Trip to England and Europe - August/September 2016
Michael and I were invited to meetings in the UK and Europe this fall, and while we are going to be busy, we are also getting to see some other places around where we are staying.
Aug 30, 2016: Sue & Paul took us out into the country side to see a few places. One village I requested to go to is Wherwell. My sister, in her family research, discovered this village in England is the birthplace/home of the ancestors of our Grandfather's Great Grandmother (I think that is right). Our Grandfather's middle name is Osgood and my sister traced that family name back to this village in England. Here are a few photos I took of the village yesterday! We couldn't find any one out that could give us any information, but just walking around the village was really fascinating.
Michael and I were invited to meetings in the UK and Europe this fall, and while we are going to be busy, we are also getting to see some other places around where we are staying.
Aug 30, 2016: Sue & Paul took us out into the country side to see a few places. One village I requested to go to is Wherwell. My sister, in her family research, discovered this village in England is the birthplace/home of the ancestors of our Grandfather's Great Grandmother (I think that is right). Our Grandfather's middle name is Osgood and my sister traced that family name back to this village in England. Here are a few photos I took of the village yesterday! We couldn't find any one out that could give us any information, but just walking around the village was really fascinating.
John Osgood (July 23, 1595 - October 24, 1651)
In the year 1630, ten years after the Pilgrims stepped on to the shore of Plymouth, Mass., Robert Osgood died at his home, Cottingworth, in Wherwell, England. He was the father of our emigrant, John Osgood. At that time John had been married to Sarah Booth for three years and they were the parents to either one or two children. Six years later they had four children; Sarah, John, Mary, and Elizabeth. Through these years John supported the young family by working the Cottingworth Farm with his main crop being wheat.
The year 1637 was a difficult one for most Englishman, and the family of John Osgood was no exception. Three different problems afflicted their lives.
Information from my sister - I'll post her source soon.
In the year 1630, ten years after the Pilgrims stepped on to the shore of Plymouth, Mass., Robert Osgood died at his home, Cottingworth, in Wherwell, England. He was the father of our emigrant, John Osgood. At that time John had been married to Sarah Booth for three years and they were the parents to either one or two children. Six years later they had four children; Sarah, John, Mary, and Elizabeth. Through these years John supported the young family by working the Cottingworth Farm with his main crop being wheat.
The year 1637 was a difficult one for most Englishman, and the family of John Osgood was no exception. Three different problems afflicted their lives.
- Like the Pilgrims, who left England before them, the Family was the victim of religious intolerance which manifested itself in a church which had become doctrinely dogmatic. Past customs in the Church, which revolved around a community focus, were changing to a more rigid and structured service. Parishoners were being told how to worship and this caused dissension to grow in the ranks of the citizenry.
- The second repressive feature of their lives was the Kings Ship Money Levy. This tax placed a significant hardship on John Osgood and his friends. Many had to sell property, that was producing crops, in order to to pay the tax.
- The final adversity was Mother Nature. The year 1637 proved to be a year of total crop failure, and this was followed by the River Test over flowing its banks on to the fields of Cottingworth in the Spring of 1638. This prevented John Osgood from planting his crop of wheat for that year.
Information from my sister - I'll post her source soon.
After the student conference, we drove to the outskirts of Oxford for the JHF UK AGM Meeting.
Then back to Basingstoke for Sunday and a chance to see former associates. Jeff & Rosie (at the bottom of this set) were our hosts during the week we stayed in Basingstoke. Sunday morning we were at Sue & Paul's church.
Sept 1 - CS Lewis Day in Oxford. Michael wanted to trek through CS Lewis country today, so we went to The Kilns (Lewis' home), then we found the church where he attended and is buried, then into town to the pub he and his friends frequented. It was another great day.
Sept 12 - Monday - The first day of our journey into Europe. First stop DOVER to catch the ferry to Calais then on directly to Edes, Holland for our meeting with our JHF-Netherlands Board. We spent the night there, then Tuesday on to Germany.
Because of the nature of our trip, most of what we saw was through the windshield and side window of the car--but no complaints!!! Headed to the meeting with our Netherlands Board.
After crossing into Germany, we stopped for a rest and Michael found a real German Pretzel (not as good as the ones made by our German-baker friend in CN, but good enough! Then we saw a nice sunset over a beautiful vineyard before finishing this part of the journey to where we would stay overnight.
Angelbachtal, Germany for meetings with one of our partners.
Then the next day to Bad Liebenzell for additional meetings. This village/town is just beautiful nestled in a valley in The Black Forest.
On Sept 16, we traveled through Germany into France. Our destination: Faremoutiers, France - Crecy La Chapelle
After Church on Sunday, we went to this 12th century (or older) village - Provins, France
Good-bye Europe. On Monday, we had to head back to England for the last few days of our journey.
Portsmouth, England and the Mary Rose Museum
That is the end of our wonderful journey. For many reasons, I did not post most of the meeting photos, but Michael and Doug really did have lots of meetings and speaking engagements during our three weeks. We are very grateful to all who made this trip possible and for the many who arranged each segment of the journey. We are looking forward to the next time we meet these wonderful folks again. Back in Hong Kong on Friday, Sept 24