The Olive Photo Gallery

A photograph from our gallery specific to the families featured in this section will display randomly here each time you come to this page

The edge of the forst keeps spreading

I am pleased to roll out the second of our colour supplements dedicated to families associated with but not directly linked to my branch of the Craxford family tree. A glance at my pedigree file will tell you that there are direct links to two surnames (Matkin, Cotterill) to Craxfords of generations past. Sarah Craxford was the second cousin (once removed) of my paternal grandfather (James Ernest Craxford) and married Charles Matkin (her story will appear shortly on one of the pages in the main section of the magazine). Her descendents have multiplied and proliferation and their relationships to me do need to be reflected in my own researches. However I do remain acutely aware that I must continue to maintain constraint and self-discipline in how far I allow the Craxford tree itself to spread to become a tangled and incomprehensible “jungle”.

From time to time we do come across other distant family members as equally interested in genealogy as we are and other web sites of interest. Andrew Wainwright and Phil Liston-Smith are both fourth cousins and consequently we share a common ancestral root. More recently the generations have diverged and there is little overlap in our respective family trees. Phil's own web site was an inspiration to me and the prime reason for choosing the TNG program for our own development. If you wish to trace any of the Liston, Fleming, Smith or Matkin families this could be your source.

I will be leaving the choice of the content of this supplement in the hands of my associate editors. This venture is not an amalgamation or duplication of trees or web sites but a use of facilities where our interests are in common. You will be unable to search the Liston-Smith database directly from these pages (just as you will be unable to search either of our trees from the other web site). However a liberal supply of direct links to the search pages on the Liston-Smith web site and to individuals of interest have been provided throughout these pages. You should also find it easy to navigate both sites as the underlying structure of both has been written using TNG software.

In the mean time, thank you for reading. Enjoy!!

What's on the other OLIVE Pages

-- PAGE 2: ASPECTS OF RUTLAND

Some archive and background material from the fiercely independent county of Rutland

COMING SOON: -- PAGE 3: MATKIN MEDLEY --

Cuttings, quotations, remembrances of members of the Matkin, Liston-Smith and Cotterill families past and present. This is a reader participation feature. So, please send your contributions to the editors!

Please contact us

If you have any questions or comments about the information on this site in general, or you have further information regarding this article, please Get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.

Page Added: May 5th 2005
Latest update: March 3rd 2016

Putting some 'meat on the bones'!

Part of the enjoyment of being a family historian is trying to unravel and where possible substantiate some of the stories that have been recounted over the years. Rather than just generate an endless list of names, dates of birth, marriages and deaths I have always had an eye on these stories. Some of them I guess we may never get to resolve, with others I have been more successful and with the majority I have often found an inkling of truth in the story.

With the help of mum, Ian and Ruth I have tried to document the stories a summary of which is detailed below:

• 1. Someone in the family worked on Stephenson’s Rocket.
• 2. Who was in the suffragette movement at the turn of the 1900’s?
• 3. The Liston-Smith surname was conjoined on December 25th 1884, when Mr. Lawrence Smith married a Miss Liston. There is a large silver plate presented to Lawrence from his fellow clerks when he worked for the Leith, Hull and Hamburg Steam Packet Company, celebrating this marriage.
• 4. Was dad born in Edinburgh or Hunstanton?
• 5. One of the Matkin’s was murdered by a gang because of gambling debts.
• 6. Great Grandma Ada Lotherington was brought up by her grandparents when her parents left to start a new life in the USA.
• 7. Granny Matkin went to Cambridge University.
• 8. Grandpa Matkin was gassed in WWI and died later in life due to complications caused by it.
• 9. One of Granny Matkin’s ancestors left to start a new life in Australia when he got the maid pregnant!
• 10. Dad’s father, George, died very young.
• 11. Dad went to Watson’s a public school in Edinburgh but was expelled for cheating in exams.
• 12. Grandpa Matkin was the youngest of 10 siblings.
• 13. Great Grandma Matkin (nee Green) lived at Hambleton Old Hall in Rutland.
• 14. Where did dad get Peter Watson from?
• 15. One of dad’s aunt’s was great at making spicy/curried food.
• 16. Grandpa Matkin went to Oakham school.
• 17. The Matkin’s of Oakham were printers and also owned a stationery shop.
• 18. Someone has written a book on a Matkin.
• 19. One of dad relations was awarded the OBE.
• 20. Jane Austen is an ancestor
  

You can find the results of my toils to uncoil these events and anecdotes by following this link:

The Liston-Smith Genealogy Pages

Some of the highlights are recounted within these pages.

PHIL LISTON-SMITH. May 3rd 2005

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Feature articles

FROM GRETTON TO BARROWDEN 2: FROM CRAXFORD TO WAINWRIGHT AND BEYOND There is a carved red sandstone headstone erected at the site which is still standing ...

MATKINS OF OAKHAM: GENERATIONS He was on board ship in Tokyo Bay when he heard of the death of his father, which had occurred four months previously. Alone among the crew of the lower decks, Joseph kept his own journal and wrote 69 detailed letters home.

CHARLES WILLIAM CRAXFORD: A VICTORIAN PHOTOGRAPHER "They represent a treasure trove of images of a bygone era ...."

A LETTER TO HENRY CRAXFORD My father was born in Rutland, at a village called Barrowden, near Oakham...

FROM HIGH ART TO DANE DARE He regularly complained to the committee of management about the conditions that the students had to work under.

ONWARDS TO UTAH!! Elizabeth was eight years old when her parents and two brothers sailed from Liverpool...

The Hollingshead prints

See a higher resolution image of The Cottesmore.

See a higher resolution image of the Craxford area of Rutland

Brian Hollingshead is an Artist who specialises in Line Art and Painting. He is a Meltonian, based in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England, the home of the Pork Pie and Stilton Cheese industry. His website contains the catalogue of collectable artwork from over 40 years of work, graphically recording and publishing aspects of Leicestershire and Rutland in newspapers and magazines.

Brian Hollingshead Studio in Melton Mowbray

I have owned a numbered set of his "England's Hunting Country" prints which graphically illustrate the countryside associated with the four major Midlands fox hounds (The Belvoir, Quorn, Ferney and Cottesmore). Images are reproduced in this section with his kind permission. The cradle of the Craxford family is along the South East edge of this map and the village of Barrowden is just across the Welland Valley from Gretton.