Name: Matthias Wisker & The Golden Spectacles
Uploaded: 2024-01-01T08:03:13-07:00
Channel: Julian
Description: 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

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...

Reg Bainbridge & The Steamroller

Charles “Reg” Bainbridge was born in the village of Newton on Ouse, North Yorkshire, to parents John Henry Bainbridge of Tollerton and Adelaide Edgar of York. The first of five children, Reg arrived in 1915 shortly before his father’s departure for WWI service with the Royal Ambulance Corp. His mother was left to raise a new born and run the...

Wallace Scott & The Battle of Coronel

On November 1st, 1914, HMS Good Hope was sunk in the Battle of Coronel with the loss of all hands, including our 3rd cousin, Able Seaman Wallace Scott (1884-1914). This tragic loss was symptomatic of the disfunction of the Royal Navy and Admiralty during the early months of Word War One. The Battle of Coronel was Britain’s first naval defeat...

Clarks of Cumberland in British Columbia

At the turn of the 20th century, the Clark family of Workington, Cumberland, had embraced the Second Industrial Revolution and were gainfully employed in the mines and foundries of the northwest of England. Our 2nd Great Grandfather William CLARK followed the steelworks however all his brothers and nephews were coal miners, hewers, working directly at the coal face. Three of those...

Dr William Barlow & Virginia Tech

William Edward Barlow (1870-1938) was born in Bury, Lancashire, the eighth of ten children to our 3rd Great Grandparents William Smyth BARLOW (1830-1903) and Mary YATES (1830-1916). The family ran a successful Letterpress Photographic Printing, Framing, & Stationary business. William studied at the private school, Bury Grammar for Boys, before being awarded the Kay Exhibitioner and Openshaw Scholarship to St....

William Porter & The Driffield Navigation

The Blue Bell Inn sits opposite River Head, at the northern end of the Driffield Navigation. The landlord in the mid 18th century was our 6th Great Grandfather William PORTER (1714-1790). William was one of several Gentlemen, Freeholders, Tradesmen, and others, of the County of Yorkshire who petitioned Parliament in 1767 to pass legislation to build a navigable waterway from...

Ralph Ryder & The Black Bear

“You can take a man out of Yorkshire but you cannot take Yorkshire out of a man.” You can always rely on a Yorkshireman’s sound judgement, economical turn of phrase, and thrifty ways. Why pay for a professional when thou can do it thissen? Having spent nigh-on forty years in these United States, twenty of them farming in Wisconsin, this...

Alfred Maddison & The Fleet Review

On this day in 1914 our 4th cousin, Boy 1st Class, Alfred Maddison participated in the Fleet Review at Spithead in the Solent, serving aboard the Royal Navy Cruiser, HMS Hawke. Alfred signed up, age 15, for twelve years service in 1913. He initially trained at the shore establishment, stone frigate, HMS Ganges. Upon achieving his Boy 1st Class rating,...

Bill Gracia & Cupertino Foothills

William “Bill” E Gracia (1901-1978), our 2nd Great-Granduncle, was the youngest of seven children born to Maggie MAHOOD (1856-1921) & Frank P GRACIA (1852-1930). Bill is sat on the far left of this historic Gracia family photo. The occasion for the picnic is the celebration of Bill purchasing this property in the Cupertino Foothills during the summer of 1915. By...