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!

It's wonderful that the opportunity presented itself for you to be able to go back to the land of our ancestors. I think you now have a new understanding and appreciation for where and how our forefathers lived. Thanks to you and your wonderful story telling I, too, have an appreciation that I didn't have before. Enjoy the remainder of your trip and have a safe journey home.

Dear Family:

Well today will be a bit different - I arrived in Liverpool yesterday and spent the morning in the maritime museum - they have a permanent exhibit on the emmigrants who left from Liverpool for other countries - the USA, Australia, Canada, Argentina (lots of Welsh went there!) There is a photo of Lime Street Station the main rail station in Liverpool - Our family would have come through here on their way to the docks. I had to take another train to get to the docks and a taxi from that James Street Station. (Ooops - I am unable to uplaod photos for two hours right now - I'll get them on tomorrow). At any rate, I went to the museum this morning. Liverpool was sunny but cold. I was walking on the origial cobblestones - it is difficult to walk on them - they are quite large and irregularly placed so my foot would slip and I had to walk irregularly also. I think how hard it must have been for Sarah with all the children. I imagine Papa 11 or 12 holding onto Edwin's hand and Sarah 14 or so holding onto Agnes while Mother Sarah tried to keep up with everybody, manage luggage and think about everything that had to be done to get on the ship. I imagine the boys wearing caps (much as I was yesterday and today) - There would have been so many people - There would be up to 1,000 people in steerage on the Inman Lines like the City of Brooklyn.
At the museum, I walked through an exhibit that was like walking down the street in Liverpool in 1854 and getting on a steamer. The exhibit was nice but not a lot there, but the walk through the interactive exhibit was great- there was a docent dressed like a sailor talking to a group of school children - about how the ship would rock and people would be sick. Then I went to the archives and found some more information. The Parthia was a ship of the Cunard Line which was an older shipping line - probably cheaper - Richard father and son went on the Parthia - while Sarah and the rest of the children came on the City of Brooklyn the next year. Here is some information that I found:


This is from a book called The Cunard Story by Howard Johnson:

Description of a Cunard vessel in 1881 –(NOTE: This is 10 years AFTER Richard father and son came over on a Cunard vessel.)

We took more immigrants on board at Queenstown and I went into the steerage to see their accommodation, The cabins are good with two tiers of beds each side and passage down the middle each shelf of beds holding 5 or 6 persons – women on one side and men on the other – married people and their families having separate cabins – many of them are very dirty and all seem very poor.

This is a description of a voyage in 1872 on the Cunard Russia – “As a native of Liverppool I had long looked forward to crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and for me there was only one line of steamers to seek passage for myself and stepson. This was arranged for the sailing of the Cunard liner, Russia, on the first Saturday of August 1872. We secured a two berth (NOTE: This is not the way the Richards traveled - they were in steerage as described above) cabin under the long saloon. She was a beautiful yacht like craft, of 5, 380 tons displacement, barque-rigged and with a graceful cutwater bowsprit. We soon settled down, and after receiving the mails, as we went slowly down river off Seacombe, we went ahead in beautiful sunny weather. We put into Queenstown Harbour next day, and took in more mails, passengers, and fresh provisions. There were several important persons on board, some M.Ps and a a high official of Trinity House. The captain was a great disciplinarian – we ran about 320 nautical miles daily. We landed in the Company’s dock at New York on the tenth morning. We encountered a heavy N.W. gale with tremendous billows. The Russia took it all with ease, and towered up one wave and down the bottom of another in the most elegant manner, shipping no water. On the crest of a wave one could only see two more beyond it, and each one appeared to be as long as the ship. It was a grand spectacle, the sun shing brightly.

From another book about the Cunard lines:

Small cabins, lack of public rooms, and illumination by candle-light were no match for the attractive features provided for emigrants by the Inman line in the shape of saloons, iced water, set meals and information printed in 3 languages. It took Cunard a long time to accept such frills – frills which by the 1870s were bringing to cabin class passengers conditions normally experienced in the best hotels of the time. (NOTE: Sarah and the children were on the Inman Lines although they were in steerage and certainly didn't have iced water, set meals and information printed in 3 languages! That was for the upper class passengers.) I know both ships had both sails and steam engines but captains would use sails as much as possible.

