Dear Nora: I?m sending you the reproduction of a page from the “Thornton Romances” sent to me by Lincoln University.? I do hope that it arrives safely and not accompanied by bits and pieces of all the correspondance involved in acquiring it as my computer skills are very few save a little e-mailing and digging around in Google. Thank you very much for the reproduction of the portrait of our ancestors. I had come across it quite often in Google but never imagined that one day descendants of Harriet Comber and of her brother would be in touch!?Very sincerely.?Pat – Helena Patricia Comber
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Dear Pat,
It was very good to hear from you and?really interesting to learn that we have so?many cousins in South America,
I am a relative newcomer to?Wandesforde?other than?to know that many of our ancestors used his name. You’ve seen the report of my visit with my grandson?to?Christcurch?Cathedral and I trust separately you have seen the extensive notes we kindly received from StuartKinsella, the archivist there.
I’ve just been reading “Memoirs of the life and death of the Right Honourable the Lord Deputy?Wandesforde: collected from authentic records and?MSS. by his great great grandson Thomas Comber,…Second edition.” This is a wonderful account, written in 1777 in Old English, which takes a little getting used to. It’s published by?ECCO, History and Geography and came on line from?Wordery. I don’t know the price because my sister gave it to me for Christmas, it’s softback. He? certainly achieved a great deal in a short lifetime, especially in his last few years in Ireland. I visited?Castlecomber?recently and discovered that the?Wandesford?family only sold up and left?Castlecomberin the 1960s?when they?moved to England. The house was demolished and it is now a public park called?Castlecomber?Discovery Park with plenty of references to?Wandesforde, you’ll see it on line.
Our?family’s connection is as follows;
Our great grandmother was;
Clemintina?Woodhead, her father?was;
H.J.P.?Woodhead?(Brighton) 1829-1903, his mother was;
Harriett Comber 1793-1872, her father was;
Thomas Comber 1765-1835, his father was;
Thomas Comber 1722-1779, his father was;
Thomas Comber 1688-1765, his parents were;
Alice Elizabeth Thornton 1653-1720,?and Thomas Comber, Alice’s mother was;
Alice?Wandesforde?1626-1720 and her father was;
Sir Christopher?Wandesforde?1592- 1640.
Much of this (and a lot more)?has kindly been given to us by Judy Bennett from England. Judy (like you, discovered us on line) is the granddaughter of H.G.W.?Woodhead?1844-1959, a very interesting man, you’ll find him on Google. I’ll pass on your email to?Judy and she may get in touch. I know that Judy is presently in US so there might be a delay.
It would be interesting to know when?your ancestors went off across the Atlantic!
My sister Netta and I live?near Dublin. We’re adding to our Dear Grandchildren all the time and are delighted to hear from another? cousin.
Yours sincerely
Eoin?Hickey.
