The Sole Society, a Family History Society researching Sole, Saul, Sewell, Solley and similar names

SOLE Co-ordinator's Report - April 2001

(Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire)

By Bob Sheldon

My phone became red hot soon after the publication of the December journal. Two excited members, Diana Jones and Georgina Mountford, both contacted me to say that Jackie Marshall was a descendant of Rose Hannah the sister of their gg-grandfather George SOLE of Woodnesborough, Kent. All the excitement arose from my comment in the journal that Jackie had contacted me to ask if we knew anything about Rose Hannah who married James STAMP in the Isle of Wight. I soon became red hot with embarrassment as they were right and I had missed the connection. My apologies all round and thanks to Diana and Georgina for putting me right. Jackie is now a member, I have sent her a copy of the full family chart and she has made contact with her many cousins. No less than seven of our members are related in this branch of the family.

Another follow-up to the December journal concerns the story of Frederick Cecil SOLE of Connecticut, USA. Frederick's nephew, Tom, told Sheila MacInnes during their meeting that his great-grandfather Frederick William emigrated to America from Cornwall (around 1914/15) and he initially went alone in order to find work and establish a home before sending for his family. When the time came for his second wife Clara and Frederick's five children to join him they tried to obtain passage on the Lusitania but it was fully booked and they had to take a later passage. What a lucky escape the family had, and how different our chart of this family tree would be, if they had caught their first choice of ship. A German submarine sank the Lusitania on 7th May 1915 with the loss of 1,200 lives.

We have had one new member since my previous report. Bob Allmark lives in Devon and is married to Beryl, the daughter of Albert Frank SOLE of Maidstone, Kent. From the information he gave me on first contact about Beryl's grandparents Albert and Ellen (TAYLOR) I was able identify from our indexes their possible marriage in Maidstone in 1896. Bob asked me to obtain their Marriage Certificate on his behalf from which we found that Ellen was married as Alice Ellen, although the family had always known her by her middle name. More interestingly, we were able to establish that Albert belonged to another of our Kent lines stemming from John and Ann (HAWKES) SOLE who were married in Wingham in 1813. Albert Frank, born in 1897, was the eldest of Albert and Ellen's 10 children, the first four of which were born in Kent. The family then moved (about 1906) to Liverpool where the other six were born between 1907 and 1921. Soon after the last baby was born Albert, Ellen and 4 of their children emigrated to Manitoba in Canada. Bob and Beryl are still in touch with Ron in Canada who was the youngest of the family and from whom much of the family knowledge was received.

Finally, within the last few days, I have been in contact with another SOLE descendant who until fairly recently thought his ancestry was Irish. However his cousin in Ireland confirms that the gravestone of their ggg-grandfather Charles states that he was born in Deal, Kent and died "aged 68 years on 5th February 1885". From this I think I have identified his family connection taking him back to 1749. More of this story next time if our findings are correct

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