 Born Plumstead with children:-

Justinier Daughter age 16 Born Middlesex

William Son age 14 Born Middlesex ( my grand dad)

Emily age 12 Born Dartford

Benjin age 7 Born Lewisham

Thomas age 4 Born Lewisham

Asker age 1 Born Lewisham

Also at the same address is :-

Justinier Boswell Head age 68 Widow Born Barkingside

(nee Justinier Dighton, Wife of Zachariah Boswell 1825.)

Annie Loverage Daughter age 26 Born Shepherds Bush

Thomas Loverage Son-in-law age 26 Born Shepherds Bush

Bertie Loverage Grand Son age 4 Born Deptford

Francis Grand Daughter age 1 Born Deptford

My Great Grand Parents were not married until Dec 1910 and were resident at "Caravan" Manorway, Plumsted Marsh.

They evidently wanted to see if they got on alright before getting married. Ha Ha.

I have no objection to you passing on any of this information to other who may be interested.

Regards Mondo

so has anyone ever heard of rats nest chizelhurst?

Yes it was given that nickname because there were so many rats nest there on Chislehurst and St Paul’sCray Common.

CATHAY BIRCH

We are very sad to report that Cathay Birch has had a nasty fall and has broken her leg so she won't be answering any queries on this page for a while. We all wish you a speedy recovery recovery Cathay

I hope Cathay has a speedy recovery. I'm sure we'll meet up one day :)

Love Bee & family

I am also interested to know more about Paul Stevens whose photos are on this site. As I have Stevens' in my family tree.

Mary would like to send her sincere thanks to all friends via this site who have sent so many kind messages for her speedy recovery from her recent brain surgery and says your love, support and prayers have meant so much! We're pleased to say that all went well and she is expected to be fully recovered within the next six months - although knowing our Nan - it won't take her that long!

Once she's better she will start to update the site - but in the meantime journals 10 and 11 are with the printer and will be distributed soon. Many thanks - John (Grandson)

i am back so query away.best wishes cathayb

Hello there firstly i gotta congratulate you only a Quality website.Im in the process of traceing my Mother and Fathers Family trees on my Fathers side are Jones and Saunders all from round the South Wales area(Monmouthshire?Breconshire) and on my Mothers side Clarkes from the Morten on Marsh Stowe on the Wold area,there is talk of Romany on both sides could anyone advise me the best way to go out about finding this out?Also would a Coalman in the 1800,s and a Horse groom in the 1800,s be Romany trades as the Clarke Family on my mothers side did both of these for a living?Any advice given would be much appreciated,All the best Duncan

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone could help my sister and I. We are looking for the whereabouts of our parents. They are known as Joseph Ford and Janet Ford nee Watson. We dont have their birth dates and the dates of marriage on our birth certificates dont coincide with each other. I was born in Inverness, scotland in 1959 and my sister june was born in oban ,scotland in 1962. We were both taken into care in 1962 from a place called stow(borders) by welfare officers and placed in fostercare. We dont know if we have siblings. If there is anyone who can help us please feel free to help as we keep coming to brick walls all the time. From what we can recall from what we were told by social workers throughout the years that our mother went to the manchester area whether this is true or not we dont know. I have been trawling through websites and dont know where to go really. So if anyone could help us find some information we would be eternally grateful. thanks Janet and June Ford

to the last two posters on the site.i am sorry i dont know about either of your families but i have asked a few of my friends and they will get back to me if they can find anything.i do though have jones and saunders in my family but they come from devon at least in the last 2 hundred years or so.have you any record of your saunders being anywhere other than wales?to the two girls.... what makes you think they may be travellers?any more clues you could give us to try and help locate them?regards all cathayb

Hi Janet Ford,

Just read your posting. As a suggestion, have you tried looking at the site Scotlands People. It has recently been updated with Census lists also Birth Marriage and Death registry records. Also another thought, write to the Salvation Army as they are very good at helping to trace adoptee's and adoptees parents etc.

Good Luck

Mondo

Hi Cathayb,

Glad to see you back. Hope you are making good progress and that you will be up and about soon.

My best very wishes

Mondo

a big hello to the lancashire boswells. just in case ya thought we were atchin in the sky, we aint.had a run around hensingham and whitehaven, couldnt deek a soul????times change, and time moves on i guess.

loves yis...bill an tanya.

Many thanks for your reply im waiting to check a family members ancestry.com for info on the Jones and Saunders families as i know nothing of either families only from my Grans Brother who is a Jones who told me him and his brother spent alot of time in Abertillery/Cwmtillerey in around 1920 to 1930 playing with a family known as the Prices when he and his Brothers were little and that there father (my great grand father John "jack"jones was a bare knuckle fighter who took part in many bare knuckle fights in and around the South Wales region arond 1905 1920.Once i find out where both families originate from il be more the wiser!At the mo im traceing my Mothers Family from morton in marsh who were Clarkes who married Smiths and were agri cultural labourers, coal merchants and horse grooms in Stowe in the Wold its never ending ! All i no of these is that they my great nan (Elsie Rosina Clarke)was able to read palms,tea leaves etc and could could heal people useing water from a well.All her desendants are dark skinned brown haired and browned eyed as is my mother and Aunty which is quite strange as never of them has ever left the u.k.I might be clutching at straws but the rumour is they as well as my Family from Wales were Romany desent.Thanks for your reply and if i find out anymore i will let you know Keep up the good work on the site All the best Duncan

hi again all,sorry my leg is still bad so cant get on here alot but will continue to do the best i can and keep searching for all of you.mary and i are at the very least on the way to good recoveries but having to be patient as it takes quite a long time!!!!any way all the best folks and keep writing in.hey!isnt the combined new journal out recently of the romany road series excellant again?i am really enjoying mine.all the best everyone love cathay

where are ye dougie/young eric/ blue eye???not often ya cant find a boswell. give us a holler.

first time on here, new computer.

