Ancestral Heritage Trail

April Monthly Theme: Check It Out
Week 14 (Apr. 5-11): Check It Out
Week 15 (Apr. 12-18): How Do You Spell That?
Week 16 (Apr. 19-25): Negatives
Week 17 (Apr. 26-May 2): Document

This month’s theme resonated with me as I began to check out more about my maternal ancestors’ names; their residences; their occupations; their churches and their stories. Wouldn’t it be great if we could physically travel the Ancestral trails of our families and visit the places that they walked in, view the sights they would have seen, the shops and other buildings they visited? Times and travel arrangements are different now, since the impact of the Pandemic, so it is unlikely I will get to ‘walk in my ancestors’ footprints’ in England and Wales. My next best thing is a little virtual adventure into the counties, parishes, and villages of my family.

My research focus for today spotlights the family and historical events that impacted my maternal great grandparents, and their heritage stretching back to the mid-1700s in Hampshire and Surrey, England.

I need a guide for my ancestral tour through Andover and surrounding villages. I think I could begin my journey at the church of St Michael and All Angels in Andover and take a peek inside this church and take some photos of the interior and the graves in its cemetery.

Great Grandmother Emma [Newland] Cutting lived in Hampshire and Surrey between1847 and 1918. She was born in the village of Thruxton, Hampshire to Charles and Maria Newland. The ancient church of St Michael and All Angels, just 12 km away in the town of Andover, is the likely place of baptism, although I have yet to find evidence of that.

I could walk the streets of Thruxton to immerse myself in this picturesque village where Emma grew up.

Check out the link above to find out more about a famous murder that took place in Thruxton in 1920. (Note: I discovered some interesting Newspaper articles: an account of the murder in the Western Times on 27 April 1920, and the murder trial in the Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser on 29 May 1920, by searching for the Thruxton Murder in the Newspaper Archives at FindMyPast).

Great Grandfather Harry Cutting lived in Hampshire and Surrey between 1846 and 1917. He was born in the village of Redenham, Hampshire to John and Ann Cutting.

Perhaps a side trip to Redenham House in the Redenham Park Estate. Plenty to see there according to the National Archives

Catalogue description THE REDENHAM PARK ESTATE ON THE HAMPSHIRE – WILTSHIRE BORDERS

Harry and Emma were married at St Peter’s in Norbiton on 10 June 1867.

In the transcript for their marriage, Harry is listed as 22 years old, occupation – carpenter, father’s name – John Cutting, also a carpenter, his spouse’s father’s occupation is listed as a cordwainer. Witnesses to the marriage were Walter and Maria Hunt.

I know that Emma (Newland) Cutting died in 1914 and is buried with her husband Harry. Thanks to the Billion Graves website I found their shared headstone. (The surname was spelled Cuttins, just to make the search a little more difficult.) However, they are buried at Kingston Cemetery, not in Andover. Perhaps that will be the final stop on my journey.

My recent research has taken me back further into the mid-1770s to discover the stories of my Great x 3 Grandparents Thomas Cutting and Ann Beckingham.

Thomas was born in Penton Mewsey in 1760 to parents Thomas and Ann Cutting. Thomas also married an Ann, Ann Beckingham. [It can get confusing with repetition of family names through the ages.] There is also a stumbling block in research when the family name is spelled differently at times by the enumerators on the old parish records. Cutting is often written as Cuting or Cotting. Piecing together the correct records for my family tree is still an ongoing challenge.

However, I would definitely need a stopover in Penton Mewsey, on my ancestral trail, and take time to visit the Holy Trinity Church where John and Ann Cutting were married.

Perhaps a pint or two at the Black Swan Pub in Penton Mewsey. Soak up some of the atmospheres and catch up with the local history.

Perhaps a photographic opportunity at the Bronze Age, Barrow near Weyhill.

My Heritage Ancestral Trail, from Andover to Thruxton, Fyfield, Weyhill, and Penton Mewsey, online has only taken me a couple of hours today. A real trip would probably take several days to enable the walk-ins, the photography, the contact with locals, and the stopovers in country pubs or cottages along the way. What is missing of course are the real photographs that I would have taken myself. The closest thing to those is my feature image done in Canva.