My (John Stumbles') transcription of my father's transcription of the "Uncle Tom letter": _______________________________________________________________________________ 92 Albert Road Ilford 12/10/1920 My dear Uncle Tom, At last I have gone carefully through the entries in the Family Bible comparing them with your copy of the Tree, and I was surprised to find there was not more of the family history entered there. With only a few exceptions the real entries (i.e. other than mere names such as "John Sully his booke",which do not help us) were made by Grandfather so there is very little to add to your list,and the following are the only additional items I found :- the first Abraham Stumbles is marked "of Kingsbridge. Died 1824,aged 56." It seems therefore that he must have been born in the year 1768. No 2G Josiah Hooper - Died 1825. Aged 7 months. ..9 Jane Aves. Died May 8th 1883 John .. (her husband) Died May 16th 1888. No 9C. Lucy Ann Aves. Died Feb.6th 1836. .. 9D John W.S.Aves. .. April 14th 1892. .. 9F Edwin S. .. .. July 2nd 1871. .. 1C Edwin Hingston Stumbles, You have the date of Uncle Edwin's death as July 1893, but in the Bible it is entered as June 1893. Probably you will know which is correct. (NOTE. "July 30th 1893 on in Memoriam card") No 4B John St is marked in pencil "America" .. 4E Robert .. .. .. .. .. "Africa" .. 4G Richard .. . .. .. .. "Liverpool" these three remarks were confirmed in a letter I received whilst I was in the army from a Mr Percy D.Crosby,who was at that time a sapper in the Canadian Royal Engineers. He had seen my name in the directory whilst on leave in London, but of course found my office had been closed. Somehow he obtained the Ilford address and wrote me from Belgium asking if I could tell if I was any relation to his Mother who was a Miss Stumbles before her marriage. He then gave me the following particulars:- His great-grandfather was Abraham St. who resided in Stonehouse, and who had a brother Henry (presumably you Nos. 4 & 1). His Grandfather was William Washington St. (4A) who had other brothers Robert,John,James and Richard (Nos. 4E,4B,4F & 4G). He says William W. & John went to Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island) and died there. Their families are there still, and he was born there. Robert (4E) was a C of E minister, went to East London,South Africa, and died there during the S.A. war. They had heard nothing of that family since 1898 and don't know if they are still in Africa or not. James (4F) went to Boston U.S.A. and died there. He had no family. Richard (4G) at one time lived in Liverpool, but they heard he had come to London and thought his family must be either here still or they may have gone back to Liverpool. It is very evident that this man is distantly related to us, and I have no doubt the numbers which I have marked against each name are correct as they correspond so exactly with your Tree. It would have been interesting to have had a chat with him, but I only received his letter a few weeks before I left for "Mespot", and consequently could not follow it up at that time. I wrote to him that Nother and Hilda would be pleased to see him if he came to London again and that I myself would do my best to meet him if I was still near home, but we have never heard from him again so do not know wheter he received that letter. Unfortunately he gave us no home address, only his regimental address in Belgium. Out in Mesopotamia a man told me he knew a Mr. Stumbles who was with the tobacco combine in Liverpool and I believe he said he lived at Southport. I intended to have asked more about that gentleman but was ordered to move to another camp at 6.a.m. next day, and have not seen the man again. Possibly that might be one of the said Richard's family? I gathered he was an elderly man, and held quite a good position with the tobacco firm. I have heard casually of "Stumbles" families in Hereford and either Nottingham or Northampton but do not know who they are. In June 1916 a young man named Alban Robert Stumbles called at my office. He had seen my name in a directory and was surprised to see it there because they thought their's was the only family of that name in or near London. His grandfather was a bootmaker in Salcombe. His late father - Arthur Crispin Stumbles left Salcombe when about 16 years old and joined the old 32nd Light Infantry, Cornwall Regiment with whom he was stationed in various parts of the world. After serving his 21 years he married and settled in the neighbourhood of Peckham or Camberwell. This young man was then living with his mother and 4 sisters at 224 Underhill Road, East Dulwich, and had married brothers living in the same road and at Parkgate Rd, Wallington (Surrey). I cannot trace any relationship there but suppose there must be a connecting link somewhere as the name is such an uncommon one. By the way, he said they had a sort of unwritten record in their family that originally the Stumbles lived in the Midlands and only emigrated to the county of Devon for the purpose of carryingon the profession (?) of smuggling. If true, we seem to have had some interesting ancestors! I wonder if you have ever heard a rumour of that nature? 1c Edwin Hingston Stumbles married Mary Parsons, had 8 children 1. Sophia - married J.Lampey. 3 children ? names 2. Edwin (Ned) 3. Fanny - married wm. Long. 1 child. ?Florence. 4. Alexander. .. Emily Sherrill 5. Kate .. Joe Barron (went to America) 6. George .. Sophie Elliott 7. Emily 8. Minnie. Frances married John R?atford 26.8.1916 It would be interesting to include this family in the Tree, and if you could tell me whether I have named them in their correct order, and also give me any more details of the dates of birth or death and of their children I shall be pleased to have them. I intend to write to Mr Crosby if I can find a Canadian directory which gives his address, and if I succeed in getting any information about that branch of the family will pass it on to you.