Pages and Leaflets of North Oxfordshire: My Lineage Pre-1700–1959

Angela Fortnum
AuthorHouse UK (Sep 20, 2018)
Softcover $12.99 (72pp)
978-1-5462-9795-6

An admirable amateur genealogical survey, Pages and Leaflets of North Oxfordshire illustrates the historical record with personal details.

Angela Fortnum’s Pages and Leaflets of North Oxfordshire is a personal family and religious history, following Fortnum’s British ancestors from before 1700 to 1959.

As an amateur genealogist tracing her lineage, Fortnum succeeded in getting back to her seven-times-greatgrandfather and discovered, “There was a story to tell, not only about the social history but also about the changing religious beliefs and the historic buildings linked to these.” In this, her first foray into expanding her personal genealogical work into an accompanying religious and social history, Fortnum moves through and expands on the archival record, adding interest, conjectures, and informative connections along the way.

Fortnum’s direct ancestors came from Milcombe and South Newington, two villages in North Oxfordshire, England. Beginning with a small group of Quakers in the 1660s, her family entered the Church of England in the 1700s, suggesting conversion. A century later, the family was still devout but invested in various branches of the Methodist church. Always laborers, the family worked from their home, beginning with the cottage industry of weaving and moving into baking, milling, and farming until the early 1900s, when the last of the family land was sold for housing developments. Both Fortnum and her parents worked in industries outside the home.

Fortnum’s research is illustrated with excellent images of the historic churches connected to her ancestors’ lives, highly legible images of original historical documents like censuses, and a few family photographs and portraits from a private collection. For archival documents, Fortnum always includes a transcript, resolving some of the difficulty with reading original scripts and archaic spellings. Most useful are images of the originals—a way to compare and verify the transcripts against their source documents.

Fortnum’s family lore, oral histories, and educated conjectures make history come alive. As left-handedness runs in her family, she posits early left-handed writers might not have been able to sign their names on official documents without dragging hands and smudging ink. Oral histories, as of her great-aunt’s death in a riding accident, are also incorporated to flesh out the historical record, preserving stories for future generations.

The book’s end material is as useful as its main content. A thorough list of abbreviations makes clear the often impenetrable lexicon of genealogical and legal documents. A mix of scholarly and lay sources, the bibliography’s amalgam is typical in amateur genealogical research, and, therefore, more helpful for the intended audience. The bibliography is meticulous, giving clear and complete reference information for both online and physical sources, so facts can be accessed and interpolated easily by others with consanguinity. Lastly, the index provides an easy, comprehensive page reference to every place and personage in the book.

An admirable amateur survey of the interconnection of family lineage, religion, and commerce, Pages and Leaflets of North Oxfordshire presents archival information and family history in ways that illustrate the historical record, drawing out the effects on living arrangements, family configurations, and geographic and social mobility.

LETITIA MONTGOMERY-RODGERS (December 7, 2018)

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Pages and Leaflets of North Oxfordshire: My Lineage Pre-1700-1959
Angela Fortnum
Authorhouse, 57 pages, (paperback) $12.90, 9781546297956
(Reviewed: December, 2018)

Fortnum uses all the tools of genealogical investigation, including church records, censuses, death certificates, and wills, to uncover her family history. Where possible, she provides copies of the documents. Thus, readers learn from one will that John Page, “my four times GGF [great grandfather]” bequeathed to his daughter, Lydia, “one feather bed Bedstead Feather Bolster and Pillow.” (Fortnum preserves the original punctuation).

Fortnum’s ancestors worked as weavers, bakers and millers, and the churches they were affiliated with ranged from Quaker to Wesleyan Methodist to Primitive Methodist. Two of her maternal great grandfathers served as parish clerks. As an offshoot of her studies, Fortnum provides photographs and descriptions of the churches her forefathers attended. Some she recommends for visits, such as St. Mary’s church in Bloxham which has “a magnificent Gothic-style spire.”

