Frances (Piercy) Piercy-Reins
Honor Code SignatorySigned 29 Jul 2020 | 48,416 contributions | 675 thank-yous | 895 connections
I am English; a Maid of Kent, born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England in 1964, [1]educated at T.W.G.G.S, and Homerton College, Cambridge. Most of my family live in the UK. I'm a secondary school R.E. teacher by qualification, and a self-employed English teacher, translator, and children's author by profession. I'm married with 2 children and 7 step-children, and live with my husband in Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany, where we are permanent carers for my parents-in-law.
[2] |
I first caught the genealogy bug from my paternal grandfather, John Percival Piercy - the gorgeous chap with the dog in his arms. He was an RAF air traffic controller in WW2, an enthusiastic sailor and registered chartered accountant; a generous donor to Christian missions, who always did the washing up and ground the coffee beans in their kitchen every morning. He built a sailing boat with my father and uncle in their dining room and had to take out the dining room windows in order to get the boat out of the house. He was a stickler for good language, grammar, and accurate calculation. He also believed that the Piercy surname could be traced back to the Percys. We always pooh-poohed this, and I don't remember him ever giving an explanation.
My great aunt, Dr Muriel Elizabeth Morley, was a pioneer in the field of speech therapy in the 1950s. She was a keen painter, photographer, collector of cacti and shells, and collator of her family history. It is thanks to her that we have so many memories, family photos and documents. She also believed that the moon influences people, something which her brother-in-law, my grandfather, thought was rank nonsense. She lived next door to my grandparents with her sister Joan, and used to turn up in Granny and Grandpa's kitchen unannounced, which annoyed Grandpa intensely. Hilariously, we later found out that there had been a mix-up when my grandparents were buried in the family plot in Rothbury Cemetery Rothbury, Northumberland. The coffin in which Muriel was buried, a few years after Grandpa and Granny died, was placed on top of Grandpa's, instead of on top of her sister Joan's. Grandpa would have been furious.
My father's Piercy ancestors as far as I can trace them, lived in Norfolk. Where they came from before that, I have not yet ascertained.
My mother's father's Brooks family (William Brooks is the furthest back I've got to so far) came from Stourbridge, Worcestershire, in the Black Country, and were iron masters and nail manufacturers. Mum's great uncle, Edward Tankerville Chamberlayne, (her maternal grandmother Mabel Alicia Chamberlayne's brother) wrote up his family tree in 1919. This claims that the family descend from the Counts of Tancarville in Normandy, before 1066.
I had started an online family tree about 20 years ago, but hadn't had a lot of time to do much work on it. When I was given a subscription to Ancestry back in March 2020, the Covid-19 lockdown meant that I had little other work and plenty of time to research.
While researching the Chamberlayne family in greater depth over the last six months, I discovered that the Chamberlaynes don't after all descend from Guillaume de Tancarville, (bad luck) it is true that through different marriages, several branches of the family shoot off up to other interesting people, including several Magna Carta sureties, the Plantagenets and the royal houses of Europe, going back to Ælfred (Alfred) "Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons and Anglo-Saxons" and Charlemagne.
I have lived in Nuremberg, Germany since 1990. This is ironic, because my second cousin twice removed, Edward Percy Bates, was a bomber pilot in 9th Squadron in WW2, and was involved in the Allied bombing of Nuremberg in 1944.
The more I find out about the family history, the more seeming coincidences I discover; not only about people I know or have known, to whom I now realise I am related, but also about places I have known and loved. Many of them are associated with my ancestors. I don't believe anything happens by accident - it's all part of a grand design, but finding out about it will take more than my lifetime!
Therefore, knowing that nothing in this world lasts forever and one must either excrete or expire, it would be an awful pity if my work on WikiTree ends up being deleted. In the event of my sudden death, I hereby give permission for all of my private profiles to be transferred to Hannah Wessel.
Rabbit Holes and Shiny Things. (Inspired by the g2g comment by Danielle Liard.) |
This week's featured connections are Baseball Legends: Frances is 38 degrees from Willie Mays, 28 degrees from Ernest Banks, 20 degrees from Ty Cobb, 24 degrees from Bob Feller, 28 degrees from Lou Gehrig, 38 degrees from Josh Gibson, 23 degrees from Joseph Jackson, 29 degrees from Ferguson Jenkins, 28 degrees from Mamie Livingston, 24 degrees from Mickey Mantle, 24 degrees from Tris Speaker and 25 degrees from Helen St. Albin on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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I noticed your reference to 'Dorset Medics' on the profile for William Chamberlayne (1619-1689) . It looks to be a really useful resource eg it has an entry for the brother in law of https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sandford-336 also a physician in Dorset. There are several others who would fit into my 17th C Dorchester 'ops' Have you any information about the author? (Seems to be local by their usage of Dorset History Centre records)
edited by Helen (Coleman) Ford
On behalf of the England Project, I would like to thank you for your commitment to the project's goals. Every single contribution you make helps improve English profiles!
