by John Slaughter  

The Saul CD Rom has now been with members for a few months and from feedback I have received it is already proving to be a very valuable research tool.

It has certainly made a dramatic impact as far as Peter Saul is concerned and you can read elsewhere in this journal of his success.

The value of the CD Rom however is not only in helping members to take their family trees further back but also in helping to trace sideways and forwards and maybe making contact with other present day descendants. Most people know their first cousins and have some contact, this is less so with second cousins and rare with third cousins, yet these more distant cousins could have inherited family tales, heirlooms and photographs of our ancestors and the wider family. Searching out these distant cousins is an important aspect of family history research.

Amongst the data included on the CD Rom is the 1901 census index and GRO indexes up to 1950 and which are valuable aids in tracing forward. I am always happy to give help and advice to members on their research, so do feel free to ask, and don’t forget to feedback any new information.

Four new recruits have swelled the ranks of the Saul members, two of which have rejoined.

Glenda Manwaring was one of the founder members and made a significant contribution to the Society in our early days. She is a descendant of Jeremiah Saul who was baptised at Whitehaven, Cumberland on 29 August 1831 and emigrated to Australia about 1847 and founded a large Australian clan. Glenda published her extensive research into both the Australian and UK families in a book “Leaves on the Tree of Saul” and also organised Reunions for the descendants of Jeremiah. The UK research goes back to 1585 when a Jefferay Saul married Annas Ostell at Holme Cultram, Cumberland on 21 December 1585. Glenda wrote several articles for Soul Search and which now appear on our CD Rom. Glenda is visiting the UK in August when she will be looking up the old ancestral haunts and is hoping to make contact with present day UK descendants.

Lorraine Stacker has also rejoined, and like Glenda also has an ancestor that emigrated from the UK to Australia in the mid 1800’s, in this instance from Cawston, Norfolk. In the last two journals I have written articles on “The Saul Family on the Macleay”. These articles were based on the March 1995 journal of the Macleay River Historical Society to which Lorraine made a major contribution. Lorraine has agreed to write a follow up article for Soul Search.

A first time joiner is John Burberle. On searching our web site he found reference to William Henry Saul and his wife Prudence of Horley, Oxon who he believes are his great grandparents. Their youngest daughter was Minnie who married Francis George Chamberlain. John links to one of our largest family trees and which currently contains 297 individuals. William Henry Saul was baptised at Horley on 2 May 1846 the son of John Saul and Sarah Page. John has photographs of his grandmother Minnie and her father William Henry Saul, shown on the right. The latter is particularly interesting as William Henry was an agricultural labourer and has clearly been photographed in his working clothes.

The latest new member is Roy Harrison. His connection is that his great grandmother was Sarah Louise Egan (nee Saull) and wondered if we knew anything about her. Roy mentions that a member of his family had many years ago done some research but had stopped, out of shock, when he discovered a murder. I was able to advise Roy that his great grandmother was known to us and appeared on a family chart that goes back to Byfield, Northants. It was here that in 1783 a “Wanted for Murder” notice was issued for John Saull for the suspected murder of Sarah Bush. I have written about this story previously. Unfortunately of fortunately, depending on your point of view, I had to inform Roy that this John Saull appears on a different chart so, as far as we know at present, they are not related. I was however able to put Roy in touch with member Annette Miller who is also descended from Sarah’s parents John Saull and Maria Chaplin. I understand that have been able to exchange some valuable information.

Amongst new enquiries received was one from Diana Thomas who initially made an enquiry of the GOONS if anyone was researching the name of Saul. The GOONS secretary appears to have misread this as Soul, but as we cover both names no damage was done. Diana is researching the same line as member Jim Crowe and they are second cousins. Their great grandmother was an Eliza(beth) Saul who married Edward Crowe in Dublin in 1883. Her roots appear to be in Ireland where we only have sporadic information. Diana is hoping to visit Ireland to undertake research and hopefully will feed back any new information she finds. n

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