Sarah and Richard Archer's Wedding

A Family History by William James Archer in 1943

A Family Record

Well, children, this is a little history of your grandparents from the time we left England and before. Father and my older brother came over to the United States about a year before the rest of the family cam over. They came in 1871. Then Mother and the rest of us came in 1872, sometime in the month of June. I was fourteen years of age.
Things have changed a great deal since we left there. All of kin-people - the Archers - are back there. We also have relatives back there by the name of Fichet (Richett?) and Lane. We have relatives in London by the name of Owens. My Mother’s maiden name was Brunt.
I went to school several years in England. When we came to America, to Cleveland, Ohio, I went to school about two more years. That is all the schooling I ever had.
When we left England we came by rail to Liverpool. It is about 82 miles from Lemester (Leominster) to Liverpool. Then we sailed from Liverpool to New York on a steamer named the city of Brooklyn. The next day after we arrived in New York, we took the train and came to Cleveland, Ohio. We lived there about four years. Then we came to Texas in the fall of 1876. We got off the train at Waco, then we came to Bosque County in wagons. There were thirteen families of us. Oh yes, we were eleven days coming over from Liverpool to New York.
I aimed to mention, almost forgot it, about going to Sunday School. Yes, I went to Sunday School twice a day, once in the forenoon and once in the afternoon. Of course, it may be different than I was when we were there.
When we left England, and for a number of years before, Queen Victoria was ruler, and for a number of years after we came over. Queen Victoria had the longest reign of any queen or king in the history of that country. The House of Commons is the principle law making body in that government. The Queen and King haven’t much to say. Of course, they sign a bill after it passes the House of Commons. When a bill passes through he House of Commons two or three times in succession, it becomes a law.
I made mention, that Queen Victoria had the longest reign of any King or Queen in England. Not only the longest, but the most peaceful. She became the Queen of Great Britain or United Kingdom, which is all the same, at the age of eighteen and reigned about fifty years.
Lemester, the town where we lived, is in Herefordshire. We would call it over here a state. The city of Hereford is the capital of Herefordshire. Hereford city is twelve miles east of Lemester, Great Britain is about the size of New Mexico. It includes England, Scotland and the Wales, with some other small isles. The population is about 45,000,000.
It may seem strange, but in the summer months they have twilight for about two hours after the sun goes down. People go out and work out in the garden before dark. I remember we kids would go out in the back yard and play a game of ball before dark. It never gets too hot in the summer moths as it does down here, and it doesn’t get too cold in the winter as it does in our northern states. It is a mild climate. Great Britain is surrounded by the sea, and the people don’t tan like they do there. The girls don’t have to put paint on their faces.
The average rainfall is about sixty or sixty five inches of per year in nearly all parts of that country. There is a good deal of foggy weather. The climate is not suitable for cotton. Some of their crops are cereals such as we raise over here. Such crops as they do raise do fine. The fields are so well kept they are pretty to look at, but with that, England can’t raise more than one-fourth the foodstuff it takes to feed the country. I don’t know what will become of that country if Germany keeps sinking their merchant vessels, for they get one-fourth their food from across the sea.


William James Archer

Originally written 1943 by W. J.
Archer for Billie Louise Archer for
Her class and printed by Freda James
Hicks and presented to Elsie and Lonnie
Archer on their Golden Wedding Anniversary,
August 29, 1965.

Last Trip Post

This is me at Heathrow Airport waiting for the 10 hour flight home.




This is the Museum of Fashion- London abounds in museums.



This is a photo of Harrod's the famous department store - the Queen and her Mum used to shop here until Mr. Fayez (the father of Dodie - the boyfriend of Princess Diana) made some nasty comments and Harrod's lost its royal patronage. This information came from my taxi driver - a most charming and informative young man.