So it sounds like Granddad and Uncle Dick came on the Cunard vessel which was a less frills older vessel, the Inman line was new and designed specifically for immigrants – probably more luxurious – unfortunately over the next 10 years or so it also was much more dangerous with 8 sinkings – some of these were at the same time (1870 City of Boston) The Inman line was started by a 24 year William Inman in Liverpool– he later sold out to an American company. At the time Sarah and the children came over, the Inman line had a reputation for speed and comfort with the emigrants.

The City of Glasgow carried 400 steerage passengers but others carried up to 1000 in steerage. I suspect that Sarah and the children were on a ship that carried more.

I also read that immigrants who had skills as Richard did (carpenter and wheelwright) usually found work - I read quite a bit about how hard life was at that time in England - there had been a great deal of poverty as the population growth was more than the small island nation could afford. So even skilled men such as Richard and his brothers had problems finding enough to take care of their families. Another thing that occurred to me today - I've spent several days going to the small hamlets where the Brunts, Archers, Rowberries etc lived - and even today they are incredibly peaceful and beautiful. Then going to Lionminster yesterday - a bustling market town in Sarah and Richard's time - I thought about them coming from the peaceful areas, moving to Leonminster, then to Cleveland and then to the 1,000 acre colony in Central Texas - I know Daddy talked about how Papa talked about how beautiful it was to walk from Waco to Bosque County - about when the sun hit on the flowers on the hills, it was just about the most beautiful thing in the world - they came from peaceful countryside of England went through towns there and in the USA and back to the peaceful countryside of Texas - And as I think of their descendents - most of us live in peaceful countrysides or small towns. Interesting cycles of life. And these foks who have existed for me as faces in old photographs have assumed a poignant reality for me.

OK dear family - I need to go to bed - Stacy and I have our presentation at 10:30 tomorrow morning. Keep us in your prayers at 4:30 (or 3:30 New Mexican time) tomorrow morning. Sleep with the angels...carolmae

Day Three - From Leonminster to Liverpool

Dear Family:

Well another day - another generation. Wait till you hear about this! As usual, I thought we were going to Leonminster (where Papa and Edwin, Maria etc were born, but Polly had more up her proverbial ancestor sleeve. Yesterday was spent roaming back through generations of ARchers; today was spent exloring generations of Brunts (Sarah or Grandmother Archer), along with actually going to Leonminster and riding the train from Leonminster to Liverpool -- just as Granddad Archer and Richard did to be followed by Grandmother (Sarah) and the other children the next year. By the way, it seems that this time I have the pictures right side up but I can't seem to make them fit into the proper paragraph - so please try to understand which pictures go with which explanations - I will try to explain as much as I can.

But before I start, I want to show you some photos of Polly's marvelous home where I've been living for the past three days. Here we see the kitchen with hops hanging from the ceiling, the view through the front door of Polly's home, the house from the outside
and finally, the famous Polly herself - surrounded by the veritable library of information she has accumulated over the years.


We started out - passing through countryside views that seem to come from postcards - here are two photos - I wish I could let each of you see through my eyes the beauty of the countryside. Furthermore, it continues for mile after mile - punctuated only by villages or hamlets with picturesque red brick or black and white houses or pubs - farms - barns - sheep, cows, horses.
Here are two photos that don't come close to showing this beauty- I think of what Papa, Edwin and Maria must have remembered of this green country as they lived in Texas!



