Making the Best of Savagery

 NEW! London Marathon Pacemaker, Birth in California -> News 

            Marriage in Dudley -> Photos 

          Where There's Smoke, There's California-Fried Chicken

Ventura County fire crew at home of Virginia and Steve Wildblood in June 2008. That's Virginia in pink. She is average height so the firemen must be knee high to the redwoods. The blazetrailers took a few minutes out for some refreshment and play with the Wildblood retrievers during their bout with the Concow Fires. Virginia said of the crews: "We have friends, God love them."

Growing Into a Name in Munich.  Bavaria's Capital Is Her Stage.

As February 2008 began, Wenonah Wildblood was completing her first semester at the Bavarian Musical Theater Academy. She was accepted to the elite school following an audition in March 2007 on her first try, the youngest and gungest in her class. Wenonah finished secondary school in her native Berlin and has Polish and 60-miles-off- Broadway roots. Her curriculum includes ballet, jazz dance, acting and singing. The talented performer previously had major roles in "Fame" and "Jekyll and Hyde" at her high school and took the scrumptious part of Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors" at Kap Arkona underneath a Baltic lighthouse in 2007 summer stock. First-year students are not permitted to audition for remunerative extracurricular performances, but she will be showcased with her class of 12 in a student-written musical in April 2008. Wenonah has known what to become when she grows up since she saw "West Side Story" in Berlin before she entered kindergarten. The 20-year-old student believes her front-and-center surname helped her stand out in the crowd of admissions candidates. One of her instructors says the blonde belter needs to keep honing her skills to put on a show that can match her name to fame. The extra-special ex-Berliner is not the first Wildblood to study in the Löwenbräu's lair. Richard Garside Wildblood from Yorkshire was enrolled at Munich University in 1937-38. His knowledge of reichtime German was an asset in the Allied war effort.     

1922 Jam Session Rings in 2008. Goateed Joseph Wildblood 1840-1926, one of many Burslem-born members of our breed, with son, Charles Stanton Wildblood, partner in Canning & Wildblood, fruit preservers, pose with a bucket for an unpreserved reason. Let’s imagine the vessel was for the jam the family business produced for decades, starting in Balsall Heath, Kings Norton, Worcestershire, which is all West Midlands today. Twenty-first century rocket-wielding January 1 revelers may find it hard to believe, but their elders rang in the new by banging spoons and ladles on pots and pans. The May 1922 garden photo session was at Sevenoaks, the family mansion in the Midlands map-jam. Old telephone directories suggest the address may have been 42 Handsworth Wood Road. By 1922 Joseph, who started as a haberdasher and commercial traveler, had been predeceased by wife Annie, née

Stanton, probably the only Wildblood ever born in (British) Honduras. Charles the jam maker married Martha Dalton of Tamworth at Egbaston in 1895. The first fruit of their union was Marjorie Stanton Wildblood (seen on the left at an "in-law" residence in Penarth, Glamgoran, in about 1911); the second child, short-lived Hilda Dalton Wildblood; and another was nurse Norah Howard Wildblood. Norah, born in 1899, never married, but the lovely lady in uniform depicted below is sadly no longer available. You know where the Stanton and Dalton middle names were from already. To explain the Howard, we have to climb the maternal tree a bit higher. Martha Dalton’s grandmother was Martha Howard. Perhaps it was to avoid confusion that Mrs. Charles Wildblood was known as Pattie, to the extent that the diminutive was mentioned in her marriage announcement. “Howard” as a first and middle name continued for several generations in the Dalton and Taylor families. Yes. Taylor. We are indebted to Jonathan Taylor in Lincoln for scanning and sharing these images. His grandfather, Howard Dalton Taylor (1897-1989) was a traveling salesman for Canning & Wildblood.

