The site was launched in May 2002 with just 3 family trees, all of them Bostwick trees. First there is the large family tree of Bostwicks of the New World. Then there were 2 much smaller trees, the Bostwicks from St. Clair, Illinois, and the Bostwicks from Silkstone in Yorkshire.
Since then it has been necessary to split off a section of the Bostwicks of the New World tree, to the separate Bostwicks of Georgia tree, and substantial additions have been made to the St. Clair tree, taking it back to earlier ancestors who were definitely Bosticks, and requiring a renaming so that they are now the Bostwicks and Bosticks from Maryland.
Next the first 2 Bostock trees were added: Bostocks of Duffield, Derbs (my tree), and Bostocks of Bostock, Chesh, which takes the line right back to Domesday times.
In 2004 I added 2 further Bostock trees, the Bostocks of Lambeth, London, which has an American connection, and the Bostocks of Leek, Staffs, which is more commonly known as the Bostock & Wombwells family.
In October 2005 the Bostocks of Hackney, London were added, as I have had quite a number of personal contacts from this tree.
Also in 2005 I have made it very much easier for myself and others to locate where actual contacts with contributors have been made. You will see quite a few people highlighted in red in the family trees. These are all points of contact.
In September 2007 the Bostocks and Bosticks of Newington, Surrey were added. This tree links in with Bostocks of Canada.
In October 2007 the Bostocks of Chester and Australia were added. This family tree includes some enterprising Bostocks who emigrated from Cheshire to Australia, and established themselves there as significant developers of the land, and merchants in all goods. It also includes two branches of mixed race Aboriginal Bostocks.
In December 2007 the Bostocks of Blidworth, Notts were added. This tree was thoroughly researched, by obtaining many birth, marriage and death certificates, by John Knight, and also includes a number of email and Genes Reunited correspondents.
A further change was introduced in December 2007, when I removed all birth dates of individuals who may still be living.
In January 2008 the Dundee Bostocks were added. This family starts in Manchester, but is now wholly Australian, and is notable for the many Dundee Bostocks included in it.
In February 2008 the Bustard Bostocks of Australia were added. This family has an unusual start. Charles Bustard is caught pickpocketing in Cheshire, age 22, and is sent as a convict to Australia, where he changes his surname to Bostock, and now has many Bostock descendants. The internet was a useful source for this tree.
In May 2008 the Bostocks of Leicestershire were added. This tree has a significant branch of South African Bostocks.
In June 2008 the Bostocks of Mottram in Longdendale were added. This tree starts with a loose connection to the Bostocks of Bostock, and includes living branches in America, and in Australia.
In July 2008 the Bostocks of Church Minshull were added, and in September 2008 the Bostocks of Stanthorne were added.
In February 2009 the Bostocks of Haslington were added. This is a large tree of 770 members (in Feb 2009), having the distinction of being included in Burke's Landed Gentry.
In May 2009 the Bostocks of Blackfordby, Leics were added.
In November 2009 the Bostocks of Sandbach, Chesh were added. I also added the list of unentered family trees, then standing at 33 family trees having 100 or more members.
In December 2009 the Bostocks of Nuneaton, Warw were added. In January 2010 the Bostocks of Atherton, Warw were found to connect to the Bostocks of Nuneaton, and so they were added in, thereby taking the number of Bostocks in this tree from 191 to 408.
In June 2010 the Bostocks of Swettenham, Chesh were added. In September 2010 the Bostocks of North West Cheshire were added. In October 2010 the Bostocks of Kingsley, Staffs were added, and in December 2010 the Bostocks of Quorndon, Leics were added.
In April 2011 the Bostocks of Chilwell, Notts were added. In July 2011 the Bostock-Smiths were added as a significant extra branch to the Bostocks of Leek. In August 2011 an American branch of 100 Bostocks was added to the Bostocks of Haslington, and the Bostocks of Kington, Herefordshire were also added.
In September 2011 the Bostocks of Otford, Kent were added. In October 2011 the Bostocks of New Albany, Indiana were added, and also the Bostocks of Carmarthen. In November 2011 the Bostocks of Hope's Place, Flints were added.
