The background and history of this site.
In memory of my father Frank Jefferies, 1908-1994, who started the research into the family and my brother, Peter Jefferies, 1943-1997, who, after Frank's death, ported it from an obsolete and limited system to The Master Genealogist and extended the research until his untimely death.
This genealogy was started by my father, Frank William Jefferies, in the early 1980’s in response to questions from two of his grandchildren; Louise and Melissa Jefferies, as to the family connections and history and his early life. To do this he built it from the most distant Jefferies ancestor he could find as a starting point.
He also wrote several accounts of his life, one on his early years to his marriage to my mother, Edith Galton in 1930, one on their early married life and the last on his war experiences from 1940 to 1946. The 'Early Years' were produced in a loose leaf form by my father with photos from the family collections. After his death my brother produced a printed version with scanned photos in the text. This text has some useful information on some of the relatives in the early 1900's. A revised version of this is available. The latter was never finished but a version is available compiled from his writing and added to by using his letters home from Germany at the end of the war and before he was demobilised in March 1947.
On my father’s death my brother, Peter Stacey Jefferies, took over the data that Frank had collected and developed it further. Peter first had to extract the data from one computer format to another and then decide how to record the data. After some research he settled on a program called The Master Genealogist (TMG) as being the most flexible and comprehensive for this purpose. As a software programmer he had the skills essential for these tasks. He did a lot more research on the family, corresponded widely as mentioned below, and incorporated material from a number of other family members and from family histories and diaries.
After Peter’s untimely death in 1997 I had rather intermittently and sporadically tried to maintain the database and update the version of TMG it is kept on. Since March 2007 I have devoted more time to this project and am reviewing the information we already have given that it is now much easier to collect data from distant and diverse sources via the Internet than it was even in the 1990s.
As we have said, the information on this web site has been garnered by and from a number of people over many years and stored in a computerised form. I am most grateful to those who provided information over the years, not forgetting those I do not know. The first were correspondents to my father, mainly family members in England especially his brother Edward (Ted) and, even more my aunt Margaret; from Canada, my cousin Elaine in Winnipeg, and the USA, especially the late Harriette Jefferies, in the days before the Internet. The second group are those who corresponded with my brother Peter, most of whom I don't now have a record of. Much of his research was done by mail but later by the 'early' Internet systems. Since I have resumed the research I have had much help from a number of sources. For the Jefferies I have had the help of my niece Melissa and lots of notes left by my brother which I am still prcessing. In addition I have had help from the late Petrea Buxcey, another Jefferies descendant. The majority of information about the 'American' Jefferies has come from Sally Howard, the daughter of Harriette Jefferies. Information for the Galtons and Smiths have come from my cousin Elaine and her husband Howard. I have had contact with members of Blundells; a very large family in Kent and Titcheners but without much impact on 'my' ancestors as yet. However four researchers who are working on the Streatfields have proved a very large resource; these are Malcolm Streatfield, Trevor and Val Gibbons and Ron Ellis, their knowledge and input has greatly contributed to the site.
To present the data here I use a program (called Second Site) that takes the data in a TMG project and turns it into a form readable by web browsers thus enabling it to be put on the web for all to see. In addition it is possible to make CDs with the same program.
As TMG is no longer available the future handing of the data is subject to research in the long term. In the meantime the updating and correction continues. The advent of DNA tests has contributed greatly to the understanding of family links and continues to throw light on the family around the middle of the 18th century. With y-DNA it is hoped to shed more light on early Jefferies family origins.
If you have comment, requests, notes on errors and omissions and any additional material I may have you would like to see please contact me Michael Jefferies and I will be glad to correspond.
December 2022