We met Jonathan through Ancestry.com in December 2007. Jonathan is Norah’s first cousin, twice removed. From Penarth to Lincoln, these families got around. Charles Stanton Wildblood was involved in a fruit growing enterprise in Scotland until 1930. The Times curiously called the location “Perth, North Britain.” In 1913, date of the earliest know press coverage of the Birmingham breakfast partnership, C. S. testified in a dilution trial at Marlebone on the virtues of adding apple juice to raspberry jam. Charles had the means to treat himself to a Canaries cruise in the hard times of 1946. However, Canning & Wildblood, which also dealt in textiles, became unprofitable about 1970 and was devoured by a tamer label.

The 30 A3-sheet trees in the diagram below cover most of the UK Wildbood families of the 19th and 20th centuries. The trees were painstakingly compiled and drawn by Harry Charie over a 20-year period and are slowly being computerized by his designated successor. A bigger and better copy of this outline will be emailed to anyone requesting it. The names Harry gave to the pages are POTTERS, WILD(E)BLOOD, EDMUND, MINERS, HUMBERSIDE, LEEDS, TRIPLETS, STONE, RAILWAY, SHEFFIELD, WEST DERBY LANCS, DURHAM, BOATMEN, CHESHIRE, BARNSLEY, WEST MIDLANDS, WORKHOUSE, SHROPSHIRE, NEWPORT & MANCHESTER, SHREWSBURY, WALES, BRISTOL, ROCHDALE. TRIPLETS could also be called RHEAD, and those unnamed my their author might be dubbed MALKIN, HARRISON, BOWERS, PLANT, ARCHER, FRYER, referring to the maiden name of the marriage at the top of the chart.

       Slightly Abridged Excerpts From Diary of Blitz Baby Freda Wildblood

1951. (Niece) Wendy (Hirst) was 12 months now, it seemed very funny having a baby in the house, because up until now I’d been the only child.

(Sister) Joyce and (brother-in-law) Alf bought a great big Silver Cross pram for Wendy. I couldn’t see over the top of it. The pram was a beautiful thing, but it was the last thing in the kitchen at night and the first thing out of the kitchen in the morning, because you couldn’t move for it.

At Easter time that year I was having problems with my eyesight. My mother Mary Josephine took me to the opticians on Sheffield Road to see a Mrs. Mildred Atkinson. After testing my eyes she said that I would need glasses all the time, because I was shortsighted. This didn’t go down very well because I was always fighting and I was backwards and forwards every week for the glasses straightening or because they were broken. I kept throwing them in a drawer or losing them outside, anything so I wouldn’t have to wear them. (To the left Freda poses with her spectacles in her hands before their welcome wore out. You can make them out if your eyes are better than hers.)

1951 seemed to go fast and in July all I could think of was the six weeks holidays to look forward to. All the street kids went on long walks for the day, even the toddlers and dogs, or we would stay in the street and play games. What long and idle days they were.

The best walks we went were to Lock Park on Park Road, Barnsley. We followed the path round and it brought you to the playing area. There were see-saws, sand pit, slide and a swagger. Oh, that swagger!!! Only the bravado would go on that when the older kids got on it. I once did get on, but I soon fell off. Never again!

The October break we called potato picking week and this was my first time to go. Off the street mob went, with their zinc buckets, bottles of water and some bread and jam. I don’t know what time we set off. I only know that it was dark.

                                  A Stiff Collar in a Softspoken Pose

It was summer 1916 when this all-Wildblood family posed at the manse in Grimsby, then in Lincolnshire.

Bottom from left Rev. Charles Bowers Wildblood, his mum, Marion née Bowers, and his brother, William Arthur, killed a year later near Ypres by long-range German artillery. Standing the preacher's wife, Margaret née Morgan, and his dad, Charles. The clergyman's grandson, Stephen Charles, found the picture in three pieces, put it back together and submitted it to this site.

January 2007. DNA Study organized by Susan C. Metates in the United States needs the contribution of a Wildblood male with Astbury, Cheshire, roots. If your lineage fits and is bonafide legitimate for numerous generations, contact John of Alsager, found on the Background page, to volunteer and arrange for a simple procedure to obtain three samples from your oral cavity.

           NOW WE ARE RUSHING EASTER with the spring of a maiden's youth.

