I am an amateur orchid enthusiast. In my researches into orchid history I have come across the name George I'Anson. He was employed around 1880 - 1890 by the Orchid nursery of Hugh Low & Sons, in the London area. He obviously came into contact with many of the orchid personalities of his day, then he emigrated to USA, where he was again employed in the orchid business. He wrote several time to the Orchid Review - a publication still going since 1893.
I have some more information about this man gleaned from various orchid publications.
If this is of interest to anyone, please get in touch.
I would like to trace if there are any pictures/portraits of him.
Best wishes
Steve Manning.

[Can anyone identify this particular George? MLI]

 More from Steve [5/10/11]:
I have more small details about George I'Anson including where he worked in USA. Also he was quite a good photographer and had some photos of orchids published in The Orchid Review. He also had at least 1 orchid named after him - Paphiopedalum I'Ansoni.
In 1905 he was living in Bush Hill Park, presumably in the employ of a Mr Seymour, the owner of a photograph taken by G.I'Anson and submitted by Seymour for publication.
 

If you want more of these details, I will gladly send them.
Incidentally, the previous information I sent you I took from my own book "Discovering New World Orchids", copies of which are only available from myself.
 

More from Steve [7/10/11]:
The few details I have are that in 1902 he appeared as a witness in a court case in London, appearing for his employers Hugh Low & Co. In evidence he stated that he was the Foreman of the East India Orchid Department, and had been employed by Lows for over 25 years. 
It appeared that whilst employed by Lows he had for a short while collected orchids for them in Burma and Yunnan.
Low's nursery was in Clapton, London.
On leaving Low's he worked for a short while with Messrs Charlesworths, probably whilst they were based at Haywards Heath. I'Anson then emigrated to USA and moved around working for a number of different individuals as orchid grower, including a period with Albert C. Burrage, a mining tycoon who was one of the founders of the American Orchid Society, and at a preliminary meeting to set up that Society, Burrage sent I'Anson to represent him.
In later years he paid several visits to England and Continental countries in the interests of his employer.
I'Anson first appeared in print in the Orchid Review in 1897 and his final contribution appeared in 1935.
We have description of him - dark skinned, with dark eyes and hair, had the lithe figure of a Spanish Bull Fighter.

Dear Dr Ille,

Thank you for publishing my request for help in 1999 concerning Emily Louisa Ann I'Anson ("ELAI").  This helped to put me in touch with several distant cosuins.

In the last 12 years my researches have continued, and I have found a lot more information.  However I remain frustrated at not being able to link up with any of the big family trees on the I'Anson web site.  I wonder whether you could kindly publish an update on the Bulletin Board?

Briefly...

Emily's father was James Loveday I'Anson.  He was born around 1813 or 1814 (I have not found his baptism) in Whitechapel.  He married Louisa Ann Benning (born in Sydenham, Kent, in 1821 or 1822).  I cannot find the marriage record.  In around March 1833 James joined the 66th Regiment of Foot and rose to the rank of Sergeant.  At this time the Regiment was stationed in Canada, and James would have been there during the Rebellions of 1837-38.  James returned to England in late 1840.  In the 1841 Census James and Louisa Anson were to be found living beside the canal in Chipping Wycombe (i.e. High Wycombe) - which is where Louisa Ann was born to James and Louisa Ianson on the first of July 1841.  I have no idea what the family was doing in High Wycombe - perhaps visiting relatives, or perhaps just staying where they were forced to rest for Louisa’s confinement.  In late 1841 the Regiment moved north to Manchester.  Here, in January 1842, James applied to the City of London Police, and was accepted as a constable.  The online Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674 to 1913 contain James' testimony in two cases.  Two sons were born to James and Louisa, Edwin James Joseph in 1843 and Joseph Charles in 1845 - both baptised at St. Giles, Cripplegate.  By the time of the 1851 Census James was working as an Omnibus Conductor, living at 1 Hatton Place, Marylebone.  By 1861 the family had moved to Newcastle Place, Paddington; James remained an Omnibus Conductor.  In July of the same year his daughter Emily (ELAI) married; on the marriage certificate James’ occupation is given as Confectioner.  Louisa died on 30th October 1863; on 3rd November 1864, James married Lydia Townsend (a spinster) in Willesden.  In the 1871 Census James was described as a General Shopkeeper’s Assistant, living at 7 Hasborough Street, Paddington. This was still his address when he died on 28th December 1879.

I believe James' parents to have been Joseph Janson and Sarah née Loveday, who married in Whitechapel on 22nd July 1806. The IGI Index shows the following children:

Mary Sarah (b. 21.10.1807; bap. 6.11.1807)
Sarah Loveday (bap. 3.4.1812);
Abigail Powling (b. 6.11.1810; bap. 3.4.1812)
Sarah (b. 13.1.1817; bap. 29.7.1827);
Elizabeth (b. 20.12.1821; bap. 29.7.1827); 
Deborah Peach (bap. 23.3.1834).

Unless it is an amazing coincidence, I assume that Deborah Peach I'Anson is named after that Deborah I'Anson (to be found in the family tree of descendants from Captain John I'Anson) who married Robert Peach in York in 1794.  I am currently working on the theory that Joseph is decended from that John I'Anson in the big tree who married Anne Hudson.  If Joseph was John's great grandson, descended from one of the sons of John's sons James or Henry (and for whom the tree is devoid of details), then Joseph would be Mrs Deborah Peach's second cousin.

I hope the above information is of help to a fellow researcher out there, and I should be most grateful if anyone can shed further light on Joseph's origins, James' marriage to Louisa, or indeed Louisa Benning's origin.

