My family history

In my own family tree, the main surnames are...

My paternal families:
BROCK - originally from the Jacobstowe and Exbourne areas of Devon, then in the 19th century moving to London and later through the suburbs to Barking, Camberwell, Croydon and Weybridge. In Devon the family has close links with the WARD and MEDLAND families.

BAVRIDGE or BAVAGE - originally from Hampshire but later in the beer trade in London and Croydon.

POTTER - a fellmonger in Croydon in the 19th century but his family history remains a mystery.

TALMAGE - horse traders in West Berkshire, especially the areas between Hungerford and Hanney, they ran a shop in Hanney in Victorian times.

NOAKES - linked to the Medway towns of Rochester and Chatham, and later settled in Whatlington in Sussex.

OVERINGTON - probably from the brickmaking areas on the Surrey / Sussex borders.

CAINS - from Hertfordshire.

HERMAN - from West Berkshire.

My maternal families:
LEDGER - originating in Hampshire my branch of the family moved to Surrey and settled in Chertsey, where family members included building craftsmen and the editor of the Surrey Herald newspaper; my grandfather also worked in South Africa in the 1900s.

KNIGHT - stonemasons and builders who appeared in Chertsey around 1800 and by the end of the 19th century had established a prospering building firm; their forebears may have come from Stamford in Lincolnshire.

WICKS - an agricultural family from the banks of the River Thames in Surrey and Middlesex, who have been found in many riverside villages between Molesey and Windsor.

MANN - gardeners in Ripley in the 19th century and before that in Amberley in Sussex.

SIZMUR - brushmakers in Horsell and Chertsey

Other families of interest:
FOX - in Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire

VERNEY - veterinarians in Stow-on-the-Wold

BATES - in Buckinghamshire especially the villages of North Marston and Waddesden; forebears include GRANTHAM, KINGHAM and HICKMAN

FINCO - around Venice and Padua in Italy.

PLEASE use the contact button to get in touch with me if any of these names crops up in your own research. In my experience many brick walls can be broken down by pooling information from other researchers.