I am writing this report a few weeks after our one-day conference at Cobham where I was very pleased to meet members Trevor Saul and Peter Saul for the first time.

Peter is a new member to the Society and, although now living in Surrey, was born in New Zealand. In 1987 whilst in New Zealand, he attended a family reunion in his home town of Blenheim for all the descendants of Philip George Saul who had emigrated to New Zealand from Paddington, London in 1872. To mark this occasion a family tree booklet was produced which contains around 300 New Zealand based SAULs. Peter has a copy and is to let me have details. I already knew something of this family from Christine Leather who was one of the early members of the Society, though not a current member. Christine had some information on earlier generations though the evidence on which this is based is a little unclear. Peter is attempting to find out more and will hopefully carry on the research.

Trevor Saul has been helping with research into the Preston SAULs and a few days after the conference I was able to spend a few days in Preston following up some of the earlier research. It looks as though the Preston SAULs consist of about four of five separate families most of whom migrated to Preston in the early part of the 19th century. Trevor’s earliest Preston ancestor William was married at Garstang in 1822. There were a good number of SAULs to be found in the Garstang parish registers but at this stage it is not clear how or even if William is related to them.

One of the difficulties in researching the earliest Preston SAULs is that several of them were named Robert, so distinguishing one from another is far from easy. I was however fortunate to find in the Lancashire Record Office a Monumental Inscriptions record for the Holy Trinity Church which was demolished in 1955. When I paid a visit to the location, I found it is now a NCP Car Park.

There were two gravestones in the churchyard dedicated to SAULs both of which recorded the deaths of a Robert and a number of other family members. Though this needs to be confirmed it looks as if one of the Robert’s came from Lancaster and the other may have come from near Kendal, WES. The picture that is beginning to emerge is that of a migration to Preston from the north roughly down the route of what is now the A6. Trevor told me about the Lancaster Canal and this may well have been a mode of transportation.

Since my previous Update Report I have also been able to welcome another SAUL interest member. Gordon Saul has joined. He is a distant relative of Rosemary Bailey so his SAUL ancestry is well documented back through Oldbury, Worcestershire to Banbury, OXF and possibly Horley before that.

Some interesting enquiries continue to be received. One such was a letter received from a John Lewis who had researched back to a William Saul born at Lamplugh, CUL in 1762. This William was known to us as he is also the ancestor of Glenda Manwaring and is included in her book "Leaves on the Tree of Saul". Amongst William’s children was a John whom Glenda had married of to a Mary Ann Parkin at St Bees in 1825 When I was inputting Glenda's information into Reunion. I felt uneasy about the identification and looked around for an alternative. I found one at Hawkeshead. LAN where a William Saul married a Mary Preston on 26 January 1817. When I looked at the actual marriage entry, it described William as "of the parish of Lamplugh", this looks a much better fit. Interestingly, John Lewis had also made this connection. The couples first child was a William Saul baptised at Hawkshead on 25 May 1817 and it is from this William that John Lewis is descended. Glenda Manwaring was unaware of this branch to her tree.

Another interesting enquiry came from a Jim Saul who told me that his grandfather Colin came from Tickhill, YKS. I had some information on the Tickhill SAULs but not the complete picture. A Colin Saul was the executor of a will of an Annie Elizabeth Saul of Tickhill in 1945 and there is a gravestone at Tickhill to the memory of Annie and her husband William. We also have a member Janette Saul who has Tickhill connections so I am hoping that I will hear more from Jim and we can make the picture clearer. Tickhill is quite close to the Doncaster area where we already have extensive SAUL charts so further connections look possible.

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