|
|
Post by petertong on Jun 4, 2007 22:39:51 GMT
Hi Stephany, Thanks for that article... my only problem with it is... now I will be wondering and will have to find out who this person is (a new puzzle!)... i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifIf you guys would like perhaps I can describe the Westenra coat of arms... or perhaps draw it out and take a pic of it... best regards, Peter T. PS: the Westenra I mentioned in my previous post that was an accomplished musician was Hon. H R Westenra. From what I understand a very very good player of the bagpipes! |
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Jun 5, 2007 7:16:37 GMT
Hello Stephany!  That's an interesting article, but the News of the World's headline is misleading. Hayley is certainly very interested in her Irish roots, but she will always say she's a New Zealander.  Best Wishes, Richard  |
|
|
|
Post by petertong on Jun 7, 2007 1:59:21 GMT
Hi Richard... Its kind of interesting but the British army unit that the original NZ Westenra served in (about 40 years later of course) was also one of two units defending Canada in 1775. When the American rebels started their rebellion this unit was transferred from Canada to New York to suppress the rebellion. It proceeded to take part in many battles in the south near Charleston then marched northward with Cornwallis. The only problem is that the majority of this unit was defeated and captured, and quite a few of the members of this unit ended up settling in the Carolinas here in the newly formed US  I thought this kind of interesting... small little tidbit of history for you all... |
|
|
|
Post by petertong on Aug 1, 2007 6:31:30 GMT
Hi Joe, To bring the subject of Hayley's Irish roots back from the dead... Here is something strange for you I ran up against... I was going over family trees last night and noticed that some of the Westenra lines from Ireland were ending up in Arkansas, USA with a surname of "West". Now here is the kicker - when I was overseas in Taiwan attending my missionary boarding school so many years ago I had a teacher by the name of West from Arkansas... I would find it amusing if one of my HS teachers was a Westenra/Digby descendent. For the fun of it I'm in the process of verifying it Just goes to show you how ignorant we are of the backgrounds of people that we rub shoulders against! I'm doing my best to trace my own family tree - it gets very difficult at times tracking things down. Esp once things get into the early 1600s or thereabouts. I always have a bunch of items on my "toughie" list with regards to certain branches. Each of these toughies ends up being a rather large research project in and of itself. This is intereresting, Peter T...I remember making a post a few years ago on Hayley's family tree. I'll have to search it out... edit... FOUND IT! |
|
|
|
Post by I-H-F on Jan 31, 2008 23:29:20 GMT
Hayley's ancestors might have come from County Monaghan in Ireland. There is a hotel in Monaghan Town which I have been to, called 'The Westenra Arms'.
Maybe theres a connection here?
|
|
|
|
Post by Nordly on Feb 1, 2008 0:48:19 GMT
I thought she was from COunty Laoise
|
|
Joe
Administrator
Supporting Hayley since 2003!
Posts: 6,715 
|
Post by Joe on Feb 1, 2008 1:47:01 GMT
Also, it's possible that Hayley's ancestors lived in Dublin, near Bridge Street. Wow...I posted THIS exactly three years ago on 1 February  |
|
|
|
Post by martindn on Feb 1, 2008 20:51:35 GMT
Hayley's ancestors might have come from County Monaghan in Ireland. There is a hotel in Monaghan Town which I have been to, called 'The Westenra Arms'. Maybe theres a connection here? ISTR reading or hearing somewhere that they came from County Monaghan. Martin |
|
|
|
Post by gra7890 on Feb 1, 2008 22:02:49 GMT
Wow...I posted THIS exactly three years ago Thanks Joe, Have just had a quick glance at this and it is really interesting. Particularly as Hayley is to perform in Buxton in April. A couple of questions spring to mind 1) Does Hayley know of this connection ? 2) Why did you particularly trace the tree back that way, to the Buxton link when there are other ways to go ? I think I will have to spend more time looking at it ! Thanks, Graham |
|
Dave
Administrator
HWI Admin
Posts: 7,700
|
Post by Dave on Feb 2, 2008 2:32:14 GMT
Wow...I posted THIS exactly three years ago Thanks Joe, Have just had a quick glance at this and it is really interesting. Particularly as Hayley is to perform in Buxton in April. A couple of questions spring to mind 1) Does Hayley know of this connection ? Hi Graham and I can answer this question! When I met Hayley after the Southampton concert in December 2007, I asked her if she knew she was included in the family tree of The Buxton Families website. She said yes (possibly because I mentioned it to her mum Jill a couple of years ago) but she'd thought they were from Ireland (as I know some of her other ancesters were). I mentioned that on the website, the earliest mention of The Buxton Family (in 1564) is one Alexander Buxton of Ilam, Staffordshire - and his wife Anne who seems to have come from Ellastone, Staffordshire. These two villages are 15 miles and 19 miles respectively from the town of Buxton, Derbyshire. It would not be surprising to find that if traced even further back in time, the Buxtons got their name in some way from the nearby town of Buxton - or the town from them! My interest in this is because 35 years ago, I worked for 4 years in the town of... Buxton, Derbyshire! Needless to say, I reminded Hayley that she would be performing in Buxton in a few months time but then, I had to rush away to take a fellow member of the forum to the train station!  So yes, Hayley does indeed know of this connection and many thanks to Joe for first mentioning it! Cheers, Dave |
|
|
|
Post by petertong on Feb 2, 2008 7:26:35 GMT
hi Dave,
Thats cool that Hayley knows of that connection. I've been doing Hayley's tree in my spare time (i kinda rotate through trees when I got bored of researching my own) and of course couldn't go further than Alexander either on that line... . I'll have to look into it again because you never know... more data can sometimes come up...
The interesting thing is that I've got an Eleanor Buxton that married an immigrant ancestor (Henry Ward) of mine from Derby. I have always wondered whether they were related to the aforementioned Buxton's on Hayley's tree... this is back in the mid 1500s. Derby is reasonably close to Ellastone is it not?
The Buxtons are from England actually so Hayley didn't seem to remember right (perhaps a first that I've heard of - from what people say here her memory is very sharp!)... are you into genealogy as well? I'll look into the Buxtons some more...
Peter
|
|
