so I am here living in London now, and it’s always been a dream of mine to see the birthplaces (and gravesites if possible) of my ancestors.
The Leitch family hails from (no pun intended) Middlesex and Kent. I’ve made a family page for them with all the photos I have, so be sure to check it out. Kent still exists, but Middlesex does not. It was absorbed by the expansion of London in both the 18th and 19th centuries, and now is only known as an area of the city.
To see the birthplace of Mary Ann Harriet Peacock, 1829-1898 (married to Thomas Henry Leitch) I would need to go to St. Pancras, Middlesex. When trying to Google this location, I didn’t get any results. Basically, St. Pancras is now known as Camden – where I’ve already been. My friends and I like to go to Camden for the open air markets and fantastic people-watching. I can’t believe I walked around an ancestor’s birthplace and didn’t even know it. Of course, this happened to me when I went to Nice, France – my great-grandfather Roy was stationed there in WW1, and the only photo of him I have was taken on the same beach I vacationed at – and had no idea.
Christiana Mills (Thomas’ grandmother – sorry, no picture!) was born in Southwark, Middlesex in 1755- where I’ve also been – it’s a stop on the London Underground when I was on my way to Borough Market for an applefest last weekend.
William Leitch, 1791-1874 (father to Thomas, son of Christiana) was born in Kent but died in Lewisham, another borough of London. I mostly definitely want to take a train there to see if I can find his gravestone. I also plan to go back to Camden and Southwark to see what I can find. There is a site for the Lewisham Local History Society, which I’m happy I found so I have a place to start looking.
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