My Mother is Patience Rebecca Gess. Her family date back to 1781.They are a long line of traders starting as Hawkers and Dealers then moving on to become some of the earleist traveling Showmen.The family is connected with other fairground family names such as Penfold, Hughes, Hampton, Stewart , Gray and McGrath.The family traveled all of the British Isles including The Channel Isles that was quite a feat in the 1800’s. Her Father was John Gess (1900-1938)and her Grandfather was Henry Gess (1865-1953) who operated Boxing Booths and Menageries and Shows from Cornwall to Inverness. Sadly my grandfather John who was born on a Fairground in Blantyre,Scotland was killed on site in 1938. Ethel his widow remarried his elder brother Henry “Harry” so as to take care of his family. Harry was a very smart kind man and a great “story teller” (as his father Henry did on the show fronts,and it is said groups of showmen would gather in the evenings to hear him tell stories) Harry would tell me as a young boy of the show the family operated”The Wild Man of Borneo”a dimly lit show with jungle drums beating slowly with G Grandfather Henry captivating the crowd with his tale of their trek into deepest Borneo in search of the Legendary “Wild Man” The “Wild Man” would become more apparent in the cage and the drums would speed up and suddendly the Man would break free from the Cage, the exit was opened at the rear of the show and the crowd would flee in horror!  With that the entrance was opened and the next audience would file in! It was said Henry would disappear for days when operating the Boxing Show until unfortunate opponents would recover from a knockout. Henry had the knack of ending a fight at any given time with a few lightening  jabs to the sweet spot.