Haggbridge.com – Never let truth get in the way of a good family story!

Brenda, James, & The Giant Quake

Loma Prieta Earthquake October 17, 1989 – Where were you? On this day 35 years years ago I was 8 years old. My little brother James and I were at our babysitter’s house with a few other kids. We were watching the “Battle of the Bay” baseball game. Oakland A’s vs. San Francisco Giants. They had a big oak table...

Lizzie Edgar & The Bottle Stopperers

Our Great Grand Aunt, Elizabeth Edgar (1870-1956), was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, the third of twelve children. Aunt Lizzie relocated to York with her parents, Ann LUMSDOM and John Thomas EDGAR, who worked as an engine fitter on the railways, until she entered domestic service for a family on Coney Street. At the age of 21 she married...

Clark’s of Darlington

The Clark family of Cumberland worked for generations as agricultural labourers before the industrial revolution brought mining and iron foundries to the Lake District. We can trace our family back to our 4th Great Grandparents, John CLARK & Jane CHICKEN, residents of the rural village of Kirkbride, Cumberland, in the late 18th century! Their son Joseph CLARK (1820-1895) became an...

Hudson’s of Bridlington

The Hudson family have been traced back as far as the mid-18th century and the towns of Bradford & Bingley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. However at least four generations called Bridlington home, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where the family were carpenters and building contractors. Our 2nd great grandfather, Joseph Henry HUDSON, expanded the construction business to...

Captain Luther Little’s Tall Tales

Our 4th Great Grandfather, Luther LITTLE, from the Bacon family line was a New England sailor, naval officer, and privateer. Hailing from Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Luther’s career at sea spanned the Revolutionary War from 1771-1799 but represented only the first half of his life. In his 85th year, Luther sat down with his granddaughter and recounted the tales of his...

Thompson’s of Kirkbymoorside

The Thompson family were farming Kirkbymoorside, aka Kirkby Moorside, for generations before our 3rd Great Grandparents, Bethel THOMPSON (1800-1872) married Elizabeth SIGSWORTH (1803-1867) in Kirkbymoorside, 1828. The adorable couple are portrayed in their later years in the above photographs from the 1860s. As freehold farmers the couple employed two men to work their 55 acres as agricultural labourers, in addition...

Richard Warren & The Mayflower

Our 9th Great Grandfather was our first European ancestor to arrive in North America on the Mayflower! Richard WARREN (1585-1628), most likely heralding from Therfield, Hertfordshire, was one of the few Merchant Venture financial backers who signed on to make the Mayflower voyage as a member of the Leiden contingent of Pilgrims. The Pilgrims sailed from their self imposed exile...

Marchetti & Gracia Family Tree

The Marchetti & Togliatti families from Balangero, Northern Italy, immigrated to Utah at the end of silver boom in the early 20th Century before relocating to the Santa Clara Valley in California. The Italian vineyardists married into more Italian vineyardist families, Casella & Bossa, just in time for Prohibition. Safe to say the Tijuana business boomed and the entrepreneurial ambition...

Matthias Wisker & The Golden Spectacles

250 years ago, our 5th Great Grandfather, Matthias WISKER (1742-1829), purchased a glass grinding and scientific instrument manufacturer in Spurriergate, York. The retail business was called The Golden Spectacles! It passed to the eldest Wisker son for three more generations of the family, each son qualifying as an optician. Spurriergate is built on top of a Roman road aligned with...

Ann, Christine, & Jonah, The Whale who came to York

On a cool spring morning in 1954, Ann & Christine were accompanied by their preparatory school classmates into St George’s Field. Displayed before them lay the largest creature either child had ever seen, Jonah the Whale! Strapped to the world’s longest lorry, their first impression was the pervasive smell of fish, formalin, and grease. Having just spent a month on...