We drove almost to the Welsh border (in fact going into Wales at one point) remember Sarah's father came from Wales and she and Richard were married very close - here the land has more hills - Herefordshire is like a saucer with Hereford in the flat bottom and hills all around - In Leonminster, I noticed that many of the signs were in both English and Welsh - at any rate, we came into a small hamlet, Lingen, a wooden gate with overhang stood open, but we drove to the end and walked into the church - through the cemetery - the sun was shining and as we walked in, the bells began to toll. We walked into a sun-filled church - and I felt a joyeousness in there - this was the church where Sarah and Richard were married. The photo with the sun shining through and the white walls and redish colored floor is this church as is the photo of the small window with white walls - you can see the wooden and white ceiling also. This was a beautiful visit.

We left and drove down a small lane to the house that Richard and Sarah were probably living in with her family. (Julie: Note this!)
This is the house in the photo of a white house with brown wood - two storied, sitting on a quiet country street.
We then drove to another church where Sarah's parents were married and finally to a church where Sarah was baptized. The photo with the red flowers and the white candle on top of the baptismal font is the one used to baptize our great great grandmother Sarah Brunt(Archer). We then went on to Leonminster - where our grandparents were born. They lived in Leonminster on Corn Square - which is a square (now filled with parking places) surrounded with old buildings - the Archer brothers, Richard & Sarah nee Brunt, William & Elizabeth nee Evans, George & Eliza nee Holley and their sister Mary Archer who was married to Thomas Ricketts all lived around this square in houses numbered 13, 14 & 16 or down the narrow street off the square named School Lane. This is the house where Papa said they would go outside and play during twilight during the summer - I peeked into the garden behind one of the houses - surrounded by a tall red brick fence. We then went to the Priory church (or Hereford Cathedral) where our grandparents were baptized - the photo of the large church with the black car beside it is this church. I was stunned - it is huge - a cathedral - with 3 naves. It once had a Benedictine monastary attached to it, and the monks would come in with their candles, singing the services eight times a day. I have been going to all these small churches over the last two days and this was amazing; it was so different. I imagined Sarah and Richard taking each of their children to the large baptismal font (the photo of the one with the bright green plants on it) That is the victorian font which is no longer used. This is very different. Finally, we went to the train station where I took the train from Leonminster to Liverpool.
The photo of the small red brick building is the train station - the same one that they would have gone through. As the train sped on, I noticed that most of the trip was through beautiful country side - I wondered about Richard and Sarah taking their children on that train - today we passed through a rainbow and it seemed symbolic of the hope they must have had for the future of their families. What amazing people - the hills close to Wales gradually became industraial as we came close to Liverpool- Liverpool train station (Lime Street Station) is huge - I can imagine Sarah with the children. I hope she found as much kindness and help from strangers as I did today - from the young and old men helping me carry my heavy suitcase up or down stairs to the taxi driver who refused my tip because the trip was too short!
And so I leave you tonight with this photo of me on the train - the same trip 138 years later - I met my colleague Stacy from Auburn University -She brought a brochure for the Institute for Cultural Insight which will feature culture bump training. We will go through our presentation tomorrow to prepare for Thursday morning. It seems we all have our journeys in life - to fulflill God's dreams for us - so simple, eh?. Sleep with the angels dear family. Until tomorrow Carolmae

Day Two- I Met my Great Great Grandmother Margaret and Great Great Grandfather Richard Today

Dear Family:

Wow what a day – First, Julie I must tell you thank you, thank you for introducing me to Polly Rubery – She is amazing on so many levels. Staying in her home is a real treat, and she has an astonishing amount of information about tracing one’s ancestry. And she is great fun to be with – What more could I ask?

Today, after sleeping for 14 hours, I woke up completely recovered from the trip and with only vestiges of culture shock remaining – (The stages of cultural adjustment are: Honey moon, culture shock, initial adjustment, mental isolation and acceptance & integration; furthermore, on a short trip such as this, I will go through all of them very quickly – the stages adjust themselves to the length of stay) I know I’m moving into initial adjustment because I can actually “see” things that I couldn’t “see” before e.g. a print hanging on the bathroom wall, a bathroom mat (unfortunately I didn’t “see” that until AFTER my shower; I used the wrong bathroom mat!) I had a wonderful breakfast of eggs, fried bread, toast, cereals, broiled tomatoes and great bacon – all served in Polly’s dining room looking onto that English green. Then we were off.

