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In 2002, Sandy Ditzig, who is an American, wrote
an article about a visit made to the UK in the 1930s by her Great
Grandparents who looked for family history during their trip including
research into the Stentifords. Her Great Grandmother recorded dozens of facts and
events in her Journal and it was this that Sandy described to us in her
first article in 2002. Then in 2005, she decided to come to the UK to
repeat as much as possible of their original trip - this is her story: |
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John
Western, my Great Grandfather, was the eldest son of Samuel Western and
Eliza Stentiford. The
following is a compilation of information on John and Caroline
Western’s journey to England to research John’s roots of the
Western/Stentiford lines and my walk, sixty-five years later, in
Caroline’s footsteps.
On
August 10, 1936 my Great Grandparents, Caroline and John Western, left
North Chicago, IL on the first leg of their travels.
We followed that trip in Caroline Western’s Journal detailed in
Issue 11. Caroline and John
began their trip on a twenty-passenger coach belonging to the All
American Lines, (we now call it a bus).
I am sure they did not have the amenities we have when we step
onto a coach in 2006. They travelled on the coach day and night through August 12,
arriving two hours behind schedule in New York City. They spent the rest of that night in the Pennsylvania Hotel.
Barely refreshed, the next afternoon they left by taxi for the
pier at the foot of 4th Street.
Boarding the R.M.S Queen Mary they were scheduled to arrive in Southampton
England the week of August 17th 1936.
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R.M.S Queen Mary of Cunard's White Star Line
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John
and Caroline left the Queen Mary in Southampton and boarded a train,
which would take them to Exeter, in Devon.
They broke their journey at Salisbury and spent the night of August 18 at the Westleigh Private Hotel
overlooking the Naddir River.
Caroline’s note says the hotel grounds were beautiful.
I, on the other hand,
took a limo to the International Air Terminal at O’Hare airport in
Chicago and boarded a British Air 777 airliner. Eight hours later I
arrived at Heathrow
Airport in England. I was
welcomed at the gate with a gold and purple banner bearing the word
“Welcome” and a big hug from my hosts Doreen and Reg Norton.
Doreen is a Stentiford cousin whom I had never met in person,
although we had been corresponding for some time.
Doreen’s G. G.
Grandmother Ellen Stentiford was John Western’s aunt.
Reg
was to serve as Doreen’s and my chauffer and tour guide from here on
out. We drove from Heathrow
to Fareham where Reg and Doreen live in Stubbington.
Their home was to become my home base while I stayed in England
as their guest. After
a day to rest and regenerate we left for Devon, where I began my walk in
Caroline’s foot steps
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