The England Project Leaders like to touch base with each of our members periodically to make sure everything is going well. This is our formal annual check-in with you.
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Joan, England Project Leader
Many thanks for your message. I'm still happy with my current project team choices. I tend to jump around a bit - most of my activity is with the England Project, followed by the Medieval Project, followed by Magna Carta. Thanks for all you do as well!
Best regards, Frances
Regards Joan
On behalf of the England Project, I would like to thank you for all your contributions towards the project's goals. Every single contribution you make helps improve English profiles!
I'd also like to share our annual Newsletter with you. You can read it here: England Project Newsletters. We hope you enjoy reading a bit about what has gone on in 2022 and what our Project has achieved.
The England Project Leaders like to touch base with each of our members every 6 months just to make sure everything is going well. There's no need to reply to this message unless you have something you'd like to let us know about (e.g. if you would like to change your team choices or provide other feedback). We will be in touch with you again in the middle of next year when we do our annual check-in with project members.
On behalf of all the Leaders, I wish you a peaceful and productive 2023.
Best wishes,
Amelia, England Project Leader
Just wondering if you have finished editing Lawrence Saunders MA (bef.1510-1555)? You haven't made any changes to the profile since 2 Aug 2021. Can the "Work in Progress - Please don't edit" message be deleted?
regards
Thank you for all the research you do on the Piercy family. I am a Piercy from the US (I believe my first ancestor arrived in Jamestown, VA from Burlescombe, Devon in 1659). I am curious if you have any insights into Piercys from Virginia or North Carolina from the 17th and 18th century? William, Charles, Blake, and Algernon are common given names in my branch. My current "brickwall" is a William Piercy (b. 1749 Bertie Co NC, d. 1783 Burke Co, NC) Again, thanks for all the research you do! Best regards,
Chuck Piercy
Very kind of you to write. I must confess that I haven't made any connections between Piercys in my family's area of Norfolk in England, and Virginia or North Carolina yet, but that's not to say that there aren't any. Some of my cousins emigrated to Canada a generation ago - that's certain. I will keep my eyes open, and if I find anything, let you know. I'm trying to get beyond my 5x GGF William (b. 1718) in Horstead, Norfolk, England, but he was an agricultural labourer, and it's difficult. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any Piercys who ended up in Devon, from Norfolk. The thing is, there are Piercys in lots of areas in the UK - Wales is a hot spot as well, and it will take a lot of research to sift through them all. Do you know if there is a WikiTree page for Piercy research? I'm thinking of starting a Free Space Profile for my own particular line at least, so as not to clog up William's bio page.
Best wishes, Frances
edited by Frances (Piercy) Piercy-Reins
Thanks,
Chuck
On behalf of the England Project, I would like to thank you for all your contributions towards the project's goals over the past year. Every English profile we improve helps!
The England Project Leaders are currently doing our six-monthly check-in with all project members.
Are you happy to with your current project team choices? Are there other teams you would like to join or become more active in?
We also welcome any feedback on things you would like to see the project do more of in the future.
I look forward to hearing from you. Please respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message.
Many thanks!
Ian, England Project Leader
Hopefully you successfully find the connection there Frances. Feel free to add any Scottish research you want. I'm finding it easier working through the Australian records of those who came out.
Ben.
Thanks for getting in touch! 9th cousins. Wow. It's great to connect with a Hutchins - I haven't done any digging into that side of the family yet - but when I joined WT, I saw how my father's family connects to them - one day I hope to do some exploring up that branch. I enjoyed reading your story! Everyone deserves a memorial - which is one reason why I think WT is such a good idea. But yes, just because we're all cousins doesn't necessarily mean that we will find a pleasant connection. There are surprises of all kinds, aren't there... :) Thank you for your kind words about my family stories - I do have an English accent - but I'm 57, so, not so young any more. ;) My husband thinks that after years of living in Germany, I don't sound as English as the rest of my family, but that's his opinion! So, thanks and have a nice day! Wishing you all the best!
Update: It says I need to use your e-mail. Trying to add Piercy-1794 isn't good enough.
edited by Scott Hutchins
I would to thank you for all your contributions towards the goals of the England Project during the past six months. We've achieved a huge amount during this period and we couldn't have done it without you and our other project members.
As the England Project Leaders, we are completing our six monthly check-in with all project members.
Are you happy to stay in your current project teams? Which teams are you most active in? Are there other teams you would like to join or become more active in?
Also, do you have any feedback on what the project is doing well and anything we could do better in the future?
Please respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message. I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks!
Joan, England Project Leader
I am a descendant of Emma Elizabeth Chamberlayne Atkins, wife of Sir Thomas Gowland. I mention this to you because I made my DNA available at WikiTree. Please let me know if I could be of any help to your study of Chamberlayne. All the best!
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Chamberlayne_Atkins-1
Pip
Great Member of the Week interview!
Chris
Thanks for your poetic addition! That's great!
Chris