This blog has a new home

This blog has a new home at http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com/.

I have moved the older entries over to there, but the comments entered on the Haloscan comment utility may not have been moved.

I had to move it because every time I tried to read the blog here, I got a "403 forbidden" message, so I could not read either the entries or the comments.

I hope that the new system, called WordPress, proves more reliable than this one.

See you there.

Problem with this blog

All of a sudden, I can no longer read this blog.

It seems that I can add stuff to it, but there is a bug so that I can't read it. It seems that there is a problem with the Blogger software, run by Google.

I can still post stuff, but I can't read what I've posted, which means I also can't read any comments or responses.

If you want to respond to this message, please do so on my WordPress blog, which runs on different, and apparently more reliable software.

If the problem is not fixed soon, I will try to move this blog over to WordPress, but until then, if you are interested in our family history, please try our family history wiki pages at http://hayesgreene.wikispaces.com -- if you join there you can add and edit the family history, leave messages and queries and more.

Family WikiSpaces

You may have heard of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, which is one of the most useful sources of information on the Internet.

Now we have started a family history Wiki on Wikispaces, and we invite all members of the family to have a look at it and join it.

The Hayes and Green family history space

This WikiSpace, called "hayesgreene" is for members of the Hayes, Greene and related families to post family news, history and anecdotes, and to make contact with other members of the family, and learn about the family history.

Who is it for?

It's for any members of our families, that is, anyone who is related to us in any way. That means, in the first place, anyone descended from any of our ancestors -- uncles, aunts and cousins. That includes 1st cousins, 2nd cousins, up to and beyond 15th cousins seven times removed, and their spouses, parents of spouses and children of spouses.

Who are we?

We are Steve and Val Hayes, and we live in Pretoria, Tshwane, Gauteng, South Africa. You can find out more about who we are on our family web pages, and also on our blog (which you're reading now!)

How do I participate?

You participate by clicking on "join this space", which you will find somewhere on the left (not here, but in the WikiSpace page). If you are already a member of WikiSpaces, your application will be sent to us. If you are not already a member of WikiSpaces you will be invited to join (and then you can create your own WikiSpaces as well). When we receive your application, we will check to see whether you are related to us in any way, and if you are, your application will be approved and you will be able to add to and edit the information on these pages. But even if you are not related, you can still read the pages.

How does this compare with a blog?

A blog is for changing information that quickly gets out of date. While you can find old blog posts, you have to search for them, and they are not always easy to find. A family history blog can be good as a record of new information found, meetings with family members, reports of family reunions and so on.

What a blog is not so good for is things like anecdotes by and ancestors, biographies, research problems and dead-ends and so on. Updating biographical information on a two-year-old blog post is not much use, because few people will know that it has been updated, and so few will read it. But in a Wiki such information can be updated and added to as more information is found, and it can be found much more easily.

So, if you are related, go and look at the HayesGreene Wikispace, and think of stuff you can add. There's not much there yet, but there will soon be if we all get working on it.

Josh Growden sets under 15 high jump record

I'm not sure which branch of the Growden family Josh Growden belongs to, but his record is worth recording. But he is a pupil at Clare High School, South Australia.

clipped from www.diigo.com Josh Growden on his way to setting a new record in high jump. The Clare High School sports carnival was held on Wednesday, March 19. After being postponed due to the heat, the eventual day was perfect and weather conditions couldn’t have been better. A staggering 14 records were broken on the day, with Dale Holliday breaking four of those, closely followed by Kirsty Faulkner on three. Gleeson and Scott tied for first place in the War Cry and Wiensmith won their fourth sports day shield in a row. Under 15 Male Winner - Josh Growden.

Bridget Hayes -graduation

Our daughter Bridget graduated yesterday at Athens University as a Master of Theology (I think).

Pictures here (the pictures are on Facebook, and you have to be logged in to see them).

