Bibliography - Rosie Ansell
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Disreputable Ancestors, by Miss Rosie Ansell, published December 2000 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 14 no. 4, article, pp.152-154) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14881] & The Keep [LIB/508823] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Phoebe Pratt married Benjamin Hendley in 1852 at Rotherfield and later married second Peter Hendley, Benjamin's brother, in 1882.

A tangled web, by Rosie Ansell, published June 2003 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 15 no. 6, article, pp.267-269) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15249] & The Keep [LIB/508827] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Phoebe Ann Best, daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth Best, was baptized 6 April 1798 at Horsted Keynes and married John Cosstick in Seaford in April 1818. A narrative of tangled relationships.

The female line, by Rosie Ansell, published September 2006 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 17 no. 3, article, pp.144-146) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508987] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

The search for the fourteen children of William Ansell, born 1798 in Horsham, and his wife Louisa.

Louisa: my feisty ancestor, by Rosie Ansell, published June 2008 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 18 no. 2, article, pp.104-107) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508969] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

I have a booklet, produced by one of the family history societies I belong to, consisting of various articles on the subject of 'My favourite ancestor'. It seems to me that my favourite ancestors are all women - feisty women who lived to a great age having successfully brought up a number of children. Of these I think that Louisa is my principal! favourite.
Louisa WELLS was born towards the middle of 1800 in Slaugham, the daughter of Moses WELLS. a shoemaker, and Jane RENVILL. The various WELLs families in Slaugham and the RENVILLs all seem to have been nonconformist so her ancestry has been difficult to trace. Somehow in early 1818 she came across William ANSELL the 19-year-old son of the miller at Warnham Mill near Horsham and they were married at St Nichol., Brighton on 18 May, with her father as a witness.

The Sussex Wills Depository, by Rosie Ansell, published September 2009 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 18 no. 7, article, pp.372-374) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508974] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

The SFHG Wills Depositor, has now been running for a little over four years and no far we have amassed over 2,000 transcripts relating to Sussex people. By far the major contributor has been Dave Woolven, who sends us any Sussex wills he has transcribed for anyone. Other members have sent a number of wills that relate to particular families or locations and others have just contributed a few from their own immediate family.
Originally we set an arbitrary cut off date of 1900 but this has now been extended to about 1920. We have also added out of county wills where they add to the knowledge of a family primarily based in Sussex.

Great Aunt Caroline, by Rosie Ansell, published March 2011 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 19 no. 5, article, pp.203-205) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/508846] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

When I first started family history I acquired some notes that my uncle had compiled when he was looking into the subject in the 1970s. One of these was a sheet listing the children of my great-great-grandmother Phoebe HENDLEY. Of her 14 children 13 were illegitimate and only two were boys.
So, even though three of these daughters died as children, my father had a large number of great aunts, but only four seemed to feature in his memories and in the store of family photos that he had. Of the remaining four Aunt Alice must have been known to his family as all her children feature in my grandmother's birthday book. Aunt Molly, who never married, and Aunt Daisy, who lived in Tunbridge Wells, were never mentioned.
Of Aunt Caroline all we knew was that she married Henry CARE and had three children, who featured prominently in the family photographs of tiny grandmother's family - Violet, who was a similar age to my grandmother, Stanley, who was killed a week before the end of WWI, and Margaret, who lived with one of the aunts who was mentioned and known about.

Frequent Travellers, by Rosie Ansell, published June 2012 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 2, article, pp.49-52) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508851] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Among the collection of photos that my father had of his mother's family was one of her grandmother, Phoebe HENDLEY, posing for an 85th birthday picture with members of her family. They appear to be sitting in the road, maybe outside their house in Pilmer Road, Crowborough. Alongside Phoebe is her husband, Peter, father of 11 of her 14 children. Behind are three of Phoebe's daughters - my great grandmother Ann PRATT, probably Phoebe's only legitimate child, Kate HENDLEY, daughter of Peter and Phoebe, and "Aunt Em" Phoebe's eldest child, born before she was married. The identity of the other 3, younger, people was unknown.

The Rich Branch, by Rosie Ansell, published September 2013 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 7, article, pp.294-297) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508978] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

In the late 17th century in Horsham there were two branches of the ANSELL family: my ancestors and the rich branch. The latter consisted of father William and his two sons, William and Philip, who were all cordwainers and also had substantial property interests. The younger William never married and Philip and his wife had no children so when they died, within a year of each other in 1726 and 1727, they left most of their property to their DAY nieces and nephews, the children of their sister Elizabeth, who had married Richard DAY of Mayfield in 1684.

The Rich Branch - Part Two, by Rosie Ansell, published December 2013 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 20 no. 8, article, pp.349-354) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508979] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

William DAY, born in London in 1764, began his life following the linen draper trade of his father Richard but he was a keen geologist and a talented (self-taught) artist, producing a large body of watercolours. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1783 and 1801 as an "Honorary Exhibitor". In 1789 he toured Derbyshire with a fellow artist, John WEBBER and as well as painting he also collected rocks and minerals there. Some of their paintings are in Buxton Museum, although John WEBBER is much more famous, having been the official artist on Captain Cook's third voyage.

A Growing Resource, by Rosie Ansell, published September 2014 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 3, article, pp.140-141) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508853]

It is now approaching ten years since Joan Goddard asked me if I would be interested in setting up a Wills Depository for Sussex as she had been sent a number of will transcriptions and did not know what to do with them. My first appeal for members to send me transcriptions of wills of their Sussex Ancestors appeared in the Historian in March 2005 and met with an immediate response. The first CD of nearly 300 wills was sent to the SFHG library that June.
You may have noticed that there has been a recent update to the wills listed on the website as another 470 wills have been added in the 9 months to the end of May. We now have nearly 4,500 wills, over 400 Admons and over 400 abstracts listed and we have recently started collecting inventories. Copies of transcripts received are put in the library and all names from wills (testators, beneficiaries, executors and witnesses) are added to the Sussex People Index and so can be found in the SFHG Data Archive on the website. If you are interested in a particular parish wills are sorted by place on the website as well.

War Memories, by Rosie Ansell, published December 2014 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 4, article, pp.175-178) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508854]

My grandfather, Cecil ANSELL, had a very short part to play in the First World War. He rarely spoke about it but two of my uncles got him to talk once near the end of his life when they had a tape recorder running. I have adapted this article from a transcript of the conversation.

The POW experience, by Rosie Ansell, published September 2016 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 3, article, pp.115-119) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/509265]