With kind regards

(Dr) Ian Marlowe.
 

 I found your website while researching The Manor House, Ashby St. Ledgers.  I was looking for more information on it, as there is a picture of it in the front of a book I have:  "The History of the I'Anson Family" written by Bryan I'Anson in 1915.  According to your website, you are unsure of the location of 49 such books; I guess that makes it only 48 now!

The book originally belonged to W. (middle initial could be I or L) I'Anson-Robson.  It later came to Nina I'Anson-Robson, who ultimately gave it to my Aunt, Bertha Thompson.  According to the large family tree in the back of the book, which my family updated with hand-written entries, my Grandmother was Margaret, daughter of Nathan I'Anson.  Margaret married John Thompson, son of James David Thompson of Bishop Auckland, Durham.  They had six children including William Leonard I'Anson-Thompson (my father, born April 13, 1889).  James David Thompson married Margaret Stewart Dismore (not sure of the last name - hard to decipher handwriting).  They had one daughter, Janet, who married the historian and professor James MacGregor Burns; they had four children.  Janet (my first cousin) is about 90, and lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts.  It was she who gave the book to me.

 The Thompson family emigrated to America when my father was very young.  I believe they were living in Chicago at that time.  Daughter Laura and my father lived for awhile in Washington, DC.  Laura was an honored librarian at the Library of Congress.  In fact, I have a picture of my parents and me (as a toddler) with Bertha, Annie, Laura and Frances Perkins, then Secretary of Labor.  The occasion was the dedication of a plaque, honoring Laura.

My Father lived and worked in various places and for a variety of companies.  He came to Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a branch of the Federal government which evolved into the Small Business Administration.  He was very instrumental in helping two sisters, Clara E. Westropp and Judge Lillian Westropp, found Women's Federal Savings and Loan in Cleveland in 1935.  It was the first S&L owned and run by women.  While in Cleveland, he met and married my Mother, Mary Elizabeth Kennedy.  They were married July 30, 1947, and I was born October 14, 1948 - my Daddy was 59 and my Mother was 42. 

There's lots more I can tell you (including more details about my own life), and would love to hear from someone in your organization.  I have old pictures and diaries, as well.  A few years ago, I was doing some research on the Thompson family, and came across an entry on the Internet from the Hollis Catalog at Harvard University.  It cites family papers from 1887-1947 (inclusive), donated to Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute at Harvard by my cousin Janet in 1999.  A few excerpts:

"History notes:  The daughters of Margaret (I'Anson) and John Thompson, Annie, Laura, and Bertha were born in England. Most of the family immigrated to Chicago in 1892.  Following the deaths of his parents, the eldest brother James joined the rest of the family in 1896.  Although very poor, the family valued education.  Annie became a home economics teacher; Laura graduated from the University of Chicago (A.B. 1901) and served for 30 years as librarian at the U.S. Dept. of Labor; and Bertha studied at the University of Chicago and the Art Institute and was involved in establishing Byrdcliffe, an artists' colony near Woodstock, NY."

"Summary:  Collection includes Laura's personal and professional correspondence, writing, commonplace book, photographs, etc.; reminiscences, photographs, recipes, etc, of Annie; and correspondence and a life story (containing photographs) of Bertha."

Later letter from Mary:
I am recently retired, and intend to dig out those photos and diaries I mentioned.  If I find anything further related to the I'Anson side of the family, I would be happy to share it with you, either electronically or by photocopy. 

Is there some way via your website to connect with other I'Anson descendants?  Now that I have begun this journey, I would love to share it with others and learn all I can. 

I have always dreamed of visiting England to see where my Father was born, and now I have even greater interest in doing so.

I look forward to hearing from you again!

Mary Stamm

My father's grandfather told my father about the family history and that they had come down from Nova Scotia and were originally from England.  I was also told that my father's grandfather has dropped the "I" at some time during his lifetime, since his headstone showed the name of Anson rather than I'Anson.  I am the only child of Hubert Anson, who died in 1999.  I am currently 61 years old and would be very interested in communicating with any ancestors.

My father was Hubert Reginald St. Claire Anson. Born March 12, 1911 in Morristown, NJ. He married Mae Beaumont Schultz on August 6, 1938. I am their only child, Barbara Lynn Anson, born November 24, 1949. My father's date of death was February 15, 1999. My mother's date of death was May 8, 2007. I know my father's mother's name was Elizabeth Hibbs. She died in 1961 but I do not know my father's father's name since my father was young when he died. My father had 2 brothers. Andrew died as an infant, and Archibald died when my father was about 11 and Archibald was 15 months younger than my father. If you need further information, please let me know and I will try to provide it.

Thank you very much,
Barbara (Anson) Hofmann
cell: 404-825-2510 

Dear Maureen.
First apologies for giving you the wrong birth date for John Leonard I'Anson. Its 3 October 1876.  I was born in 1940 at Bushey Hertfordshire My parents lived in Stanmore, Middx. Then moved to Boreham Wood in Hertfordshire, Where my three brothers were born. When I married I emigrated to New Zealand in 1964 and started researching the family when I retired. 
Two brothers still live in Boreham Wood  and one lives at Bolton-Lee Sands, Lancashire. 

Grandfather William Thomas married Elizabeth Roskell and lived in Fleetwood where their 4 children were born. They all worked on the railways except my father, John Thomas, who moved south working in the building trade.
My brother John is also researching the family and at this moment is in Yorkshire.

Regards 
Robert I'Anson