This is a discovery made through Ancestry.com which links people in your tree with other people’s trees. I am always a bit wary of other people’s trees and only add information to mine if I can verify it through documents such as birth and census records and a healthy dose of common sense. This discovery has been so verified and hence I am sharing it!
So…. one of Nan’s 5th great grandfathers was Silvanus Hibbert born in 1728 in Cheshire who married Margaret Beckett. One of their sons was Thomas Hibbert (Nans 4x great uncle) he married Elizabeth Jones in 1799 (he was a late born son!).
Thomas and Elizabeth’s son, also called Thomas, married Jane Green in Liverpool in 1829. Thomas was a railway carriage maker and he plied his trade across the country living in Liverpool, Hull, Bradford and then moving back to Cheshire in his latter years.
Thomas Hibbert and Jane Green’s daughter, also called Jane, married John Hopley in 1880. John also worked on the railway. They lived in Cheshire, then Birkenhead (where 2 of their children were born) and then they moved to Harlesden, Middlesex (where 2 more children were born).
John Hopley and Jane’s son Harold John Hopley (born Middlesex) married Ada Lillian Lines in 1913. Harold John also worked on the railway.
They had a daughter, Kathleen Hopley, who married one Alfred Moon in 1941. Their firstborn child was a son … Keith John Moon born in 1946 in Willesden, Middlesex.
So Keith Moon legendary drummer with The Who is my generation’s fifth cousin 3x removed (… talking ’bout my generation…) and my father’s generation’s fifth cousin 2x removed. So not a close relative but a relative all the same! Our shared direct grandparents are Silvanus Hibbert born in 1728 in Cheshire and his wife Margaret Beckett born 1732.
The first concert I was taken to was The Who – I was 6 months and 3 days old on the 2nd October 1971. Mick and Liz were doing the lights at Reading University. The Who were, at the time, the loudest band ever and I slept through the whole thing!
Keith Moon was known for his unique style and his eccentric, self-destructive and violent behaviour. He died in 1978 after an overdose of pills prescribed to him to address his alcoholism. For more information about Keith Moon, click here.
More about Keith Moon and his innovative and unique drumming style (just the first video it is part of a list!)
More about Keith Moon and his eccentric behaviour