Hartwell Message Board: Hartwell genealogy posts: Hartwell Farm Bedfordshire

By wes on Saturday, June 23, 2001 - 10:53 am: Edit

Subject:
Hartwell Farm
Date:
Sat, 23 Jun 2001 11:04:22 EDT
From:
CAROLINEHOWE@aol.com
To:
webmaster@hartwell.org


I live at Hartwell Farm, Cranfield Bedfordshire England
My family have lived there since 1919. My grandfather rented it from the
Quakers in the village and then
my grandfather bought it in 1928. The money was then used for upkeep of
cottages in the village where old people live. They are called the Hartwell
Alms Houses and still are used by the elderly today. My grandfather had
three children. My father runs the farm and lives in the house with my
mother and myself. My brother built his house in the farm yard and lives
there with his wife and two sons. it is a beautiful place and we love it
very much.
the Quaker who built the farm was called Richard Hartwell and i remember his
grave yard on the farm. he died at the end of the 17th Century.
last week was my parents Ruby Wedding anniversay which we held in the garden
in a marquee. One of the guests bought a tile with a picture of "Hartwell
farm" on it bought in Lincoln Mass. It intrigued me so I looked up on the
internet and found lots of entries from the Hartwell family in the US.
i would like to find a bit more about William who went to america and his
father, Richard. william must have been amazingly brave to leave the tiny
village and his family to make a new life in the "New World".
Our house is interesting because Richard built it in front of a tiny cottage
which is really old - about 1500's. the front of it looks very similar to
the hartwell pictures on the web that i have seen today. However a lot of
the windows are blocked in due to the government "window tax" in the 1800's
It survived a bomb during WW2 and now is a lovely home for the Howe family.
we would love to hear from anyone who knows anything about the
cranfield/Bedfordshire connection
Kind Regards
Caroline Howe
photo of Bedfordshire Farm

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