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After debut author Fortnum became interested in the details of her family tree, she was able to diligently track eight generations of men on her mother’s side of the family. Her efforts produced this book, which offers a thorough vision of a single clan, beginning in the 18th century. The author’s ancestors originally hailed from two villages in north Oxfordshire, England—Milcombe and South Newington—and she makes her history as much about place as it is about family. For example, she provides accounts of the different churches her ancestors attended, including black-and-white photos of the buildings themselves. Fortnum also addresses her relatives’ shifting religious beliefs, which seemed to have moved from Quakerism to Anglicanism. The work concludes with the story of the author herself, who retired in 1998 from a job in banking and moved into the house in which she was raised. Fortnum’s book is charmingly quirky; at the beginning, she furnishes readers with driving directions to a church, and at another point, she relates an anecdote about one of her aunts unwittingly spilling a jug of milk.

 

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Intrigued by the stories her mother used to tell, Angela Fortnum sets out to research her family history. What she finds is a rich well of information about her ancestors and her hometown and about the spirit and resilience of both that inevitably shape and influence her life.

A short read, the author has succinctly documented and outlined her family’s tree through her maternal grandfathers stretching back eight generations. It is interesting to see the change in information available from 1663 to 2018, from birth and death records to property deeds and occupations. Of course, the author’s later entries of her family include more information and personally-known facts than entries of earlier family members. Tidbits such as the author’s grandmother owning chickens or her great-great-grandfather being left-handed add warmth and character to the text. Additionally, by tracing the genealogy of her ancestors, she also ends up providing insight into the town histories of Milcombe and South Newington, England. For example, family details such as the change in religious sect between generations highlight the growth and diversity of the towns as well as the various churches that were part of each town. The author even includes details about the grade of the building and directions to said buildings if readers feel inspired to visit.

Although a bit dry in its narrative at some points, the book is still an interesting portrayal of the author’s family and hometown. Complete with copies of original documents, transcripts, and family photographs, it’s an inspiring and great reference for anyone who is also looking to trace their family history and find the story in their ancestral roots.

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It is a beautiful thing when an author lets you take a peek at their life. It is even more amazing when they take you down to not just one or two, but eight generations of their family. Angela Fortnum in her book, Pages and Leaflets of North Oxfordshire: My Lineage Pre-1700–1959, writes about her family’s background and her history in a profound way. Learning about Angela Fortnum’s maternal side was a delight. I did not know that I could immensely enjoy reading about someone’s roots until I got hold of this book.

The author starts by writing about her mother. Born in South Newington Mill in 1916, Muriel Page, Angela’s mother, was her pillar throughout her life. Angela treasured her mother and valued having her around. It is out of curiosity that the two close women began to learn and research about Angela’s maternal grandparents. The author writes about the origin of names, and mentions where her surname, Page, was derived from. The author’s surname came from the Middle English and Old French Page. She also discussed the variations of the name. Her discussions presented an opportunity for me to learn why names had different spellings.

Reading Angela’s story was great. She listed all her great-grandfathers, beginning from Seven-Times-Great Grandfather James Page to her grandfather Harry James Page. Each of the eight men had interesting lives. A few things differed from one generation to the next, but one thing that was clear was that Angela wrote about her paternal grandparents with all the love in the world and much pleasure.

Pages and Leaflets of North Oxfordshire: My Lineage Pre-1700–1959 is a fun and easy read. Each of Angela’s grandfathers were given their own chapter and the reader can understand their lives with ease. Religion and marriage life was one of the common factors among the grandfathers. There are lessons one could take from their lives, including love for one’s family and understanding each other’s differences.

I enjoyed that Angela added images of things like homes, churches, family documents and pictures of members of the family when narrating their stories. The pictorial documentation was a good thing as it helped the reader form a mental image of how things were back in the day.

Reading this book made me curious and interested in older generations of my family. Angela Fortum has inspired me to want to know more about both my maternal and paternal sides of the family, even though she only wrote about the former. Angela’s ancestors gradually changed from farm life over the years to self-employment. I loved the end of the book where Angela tells the story of her nuclear family. There is a lot to be cherished in Angela’s family. The author’s writing style was noteworthy and exceptional. Her flow of the story was clear-cut and her narration skills established. One could feel the passion in her as she wrote the book. This book is a good guide to anyone who would wish to learn about writing in this genre. The writer was natural throughout and that made the reading experience remarkable.