Elizabeth Sarah Curtis and the Hart family of Rugby continued.

In my last blog post I started to show the huge number of photographs and ephemera related to the families. Found in a car boot a couple of years ago now. The name Hart was on one of the pictures and having Hart in my family. I collected all that I could find related. I can only think that these were part of the collection of Florence Rosemary Hart nee Smith's home (1898 - 1972) They ended up in a car boot on a dealer's stall. It took several Sunday mornings looking as he would not sell me the whole box.

Iris Rose Hart (1923 - 1981) married James Edward Curtis (1925 - 1995) in 1960. His sister was Elizabeth Sarah Curtis born 1928 in Rugby Warwickshire. She married Lesley Townsend in 1949. Above are the wedding photograph cutting the cake.  

Elizabeth Sarah Curtis 

A younger Elizabeth Sarah Curtis.

More wedding photographs of the couple with their bridesmaids and alone.

They had one son Mark wearing the school uniform of St Oswald's. 

Another wedding photograph. of the couple with their bridesmaids and best man. Also maybe her mother Kathleen Mildred Labraham (1896 - 1978) Not sure why this one photograph has reversed from the original. Must have pressed something in the photoshop process!!

Kathleen Mildred Labraham's National Identity Card was also in the ephemera pile. Issued in 1915 during WW1. 

There is also a postcard photograph of Job and Lily Hart at their wedding. Job was Iris Rosemary Hart's uncle. 

Job Hart (1898 - 1968) married Lilian Willetts (1899 - 1985) in 1920. So this is a lovely photograph for the Hart family to see. Not many wedding photographs were taken or kept. usually one or two for the happy couple and an occasional one to family. No wedding albums for working class people usually. The couple had at least 4 children.

Now to the Smith side of the family. Iris Rosemary Hart's parents were Albert and Florence Rose Smith. Florence's sister married Samuel John Lucas. This is the memorial card of when he passed away in 1968 and subsequent burial. For someone tracking their family tree, these cards often tell a lot of information that can not be seen usually. 

Another sister of Iris Hart married George Hale (1920 - 1985) Hilda Hart was born in 1921 in Rugby also. She married George Hale in 1941. He served in the war and there are several photographs of him. 

Left back = Albert Hart R? Front George Hale. 

George Hale - looks to be in the RAF.

Taken 27/7/1947. The man at the front looks to be George Hale.No names on the back.

George Hale

Has Hilda hart and ?Colin on the back

                               
Colin and Pat Hale. Children of George and Hilda.

Two pictures of Pat hale or Patricia Hale and below she is marrying John Hodges in 1969. A wedding invite is in the ephemera rescued pile.

A happy Colin Hale. 

Think this is of Hilda Hale nee Hart at the beach, but it is quite creased. 

There are also a few photographs belonging to the extended family of the Harts, Hales and Curtis's. Here are the ones named 

Carol Stemple in her costume. Maybe crowned as the May Queen? Hilda hart also married a Gunter Stemple. This may be her daughter

Has George and Doris Hart born 1927 (another sister of Iris) and Dick on the back. The man doesn't look very well?

An older photograph. Has Albert Curtis and wife written on the reverse - but there is a question mark. Not found an Albert Curtis as yet.

Hilda Burdett 1936 to 2003. She was the daughter of Francis Burdett and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Florence Rosemary Hart's sister. 

Louise Hart married Edward Manger in 1896. Louise born in 1856 and died in 1936. Sent to Albert and Rose Hart. Louise was his aunt.

Sent to Aunt Rose with Ian, Linda, Michael, Stephen Edwards on the back. Missing one child that look like twins. Taken around the 1960s by the looks of it.

Has "From baby to granny with fondest love Rene" on the back then Irene pencilled in. Probably Irene Hart b 1910. Now onto the unknown and not sure if in this family. But I am including them as well

A nice happy wedding scene. Cutting the cake. Probably 1950s of age. Unsigned but has a Rugby photograph stamp.

Now all the photographs below were in the ephemera box at the car boot. I think they may be related to the family above or have a Rugby connection. Above is the mess full of soldiers that look very young. It is on an old card stock - so may be during the WW2 or National service just after. 

A young sailor unnamed with a look of the Curtis's about him?

This has Mr and Mrs Kingdom on in pencil. Obviously someone the Harts knew. It is a postcard photograph. I will say she looks as though she has a slight bump in front!

This three sailor photograph is quite sad. Again in pencil that has faded on the back. Has Danny, ??Dick/Jim/Bert (very difficult to read) and then Johnny killed by Japs.

Small photograph like many of the others in the Hart collection - unnamed. A soldier on a motorbike 

Another small photograph of a group of soldiers.

This one has a Redding Rugby stamp on the paper insert.

A happy couple together. But no identification given.

