Comments on: The story of The Foundling Hospital in 18th Century London http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/2011/03/10/the-story-of-the-foundling-hospital-in-18th-century-london/ The official Ancestry.co.uk blog Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:23:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Karen Reynolds http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/2011/03/10/the-story-of-the-foundling-hospital-in-18th-century-london/#comment-876 Karen Reynolds Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:15:09 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/?p=1846#comment-876 Mark - that's a fascinating story - it's amazing to hear that you found your own foundling and lovely that you were able to uncover far more of his story! Thanks for telling us about it. Mark – that’s a fascinating story – it’s amazing to hear that you found your own foundling and lovely that you were able to uncover far more of his story! Thanks for telling us about it.

]]> By: Mark Barnes http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/2011/03/10/the-story-of-the-foundling-hospital-in-18th-century-london/#comment-875 Mark Barnes Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:55:45 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/?p=1846#comment-875 When researching my wife's family on Ancestry, we came across Thomas Pechell, who married my wife's 3x-great-grandmother. What surprised us was that he consistently gave his birth place as 'Unknown' on the census. Soon we tracked him back to the 1841 Census, where he was five years old, and living at the Foundling Hospital. Thanks to what we found on Ancestry, we were able to visit the London Metropolitan Archives, and access his file. It was lovely to see his entry in the book recording the dates that each child had left the hospital. Unusually, his entry had an additional annotation - that he had died in 1907. This seems to indicate that he valued his time in the hospital so much that he kept in touch, and a relative let them know when he passed away. But it was a very strange experience to carefully unwrap his 'bundle' and discover something that he died without ever finding out - that he was born on Blackfriars Road, that his mother was Sarah Richards, and his father (who had deserted) was a butcher, George Carl. I'm sure ancestry has uncovered hundreds of facts for all its users, but I wonder how many people can say that it has led them to finding out more about an ancestor than the ancestor knew about themselves? When researching my wife’s family on Ancestry, we came across Thomas Pechell, who married my wife’s 3x-great-grandmother. What surprised us was that he consistently gave his birth place as ‘Unknown’ on the census. Soon we tracked him back to the 1841 Census, where he was five years old, and living at the Foundling Hospital.

Thanks to what we found on Ancestry, we were able to visit the London Metropolitan Archives, and access his file.

It was lovely to see his entry in the book recording the dates that each child had left the hospital. Unusually, his entry had an additional annotation – that he had died in 1907. This seems to indicate that he valued his time in the hospital so much that he kept in touch, and a relative let them know when he passed away.

But it was a very strange experience to carefully unwrap his ‘bundle’ and discover something that he died without ever finding out – that he was born on Blackfriars Road, that his mother was Sarah Richards, and his father (who had deserted) was a butcher, George Carl.

I’m sure ancestry has uncovered hundreds of facts for all its users, but I wonder how many people can say that it has led them to finding out more about an ancestor than the ancestor knew about themselves?

]]> By: Margaret Czora http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/2011/03/10/the-story-of-the-foundling-hospital-in-18th-century-london/#comment-873 Margaret Czora Sat, 12 Mar 2011 05:49:37 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/?p=1846#comment-873 Beautiful story Karen :) Heartbreaking tho' Those poor Parents and dear little Children..One can only imagine their Devastation! Beautiful story Karen :) Heartbreaking tho’ Those poor Parents and dear little Children..One can only imagine their Devastation!

]]>