Pemberton, Wigan, Lancashire, UK

Adam was with the Normans who invaded England in 1066 AD. As they conquered by village, city and county, a Norman would be appointed to the governorship of each place. A small village in Lancashire was well-known for its production of barley. Adam was made the governor of this village. It was also typical for each governor to assume the name of the place he governed. The word for barley in English at the time was not "barley", it was "pember". The name of the village Adam was appointed to govern was Pemberton, after the barley that was produced there. His name, therefore, became Adam d'Pemberton. He was the progenitor of the Pembertons, the Burtons and every other derivative name.

The village doesn't exist like it did back then, but I've just discovered that the area is still known as such.



I've never been there. Maybe someday.

Old Photos

I don't know why I do this. Dredging up memories makes me melancholy, but I love old photos. I recently went through my mom's old slides and several other photos that my brother has gladly digitized. Some are photos that I've had uploaded for some time. There are more than I want to put in one post so I'll have to make this topical somehow. This post is a sort of photographic genealogy. First, my dad's side of the family:



This is my great-grandfather James Pemberton (after whom I was given my first name) with my great grandmother, Elizabeth Rose "Mom" Pemberton. my pa-paw, Martin Andrew Pemberton, is the baby.


This is Mom Pemberton with her children. My great-grandfather had long since died when this photo was taken. Pa-paw is wearing the red tartan shirt.


Here we have 4 generations. I'm the squirmy kid with my dad on the far left, Pa-paw on the right and Mom Pemberton holding me.


My dad's mom (Ma-maw), Reba, was a Lovitt. Here are several of the Lovitts in a school photo. Even the teacher was a Lovitt. The Lovitts were known as a family to have dark features. Ma-maw is on the back row and hard to see.


Here's a reunion of that class from the early 80's. Ma-maw died in '85. She's on the front row in the blue spotted dress. Great aunt Marie is a couple of people to the right. The tall fellow on the back is one of my great-uncles, but I never met him. The teacher is the fellow on the left and is kin somehow.


This is Pa-paw in the navy about the time of WWII.


This is Ma-maw, probably from the late 20s or 30s.


Here is Ma-maw and Pa-paw Pemberton in the late 70s.

This is their son, my Dad: Martin A Pemberton, jr.


By comparison, this was me about the same age.


Now for my mom's side of the family:


Let's see if I can get these people right. I believe we have David and Margaret Ochs and their son, Isaiah. My great-great-great grandparents and great-great grandfather respectively.


This is a younger photo of Isaiah Ochs. Somewhere the name was changed to a more English spelling pronounced the same: Oaks.


This is my great grandpa and grandma Albert and Mary Oaks. I got my middle name from him. Mary's maiden name was Fox and her mother's maiden name was Harper. It is the Harper characterstics that are most prevalent on this side of the family.


This is my favorite photo of them. Great grandma Oaks was a pistol and it was all grandpa could do to keep her tame.


Their daughter is my grandma, Coral Reeder. Here she is with my grandpa, Ralph Reeder.


This is a photo I didn't know I had. A younger grandpa and grandma Reeder, she with the French braids she kept for years, putting in the floor of the old farm house.


This was my mom, Ruth Arlene Reeder, as a senior in high school.


My happy family in the 70s.