THE WEST FAMILY IPSWICH SUFFOLK ENGLAND.
 The West family came from a three villages whose boundaries touch each  other.The village names are SHADINGFIELD WILLINGHAM and SOTTERLEY. They are in  the Northeast of Suffolk about eight miles the town BECCLES. The village  WESTON is between Shadingfield and Beccles all of these places are very  interesting.
               PRICIPAL CITIZENS 1844 :  WHITE'S DIRECTORY. BARNE FREDERICK.Esq...SOTTERLEY HALL and DUNWICH.
 BARNE Mrs MARY........SOTTERLEY HALL.
 BOWATER MAJOR GENERAL Sir EDWARD G.C.H.equerry to PRINCE ALBERT SOTTERLEY HALL  BENNS WILLIAM. corn miller.
 BRIGGS JONAS, victualler,Board.
 WEST JAMES,Brewer and Grocer.
 Farmers:-
 BRUNNING JAMES. CHENERY GEORGE. MANN MARY. GARROD THOMAS. GODWIN WILLIAM. Asstd.
 RAVEN ELIZA, schoolmistress.
 WATLING ROBERT. land agent.
 BRIGGS CHESTER. blacksmith.
 DODDINGTON WILLIAM, wheelwright.
 WARMOIL Rev SAYER STONE,BA. curate Rectory.

My Fathers Family Surname WEST and his cristian name ARTHUR I  am also a male West as i have stated he West Family seems to have originated  in a small group of villages touching each other SHADINGFIELD, SOTTERLEY. &  WILLINGHAM. They are very pretty places and the West family were INNKEEPERS in  SHADINGFIELD. The Inn that they kept is still open today and its name is "THE  SHADINGFIELD FOX". It has a Resturant side to it today. Inside it is a lovely  timbered place with the head of a Fox carved on the end of black timbers. I  went to the Inn once to ask about the pond out the back, the Publican said how  did I know that they were digging out the pond. I then told them the story of  how one of our girl relatives had drowned in the pond out back it gave them a  shock unfortunately. Other villages nearby have the first word West in them  like WESTON and Westhall. Whilst trying the locals asking what if there were  any WEST families about that area today. He laughed and said "Wests they breed  like flois arround here" good old Suffolk accent in his speech. A place of  particular interest is Sotterley Church and its graveyard there you will find  several West gravestones dated in the 1800s. GEORGE F.C.WEST was christened in  Willingham church.
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                  My Mothers Family Surname SMITH.
 The Smith Family from Ipswich needs some help to expand it Smith is a very  common surname but I have managed to start my family's history in the year  1855.
 The year 1855 is the year that THOMAS SMITH was born presumably in the town of  IPSWICH SUFFOLK ENGLAND. He married CHARLOTTE WARDLEY in 1875 residing at Fore  Hamlet in the Parish of St.Clements Ipswin IPSWICH. The 
 family of WARDLEY came from a Village KIRTON Suffolk near FELIXSTOWE Suffolk.  The village KIRTON is about 7 miles from IPSWICH the family name of CHARLOTTES  mother was WRIGHT another family from the village of KIRTON. I would  appreciate 
 any information about these families.
 The mother of THOMAS SMITH has now been established as REBECCA SMITH of Fore  Hamlet in the Parish of St. Clements Ipswich. The birth certificate shows only  Rebecca as the parent,so it seems that she was unmarried