Saturday morning October 23 –I made the decision to take a taxi to Heathrow rather than the underground – yesterday, I found out how many stairs there are to get to one of the lines Picadilly – that I would have to take – so even though its quite expensive, taxi it is. Now I am sitting in the terminal waiting for my plane and I am SO GLAD that I did. I’m not sure I could have made it by underground on time – it took almost an hour by taxi! And the driver said that on weekends, they sometimes re-route trains for various reasons. God has just guided me and taken care of me all through this trip – I’m so aware that there is something much bigger than me in all of this trip – I don’t understand all of this but I’m pretty sure God does – and that’s good enough for me.

I keep thinking about Daddy talking about how the Archers were very religious people and how, on this trip, we have come to know them through their churches – I hope all of you could feel through this blog the distinctiveness of each church – from the cathedral in Leominster where all of our grandparents were baptized to the Lingden church where Sarah and Richard married to the ancient church where the Archer clan worshipped. In retrospect, I can see how this has occurred – I’m not sure if Polly planned it that way but it was really brilliant the way we worked our way from the family members fartherest back in time up to Leominster – I would have started there but this was truly a passage through time up to the 1870’s- which made them so fresh and alive. So dear family ends our journey together on this blog. Again thank you for coming with me and I close with a prayer of gratitude to God for all their lives
and a prayer for their souls and a prayer for each of us as we stand on their shoulders and walk the path God has chosen for each of us. I love you all carolmae

I'm going to put one more post - this is Papa speaking in the early 1940's to his grandchildren about his memories of England.

Wrapping it up

Red double decker bus



This is a London bird in Green Park



This is some construction taken from the top level of a double decker bus



Me sitting in Green Park outside Buckingham palace




Me on the double decker bus




Green Park



London Street



Buckingham Palace


Good morning family:

Well I slept 8 hours or so - but my body is a bit confused - it is 7:00 in Texas but 1:00 in the afternoon in England - so I woke up at 5:00 starving!!

At any rate, Ike is sitting here in my office helping me finish this off. Here are my notes from Friday and I'll do another post for yesterday - just to keep the photos in order. Please note that I have now learned how to put a tag with each photo but not exactly how to put it with the correct photo!!

Friday morning the 22nd:

I am writing this on the train going to down to London from Liverpool – up this morning breakfast with Stacy – no matter how much time we have together, its never enuf! She left for the States, I walked to the James Street Station to take the underground to Lime Street Station then got a ticket to London. Wow So many people helped me –One of my biggest culture bumps is young men carrying my suitcase, helping put it on the train, holding it for me while I zip it up completely. The kindness of people on the street - and, this is an example - when I bought my underground train ticket at James Street Station ( James Street is an old street that goes from the center of Liverpool down to the docks (Richard and Sarah and children most likely took the same train from Lime Street station) - at any rate, when I bought my ticket, I asked instructions on how to get to the correct platform. The young man told me but as I walked around to the “lift” (elevator), he came out and walked with me to the platform, saying, “It’s a bit of a maze”. That extra help is typical of what I have experienced here over and over.

Again, the countryside is very beautiful – seemed to be more hilly as we got closer to London.

Great Luck!! The Ibis Hotel is very close to the train station; I checked in and went out to see something of London. Lots of walking – I took the underground to Buckingham Palace (see photo);

The Queen was in and sent word to me that she was so sorry she couldn’t have tea with me, but it seems her Royal Navy had stuck a submarine on a sandbar and she had to take care of it. She pleaded with me to come back. I assured her I would since my senior rail card is good for a whole year. At any rate, The Palace had a lot of tourists and I think I was the only one there who spoke English and my English was the wrong kind for this country! Lots of foreigners in London – everywhere.

I walked through Green Park which is a huge park in front of the palace – lovely peaceful and leads into the heart of London – I got on one of the two tier buses and rode through downtown, Trafalgar Square etc. I have to say, however, I’m just ready to get home at this point. I notice that folks aren’t quite as polite here in London as they are in the other places I’ve been – much like our country and city places I guess.

