A Gift From The Past
I was interested in your answer to the question ‘What is the difference between genealogy and family history?’ (Q&A, February). While searching for a burial in the 1700s in Great Dunham, Norfolk, I found entries by the rector, Ambrose Pimlowe, who did not confine himself to simply recording dates and names but got carried away in the detail, unwittingly providing future generations with valuable insight into the life of the times. For example, here is one of his entries:
“1738 John Hun, an ancient pauper of almost ninety-three years, a native of Norwich who settled in this town, who could walk twenty miles with more ease and less fatigue than hundreds of twenty years of age and married at eighty years of age and went to Lycham to buy the son of his old age, now living with Mr. Thomas Herring of this town, a new hat because his son’s hat fell into his master’s deep well, and riding home in Ludd Kyddal’s waggon of this town, was a little cold and stiff… coming out of the waggon he staggered (not being very sober) and his feet flew from under him and he fell backwards with his head first into a deep well in the yard and perished unhappily, who might have lived to be a century maker. Buried on January 4th.”
When Ambrose Pimlowe died in 1750, the replacement rector continued to list the burials in neater and less splattered handwriting, but mostly restricted himself to recording just the name and date of burial.
Also, I find the photos in the ‘Ancestors at Work’ articles really useful to complement my own family history, for example the one about cabmen in the same issue. My cabman ancestor was charged with “animal theft” at the Old Bailey when he ‘borrowed’ an unattended horse and cab to earn a quick shilling. Fortunately he was acquitted of stealing. Even more fortunate (for
me) was the detailed description: height 5 foot 3 inches, weight 9 stone 10 lb, his face and chest pitted with smallpox scars, blue eyes, brown hair and fresh complexion!
Beryl Stanley, by email
EDITOR REPLIES: Thank you Beryl. Readers who would like to see more of the work of Ambrose Pimlowe can search the records of Great Dunham in the Norfolk collections on ancestry. co.uk, findmypast.co.uk and thegenealogist. co.uk. The entry for Thomas Hoogan’s burial in 1734 is another great example.