A wedding in the 1920s. Maybe related to the Hart/Hale or Curtis/Smith family. 

Last but not least a wedding part photograph. Maybe related to the Harts. 

This is the second blog as I couldn't get all the pictures in one blog. Hope someone finds this helpful and if you are family please contact me via this page. I have already returned one lost album. Maybe these will find family?

October 2023 UPDATE

The Hart & Curtis family photographs and ephemera have been returned to family. I am so pleased they have been returned and not lost forever. 

My family wedding from my Hart side but who?

 My family wedding from my Hart side but who are they?

If you have been following my blog - you will know that I collect old photographs and ephemera from mostly car boot sales. In the hope that it will help others with their family tree and their family history research  I also hold a large collection of photographs taken from my close family members that have sadly passed away. Many are unfortunately not named on the back. So I have to find out who they are to give faces to names. For those of you that have the family history bug, you will know what I mean!  

A few years ago, my uncle passed away. He lived in our family home in Small Heath, Birmingham and had many photographs that belonged to my grandmother and grandfather. I rescued a whole box of photographs and have tried to find out who the people are by asking older members of my family and using family tree research websites. In this huge collection were two wedding photos.

The above two photographs are from the same one. The first is the original. The second has been cut in size and sharpened and enhanced to hopefully see the features a bit clearer. The small boy at the front I am sure is my late father, Brian Hart. He looks to be about 2 to 4. Which makes this wedding to have taken place in the mid 1930s. Behind him is my late uncle Francis Hart and the older girl at the front is my late aunt Patricia Hart. I do not know who the other child is. She is too old to be any of the other Hart children. The elderly lady behind the bride to the left is Catherine Hart nee Varley my great grandmother. 

The very tall man to the far left I think is my grandfather, Michael Hart and my grandmother Edith Feege, is not the woman next to him in the hat, but the one next to her (behind) with a wide smile and dark hair.

  None of the wedding party can I identify. Both the bride and groom look to be older, maybe in their late 20s. I would have said that they are from Hart descent as the groom has the typical "Hart" features, but he could be a Varley? Or he may have just married into the family and the bride is my relative? 

The wedding party traditionally stand on the side of their relative and the Harts are more towards the bride's side. So likely the bride is my relative! I suspect they are from one of my grandparents brothers or sister and related rather than just a friend. But as they both had lots and lots of children....

The wedding party was in a house as you can see the other houses from the first photograph taken in the back garden. It was not my grandparent's house as their back garden had a school behind and playing fields. The trees are quite bare, so the wedding would have been during the winter or early spring. 

In this photograph we have the two bridesmaids, the bride and groom and three men. One of the bridesmaids on the left has the man behind holding her. The man in the soldier uniform to the right, I think is the best man. However the bridesmaid to his right is not his partner. If you see the main photograph of the whole group. He has his arms around another woman. The uniform looks to be of the Coldstream Guards and he is carrying a hat in both pictures. Interestingly, my uncle Mike (Francis Hart) joined the Coldstream Guards later in life. I actually think this is the "brothers" photograph and the groom is one of 4 brothers. 

So if you have Hart or Varley in your family tree that settled in Birmingham, England - please take a look and see if you recognise anyone, then let me know.    

DNA for the Ward & Hart side

DNA for the Ward and Hart side of me.... 

Well after having my DNA tested at Christmas - it came back not quite as expected. My grandparents are the Ward family - mostly from Shropshire and Yorkshire. The Hart family that were from Birmingham and Ireland. The Hands family that seemed only to have lived in Birmingham. And lastly the Feege family that are a bit of a mystery coming from London and originally Germany/Poland.

Now with this ancestry, I would have thought lots of British DNA with a smattering of European and Irish ...Not what I have!!

61% European West.
16% Ireland
8% Great Britain
8% Finland/Northwest Russia
4% Iberian Peninsula
3% European East.

My husband came back with 42 % Irish and 37% European West. Not what he expected at all. 

Ancestry Links.

Now I have had a subscription to Ancestry for years. Now looking at the DNA matches has been very interesting. I know that some of the cousins showing are correct. Which means that the ones that have no tree links; are also distant relatives and could have some family links that would enhance my understandings of my families heritage. ..

Is it worth doing?

Definitively yes. But it needs to be done with researching your family history. Because as a stand alone test, it does not mean anything significant. Also linking with Ancestry or other family history websites, gives a wider and growing range of contacts and much "food for thought".
I have a 4th cousin that appears to be Italian! Now with no family history for this person showing, I can not check as to why?
But to me this is very interesting and in the past had such a link come up in my family history research. I would have dismissed it .. but now not likely.

With another generation now growing up. I want to leave a legacy of our family. As the links and memories get lost in time. I wish that I could remember what my grandad told me about his early life now. I also wish that I could talk to my dad and ask him more about his family.