Dear Eardley Family: May 1997

I am writing to you again because you represent an Eardley Family who contacted me and helped set this complex and fascinating genealogical train in motion. Directly or indirectly, we have now been able to make contact with at least one representative of each and every Eardley grouping in the world. You represent NOT only yourself and your immediate family - but also your other relatives - whether you are in close or constant touch or meet only occasionally. The fact is that I am now convinced that with your generosity, patience and industry, we have all made the achievement of the goal of "putting all the Eardleys in the world together a very real prospect." Again, I have to say with enormous gratitude and humility - thank you!

As a result of the last letter and questionnaire, many new connections have been made and the overall picture has become even clearer. I now have over 3000 pages of information - a staggering cumulative response which has come to occupy a sizeable portion of my office basement. Letters continue to come in, the phone continues to ring, and scarcely a day passes by without a new piece of information being added to our database. It has now become increasingly time-consuming to send out packages of information which currently can weigh twenty pounds or more. Not only would I need full-time staff, but the cost of each package is prohibitive. I have therefore decided to have all the information 'scanned' and translated onto a computer disk. When this is done, I will be happy to give you all a copy. I will let you all know when the disks are ready. As usual no charges are involved!

I move on now by giving you all an update on what we have achieved so far - it is staggering! As I mentioned previously, I have now, with your help, assembled, categorized and filed in excess of 3,000 pages of Eardley information. Robert Francis Eardley too has been overwhelmed by letters and phone calls and fax messages - all of which he is happy to receive and subsequently relay to me for central data filing. So that now we have reached the point in our journey from which we must push forward ever further in order to achieve total success for our fascinating and intriguing puzzle. Let me explain.

It is clear from your responses that out there are a number of excellent Eardley genealogists. You have researched for a number of years and have accurately and painstakingly assembled the strands of your own Eardley family. Some of these strands I have been able to weave into a partial web of the 'Eardley Big Picture.' Without these precious contributions I could not have moved forward.

You will remember that the ultimate goal is to complete an Eardley Worldwide Web of family interconnections. This is where I hope and expect new information to be of vital importance. We are on the verge of a total breakthrough!

Hundreds of you told me how much you would like to help even more - if only you knew how. You are the majority. I value what you have contributed and now I can show you how you too can become a good Family Historian - so that you can pass the information on to your own children and grandchildren - and equally importantly help complete this, the largest single name Family History so far ever undertaken.

The first thing you need to know is that all the information about your ancestors does exist. All you need to learn is where it is and how you can get it. Records of all birth, marriages and deaths from July 1837 to the present are available. If you know where your ancestor was born, married or died, all you do is go to your local Registrar (Registry Office), fill in a simple form with what details you know, and you can get the certificate in a few minutes. Obviously you must go to the Registry Office where the person was born or had his marriage registered or died.

If you don't know which city or parish, don't even think of giving up. There is an organization in Southport, England which can help you. It is an offshoot of St. Catherine's House, where all the information is kept and then made available to you, the public. I'll give you the details later. They will take your information over the telephone and search for whichever ancestor you are seeking. The search covers a five-year period. So if you believe or know that your grandfather, for example, died around 1894, they will check from 1892-1896. If this fails to find him they will check further back or further forward. There is a charge - but it is worth it! You can pay by credit card over the phone.

I should remind you that marriages are the most difficult to find in a Registry Office. The reason is that they need to know in which parish the marriage took place. Some towns have dozens of churches so they don't have time to check them all. You can search through the records yourself, but you do need special permission from the Registrar.

Southport is free from such problems, but it costs a little more. We're lucky that 'Eardley' is a quite unusual name - so we don't often have to worry about finding ourselves having to choose between the two Alfred Eardleys being born, married or dying in the same year or the same town or city.

The wonderful thing about certificates is that they provide information which leads to some event that took place even earlier. A death certificate will also enable you to find out the year that person was born. So next you find his birth certificate. This will give you the name of his parents. Then find when his parents were married and where. The marriage certificate will tell you how old his parents were at their marriage - and so you discover the year of their birth - and of course you can now obtain their birth certificates. The picture builds up little by little. At the end of this letter, I will leave you with a summary of how to get started.

