This week in history………………….

William SCRACE, son of John SCRACE and Sophia TINGLEY was born at Maskells Farm, Brenchley and then baptised in All Saints church on 03 October 1830. He was the 7th child of John and Sophia’s 12! (Brenchley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.)

William married Ruth WOODHAMS and together they had eight children (5 boys and 3 girls). During their marriage they lived in Chatham, Kent and then finally in Gillingham also in the county of Kent.

William worked as a Blacksmith which is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut. Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. He would have been very busy! Blacksmiths had a place among the working classes, these men worked with their hands and arms in a hot and grimy environment. Blacksmiths, who have a history that goes back thousands of years, however, had a far higher economic and social position than farm or factory workers. As highly skilled artisans, they also managed to remain independent and in demand until well into the twentieth century when the automobile destroyed many of their opportunities for work. Even then, these skilled iron workers often morphed into auto mechanics just as a century earlier some had become pioneeering engineers.

RESEARCH UPDATE: This week I am moving forward nicely with my extraction of the 1911 census, I now have about 70% of the “correctly transcribed” entries included in my spreadsheet for the Scrace surname. I have also started recording notices I have found in newspapers regarding any reference to the surnames of Scrace or Scrase.

In other news I have registered my Blog at GeneaBloggers and I am now listed, if  you have not checked this resourse out it is well worth it, there is a wealth of fantastic sites to browse from here 🙂

I am also trying to work out which provider to subscribe to Ancestry, Find My Past or The Genealogist. If anyone has any experience of the Genealogist please let me know how you find it. At the moment I think I will subscribe to Ancestry as I have a voucher to get 30% off, I also have a discount code for the Genealogist, so wanted to know whether it is worth trying though!

Until next time…….

© Karen Anderson 2012