In January 2012 the Bostocks of Leeds, Yorks were added (but see the change in January 2014), and in February 2012 the Bostocks of Manchester (1) were added. In June the largest Bostock tree, Bostocks of Trowell, Notts was added. In August the Bostocks of Ashford, Kent were added, and in September the story of Bridget the White Witch of Coppenhall was added with the Bostocks of Warmingham, Chesh.
In March 2013 the Bostocks of Acton, Chesh were added. In July the Bostocks of Cheadle, Staffs were added. In October the Bostocks of Greasley, Notts were added, and in December 2013 the Bostocks of Holt, Denbigh were added.
In January 2014 the Bostocks of Bolton, Lancs (1) were added, and also the family tree of Leeds was found to be a main branch of the Bostocks of Carmarthen, so the two trees were merged. In February 68 further members were added to the Sandbach tree, and 34 to the Acton tree. In March the Bostocks of Siddington, Chesh were added. In May the Bostocks of Wellington, Salop and Winchcombe, Glos were added. In July Bostocks of Manchester (2) were added, and the Bostocks of Hartshorne, Derbs. In August 2014 parts 18-21, consisting 122 souls, were added to the Bostocks of Holt, Denbigh. In September the Bostocks of Weaverham, Chesh were added, and also the Bostocks of Lothian, Scotland. In October the Bostocks of Knutsford, Chesh were added. In November the Bostocks of Pentrich, Derbs were added, and also the Bostocks of Bolton, Lancs (2). In December the Bostocks of Congleton, Chesh were added.
In January 2015 the Bostocks of Talke, Staffs were added, and also the Bostocks of Ilkeston, Derbs. In February the Bostocks of Nottingham were added. In March the Bostocks, Bosticks and Bostics of Alabama were added. In April the Bostocks of East London, and the Bostocks of Ripley, Chesh were added. In May the Bostocks of Shoreditch, London were added. In June the Bostocks of Church Gresley, Derbs were added. In July the Bostocks of Frodsham, Chesh were added. In August the Bostocks of Blymhill, Staffs were added, also the Bostocks of Barbados, and the Bostocks of Crewe, Chesh. In September the Bostocks of Manchester (3) were added. In October the Bostocks of Sherbourne, Warw were added. In November the Bostocks of Stockport, Chesh were added.
2016 was largely occupied with updating all the trees for the 1939 Register. However in November the Bostocks of Westminster were added.
In May 2017 an important development was that I joined the Guild of One-Name Studies (GOONS), and immediately made use of their support for providing a safe archive for websites such as this. Hence, as from this date, there are now two copies of the website, as further explained at the bottom of the Home Page.
During 2017 and 2018 there was substantial updating of all trees following the availability of mother's maiden names on all birth registrations back to 1839, and the age at death also became available for all death registrations back to 1839. In 2018 details of many Bostocks were added as a result of searching the Companies House Register. During this period the total count of Bostocks increased from 20,885 to 22,063.
In January 2019 the Bostocks of Grappenhall, Chesh were added, and also the Bostocks of Heaton Norris, Lancs. In February the Bostocks of Hanley, Staffs were added.
In May 2019 a major update to the Bostwicks of Silkstone was completed, increasing the family tree size from 167 members to 665. In June the Bostocks of Blymhill had 100 names added bringing the tree to 2013 members.
In July 2019 a major update to the Bostocks of Haslington was completed. It required splitting the original tree of 1077 members into two separate trees, one of 518 members, and the other having 559 members. In December 2019 the Bostocks of Oldham, Lancs were added. Also in December a significant rework and extension was made to the start of Bostocks of Stanthorne, which required transferring parts 10, 11 and 12 of Bostocks of Bostock to Bostocks of Stanthorne.
In April 2020 the Bostocks of Warrington, Lancs were added. In August 2020 the Bostocks of Eastwood were added.
Counting the numbers, the site now has 75 family trees, and includes 22,475 Bostocks and 6,856 Bostwicks. The immediate future development will be to add more family trees so that almost all living Bostocks have a family tree to live in!
Roland Bostock