From:
Observer issue 15
September 2008
One
big happy family by
Elizabeth ReeveLittle
did Genia Bayford realise when she
started delving into her family history 18 months ago that it would
open up a
worldwide network of new relations.
The Bayford family tree is firmly rooted in the Observer area.
‘All the family
came from Bishop's Stortford, Much Hadham, Farnham and Little
Hallingbury on
that Herts-Essex boundary or within a 12- to 14-mile radius’,
said the
60-year-old grandmother-of-three. ‘There are a lot of family
who still live
there.
’I wrote to all the Bayfords on the electoral role in Herts,
Essex and London;
that was about 160
families. Through that I've had emails from across the world, with one
person
telling someone else.’
In celebration of her ever-growing family tree, keen to find out more
and meet
even more new relations, Genia has organised Bayford Day, a family
ancestry day
for the Bayfords and their link families, this Saturday at the Three
Horseshoes
in Spellbrook.
’This is a fantastic opportunity to meet other family members
and to find out
how we all fit into the bigger picture of the family tree’,
said Genia, who
lives in Basingstoke,
Hampshire.
’A few new-found cousins who have been researching the family
will be there to
meet, talk to, swap stories and experiences and ascertain how we all
fit
together. For those who've been carrying out their own research or wish
to
start, there'll be help and support to extend their findings.’
People from around the country are expected to attend - one relative is
flying
from Canada.
Mrs Bayford's great, great, great, great, great, great-grandfather
Ralph
Bayford, who was born in 1716 or 1717, lived in Clavering and was
married in
Chrishall. His four sons, Henry, Robert, Ralph and Richard, were born
in
Clavering and later moved to Furneux Pelham.
Genia's great-grandmother, Ellen, was born in Stortford in 1851. She
married
Thomas Bayford and later ran the post office in Brent Pelham. She died
in 1944.
