Lucky celebrities

I enjoy watching the Who Do You Think You Are? television shows, and the latest one on Courteney Cox (USA) was interesting. What I feel annoyed about is that they make the research look so easy, because the researchers are able to get access to buildings, documents and senior archivists, not to mention travelling to other countries – this is not an option for the man on the street. No doubt it takes them weeks, if not months, to collate the data and put the programme together, but for the ordinary researcher it can take years to get anywhere as close, and we don’t get a glimpse of those records held behind closed doors.

I know that there is much more data available online these days from around the world, and WDYTYA? Magazine does make researching a lot easier, but I still say that certain documents are restricted. Bob Shaw, Oldbury, West Midlands Editor replies: I can’t think of a time when a celebrity was shown a document that ordinary family historians could not obtain, but they certainly benefit from having a larger budget to pay for expert help.

The article mentioned that feathers were also used in the 19th century to fill mattresses and pillows and to make quills. My recent research has uncovered ancestors who were involved in both of these trades.

My paternal great great grandfather, David Moses Dyte, was a quill manufacturer in Bristol before he moved to London in the late 1700s. In fact, he is also credited with saving the life of George III when he thwarted an assassination attempt by James Hadfield in the Drury Lane Theatre in May 1800. He was later granted a royal warrant to be “Purveyor of Pens and Quills to the Royal Household”.

My maternal great grandfather was a Frenchman, Jean Teychenné b1815, who developed a method to purify feathers to reduce the possibility of disease, and was granted a Royal Warrant in the 1850s. Manufacturers of feather beds and mattresses advertised their wares extolling the virtues of the process to potential customers in local newspapers (see the image above).

The grandson of the quill manufacturer met and married the daughter of the feather purifier on board a ship that sailed from Greenock to Queensland in 1878. They are my grandparents, both descended from tradesmen who used feathers to make a living. Jocelyn Dyte, Ballarat, Australia Editor replies: You have some great stories in your family tree Jocelyn!