• RonCity

by Himself

or do you prefer this…..

Ever since a small boy I've been fascinated by history and the passage of time. By the age of six I was asking all my relatives about our ancestors, but nobody seemed to be able to go back more than one or two generations, and they didn't seem to have any answers to some of the questions I was asking. By my teens I had just about drained them dry of information, and at seventeen, now earning some money, I set about some true research.

Many people can’t understand how you can get excited mooching around in dusty old records! Early on in my research life I was looking through an apprenticeship record book (you can mostly only view microfilm copies nowadays) and came across my ancestor, Daniel City, taking on his son Daniel to be his apprentice. I can’t explain the buzz I got knowing that I was probably the first person since 1649 to take note of that entry!

Over the years I have found myself doing research in some unusual places, apart from the usual record repositories. 22 years ago I found myself walking past Goldsmiths Hall in London, when I remembered that my 4x Great Grandfather, William City, was Master Assayer there. I went in and found myself in the Grand Hall, which looked to me akin to Buckingham Place (see photo)! I explained my interest at the reception desk and the man in the 18th century uniform said that the Chief Clerk might be interested. I didn’t think this was getting me very far, until he explained that the Chief Clerk was actually the chief executive! It was just an old fashioned term. So the Chief came down that marble staircase you can see in the photo, and was very interested in what I had to say and used the phone to tell the archivist to come down. He then told the archivist to give me free rein to discover what I could! I spent two whole days wading through 58 years of Goldsmiths Hall minutes - but it was worth it. Later I produced a small book covering William’s life from his apprenticeship in 1795 to his death in 1856, together with photocopies of some of his actual letters to the company.

In the photo of the building, William’s living apartments are on the top floor at the right-hand side (now storage rooms).

My Family History database is now available online. This includes City and related families; the Brooksby Old Family according to Emmeline Garnett, which is more detailed than the book; Brooksby of Stoke Golding; the Bracebridge family, including Brooksby ancestry and Brooksby and Bracebridge descents. There is also a nice selection of photos. Please visit - I'm sure you'll find something of interest.

For Family Reunions see: FirstBrooksbyFamilyReunion Second1981FamilyReunion Third1982FamilyReunion Fourth1983FamilyReunion Fifth1984FamilyReunion Sixth1986FamilyReunion

See also RonCity EmmelineGarnett BrooksbyFamilyAssociation BrooksbyNews BrooksbyCoatOfArms BrooksbyVillage OtherBrooksbyFamilySites BrooksbyResearch

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