Sure enough, the refund has arrived and I have, in return, sent them a terse email saying what I think of their management of the matter.  I doubt if I’ll get an answer though.

I am currently working backwards from myself in a direct paternal line, so this hour or so does not include any siblings.

I love it!

Anyway, I finally had a communication, via their Facebook page, from Tribalpages saying that they would refund my money and that charts being sent to Australia had been going amiss or taking a long time to get here but that they had sent mine.

I suggested that, instead of a refund , they send me another chart and this time by airmail.

So far, there has been no response to that.  Why do I get the feeling my daughter will never get her  Ancestors chart?

Needless to say, I am not happy!

First of all, who sends small articles by sea anymore?  I am amazed that this was done and have visions of the chart buried in some huge container  – possibly foundering off the coast of New Zealand.

Secondly,  how rude, unbusiness-like and inefficient is it to ignore a customer’s complaint?  I cannot understand it.  I am going to try nagging them into, at least, acknowledging my complaint!

The advantage of having the tree on Ancestry.com is that the program immediately provides links to other people researching the same people, access to appropriate historical links and various hints.  The disadvantage in all this is that it can be very confusing and divert one from the current matter in hand – I must not get distracted!!

This information is

a) Ann’s death date – I have already sent away for two certificates but still have a couple more to try

& b) her father’s date of birth – I can find no record of his baptism on the IGI.

There is a slight problem with dates, his baptism is shown as 1797 (cf the  2 censuses (1841 & 1851) which show his birthdate as 1799) – this could be correct, or it could be an error on the part of the transcriber. Such errors are not uncommon on the LDS site, I always try to double check things if I can.  In this case I have been unable to find any parish records for Tong online – perhaps in time they will come.  Either way, I am happy that this is the correct family, so that is a step forward – or is that backward?

Next job is to put all the new information on my website etc.

I had wondered about the name “capon” , as it is unusual and assumed that it was from his father’s side (somehow thinking gentlemen can have unusual names). Anyway, it turns out that the name was his mother’s surname (which is in fact a common practice to give the maiden name as a second christian name) – my assumption had led me astray.  I had also assumed finding other members of this family would be easier because of this name, but the only one that cropped up (in the right time frame) was a William Capon Guy – but he was born in Norfolk so I assumed that was a different family.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, Robert may have been born in Ashbourne Derby (there is another brother born there) but was baptised in Gloucester.  This seems to have been a family that moved around a bit as it turns out, they originated in Norfolk  – yes, William Capon was another brother – and in fact the parents were born there.

So, the sequence is, Norfolk until about 1824, then a gap, then Derby  about 1829, then a move to Gloucester where another son was born in 1833.  After that who knows, possibly London as Robert appears there in 1851 and the aforesaid William Capon died there in 1840. .  I can find no trace of any of them in the 1841 census and indeed the parents seem to have vanished after 1833.

As for the gentleman bit, well William the parent started off as a tailor (his son Robert’s later occupation) – I don’t know how he got from there to the status of gentleman!  What I need is an inspired guess – I’m trying to give up assumptions!

Next job – to get all the information on to my website!