Hailee Growden in volleyball team

As I've said before, I don't know if any how Hailee Growden is related, burt here's a snippet of news anyway.

clipped from www.herald-mail.com The Hagerstown Community College volleyball team underwent a changing of the guard Thursday at the HCC athletic complex. Three Williamsport players signed Thursday - middle hitter Katie Koontz, outside hitter Hailee Growden and setter Lindsey Kneisley. Growden, an All-Area Second Team selection last season, averaged 2.01 kills and 3.32 digs and served 50 aces for the Wildcats. She also was Williamsport's fiery leader. "I love playing the leadership role, trying to fire up my team," Growden said. "I'm ready for any challenge, any position." "She's going to be one of our emotional leaders," Domenico said. "She's a versatile player so we might try some different things with her."

Simon's birthday

It is our son Simon's 30th birthday today, and to celebrate he didn't go to work.

Here he is with our puppy Fluffy Lumpkin, three and a half months old.

Found! Ida Carolina von Lilienstein, wife of Henry Green

One of the long-enduring mysteries of the GREEN family history has at last been solved, thanks to Ione Evans of New Zealand.

Henry Green, the British Resident of the Orange River Sovereignty in the early 1850s, came to South Africa some time in the 1840s, as did several of his siblings, including Fred (Val's great great grandfather), Edward, Charles and Arthur.

It was known that Henry Green married Ida Carolina von Lilienstein, daughter of Count von Lilienstein, but little was known about her parents. Many of their descendants have tried to find out more, especially her mother's name, but without success.

Ione Evans asked a researcher to check German records, and and finally found:

Congregation of Itzehoe, Christenings in the year 1836, daughters, page No 11, born on 4 December 1835, christened on 24 December 1835 Ida Caroline Johanna, legitimate daughter of local constable at the regiment of light dragoon, Carl Arthur Count zu LILIENSTEIN and Catharina Elise née STAEKER, christened by me at home. God parents: Carl von BARDENFLETH, colonel and head of the regiment, Martin von WILEMOOS SUHM, Premier Major, Johannes von EWALD, major (translation)

This will be especially good news for descendants of Henry and Ida, as Ida's ancestors will be theirs as well, but for the rest of us too, the irritating gap waiting to be filled by "Spouse's mother" can at last be filled.

In the course of our researches into the Green family we have met several descendants of Henry and Ida, and corresponded with many more. Some of them have been enthusiastic researchers into the family history, and many of them have helped us a great deal with our researches. We were in correspondence for a while with Hal Green in Swaziland. Jack and Peggy (nee Tapscott) Stokes visited us when we lived in Melmoth in Zululand, and stayed several days with their caravan in our back yard, and we spent many evening poring over family records, trying to sort out chronology and relationships.

One of the longest-standing mysteries (to us, at any rate) was what happened to Edith Susanna Green, daughter of Henry and Ida. She had married Ernest Borwick and then, apparently, disappeared off the face of the earth. Then we made contact with Ione Evans, a descendant of that branch, who filled in several generations. Ernest Borwick farmed in Kenya, and several of their seven children lived there, and some married and moved to other countries. Ione Evans is still following up some of the descendants, but has also been working backwards on the von (or zu) Lilienstein side as well, for which we are all grateful.

My Heritage web site

I got a strange e-mail message today saying that several people's family trees had matches with mine.

I went to the linked web site, where i was apparently a member, and my family tree was there, but with several thousand more people than it actually has. I have no recollection of joining the site, but I had a look at it, and some of the matches seemed interesting, though some of them seemed to have just nicked data from my family tree!

Anyway, if anyone is interested, have a look at it here.

Some Stooke descendants added

I've just entered some data that sent in e-mails from Mike Gouge and Barbara Cox.

Mike Gouge sent information on descendants of George Frederick Stooke (4590) and Alfred Thomas Stooke (4592), including information on the Hanna, Matura, Kymer and Brennan families.

Barbara Cox sent information on Richard Elworthy who married Annie Stooke, and settled in Australia.