Ellen Byford (nee Baker)
Ellen Byford, 1960, aged 93
Newspaper article on Ellen Byford
Ellen Byford, some time 1960s
Two well known family lines came together
By Sam Byford
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I've been doing my family tree for a few years now. Find it at https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/1318672/family
When I came across George Byford, my great-great-grandad, and his wife Ellen (nee Baker) it proved to be an interesting link. Here were two long-standing Essex families coming together with a ton of off-spring. Then I did a double-take at Ellen's birth and death years.
Born: 12th April 1867, Rettingdon, Essex.
Died: 18th January 1970, Rayleigh, Essex.
For someone to live to be over 100 years old is quite a feat, even to today's standards, but to do so at that time is seldom seen I think!
I quickly found out that she was quite a character, and had it written into her will that when she died her home would be demolished so, "No other woman would live in Her home."
I later found this newspaper article, written in 1970 (according to an annotation along the top) written by one of her grandchildren, Jean Byford. Quite the eye-opener too!
Click on the article, then click again on it when it opens in your browser. A magnified image will appear which you can scroll around using the mouse and/or arrow keys on your computer - RDCAAdmin
My biggest regret is that I only really got into genealogy after my grandad, Jim (James George Walter Byford, Son of George Byford and Selina Florence Byford (nee Allen), son of George and Ellen) had passed away. We never talked about his family at all and yet I have so many questions!
Looking at the dates, Ellen would have died when Jim was 54, while his father passed away when he was just 8. Jim's mother, Selina, went on to marry again (and from what I can tell that man was not a good person, but I need to do more digging on him!) and then died when he was 26. Ellen out-stripped them all! In fact, she died just 9 years before I myself came into the world!
So I wonder if any of the folk on here remember Ellen, and her bungalow at Oakdene Church Road (later no 61 Church Road). Any stories about her, her husband George, or our family are welcome.