I am including a photo of what I see sitting in Polly’s car – this is the type of road that we were on much of the day

and this is a village we drove through.

All of these culture bumps that I am encountering make me so conscious of what Granddad and Grandmother Archer went through – much more intensely when they left this area and moved to Texas! Imagine if I have problems finding the bathroom (which I did tonight) or going from one train station to another (as I did yesterday) or understanding small things – like how to put a tip on the lunch tab (which I messed up today) or make adjustment to what "cream” is like on an apple crumble (it is yellowish in color here and wonderfully thick). Or the difference in age (Polly will comment that is a new church – only 1850 something (that is half of our history!) The houses – even the new ones – like this red brick –
are built along the lines of ancient ones – By the way, Polly explained that the black and white houses (like in the village photo) were easier to make, requiring only mud and wood while the red brick are built from bricks made in this area. These are small culture bumps but are enough to keep me off balance just a bit. Multiply my experience by 10,000 and it might be similar to what they experienced going from this small, green extremely polite and gentle people to Texas in the 1870s! Polly had gone back and prepared a family tree to when a Rubery (Margaret) married an Archer (Richard) (around 1820) They had Mary, William, George and Richard (born 1827 who was-our great grandfather who married Sarah Brunt). So today was actually spent retracing our great great grandparents – We went first to the Church of St. Anna at Thornbury that dates from the 12th century; this is where Margaret’s parents and older siblings were baptized.

However, she was born in 1800 in Greete –

These photos of windows are two windows in Margaret’s church

along with the baptismal font where she would have been baptized. I cannot tell you what it was like to touch that stone – to walk through the ancient graveyard. Of course, I also locked myself in the church and had a moment of panic hoping against hope that Polly would notice that I wasn’t in the car with her! (I continue to try to get in the car in her lap!)

From there we went to Bromfield in Shropshire County (as Papa said these would be like states in the USA) to the Church of St. Mary's


where the Archers (my great great grandfather Richard married Margaret and son of Richard Archer (Born 1758 and married to Sarah Davies who was the son of William Archer who died in 1799 in Bromfield, Shropshire. Bromfield's church is dedicated to St Mary and stands on a wooded promontory between the Onny and Teme. Part of it once formed the chapel of a Benedictine priory established in 1135 and dissolved by Henry VIII in 1540. All that remains of the priory, other than the church itself, is a stone and timber gatehouse built in the 14th century. After the Dissolution, part of St Mary's was made into a house, occupied by a Charles Foxe, and it was only in 1658 that the church was fully restored to its proper function. If you walk around the outside of it you can still see the ruined remains of Foxe's house, close to an avenue of 40 yew trees running down towards the river from the eastern side of the church.
The arched door is a view of walking out of that church - that is the view that the Archers would have had in the 1700 and 1800s as they left church. The church was decorated for its autumn festival - you can see apples etc. on the baptismal font - this is where our great great grandfather Richard would have been baptized.
This church was a very powerful experience for me – something really called to me. Perhaps it is a dawning awareness of these people becoming real-they were carpenters and wheelwrights (Polly explained that a “wright” ending on a surname means “maker of”- they were people who lived in Shropshire and Herefordshire – agricultural areas (which they still are; we passed through farms and pastures all day!) and I can imagine them picking up and moving from one village to another to find work and to take care of their families. As Polly and I sat in this pub (The Tally Ho) and had lunch (steak and kidney pie (which is a pudding which is meat and gravy in a pastry!) it was very good!, she talked abaout how Herefordshire and Shropshire are poor areas and were particularly hard-hit in the 1870s during the agricultural depression. Even though the Archers weren’t farmers, their work depended on the agricultural market being strong. Furthermore, these counties are “marcher” counties meaning they are next to Wales and were subject to raids from Wales historically – In short, this was a hard area for living. As these awarenesses began to occur to me, these names and dates are beginning to assume flesh and blood; these are men and women who had hard lives, made decisions for survival and, as a result, created who I am and who you are. We stand on their shoulders on so many levels.

