A curious report involving a member of the Freer clan appeared in the local newspaper in 1895. The article describes an incident in Wrexham where a Thomas Daley tried to pick the pocket of a Mrs Annie Freer.
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Tag: Freer
The Freer name is linked back from my great-grandmother Clara Freer born 1869 in Ruabon, Denbighshire but her family was originally from Quorndon, Leicestershire.
Clara’s father William ran the kennels for the Wynnstay estate having learnt his trade at the Quorndon Hunt.
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Clara’s & Arthur’s Funerals
After the attempted pickpocketing, there was a long gap when the Freers were out of the limelight. The next reference found in Welsh Newspapers Online was from 28 March 1918, when the funeral of my great-grandmother, Clara Blacknell (née Freer) was reported, along with Arthur’s two months later.
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A Wedding Gift
Another search of Welsh Newspapers Online has revealed that in summer 1884 the local paper devoted a good few pages to the wedding of Herbert Lloyd Watkin Williams-Wynn, heir to the Wynnstay Estate and his cousin Louise Williams-Wynn.
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School Prize Giving
One always likes to think that one’s ancestors were talented so I was pleased to find a number of accounts in the Welsh Newspapers Online website of various Freers winning school prizes.
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A Drowning
Here’s another find from the Welsh Newspaper archive – this sad and puzzling record appeared in The Llangollen Advertiser, Denbighshire, Merionethshire and North Wales Journal, 22 September 1871.
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An Explosive Find
Whilst the coronavirus pandemic has left few corners of our lives untouched, for many people it has also provided a great opportunity to progress activities that would otherwise have been neglected. In my case it has offered a chance to spend some quality time on further researching my family history, in particular using the Welsh Newspapers Online website to see what more I can discover about the Freers of Ruabon.
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Freers on the move
One of the family history mysteries that has always been a source of fascination to me is how my great-grandmother, Clara Freer, who was born and brought up in Ruabon, Denbighshire, came to meet and marry my great-grandfather, Frederick Blacknell, who was born and brought up in Calverton, Nottinghamshire. Today, with the easy movement of people such a meeting would be perfectly normal but back in the second half of the nineteenth century didn’t everyone stay, more or less, in their home village?
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Dating my favourite photograph
Over the years, I’ve collected many photographs from the older of my relatives. I’ve always borrowed them, scanned them as high a resolution as I can and then returned them. The most frustrating aspect though is not knowing who is in them nor when/where it was taken. This one is no exception – though it is my favourite by a long shot. And given time, it’s coming together.
I came across a complete index of Freer baptisms in Quorndon, Leicestershire in my quest to find more about William’s parents and siblings. Little did I know it would lead me to discover two new Australian 4th cousins descended from a Freer who emigrated there in 1852.
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When was William Freer born?
I’ve been tracing as much as I can about my great great grandfather since I started my research around thirty years ago. William Freer was listed on his daughter Clara’s birth certificate in 1869 as a dog feeder of all things. Of course, it doesn’t tell you much about his age and so a process of digging up old records, guess work and deduction began.