April 2005.
Welcome to the HANDISIDES family history website. I am Neil Handisides the administrator of this site. In 1768 my 5 x Great Grandfather, William Handyside married Ann Falder in St Cuthbert's Church, Marton, Cleveland which was the very same church that Captain James Cook was baptised 40 years earlier. Since those early years members of the Handisides family have scattered over the globe. Slowly but surely their lives are being traced, added to this ever growing tree, and re-uniting them with their ancestors.
I have taken great pleasure from finding new relations and I would like to thank you all for your help in building up our family tree. I must reserve a special mention for Joe Bourke of Marton who made the initial contact with me early in 2001. "Mr Handisides, are you related to the blacksmiths of Marton" he asked. Of course I didn't know, but I do now, and I am ever grateful to him, and also to Garth Cockerill of Dunedin, who first alerted me to the Handisides name in New Zealand.
Thanks to John Gill (who told me about Terry Croucher's website), Marion Morton and Robert Tinkler for their help with the Knott Family history.
Also to Joan Deane and Katherine Hepplewhite for generously providing me with their invaluable research into the lives of Ann Handisides b1771 and Elizabeth Handisides b1769.
Last, but certainly not least, a grateful thankyou to Beverley Green (nee Handisides) of Rotorua, whose help over the last two years with the extended family in New Zealand has been invaluable, and whose friendship I treasure. My wife Trish and I, and our children Jayne and Gary had the pleasure of meeting Beverley, her son Robert and his lady, Justine, at our home in Hartlepool in 2004 and we spent some pleasant hours together at Marton and Whitby.
Beverley's father, Wilbur Stuart Handisides, was the author of the original research document entitled "A HISTORY OF THE HANDISIDES FAMILY IN NEW ZEALAND" (see under People/Stories on this webpage) which chronicled the lives of George and David Handisides and their descendants, the first of our family to leave England and set foot in a land that is half way across the world.
Beverley and her husband Geoff continued Wilbur's work of discovering and recording the lives of the Handisides family in New Zealand and their contribution is recorded here for all to see. Sadly Geoff died in the April of 2002 and Wilbur in 1997, but this website is here as a testament to their work, and the love of their families.
Wilbur wrote in his original research "very little is now known about the Handisides family in England". I hope this website will eventually give you an insight into the lives of the Handisides family here in England before, and after, George and David departed these shores. I sincerely hope that this link between our various families will never be lost and the bond between us will grow stronger in the years to come.
February 2009.
In the February of 2008 my wife Trish and I journeyed to New Zealand to meet up with some of our Handisides relations that we had never met before. The one and only Handisides in NZ that we had met before, Beverley (now Green), greeted us at Auckland airport along with her brother Geoff. It was the beginning of a wonderful 3 weeks of getting to know that beautiful country and some of it’s people. Between them relations had organised two Handisides reunions, one in Christchurch on South Island, and the other in Auckland on the North Island. We were treated regally by everyone who went out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable. So this is by way of a thank you to all of you in New Zealand who made our visit such an unforgettable experience. Hopefully we will return in the not too distant future.
About a year ago I finally made the connection between the Handisides family in Hartlepool and the Handisides clan in Sheffield, Yorkshire. My great uncle Thomas left West Hartlepool around 1900 presumably to seek work in the Sheffield steel industry. He found work, and also a wife, and they went on to have 13 children!! Ten of the children survived childhood, married, and had children of their own, making Sheffield the home for a very large Handisides contingent!!
Recently contact was established with Shaun Handisides whose interest in the family translated into names, dates, and photographs, and a good chat! So thanks to you Shaun, and also to relations Tanya Cook, Paul Rodgers, and Keely Glossop who have all helped to provide information on their own family lines.
I hope you enjoy browsing through the lives of our Handisides family. If you have anything you wish to add about anyone on the tree, have a special memory or photograph, or if you notice any incorrect information, please let me know so I may add or amend it. Let us together make this website a joint effort and build the story of our family into something special.
Keep well, and best wishes.
Neil.