Now, I ‘m sitting in Polly’s class in Hereford at Hereford Technological College for a class in family history. It is finished and so am I – as evidenced by this photo.
OK Now I can get photos onto the blog; tomorrow I will endeavor to get them on and get them on right side up!!

OK dear family – sleep with the angels – I’ll be back in touch tomorrow..

carolmae

Day One Sunday Oct. 17

I am in Herefordshire, where our family comes from - it is stunningly beautiful, peaceful, serene - especially the closer I get to Papa's home.
The flight was long and the best thing was a little screen on the seat in front of me that showed a map of where the plane was -but what was interesting, it also showed the different ridges etc on the ocean floor so as I came this way, I imagined the ship going over those very ridges with the Archer family on board. We were flying over the western part of England just before dawn - as I looked down I could see the golden lights of the towns and villages but they were configured in random round and semi circle patterns - not laid out like our towns are from the air - all in all it left an impression of a black velvet quilt with golden floral patterns scattered on it - beautiful as we were coming into Birmingham, a red dawn was on the horizon and as the plane came lower I could make out fields, appearing through a mist and again of odd shapes and various sizes - none much larger than 20 or 25 acres and all ringed by dark green hedges or trees - giving the impression of a mystical land - as I am typing this in the bedroom of my B&B, the backyard is filled with strange shaped trees and bushes set against a tall red brick wall - I'll try to upload a photo OK I'll send photos by email; please forward them to anybody you know because I don't have all the email addresses on this laptop.

THE GREAT TRAIN MIGRATION
My plan was to take a train from Birmingham to Ledbury; The trains are amazing; I took a free train from the airport (which remined me of an old airport in Guatemal excitp its cold here) Speaking of the cold, it is a sunny beautiful day so I'm completely unprepared for this English cold - it is sneaky sidling up to me and I don't even know its there until its settled in my marrow - not like Texas blue northers that bombast you with cold - all of this I'm thinking about how Papa and the others had to learn as they immigrated -

Some things I notice here:
1. People aren't on their laptops everywhere in public like they are in the USA 2. People aren't on their cell phones everywhere like they are in the USA 3. People are incredibly polite This is an actual sign at the ticket station:

Politeness Notice
Please do not use your mobile phone whilest transfiring business at the ticket counter.

Two skinheads helped carry my suitcase up a stairwell and walked with me several blocks to make sure I knew where I was going (I actually didn't but that wasn't their fault - see number 5)

4. LOTS of people are smoking in public on the streets- reminiscent of the 1960s in the USA

5. I aparently don't speak English - or at least understand it - it is very strange I ask for directions, people tell me things that I know the words but by the time they finish speaking, I don't know what they have said. I know I am in culture shock - I walked a very very very long distance this morning from one train station to another when they were side by side - I couldn't understand how to get there had to go piecemeal - asking and getting a little clue from each person (they were giving complete instsructions I just got one clue however)

6. People are smaller here - reminds me of Papa and what I've heard about Granddad and Grandmother Archer - that they were small people - well most folks here are small and they all remind me of photos but these people are alive - ite is strange to see my type of people everywhere.

7. Riding the train, looking at houses as we pass – everything is is red bricks – even new houses are all red brick – although some have a creamy stucco over them with dark red tiled roofs and chimneys with little double stacks on top - – This gives a sesnse of Victorianism everywhere – black wrought iron fences and cobblesone streets – not for show as some places in the states – these are the real deal – lots of steel construction –it is autumn here – just a touch of gold to the trees

It is now 7:00 here so I'm going to bed - I only had 3 to 4 airplane hours of sleep last night - my body thought it was 1:00 in the morning when we arrived (as it was in Houston) so it is saying GO TO BED

OK dear family - more tomorrow...Julie I love your post - Sleep with the angels