Advertisement

WELCOME TO THE SIXTH EDITION OF THE “WORLD WIDE W*GG*”

Editor - Vivian Egan

Welcome everyone, to the first issue of the millennium year.

1999 was a year of great progress for W*GG* researchers, especially on the internet, thanks to the likes of Sheila JONES, Alan STANIER, Paul WAGG and Ian WEGG.

2000 promises to be just as good. David WIGG is making enormous progress on the WIGGS BMD extracts, and has now completed the Births for 1837 - 1949. Andrew WEGG has commenced work on the WEGG births, and his brother Julian has started on the deaths. Alan STANIER has managed to bring the WIGG entries up to date, and also added a few new sections, i.e. Overseas Entries, Adoption, etc.

The complete extracts for the 1881 Census are now available on Sheila JONES webpage. Some extracts for the other Census years are available, but are not complete lists. If you can add anything, it would be greatly appreciated.

RESEARCHERS

The list of researchers has grown and an updated list is attached.

THOMAS WAGG

Janet BYE has sent details from the “Guide Book for Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk” - This wrought-iron balustrade with its delicate s-shaped scrolls was designed by Paine and made by the London Blacksmith, Thomas Wagg, who had previously provided him with ironwork for Nostell Priory and the Mansion House at Doncaster. Wagg travelled down to Felbrigg to set it up in June 1753 - Windham having written to his agent Frary, “you must somehow scheme about his living, for he is a master-workman and lives in a very good way.”

Christine WAGG provided “The Royal Albert Museum, at Exeter in Devon has hanging on its walls a painting entitled “The Wagg Family of Windsor”. The artist was Francis Hayman, 1708-1776, a scene painter and illustrator, and one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768. Inscription on the painting: handwitten label on verso “Portrait of the Wagg family, Whitesmiths of Windsor”. Christine has also sent me a black & white copy of the portrait, if anyone would like a copy.

The question: Is Thomas WAGG of Felbrigg Hall fame, the same as the Wagg in the portrait ? The timing fits, but the first says “of London, Blacksmith” and the second ”of Windsor, Whitesmith”

ROOTSWEB WORLDCONNECT PROJECT http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/

Launched in October 1999, this project now includes over 17,000,000 names. Have you tried searching for your family here ? Consider uploading your own GEDCOM to their ever expanding database. Goal for the end of 2000 is to upload 100,000,000 names.

WAVENEY CEMETERY INDEX

For those with ancestry in north east Suffolk, the Waveney Cemetery Index online will be a huge boon for researchers. http://www.waveney.gov.uk & follow the Cemeteries Index link

FEATURE FAMILY - WAGG FAMILY of BURIN, NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA

The information I received is mainly about the descendants of a James Wagg (17??-18??) in Burin, Newfoundland.

In 1814 James Wagg senior, with others, signed a petition to the Governor for land to build a rectory, church and cemetery in Burin, Newfoundland. James Wagg, senior, a boatkeeper, was appointed constable in Burin for one year in 1815. [A boatkeeper or byboatman indicated that he employed several others to fish for (or maybe with) him and sold the catch to a larger merchant; in Burin probably to the Dorset firm of Spurriers. A constable was a representative of the legal system not exactly equivalent to a policeman later but responsible for enforcing the law. Appointment as constable and literacy (writing his name) suggests that he grew up in England as there was little local educational opportunity. I have speculated that he was a descendant of the extensive Ringwood-Christchurch, [Hampshire] Wagg family dating back to the 1500s in that area. The IGI does not show any other likely west of England Wagg family and Christchurch is in the main catchment area of migrants to Newfoundland. [There are many James Wagg in that family.]

The children of James Wagg senior were probably the following: Thomas bc1787/8, James junior, Stephen 1794, Ann bc 1795/6, Bridget b.1798, and possibly Joseph bc1815, Frances [or Elizabeth] & Mary.

My great great grandfather, Robert Oke (1794-1870) was born in Sherborne, Dorset, and migrated to the Burin area of Newfoundland in 1811 where he married Ann Wagg (about1796-1853) in about 1815 in Burin, apparently the daughter of the above James. Several years later Robert Oke moved from Burin and the relation with the Wagg family appears to have been lost; Robert remarried. My searches have been through the IGI in an attempt to identify the birth and parents of James Wagg, senior, of Burin.

PROFILE SPOTLIGHT - Sheila JONES

Webmistress “Pedigrees and People of the UK” web.ukonline.co.uk/sheila.jones/ppp.htm

“Born, Married, and nearly dead! Nothing exciting happened in the beginning, the middle or the end. I was nicknamed "Skinny" as a child and "Fatso" as a retired housewife, if a housewife is ever retired that is! My accomplishments are such that I must be the only woman in the world that can truly claim, I have cooked meals and washed dishes EVERY DAY for the past 15 years without a break and have not had a holiday since 1979.

Boring! perhaps, but bored no. Computers have been a part of my life since the Merlin Tonto ( a prize of a free search for the first one to tell me who made it) and when the IBM had 16k of memory and a 5.25" floppy. My spare room was an antique computer enthusiast's paradise. Family History had been a hobby for over 33 years and I count myself lucky to have lived through an era when searches meant 'hands on' experience of the genuine hand written parish records and the thrill of seeing the real signature of an ancestor. George WIGG born about 1780 in Mutford, Suffolk, who married first Rhoda LEE at Barnby, Suffolk on 5th November 1801 is my oldest proven WIGG ancestor.”

Requesting “FEATURE FAMILY” & “PROFILE SPOTLIGHT” entries for next newsletter NOW !!

Please remember to cover your newsletter distributor's costs; without them this would not be possible.

And FINALLY, may 2000 bring the answers to all our genealogy problems ........................

Advertisement