The site was started in 2002 to record just the history of family members with the surname Ough (pronounced "O" as in "though") who were part of the Cornish mining community living in Mexico. However, as the family tree was explored the site had to be expanded to cover many other branches of the family tree . Strong family connections have been discovered to relatives and ancestors in the United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, France, Holland, Hong Kong and Australia. The web site has now become a repository for all kinds of historical and archival material about an unusual British/French/Mexican/New Zealand family.
We have found that the original members of the Mexican side of the Ough family are directly connected by close blood and marriage ties to other families with the following surnames: Alexander, Asher, Baker, Brown, Butler, Deakin, Dealy, Decouflet, Demolin, Evans, Glanville, Gibson, Guerard, Harris, Lafitte, Leggett, Ough, Plaxton, Savery, Shopland, Taylor, Telfer, Todd, Simpson, Smith, Rodriguez, Romero, Rule, Yandle, Ward-Harris and White.
The site is now intended mainly to preserve and present a record about the Ough family and relatives with close family links. Hopefully it will also benefit the younger members of the family by providing an insight into the lives of earlier generations and where they have come from.
To quote Cicero :"Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever"
Importantly the site serves as a memorial to family members who have passed on, but especially for those who served to promote and defend freedom, democracy and equality before the law.
The short tragic lives of Frank Ough Dealy and Sydney Thomas Ough Dealy are recorded (See the links to Grandmothers Box"). The brothers were killed on active service with the ANZACS in World War 1. Jack Dwelly is also remembered. He died whilst serving in RAF Bomber Command in World War 2.
Letters and pictures produced by Andre Guerard whilst on active service with the French Infantry can also be found on this site. Andre served in the French infantry for the whole of that awfuul war and somehow survived. He and his family also survived World War 2 as residents of occupied France. He wrote over 1000 letters to his wife , many from the trenches, during the terrible years of the Great War. Adolf Demolin is another respected member of the family who served as a Poilu during WW1 and survived to become Mayor of the village of La Madeleine in Normandy and endured, as such, the occupation of France during WW2
The pictorial autobiography of Andre Gerard and his family has now been added to the site and can be accessed through the link "Deakin/Demolin Connections". This is a wonderful record created by Michel and Therese Guerard who were respectively son and grand daughter of this patriarch and family hero. It illustrates the strong links between the French and English strands of our family. The story of Andre Guerard's service in the French Infantry and his survival through all the years of World War 1 is told elsewhere on this site. Unfortunately his brother in law Arthur Decouflet and his baby son Roger Decouflet did not survive that holocaust. Arthur died in 1915 at the age of 28. Andre recorded Arthur's death in one of his letters in brief but moving words:"Fighting was as heavy at Labyrinthe (a few kms away) during which Arthur Decouflet was killed, 2 June at Ecurie".
The site continues to be developed. Recent material includes items about, Minnie Ough Dealy, Lucy Todd, Georgette Deakin and Sylvia Shopland. Lucy's memoire describes the sacrifices she made whilst her husband Kenneth was a POW on the Infamous Burma Rail road during WW2. He was a doctor with the RAMC having been captured by the Japanese when Singapore fell in 1942.
George Deakin's diaries are now being added. These provide a valuable insiight to the life and times of a former Master and departmental head at Christ's Hospital School who went on to work in the development of technical education in Sarawak and Brunei during the 1960's. During that time Georgette Deakin was awarded the MBE for services to the Red Cross.
Recent additions to the site include a story about an unsung hero (Saving a Life) and another about the Deakin/Rhead connection under the link Evening of Life. The latter includes a remarkable pair of portraits done in stained glass.
A new section is being set up to further cover the Dealy side of the family. New relatives with links to ancestors who lived in Sheffield have recently come to light. Material contributed by Pat Brown ( nee Dealy) and Anne King (nee Dealy ) who live in Western Australia and Chris Dealy who is in Cornwall is now being added. Our most recent family contact is Guy Harris in The Netherlands. We hope to add information about his family connection in due course.
The section called Whimsies and Fancies (click on "Stories and Legends" to find it) is now available with material written by contributors to the site that is from the "left field" or "out of the box" We hope tha you enjoy these additions.
The section about an Army excercise during the Malaysian Emergency called "Rover Gang" has been completed with grateful thanks to Mike Day. He was one of the particpants and provided valuable missing information about the winning team.
Leggett Memories have been added to with a new section called "A Moment in Time" with photographs taken over 60 years ago in the Swiss Alps.
Some old family films that have been converted to video format are now viewable on this site. We are still experimenting with this feature and hope to improve the quality in due course. You will find these through a link in "Family Albums".
Another addition has been the audio tape of the funeral service for Margaret Ough in October 2000. You will find this in her Eulogy. We are adding more audio and video tapes as we gain experience. They are all valuable records of the way things were done and life was lived in the past years of the family in various parts of the world. A recent addition has been the celebration of Minnie Ough Dealy's life. She passed from this mortal coil on 10 August 2024 and we hope that the new material is an adequate celebration of her life.
We have completely reworked the old version (Version 2.1) of the site. Our hope is that you will agree that this new version (Version 3.4) is a considerable improvement not only for the presentation and its contents, but also its responsiveness across the majority of modern viewing platforms. This site is available on two servers with the following addresses on the Internet:
https://family-ough.com/
https://moughdealy.coffeecup.com/
The ollder version of our site is still at www.family-ough.co.nz. This used a different web design software.. It has the advantage of having many more photographs than the present one. Eventualy all the three web sites will be the same.
Do enjoy this site. If you have any comments please contact us. Suggestions for improving it will be particularly welcome.
Copyright of all parts of site is owned by Martin Ough Dealy
This page last modified Friday 20 September 2024