After a photograph from Dixie, one from the North and one the South Island of New Zealand, we finally featured an English scene as the leading illustration in the early 2007 fourth edition of the worldwide Wildblood site. One hated to take down Margie's wreath, below, but the young girl on the left is equally decorative. She is Norma Wildblood, featured as an adult on our News page. Norma is unable to recall the doll's name, but she has not forgotten it was a present from her great aunt and godmother, Alice Lindop. Admiring her Shirley Temple look, we can understand why Norma distanced herself from her maiden name. The picture was taken in her garden in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The bloom's proud father is Norman William Wildblood. He was a carpenter and was employed in the construction of new houses, offices and roads. The photo was taken in the early 1950s. To see what this little walking, talking, living doll is up to know, go to News, where you can also catch a glimpse of her slightly younger dad in uniform.

Our 2006 season's greeting is the artwork of Margie Wildblood in Kokomo, Indiana. This is her Boilermaker Wreath. Margie and husband, another crafty character, New Jersey native Dr. Bob, studied psychology at Purdue. They are now associated with the University of Indiana, and Margie's Hoosier Wreath will adorn the 2006 Wildblood newsletter. Margie was initially Bob's student at Radford University in Virginia. If anyone else has decked with holly, a Christmas photograph for 2007 would be appreciated.

Nine lives, no cats, but a baseball-team-size roster of Wildbloods, and two Crawfords to boot, believe it or not. In this beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-last-Christmas shot, we count, clockwise from top left, Bruce, Lynn, Chris, Hanna, Diane, Jessie, Megan, Nancy and Jim. Megan says she never saw that many Wildbloods before. Who can submit a larger, football-size squad and claim top billing on this page of the international family album?

This site dedicated to linking and publicizing Wildbloods worldwide was unchanged from November 2005 to May 2006. A major update was then made.  Unfortunately the author, Alan Wildblood in Berlin, Germany, was compelled to start from scratch.

Our first edition was devoted to the 2004 Louisiana reunion and to the granddaddy of the Wildblood researchers, Harry Charie. This time around there will be more about the Wildbloods of eastern Australia, who hosted the site author in February and March 2006.

But our cover boy this time is Doug Wildblood on one of his tours around New Zealand, his third homeland. The shot was snapped a year ago, about a month after he gave the Wildbloods of Germany a spin around Wellington in one of his bigger vehicles.

Any Wildblood who wants to follow Doug in this spot is welcome to send me his or her photo. You can reach me at wildblood@blinx.de with your private or business links, your news and boos, praise, yeahs and nays. Boasting an E in conduct and an A in yellow journalism, the compiler is trying to make this publication fittingly ferocious as well as informative and begs you to yell, howl or bark if the literary animal steps on any paws or pounces on tender toes.

GENES REUNITED ATTRACTS 70 PLUS WILDBLOOD FREAKS !

The wildblood.org host joined Genes Reunited on August 13, 2006, and was surprised that at least 70 other persons had already posted one Wildblood or more. “At least” because it is likely that more than one person has logged on as Andrew, David, John, Peter and Susan. Almost all entries concern Wildbloods born in England. No Scottish or Welsh arrivals or registrars are included, but I am sure the whole British kilt and caboodle will get united soon. One birth in Libya was reported. Two Australians and possibly one Kiwi have joined the insular crowd. The only American sighted to date is yours sincerely, and he recorded one birth in Germany. The youngest newcomer mentioned was in the 2000 crop, spelled Wildeblood by Michelle, who should know, although the baby’s father had signed his unique artistic creations in more orthodox fashion. The earliest incarnations of souls with the sanguine surname were 1700 listed by Jean; 1711 by Paul; 1791 by Sharron, Simon, Lorna and Andrew; 1796 by Nick; and 1798 by Deborah. Prehistoric if our era of secular record begins in 1837.