I am from the Loveridge family, a Romani minister (Roma Rashai) in the full gospel Romani church and I work as a bus driver in High Wycombe.

I am in the process of writng a glossary of Romani into English.

Kushti site, well done, opre Roma!

please can anyone help with me searching my husbands family history,,my husbands grandad named Albert berritt left the fair ,,roughly in the 1900's , he married a ruth Stevans,ruth lived in ashford in kent. and was related to jimmy jefford the fairground boxer..family last known of there wereabouts was in 1980's at hoddeston in the winter months when the fair grounds werent running.. I met my great aunt Harriet stevans ,, in Tottenham lane .lordship lane ..the big wreck.. please help me search them or any history. Also the rochester family ...also the killingbacks elizabeth married killingback thanks very much.....

hello,good day to all,it has been months sence i have gotton to go to my romany sites an talk with my friends i have made an the ones i hope to make.my net is down at my home,i spend time at my moms an we got hers up an running again,this makes me so so happy...cathayyyy,i read something about your leg,i pray all is going well in your healing.i have slowed up a great deal on doing my family tree ,i am still working on looking up family names an places it is just going slow.i am goind to check out this site today it has gotton my attention,it looks like it has alot to is.here in the usa there is nothing todo concerning romanichels an any form of research.i know the gypsy lore society is over here but i am still tring to figure out how to find the info i need on that site.well i am going to try an post this an see if it goes through.well i leave my love to all who are here.god bless to all my fellow romanys.........

What a kushti site, Don't let the flatties get you down one of you is worth ten of them, and keep the crack going. I am now starting to paint porcelain with Vardo's on so keep watching. Jim ( Tolney Lane)

oh my judy.i am so pleased we have made contact again!jan and i have been looking everywhere for you and your mum we were so worried.please email me at cathayb@talktalk.net i would love to know more about your smalls family as i have found alot of smalls in my own line and i know one or two of them went to america.hows mum by the way?and yes your right this is a good site but if you subscribe to the journals they are excellant and excellant value for money.i can well reccomend them.love cathay

Thank you to everyone who's put messages on recently, it's always good to hear from you and I hope you get some replies and help with your searches.

Thanks too to you Jim Hardie don't forget to keep us up-to-date with your painting, sounds great. I could put some pictures on the site for you if you wanted, just let me know. You can always contact me on mhorner022@aol.com. I'm still recovering from brain surgery and must take it easy for a while yet, but hope to update the site before too long. Kushti bok to all - Mary

hi all,i have a new email address:=birch.cathay@yahoo.co.uk

Hello there just wondering if any one has heard if a date for Octobers Stow fair has been confirmed yet? ive heard the 22nd also the 26th? All the best Duncan

hi duncan,stow is always on a thursday so the next date for stow fair is definately the 22nd sept 2009.hope that helps you.regards cathayb

me again sorry i meant 22nd october!!!!!!bridgwater fair is on the last wednesday of september.thats another good fair in somerset.

I thought bridgwater was the 30th ? This was on the BBC site .

The largest travelling funfair in the south west is once again rolling in to Bridgwater.

The annual event is almost 800 years old for the last 400 years has been held on St Matthews Field.

The event has to be held on the last Wednesday in September so this year it will take place on 30 September, running until 3 October.

The funfair will see plenty of rides and over 100 stalls. A small horse fair will be held just on the Wednesday

yes bridgwater was on the 30th sept til 3rd oct.it was quite good.rosie smith came down and she and i met up.you can see us on utube on rosie meets cathay if you want. stow is on the 22nd october(a thursday) oh by the way the romanies are only at bridgwater on the last wed of the month of september then the next 3 days is for fair folk and london traders.

Dear Friends

Unfortunately I am not yet fully recovered enough from brain surgery to go to Stow Fair this time, so I'm very disappointed - (especially as I wanted some new rugs!! ) Therefore, can I ask a big favour please?

Obviously I won't be able to take my usual photos for the journal. So, if any of you take photos of wagons, horses or anything interesting , including any news or little stories about meeting up with old friends etc., that you would be willing to share for the next issue of the journal - please either send them to me via Email at mhorner022@aol.com or write to me at 22, Ecroyd Park, Credenhill, Hereford HR4 7EL.

That would be really kind and I and all our members would be very grateful. If required, any costs of developing and postage would be sent by return of post.

Many thanks and kushti bok Mary

hi mary it is zoe, Ethel and Owen send there love to you and hope you well and i like the web page it is kooshty chavi love you xxxx from zoe