We are delighted to share this film in which 4 members of the Ferris family discuss their family boatbuilding heritage, as well as present day links to the industry. Stories of the Rhoda Mary, a famed West Country schooner, as well as tales about it’s designer William ‘Foreman’ Ferris, have passed down the generations, and this film captures just some of these-
This film was made by Storylines in partnership with the Rhoda Mary Project as part of a community heritage project made possible with funding from the Cornwall Heritage Trust.
For more on this brilliant project, please visit www.rhoda-mary.co.uk.
This film was a delight especially for us in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. We are eagerly awaiting news of when the Rhoda Mary will set sail as we want to be there. The stories of this shipbuilding family are stories we have never heard before.
Why are we in Canada interested? Because William Foreman Ferris was my great great grandfather. (His son William married Lydia Vinnicombe and they had a daughter Lydia who married Orlando Webb. They had a son Alfred James who was my father. They ultimately moved to Canada where we still reside.)
Good afternoon
My name is Stephen Hart and I live in small village in Cornwall England.
I have been asked by a friend to look at his Family Tree for him. He is Daniel Luke Rendle (born 1979 in Cornwall) His mother is Josephine A Ferris born 1947 in Cornwall. According to my records William (Foreman) Ferris is her 2nd Great Uncle.
If you use Ancestry I would be happy to invite you to look at my tree and would be pleased if I could see yours?
My email address is hart.cornwall@gmail.com
Many thanks for your time
Regards
Steve
Hello Marjorie! It is incredible to learn that distant family of mine live as far away as Canada – William Foreman Ferris was the younger brother of my 4x great-grandfather, Peter; Peter married Margaret Stephens and had 5 children. One of their sons, Thomas, married Joanna Cossentine Bennett, and had 6 children. Their eldest son, John, married Mabel Collings and had 4 sons. One of those sons, Percy, married Margaret Reece and had two daughters. Their youngest daughter, Annie, married Kevin Parish and had 2 children, one of which is my mum, Karyna. All my family still live in Cornwall, but I moved to Scotland in 2023 to pursue university study.
William Ferris was my 4x great grandfather. My family still live nearby.
My Great great grandfather John Lean served his apprenticeship under Peter Ferris farther of Thomas Ferris who was farther of William (Forman) Ferris. Starting October 1st 1837 for 7 years. Just before the time when John Stephens took over ownership of the Ferris boat yard and shortly after Peter Ferris’s death in 1852, John Lean and his brother William Henry Lean moved from Mylor to Falmouth where W H Lean Shipyard in Greenbank and the Bar was formed with John Lean as Forman. My farther has the original certificate of apprenticeship. If Paul, Bailer, Andrew or Ross are interested I can email them a photo of this.
Ive just been listening to some interview tapes (1974) that my father Hugh Ferguson – late of Gillan – made with Tom Ferris *1887-1975) – 3rd son of William Ferris. He talks of his early life and family and the story develops through his Navy life etc. He was great friends with my mother from the early 50s when she worked on the pleasure boat in Falmout that Tom skippered. He stayed great friends with our family until he died. I’m listening to the tapes at the moment and the nostalgia is heavy in the air. If there are any Ferris’s about who would like to hear these tapes – please let me know.
Such a fascinating article. My great-grandfather, Percy, was the great-grandson of Foreman Ferris’ older brother, Peter. I first learned about Foreman Ferris after I saw something about him in the Falmouth Maritime Museum. Fairly certain my grandmother (Percy’s daughter) has a painting of one of Foreman’s ships somewhere in her house.