Fanny Hardy (1835 - 1926) |
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Born: Blandford, Dorset |
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Died: |
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Parents: John Hardy and Jane (Hardy) |
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Siblings: |
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Spouse: John Benson |
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Children: 1854 Frederick Benson 1859 Robert Benson 1862 William Benson 1864 Fanny Elizabeth Vatcher Benson 1867 John "Jack" Benson 1869 Charles Benson 1871 Caroline Benson 1873 Lily Benson |
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Fanny Vachre was Jim's Greatgrandmother. Jim tells of
sitting at his Greatgrandma's knees and listening to her stories of the
family. As he tells it, he was five at the time and didn't want to, but
he "would've got thumped" if he'd moved ! Jim believes the family name was spelled VACHRE, pronounced VAY-TCHER. Neither the Dorset OPC site or the LDS site have any VACHREs, but both have plenty of VACHERs and VATCHERs. AND, according to the GRO indexes, the full name of Fanny Vachre's daughter, Fanny, was Fanny Elizabeth VATCHER Benson !! 31.12.2004: Just been in contact with a Vacher-Researcher, DebPat, from RootsChat.
I have heard that The Vacher's may be descended from 3 Vacher brothers who
fled Switzerland when the non-Catholics were being massacred (are you familiar
with the people known as Huguenots that fled to England centuries ago?).
One brother settled in the West Country, one near to Southampton, and one settled
in London so the story goes. But I feel that the central link in all of this is Dorset
Since writing the above, it turns out that Fanny's maiden name may not have been VACHRE but HARDY. Jim remembers a HARDY, but is not sure whether it was Hardy VACHRE, a brother of Fanny VACHRE, or whether the family name was in fact HARDY. The VACHREs/HARDYs were horse and cattle dealers, dealing between Dorset and Ireland (?) And one of them may have been a Postillion on the Blandford to London coach... UPDATE 16.08.2006: I now have the birth certificate from Fanny's daughter, Fanny Elizabeth Vatcher Benson, and Fanny's maiden name is definitely HARDY ! Next question: what is the VATCHER connection ?? My guess: Jane Hardy's maiden name. The hunt continues . . . |
