Welcome to Rebbeck Reunion
We always called ourselves the Portsmouth Rebbecks but in fact our origins are in Wiltshire. Here you will find facts and stories of George Rebbeck, Chief Petty Officer RN and his wife, Helen Eliza Moody; their many descendants, and other related families.
George Rebbeck,
born in 1847 in West Harham, Salisbury, Wilts, joined the Royal Navy and spent
40 years in that service, retiring ini 1892 with the rank of Chief Petty Officer
from HMS Victory - then still afloat at Portsmouth.
His life reads like a novel.
He ran away from home several times before his long-suffering mother apprenticed him in the Navy, which is what he wanted.
His sweetheart, Helen Eliza Moody, finding herself pregnant, followed him to Portsmouth and awaited his return from his first voyage. When George eventually came back to Portsmouth he found Helen Eliza, a home and a three-year-old son he knew nothing about.
This
site was originally dedicated just to recording the stories and pictures of
George Rebbeck, his immediate family, and descendants but it has grown to include
other related familes but perhaps it would be better dedicated to Maria Geary
Cromey, George's paternal grandmother - the Matriarch of this branch of the
family. It was the discovery of Maria's Last Will & Testament that sent
me searching the web for I knew nothing about her except that she lived at Hussey's
Almshouses, Castle Street, Salisbury.
I struck gold on the first search. I found Maria, discovering in the process
she was George's paternal Grandmother, and I also found Judy Rebbeck Watten,
a 6th cousin who had supplied the information to the Rootsweb site I was browsing.Judy,
bless her, gave me all her genealogical data, the results of years of reseach.
Judy is also the inspiration for this site, pointing out that I had heard the
stories of George Rebbeck, my great-grandfather, first hand from his granddaughters
and not had to piece his life history from documents as she herself had done.
My Thanks to everyone who has helped make these pages by supplying stories, photographs, documents and information. ()
This site has hardly stopped growing and more contributions are always accepted. Please let me know if you have anything of interest.