• It is not often that a person can trace his or her family record back over a period of a thousand years and link it up with kingship, but this is true of the late Mrs. Richard Bird, of Mapleton who passed away a few days ago. Mrs. Bird had records in her possession that trace her lineage back to King Alfred the Great. These records were copies from the originals, many of which had to be translated, and which are kept by the Bishop of Durham.
Mrs. Bird was a daughter of Elizabeth Lumley, eldest daughter of John Lumley, who at one time owned practically the whole of the Southampton district. He was a son of Thomas Lumley, who came to Canada in 1777 [sic]. Thomas Lumley was a grandson of the Earl of Scarborough; a title given to the Lumley family in 1666, and remaining with them to this day. Lumley Castle, built of fine yellow stone, is still intact. The first Lord of Lumley was knighted in 1385 and the name descended from Luelph, a noted Saxon, who was persecuted by William the Conqueror and who fled to Durham where he settled and married Algatha, daughter of the Earl of Northumberland, whose grandfather was King Ethelred the 2nd, who reigned from 978 A.D. to 1016, and who in turn was a direct descendant of King Alfred the Great. The name Lumley was taken from Lum, a north country word for “wooded valley”, and the hamlet where the original of the family lived is still known as “Great Lumley.” A copy of these records were in Mrs. Bird’s possession and proved her relationship to these historic families.2882