Anyhow, I’m in the Ibis Hotel which I discover is French; I got some water tonight which is Malvern water – which comes from Greater Malvern in Hereford – It is the Queen’s water – the only water she will drink as Polly explained to me. So at least, I’m drinking her water tonight! The Greater Malvern is in Hereford and as Polly was driving through some beautiful mountainous area last Sunday, she pointed out some “fountains” where water was coming out - people would be stopped there with large water jugs, getting the water. She told me then that Malvern water is considered to be the best in the world - I believe she said that Coca-Cola bottles it (Watch for comments - Polly will add or correct my information - we are so lucky to have her in our family now!!)

London is very elegant, with old buildings that are rich with age - I think my overall impression of London (at least the part I was in which is West London - the richer section) is of old money. The Ritz Hotel reminded me of the Plaza Hotel off of Central Park in New York - in Green Park, there was a Tavern on the Green Restaurant just as there is in New York. So I can see that New York has "imitated" London. Savoy Row for suits, all of the names that we read about were there. I took one of the double decked buses back to the hotel - It was great sitting on top and looking about - I took pictures of some construction (especially for Mike and the guys to enjoy). For me, London was not nearly as meaningful or interesting as the other places I have been. The small villages and especially the churches still hold a sense of the past and perhaps, allow my imagination to flourish. Also, of course, Sarah and Richard were not here - Some of Richard's brother and sister's children came here (Remember Papa said we had relatives named Rickett in London; that would be his aunt Mary's children). But that is another trip another day!!

Home again; home again; jiggedy jig

Hello all:

I'm home and really tired so I'll upload the London photos and stories tomorrow...meanwhile -sleep with the angels...carolmae

p.s. it is really good to be home - here is a photo of Phoebe being happy that I'm back

RICHARD AND SARAH BRUNT ARCHER, DATES UNKNOWN

Day Five - All work; No play

Dear Family:

Well there's not any family news today; Stacy and I did our presentation today - it went well but we had one heckler that made it a little exciting - absolutely nothing that between the two of us we couldn't handle. So I was at the conference most of the day - met some interesting folks - back to hotel. I was TIRED - we had dinner and now I'm doing this and getting ready to go to bed.

I'll get up early and take the train down to London - spend the day there tomorrow and come home Saturday. So I should have some interesting photos tomorrow - I plan to just be a tourist although if I knew something about the Archers - One of Richard's bothers went to London from Leonminster as did one of Mary's children (The Ricketts) - Remember Mary was Richard's sister and they all lived together around Corn Square. I have so much information to share with you guys when I get home.
Anyhow, here are a few photos from today: There is a photo of an old church and tower down by the river (they would have been there when Richard and Sarah & family left out, a photo of the river they went down, a photo of Stacy (Dr. Nickson from Auburn) and of the two of us just before the presentation.

Today as I was telling the girl at the hotel about going to the villages, I began to tear up - this really has been emotional - I think It will take a little time to process it all - although writing the blog (even though it has been time-consuming) has been helpful and it also really helps me to know that you are all there reading and participating in this with me. It really really does - this is something so deep that it really needs to be shared with people who understand - as we all do. OK Sorry - I can't upload images for some reason tonight. Also here are some more notes from the archives yesterday:

Inman Line had a home pier in New York; it was pier No. 45 - that would be where Sarah and the children came in.
All the Inman ships had sails and steam engines - their funnel was marked with a black band, white band and a black band at the top. Childre 5-12 only paid half fare (which may account for the discrepancy in Papa's age - he always said he was 12 or 13 but on the ship's passage he was listed as 11 and in the census in England he was listed as 11 (Could our great grandparents fudged about his age to get a half fare?)
On the ship, each person could take 100# of luggage - that's not much to start a new life. July and August were the fashionable months to visit the states so the immigrants went in cheaper months e.g. June. - the ships left from Liverpool for New York on Tuesday and Thursday.

Ok dear family, I'm off to bed. Sleep with the angels - we go to London tomorrow!