You are now ready to make a big leap forward into unknown territory because you have now worked your way back to an ancestor born before 1837 - the first year government records began. Before this time, all information was the responsibility of local clergymen. From the mid-1500's, they were supposed to keep careful records of all birth, marriages and deaths in their own parish and then send the records to their bishop. These records are called Bishop's Transcripts. In Staffordshire, they are found in Lichfield. In Cheshire, they are in Chester - and so on. Some parishes have excellent continuous records - whilst others are not so good. Fortunately for Eardleys - Audley has the longest continuous records in the area - some say in the entire country - so somewhere in their records you will find your oldest ancestor. The documented information we have so far had sight of indicates that three Eardley families - Eardley of Eardley, Eardley of the Pool, and Eardley of Miles Green started the whole complex web spreading worldwide. However, before you can attach yourself to one of these original families, you will have to track your roots back to Staffordshire, England - it may be to Whitmore, Meerbrook, Standon, Eccleshall, Norton-le-Moors, Wolstanton, Newcastle-U-Lyme or a dozen other parishes before you reach your final destination. It seems that Eardleys spread slowly down the western side of Staffordshire and Shropshire - village by village, often marrying and acquiring land. Whitmore is a good example where at the rear of the church Eardleys are noted as significant landowners. Add to this the numerous Eardley farmers and we build up a picture of yeoman farmers slowly acquiring land throughout Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. Eardley is one of the handful of names which has appeared continuously in Audley records since official records began. The spelling has changed over time from 'Erdele' in the thirteenth century; to 'Yeardley,' 'Yardley'; and eventually to 'Eardley'. In local dialect - 'head,' often pronounced without the letter 'h,' is preceded by the letter 'y' - hence 'head' became 'yed' - Eardley became Yardley. Around 1830, somehow everyone became Eardley, and the variants were unified.

I am trying to encourage those of you who 'get stuck' trying to push back further than your grandfather to make an informed leap into unknown territory. It really can be done with little 'know-how' and just a few pounds/dollars. I should make you aware that pursuing your ancestors can be as exciting and compelling a hobby as you can wish to find. Ask someone who is already enjoying the chase! Try it and see for yourself. I should also tell you that it can become a wonderful joint venture for couples of all ages. You visit new places and meet scores of new people. Best of all, genealogists never argue - it's totally non-controversial. Yes, it can be frustrating at times, but when you finally catch your 'man' or 'woman' it is more than worthwhile. It is a continuous treasure hunt.

Your local Mormon Church could be your first stop. They are most helpful. They are not there to convert you (unless you express an interest!), and they will generally set up the viewing machines for you and give you advice on how to proceed until you are ready to set out on your own. They don't even charge for the service. Stoke readers should know that their local Mormon Center in 'The Brampton," Newcastle, is temporarily closed for renovation. So a little patience is required here. It is courteous to make a small donation when you do use their facilities.

Each county has a County Record Office where all perish records can be viewed. In the USA, in addition to the wonderful facility in Salt Lake City and local history centers everywhere, we have the National Archives in Washington which even has a record of those persons who fought in the Revolutionary War. It's all there for you to investigate wherever you live. Please remember that everyone has to start at the beginning and there's always help on hand if you need it. I'm sure similar facilities exist in Canada, Australia, and elsewhere. If you have problems or need further help, you can telephone Robert Francis Eardley, UK01782-844253 - he will point you in the right direction if he can.

Your local Registrar is found in your local telephone book or Yellow Pages. The Southport contact number is 01704-569824 and you can pay by credit card and simply wait for your certificate to arrive by post. There is an express service that is more expensive - but you may find it worthwhile if you are in a hurry.

If you have a personal computer, software exists which makes organizing your information very simple. "Family Tree Maker" is very popular.

I have spent a while on encouraging you to help by trying out genealogy for yourselves. I realize that this route offers the most favorable option for completing our task. So far, everyone has given me what they have, but so many of you would like to do more. If everyone could close the gap between what you know now and 1837, we would be able to link everyone to the few Eardley families who were around at that time. It was the Industrial Revolution - the coming of the railways and the development of the British Empire and the accompanying mass emigration to the English-speaking world which dispersed us. What we now have to do is send 'Time' into reverse gear to see how it all happened and to find out how we got where we are today. Good hunting, and please contact us if you need help!

Perhaps I could now move on and comment on the questionnaires which I sent you last time. There was a wonderful response. We had numerous new Eardley families joining the clan and telling us what they knew. Those of you who could not go back very far should not feel disappointed. You are in good company, and we are now on the road to giving you the tools to unlock the past for yourselves. I was particularly enthralled to discover what I always suspected: that diabetes is extremely common among Eardley's worldwide. Nowadays, diabetes is so carefully monitored and treated that a diabetic usually lives a perfectly normal life. The point which interested me is that the population as a whole has a 2.7% incidence of this condition. Judging from your responses, amongst the Eardleys 'late onset' diabetes particularly is a great deal higher. Eardleys worldwide have this condition, and it proves to me that somewhere in the past we have a common ancestor who unknowingly passed on this defective gene. This knowledge binds us closer together and is further evidence we are all related (Robert Francis Eardley is a diabetic, as was my aunt Elizabeth Eardley, as is my sister Ethelyn in Arkansas). There are diabetics in Utah and the other states where Eardleys live, as well as in South Africa, Canada and Australia and the UK.

I have contacted the British Diabetic Association and the American equivalent. An Australian doctor in Perth, Western Australia is studying 'single family diabetes.' We hope to further explore this phenomenon and make a contribution to finding the causes and hence a cure for this age-old condition. We even contacted an Irish family which suffers from 'hemo-chromotosis' - a rare pre-diabetic condition which may well develop later into diabetes. If you know of any Eardley, present or past, who suffers from this hereditary but now thankfully easily treatable condition, please let me know - if only to confirm even more strongly the evidence I already have. The above associations are intrigued by the evidence, especially as it seems to be passed on through the male line and does not seem to have become less common over time.

Whilst on the subject of hereditary conditions, we also found a high incidence of 'syndactaly' - 'a partial joining of the skin at the base of the second and third toes.' It is hereditary, though totally harmless. Next time you are relaxing in the bath, you might check your toes and surprise yourself - and please me by further making available evidence that we are all related! Contact me if you need confirmation of this condition.

Now for an update on the Irish Eardleys. Some of you expressed surprise that Eardley was an English name. Let me explain. The Eardley family was a 'cadet' family of the lords of Audley - one of the most powerful families in the land during the Middle Ages. Wherever Audley went, the Eardleys followed! In 1616, Lord Audley sold his lands in England (we don't know why) and settled in Ireland as Earl of Castlehaven. Perhaps someone can shed light on this fascinating issue. We don't know that Lord Audley led the Irish Army against Oliver Cromwell some years later. His Eardley followers probably did the same. When matters settled down, Eardleys clearly married Irish women and stayed in Ireland. Then at the end of the last century, huge numbers of Irish people came to England to live. In Stoke, many people in the local 1881 and 1891 census show County Mayo or County Galway as their birthplace. Robert Francis Eardley's mother is from County Galway, and there is a Mayo Street in Handley, Stoke-On-Trent.

Also, many Eardley family trees you sent me illustrate how widespread the Irish presence is. Gilhooly, Dowd, Darcy, Ryan, O'Neill to mention a few name. It is probably, however, no more than a reflection of the general mixture of people in the British Isles who make up the population at large. You comments on this would be welcome!

Many of you inquired about the Eardley celebration proposed for the year 2000. It will take place in July 2000. The actual dates and venue have yet to be decided, but we now are open to a group of Eardleys and their friends and spouses who will help organize the event. Please give me your opinion on what kind of event it should be and how best we can organize it. Please contact me at any time with your offers of help to arrange the format and the general shape of the event as you wish it to be.

It has come to our attention that there are commercial companies who claim to have the history of the Eardley name and the family coat of arms. They are not particularly helpful. Even my own brother was 'taken in' by one of these and was sent a totally bogus 'coat of arms.' What we are doing is the real thing, and it's free!

By the time you read this letter, Robert Francis Eardley, myself and 'Evening Sentinel' Reporter John Abberley will have visited East Liverpool, Ohio as part of a project aimed at forming a 'special friendship list' between Stoke and East Liverpool, Ohio - my hometown. There are hundreds of Stoke descendants there and some kind of relationship seems natural given the genetic input of potteries people to this corner of Ohio. We'll give you an update on the result in our next letter.

Ronald Eardley, a descendant of an Eardley immigrant who arrived after the American Civil War, tells of the common joke among East Liverpool inhabitants that "it seemed that half of Northern Staffordshire had left home to live in East Liverpool, Ohio." That was my impression, too. It was known as the Staffordshire of the United States.

From the 3000 pages of information, here are a few tidbits of interest taken at random from the database. There are many more, but these will give you a flavor of the wide variety of information I received. Truth is stranger than fiction, as I'm sure you will agree.

1 Michael Joseph Eardley, of Sneyd Green Stoke, has written a lengthy historical novel about a Lord Audley who was a great warrior and a friend of the 'Black prince.' The novel tells of their exploits during the 'Hundred Years War' between England and France. Until our letters, Michael was unaware of the Audley-Eardley connections.

2. James William Eardley of Oxford did a wonderful job in showing how Eardleys are distributed over Great Britain. He discovered that 213 out of 648 postal addresses nationwide were situated in the Stoke-On-Trent area - about one in every three British Eardleys live in North Staffordshire. The second place county is neighboring Cheshire. Shropshire and Lancashire figure quite prominently, but the rest of you would be hard pressed to find many Eardleys in your local phone book. If you can demonstrate anything new along this line, please let me know.

3. The four Burslem brothers who became Mormons and left many hundreds of descendants in Utah and the Western States also seem responsible for the Wyoming Eardleys. Diabetes is present in some Eardleys in these states.

4. Jo Keyte (nee Eardley) has a relative in Australia, psychotherapist Judith Eardley, whose twin brother is the owner of the crocodile farm outside Darwin and the owner of a goldmine in New Guinea! Anyone need a job?

5. Speaking of Darwin - Charles Darwin, another of The Origin of Species and the father of evolutionary theory, was married to the granddaughter of Josiah Wedgewood, the great master potter and founder of the world famous pottery company. They married at picturesque Maer Hall on the outskirts of Stoke-On-Trent.

6. John Wilmot Eardley of Macclesfield, Cheshire tells me there are around 40 Eardleys in the local phone book - many of whom are farmers. Earley Eardleys, you may remember, always seemed to move to a new parish in order to marry and/or acquire land. Apparently there is a great farming tradition amongst the Eardleys of Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire which continues to this day.

7. Denis Albert Eardley of Stoke has obtained two school exercise books of ancestor Samuel Eardley who lived near Leek Staffordshire. They are dated 1827! Denis is most impressed by the high standard of mathematical calculation of his then 15-year-old ancestor. There must be something positive to be said for traditional teaching methods!

8. Philip George Eardley of Redcar, England has lived in Zambia and South Africa. He also has Eardley relatives in Namibia and South Africa. We continue to penetrate new countries where English is spoken.

9. Speaking of farmers and their farms, Charles Eardley of Holt near Wexham in North Wales tells me his farm was taken over to make a golf course. He also mentions 90,000 British pounds in the Court of Chancery in London belonging to an Eardley family somewhere. It could still be there, waiting for some lucky Eardley to inherit!

10. The East Liverpool newspaper of May 1940 wrote that my grandmother Annie Eardley renewed her group insurance card as an employee of the Homer Laughlin China Company. She was 87 at that time and had been employed there for 23 years. By my calculation, she must have been taken on at the age of 64. Are we getting soft in the 1990's? She died at the age of 99!

11. For Stoke Eardleys - news that Bradwell Hall was the family seat of the Eardley family. They were prominent members of St. Margaret's, Wolstanton in the last century. This church contains the tomb of Sir William Sneyd (a famous Stoke family) who died in 1567. Ken Eardley of Newcastle-U-Lyme is the bringer of this piece of information.

12. The Downes-Eardley family originates from Nantwich in Cheshire. It is often helpful to include family surnames when sending me information. It has helped enormously already in connecting the Warrilow-Eardleys, Pope-Eardleys, and Allen-Eardleys. It is surprising how many Eardleys have an 'Allen' somewhere in their family - not the usual 'Alan' or 'Allan.' One family tree used 'Allen' frequently because an ancestor had married a lady with the surname 'Allen.'

13. Edwin is also an unusually popular Eardley family Christian name. Could this be due to the name being popular for a time - or is this also a name that many connected Eardley families used? There was an Edwin in my family tree, too and a travel agent in Handley, Stoke-On-Trent in the 1880's. Were they one and the same? Perhaps someone out there can solve these puzzles for me.

14. During the past year, I have discovered a number of Eardley relatives of my own. Alan Eardley of Norton Green, Mary Eardley of Blackpool, and Bill Eardley also living near Blackpool. There are also relatives in Toronto, Canada and Florida. There is much work yet to be done in tracing my family tree - but I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I know that my oldest known ancestor James Yardley, born 1762, married Amy Gater, also born 1762 in Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent. As yet I have been unable to find a record of his birth or marriage. He and Amy are buried in St. Bartholemew's Churchyard in Norton in the Moors, Stoke-On-Trent. Any suggestions, comments or advice?

15. Our thanks to Viv Goodwin and Mary Huxley. They live within a few miles of each other and each sent me a detailed family tree. Both were beautifully set out and comprehensive. What they didn't realize in that they are both from the same common ancestor stretching back to the 1700's in Newcastle-U-Lyme. Ironically, Viv's grandmother was Robert Francis Eardley's next door neighbor and used to baby-sit him when he was a child.

Their common ancestors were William Eardley and Sarah Tellwright who married in St. Giles, Newcastle on 18th May, 1729 and left many Eardley descendants.

16. I think I should also tell you that we were able to find some information sought by Rowena Adkins of San Antonio, who had long wanted information concerning her grandfather Albert Eardley b. Sandbach, England 1840. Not only were we able to find his birth certificate, but we also are fairly certain we can take her family back to Acton-by-Nantwich to the mid-1700's. Rowena's roots could finally make it all the way home to Audley. It seems all the Texas Eardleys are descended from Albert.

Finally, please help widen our mailing list even more by passing on news of our letters to Eardleys we don't already know. Ask older members of your family for whatever they remember (tape record it if necessary) - names, places, events and dates are especially important.

I feel that the response to this letter will prove absolutely crucial to solving our gigantic and intriguing puzzle. All you need to do is make one or two connections beyond what you already know - and please let me have a copy of your new information. YOU CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!

a) Start by tracking your grandfather - if that's your starting point.

b) Find his death certificate from your local registrar - or from Southport.

c) Work out the year he was born and then get his birth certificate.

d) On this you will find the names of his parents (your great-grandparents) and where they were living when your grandfather was born.

e) Usually your grandfather would have been born within around ten years of his parents marriage. So if he was born in 1890, your great-grandparents would have married between 1880-1890.

f) Find their marriage certificate from either the local registrar of Southport. They will give you their ages at marriage. If local registrars can't help, always use Southport.

g) So if great-grandfather was married in 1885 aged 22 - his birth certificate will be found in 1863. Again, his parents' names (your great-great-grandparents) will be on their birth certificate. Repeat the whole process over again until you reach an ancestor born before 1837. His marriage certificate might give John Eardley, age 25, married in Burslem, St. John's Church 1842. He was born in 1817. Always allow one year either side, so check in Parish Registers 1816-1817-1818. You may be lucky and find your family lived in the same parish for hundreds of years. Usually they didn't. This is where the detective work comes in and you will have to learn the tricks of the trade.

h) Find out about the I.G.I in libraries. Mormon Churches have collections of all Eardleys from your county Parish Records on microfiche or book form.

i) Please enjoy your searches and let me have any new information. It could provide a vital missing link!

I will write again to everyone in a few months' time giving a further update on our most recent discoveries. Until then, God bless you all in your endeavors.

Robert Jack

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