Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 10:00 AM

Hi Jack,
you don't know me personally, but im one of your many Eardley
relatives. Myself and my immediate family came to the re-union at Audley. It
was lovely, thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to organise
it, we really appreciate it. Although im no longer an Eardley, i was born
with that name. My father came from Walsall, West Midlands, he was one of 7
brothers, unfortunately there are only 3 brothers left alive now. By the way
my name is Julie.
My father was i think the second eldest in his family, his older brother
was called Jack, my fathers name was Herbert leslie, Bert for short, his
other brothers were Tom, Bob, and the three remaining are Ralph, Sid and
Alan. My father died on the 27th April 1974, from a heart attack. He fought
in the 2nd world war, in the Staffordshire reconnaisance. Apparantly this
was formed soley for the second world war and was dissolved when war ended.
My father was born on 5th April 1921. His father was William John Eardley
and his mother was Beatrice May ( Hamphlett ) I Believe.
I would have contacted you earlier but i didn't find out much about this
re-union because of my name being Dorricott now. My one brother received a
letter from you, and so did my two sisters who are both still Eardley. I
only managed to get a copy of your letter dated nov99 on the Sunday after
the re-union. I found it very interesting. My daughters have been able to
get on the Eardley web site, and they have printed a few things off for me.
I don't have access to a computer at the moment, this email is from my tv.
Here is a brief family history of mine:
I am the youngest of five children, the eldest is Sheila Margaret, then
Sylvia May, both are unmarried. Then there is Michael John, Harold Leslie
and then me Julie Lynette. Our parents were Herbert Leslie Eardley and
Nellie Bullock. They were married on 4th April 1942.
My eldest brother Michael is married to Edith Johnson and they have one
daughter Janice Edith and Edith has a son by a previous marriage called
Michael Ryan.
My other brother Harold, we call him H, is married to Christine Ann Shaw,
and they have two daughters called Karen Louise and Joanne Lesley.
I myself have been married twice, I have two daughters by my first
marriage called Alison and Lisa Michelle Dando. I have a daughter by my
second marriage called Josephine Anne Dorricott. I also have two step
daughters called Zoe Louise and Tracy Marie Dorricott.
Zoe live with us, Tracy lives with her mom.
They all get on very well, and my husband Ron and I treat them all the
same, we are a very close family.
Lisa has got the Eardley red hair. At the re-union Richard took a photo of
me and Lisa, he said he would put it on the internet.
At the re-union i was amazed at how many people looked the same, I only
wish my dad could have been there he would have loved it.
Heres my address, if you ever need it:

Mrs Julie Dorricott,
146, Bradbury Lane,
Hednesford,
Staffs. WS12 4EN.
England.

Bye for now Jack, if i can ever be of any help, just ask.

love and best wishes Julie xxx

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July 31, 2000

Hello again Jack
I hope you are all well, we are all fine, its great being able to comunicate with you via my
tv, the wonders of modern science hey. So far , from the list you sent of
male marriages up to 1900, I have been able to establish that my great great
grandad was Robert who in 1884 married Abigail Branswood, and my great great
great grandfather was William who married Jane Humphreys in 1842. Funnily
enough my own mothers family were called Humphries but with the different
spelling.
My uncle tells me that our great grandmothers name was Sole, i don't know
how it was spelt, but she was french. I am hoping to find out more from my
cousins wife, she knows how to go about getting copies of marriage
certificates and such. My problem is that my mother died when i was only
13months old, so i never knew her, and my father died when i was 14 years
old, so i didn't know too much about him either. Its because i was born to
my parents late in life, my mom was 41 and my dad was 38 when i was born. I
get a lot of information from my two sisters, but they are a bit reclusive,
and reluctant to tell you things. They thought that the re-union was a hoax,
so they didn't go, but i showed them the video that my husband did, and
even though they won't admit it, Im sure they enjoyed watching it.
I can see the resemblance in yourself to my own dad and uncles, when we
get a pc, which hopefully wont be too far in the future, i will be able to
put some photo's on the internet, I've got a few of my dad, in his army
uniform. I havent got any of my grandparents though.
The funniest thing is that when i was at school, i was the only Eardley
there, people used to think it was such a funny name, so at that time i
didn't think there were many of us, how wrong could i be?
With our branch of the family, there are not many who will carry on the
family name, because my own dad hasn't got any grandsons, only
granddaughters, and i know this is the same for most of my dads brothers,
even though there were seven of them, most of them had daughters, or if
they had sons, their sons have had daughters, so the family name won't get
passed on.
Im am actually experiencing the same thing with the name Dorricott, there
aren't many males of that species left either.
Its great to find out things about your ancestors, and its a lovely
feeling to belong to a place, and Audley is a lovely place to belong to. We
had visited Audley before the re-union, twice, and it was nice being able to
find other Eardleys, even though they were in the churchyard, because where
we live they are very rare. In Hednesford, where i live, there are also my
two sisters, and my cousin, that is all, my brothers live one in Eccleshall,
and the other in Kidderminster, so they are quite a distance away.
Something you might find ineresting, my parents after the 2nd world war
lived on cannock chase, in the prisoner of war huts, their address was
Marquis Drive, the huts are no longer there, but the street is, and you can
still see the concrete bases to the huts. My brother H as got a photo of him
and mom and dad standing outside of their hut. They lived in these because
there was such a shortage of housing in this area at the time, my moms
brother lived next door to them.
If i think of anything else that you might find of interest, i will write
again.
I can't wait to get the internet, so that i can access all the
information stored there, i find it rivetting.
bye bye for now until next time.
Love Julie xxx