Winter 2010 GB Games and 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy Challenge # 7

This is waaay cool. Wordsley, Staffordshire, England. This is the furthest back I have been able to trace my Hughes surname. Wordsley was and is a small village outside Birmingham, England located on a Stourbridge Canal.

I have decided to turn this into three events. The Google map for Expand your Knowledge and for the Write, Write, Write competition, a brief blog on the Hughes Family that lived in Wordsley, England and participating in 52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge #7.



To date I have been able to trace my Hughes line back to William Hughes and Mary Green of Wordsley, Staffordshire, England. They are my paternal gggg grandparents. From the 1841 United Kingdom census, which a dear English friend sent me one year as a Christmas gift, William is listed as living on the Dock in Wordsley and is employed as a boatman.

In the late 18th century, canals were cut to open up landlocked areas of Britian, providing transportation for mined goods. The Stourbridge Canal opened up Wordsley as a port village along the long canal system.

My friend Heather put it best. "The boatman bit is interesting. That part of the country is criss crossed with canals which were a major way to transporting goods before the roads were improved. Exports from that part of the country would have included coal and pottery. In order to give the canal boats something to use as ballast on their return trip, sand was often used. Sand is the primary material used in glass and Wordsley has a large glassmaking industry."

There is a road near the canal marked "Dock Road", which may have been the area where, in 1841, William Hughes hung his hat after a day of walking a horse up and down the tow path along the canal.

More research and scanning documents and photos is definately on my "To Do List" of future blogs on this branch of my Hughes surname.

Today's medal totals:

Go Back and Cite Your Sources--50 Platinum Medal

Expand Your Knowledge--2--Silver Medal
-Task A: Use Google maps to locate an ancestor location
-Task E: Create a surname visualization using Wordle

Write, Write, Write--5--Platinum Medal
-Task A: Write a summary of what your blog is about and post it
-Task B: Participate in a genealogy blog carnival--Smile for the Camera 20th Edition, 90th COG and 7th Festival of Postcards.
-Task D: Write a brief biographical sketch on one ancestor.
-Task E: Create a page on your blog listing surnames
-Task F: Participate in a 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy--Did Challenge #7.

Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness--4--Diamond Medal
-Task A: Comment on a new (to you) blog.
-Task B: Post one or more gravestone photos on Find A Grave--posted 20
-Task D: Assist another researcher with a research request
-Task G: Use the Follow feature and follow one or more blogs.

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser