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My great-grandmother, Alice Ann Welburn,
looking much younger and healthier than in the photo to the right,
at the age of 19. |
Family Photo c.1902 : L-R : George Ruslin
Preston Snr, Norman, George Jnr.,
Myrtle and Alice Ann, with Maude seated at the front.
If you would like to see a larger version, click on the photo.
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My grandmother's family is believed to originate from North Yorkshire,
possibly in the Filey area. In 1891 Alice Ann Welburn (b. 1867 in
Hunmanby) married George Ruslin Preston (b. 1868 in Hull) and settled
in Bridlington, where they raised four children, two sons (George
Welburn - b.1892 d.WW1 and Norman - b. 1894 d. 1972) and two daughters,
(Myrtle, my maternal grandmother - b.1896 d. 1972, and Maude - b.1897
d.1987). Alice died in Bridlington of consumption in 1905 and George
eventually moved to Ampleforth and died there in 1946.
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My maternal grandfather, Kenneth Harley,
died in 1948 and very little is known about his family : his sons
and daughters believe him to be from Edinburgh, but nothing has been
established for certain. My most recent researches into this branch
of my family tree can be seen on this
page.
He married Myrtle Preston (b. 1896 in Bridlington, East Yorkshire),
second daughter of George Ruslin Preston and Alice Ann Preston (nee
Welburn) in 1920 and settled in Kingston-upon-Hull where they raised
seven children of whom six are still living - Kenneth Preston, Ada
Rosina (Rose), Diana Mary, Francis (Frank), Lillian Welburn and Stephen
- the eldest, George Arthur Harley, was killed at the end of the Second
World War. |
Kenneth and Myrtle
Harley - my grandparents - with their eldest daughter Rose (Ada
Rosina)
at a family wedding
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Apart from untimely deaths due to diseases
which are now preventable or at least treatable, and the deaths of young
men in wars, the family seems to be remarkably long lived on average:
Alice had at least one sister - Amy - who lived to the age of 97 and
who I actually met when I was in my teens; her daughter, Nellie, lived
to the even riper old age of 99 - 1893 to 1992 - and Nellie's daughter
Nora is still alive; Maude lived from 1897 to 1987, outliving her sister
by 15 years.
Both Myrtle and Maude had several children and many grandchildren -
their descendents can be seen on the family tree on this
page .
Click on the underlined link for a pictorial
"Harley Family Tree" (new
for 2003.)
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