The identities of the majority of the posters are known to the writer and several are old collaborators, but some are as mysterious as the origin of the species, probably only enabling a few Wildbloods to come down from an extensively researched tree. Several people only entered their own year of birth, others a few relatives, and several ranged so far that their scope reveals they consider Genes United as one of their key repositories of genealogical treasures. Full Genes membership costs something like £10 so the marginally curious will not be able to contact other free subscribers through the site. Your host will at some point pay the going rate to get in touch with the ones he does not know.

The number of persons using the above-linked Internet trading post is very encouraging to those of us who have been trying to establish connections between Wildbloods around the world and between contemporaries and long-buried namesakes. One is tempted to conclude that current UK interest  warrants another attempt to plan a homecoming of the diaspora. Is there anyone in Barnsley, for instance, who might like to help host and organize a conclave of the clan? Evidence in the records entered at Genes Reunited goes far toward establishing the Yorkshire town as the Wildblood Capital of the World at this point in time. A preliminary tally indicates that Alan, not me and quite likely not a Wildblood, has published the largest number of nameholders, and they concentrate heavily on Barnsley. The two other biggest Genes contributors of Wildbloods are: for Staffordshire, Simon who has seemingly left no Stone unturned; and for Shropshire, Andrew, who long dwells on Wellington but warms his heart on a much wider radiation of heritage hearths. (P.S. The Prolific Alan turned out to be Alan Dodson and terrific Andrew to be surnamed Tomlinson. Our Stone man, contacted in September 2007, is Simon Bramley from Hampshire and Middlesex.

Other folks with a Barnsley focus are Amy, Beverly, Dawn, Roy, who also cites Halifax, and Steven. Further Yorkshire contributors profess bonds with Doncaster, Susan; Leeds, Shan and Thomas; Tadcaster, James and Keith; Selby and Sculcoates, Joan; Knaresboro, Katie; Sheffield, Oliver; York, Lindsey and Michael.

Shropshire pasts are grazed by Nia, tentatively counted as a Cound. Sharron relates to Atcham and in a big way to Shrewsbury, which is all hers apart from a longstanding claim by Alice. Wellington is of interest to Beverly and Lorna. Grenville is alone in Ludlow, Jean has a stake in Hanwood, and Linda from Tripoli goes back to Donnington. Westbury is Paul’s monopoly at the moment.

In Lancashire Rochdale is noted by Alec and Darren; Bury by Alice and Melvyn; Royton by Heather. Liverpool and West Derby are in Stephanie’s jurisdiction.

The borders in England are fluid and bedazzling, but this fourth-generation ex-pat will put Stockport in Cheshire, and let David, Irene and Peter decide if the outsider has stepped over the line. Alsager is the domain of Judith Ann, Lynda and Terence, notwithstanding anyone who might live there now. Karen mentions Hardingwood, while Stacey lays roots in Odd Rode bare.

Greater Manchester means something to David, while Bardsley is sung by Dainel and William, a chip and an older bloke, and Birkenhead belongs to John. 

Staffordshire, and pardon me for starting with Burslem, where Deborah is of kindred mind, also boasts entries for Hanley by Jennifer, Paul and Peter; Stoke by Annie, Douglas Jemma, Lisa and Penny; Kidsgrove by John and Susan; Tunstall by Judith Ann; Newcastle by Marie and Neil. Inching out of the Potteries, we find Brian with designs on Cannock, Chris citing Cheadle and Stephen and David Penkhull. Hilderstone is known to Hazel, Leigh to Jean, and Wolverhampton to Samantha.

The West Midlands have several honorable mentions. Philip cites Birmingham and Mark Sutton Coldfield, but the emphasis is on Dudley, populated thickly by Brett, Keeley, Mel and Michelle.

Farther south off of our beaten path Gary testifies to birth in gay Brighton and Dawn puts Colchester on our map. Nicholas locates a cradle in Hendon, while Sarah knows of nappies in Slough.

A few of the places named are a bit obscure. Andrew and Jennifer mention “Sutto.” Is that Sutton Coldfield? Stoke on Trent? Or the scene of one of the myths with a penchant for our calling.

Established 2001. Last updated August 6, 2008. Number of visits below.