Meet Mary Amici - my great grandmother, in a photograph probably taken
at the time of her engagement. She married my great grandfather, Thomas
Latham, in 1867, in the little village of Claines in Worcestershire.
Mary was the daughter of one Charles Amici, gentleman son of the London
City merchant Joseph Amici. (I'll tell you more about Charles another
time). Oh, what a search I have made for details of Joseph and his
family - for it is through him that I believe I have Italian descent -
though there are now suspicions in my mind that he could also have been
Swiss. (I'll tell you why another time, too!)
Another mystery - though the name is Italian, Joseph worshipped at, and
all his children were baptised at a Protestant church in London, the
church of St Michael Bassishaw, in Basinghall Street. Was he of Huguenot
or Waldensian extraction? How I long to know.
The Internet has been the source of much information for which I would otherwise have spent years searching - but sometimes it brings as many questions as it does answers - and of course, a lot of that information can cost!. But if it is at
your fingertips, the temptation to click that tab and ring up just
another pound or two here or there is almost irresistible, after all
this is my FAMILY that we are talking about!
Thomas and Mary with their daughter Fanny, in the 1890's.
How interesting that you know so much of your anchestors Roz. Thanks for sharing the beautiful photos. I have a very old photo album I inherited from an old maid, kind of friend of my grandmoter. I love the brownish photos.
Posted by: Britt-Arnhild | Sunday, February 27, 2005 at 10:25
Thanks for sharing this ,Family history is fasinating .My roots in Norfolk and Suffolk go back 300 years.I have lots of information .Now for the time to put it all together !
Peter
Posted by: Peter Threadkell | Monday, February 28, 2005 at 13:06