The Buckeridge Cousins

Here's another insight into the Frewin family - Annie Rebecca had Buckeridge cousins who were raised in Theale, Berkshire, England.  

 Their mother appears in different family documents as the postmistress of Theale.

Henry Ballard of Logan, (who had been introduced to the Church by Annie Rebecca's step father, Josiah Kimber) returned to the Berkshire area in 1886.

In his journal as quoted in Douglas O. Crookston's Henry Ballard, the Story of a Courageous Pioneer,  Ballard mentions:  
"Went to Thatcham...visited the old Church Yard where my brothers and a number of old acquaintances lay.  I then went to visit a Mr. Edward Pinnock, his wife was my Bro Charles [Niece] by his second marriage... (pg 144)  
"March 1:  We left Newbury and went around by Midgam and ...then called on Mrs Buckeridge at Theale and got tea and then walked on to Reading..."  (pg. 145)     

While researching the story of the Buckeridge Cousins of Theale, I became reacquainted with the fact that Annie Rebecca's cousin,  Annie Frewin Buckeridge  also  joined the LDS Church and came to Salt Lake.  She married Ebenezer Beesley as his second wife.   Beesley's father in law was Henry Hancock who was married to  Annie's mother in their later life at Liberty, Idaho.  They all came from the same area in Berkshire and were old acquaintances.


I did not know the story of Maria Buckeridge and her daughter Gertrude however.

Excerpts from the book,  Catchers of the Light:  The Astrophotographers’ Family History, by Dr. Stefan Hughes.  Paphos, Cyprus:  copyright S. Hughes, 2012.

“…By 1884 Alfred Rordame had moved from Eureka to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he resided at the corner of Fifth South and Third East Streets, earning his living as a musician.  It was here that he married Gertrude Alice Buckeridge from Theale in Berkshire, England in 1890, raised his family and spent the rest of  his life.  In later life he gave up music as a profession and worked for a while as a collector for the local Lighting Company.  The Rordame family still live in Salt Lake City, among whose members are Alfred Rordame III and his son, Alfred Rordame IV.

“Comet 1893/N1 Rordam-Quenisset appeared as a naked eye “smudge” in the constellation of the Lynx in the summer of 1893.  A number of observers saw the comet and who could arguably lay claim to its discovery.  However, it was officially discovered on the evening of the 8^th of July by the violinist Alfred Rordame of Salt Lake City, Utah… (pg. 1296)

“…On the evening of the 8^th of July 1893, Alfred Rordame was returning home after perfoming in a concert when he noticed an unknown object in the obscure constellation of the Lynx.  What he saw turned out to be a new comet now known as C/1893 N1 Rordame-Quenisset.  He at once reported his discovery to the Warner Observatory in Rochester, New York, and within a day or two the news had been communicated to astronomers throughout the world…

“Sometime around 1910, Alfred Rordame began taking Astronomical photographs with a variety of telescopes and portrait cameras…(pg. 1293)

“Alfred Rordame died without warning of a heart attack at his home 1031 East 3^rd South Street, SLC on the 30^th of November 1931.  He was survived by his widow, Gertrude Alice Buckeridge (1870-1953), and four out of the seven children born to them.  He was one of the first great pioneers of amateur Astrophotography. (pg. 1295)

“Alfred Rordame [] was the first person to photograph features on the cloud shrouded planet Venus…” (pg. 1280)

                                             

 Rordame’s wife, Gertrude Alice Buckeridge, was Annie Rebecca Seward’s cousin Maria's daughter. 

So summing up our history lesson for the day:  Two sisters, Annie Frewin Buckeridge and Maria Frewin Buckeridge came to Salt Lake from Berkshire. The older, Annie, married Ebenezer Beesley as a plural wife.  Her sister, Maria, came as a single woman with a daughter, Gertrude.  Maria married Charles C. Seal, also as a plural wife.  Her daughter married Rordame in 1890.

In a twist of fate, (which is probably very logical if we knew the dynamics of Liberty, Idaho at the turn of the century), Gertrude’s son marries a girl born in Liberty.  That makes it a small world – from Berkshire, England to Liberty, Idaho for all four of the Frewin cousins.  

If you have more information or questions  about this story,  please feel free to comment and add to the conversation.  We would love to hear from you.