familyhistory Archives

March 22, 2020March 22, 2020

Take Another Look! – Review Your Family Tree

Researching our family trees can take us deeper and deeper into rabbit holes. As we proceed further back, that is the direction we tend to continue to travel. However, it is important to review your family tree every now and then from the top.

“What a waste of precious time!”, I hear you cry. “It’s already done!”. Well, yes, that is true. But when you did it, you were a less experienced researcher, working with fewer available sources. I would recommend you review your family tree, even gradually branch by branch as an ongoing process, every couple of years.

Why Bother Reviewing Your Family Tree?

You are now a better genealogist. We all started somewhere. We may have started from scratch, talking to family members and gradually collecting documents to confirm each step of the way. Some may have found other people’s work (either published or in online family trees) and used that without reviewing it systematically, presuming it was validated. This is understandable – it’s human nature not to want to reinvent the wheel, and just to treat that information as a welcome windfall that allows you to proceed faster. But you’re better than that now. You’re working towards the Genealogical Proof Standard. You want your tree to be right. What is the point in researching a tree that is ultimately not yours because it is wrong?

New sources of data become available every day. Perhaps they have been published online. Perhaps you’ve learnt of their existence in a brick and mortar archive or other repository and can now go review them there. Most data sources still exist only in the offline world.

Reviewing a line from scratch can help you resolve a brick wall. Coming back to a branch of your family tree after a break can help you look at problems with a fresh pair of eyes and new ideas.

However, don’t just review the lines where you have a known problem. I had an experience recently that has undone the ‘knowledge’ I have had about a family for the past 30 years.

review your tree check — Check the branches of your family tree regularly and thoroughly.

Reviewing the Fields – A Family Is Split

I had long believed that my 5 x great grandparents were Francis Palmer Field and Ann Calley. Palmer was used for several generations as a middle name for my Fields. This went back to the marriage of Edward Field and Honor Palmer, of two prominent families in Kings Norton, Worcestershire.

I have long found the Field family of Kings Norton to be fascinating. They are hugely interwoven and ended up spreading extensively locally to nearby Birmingham, Halesowen, Rowley Regis and other places, often repeating the same names in their various branches. So teasing the families apart has become a secondary genealogy project to my main research in recent years.

Add to your collection of evidence

I visit England quite frequently and usually find time to go to the Birmingham Archives. On one occasion I accessed a bundle of documents for a Francis Field of Rowley Regis and Birmingham. I hoped to find where this Francis fitted in with my known Fields. The bundle consisted of his father William’s will, a pocketbook with various notes scribbled in it, a bond and the apprenticeship documents for his son William. The pocketbook mentioned properties that had been left to him in the will and confirmed the documents had not just been randomly bundled together.

These documents proved that this Francis was a gunsmith. The Francis Field who married Ann Calley was also a gunsmith according to their marriage allegation of 1779. I realised that the only reason I believed my Francis Palmer Field was a gunsmith was due to that document that I had accessed about 30 years previously. The two Francis Fields were not the same person – one’s father was William of Rowley Regis, and the father of my Francis Palmer Field was Edward (son of Edward and Honor nee Palmer) of Kings Norton. With a growing sense of horror, I realised that there must have been two couples named Francis and Ann Field in Birmingham at the same time!

Review your family tree

I looked at their children. It was a large family to be sure, but they flowed very logically, children baptised every 1-3 years, the first few at St Philip, the second few at St Martin to be sure, but people often switched between these two nearby churches if they changed their address, or if one parent was originally from one parish and the spouse from another. I hadn’t thought anything of it. The names didn’t overlap with any other living children. Francis occasionally used his middle name on the baptism documents but not always.

Now it became clear that it was very likely the first 5 children were of Francis Field and Ann Calley. They stopped having children just as Francis Palmer Field and his wife Ann began to have their 5 children. If only I could locate wills for either of the two Francis’s as further evidence of this, but no luck yet!

So, who is my 5 x great-grandmother?

With the two Francis’s separated, and the children split into two families, the next question was – who is the second Ann?

I used all my available databases, both free and subscription, to locate marriages between a Francis Field and an Ann anywhere in the UK in a twenty-year timeframe. There were five possibilities. Four of them could be ruled out on further investigation on such factors as their location, subsequent children being born there, or the timing was at the fringes of biological possibility for them then having five children.

One remained. Francis Field married Nancy Culwick on March 1st 1790 at St Peter in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. Nancy is a popular pet name for Ann. Wolverhampton is not far from Birmingham and there was an influx to rapidly growing Birmingham at that time. It also tied in beautifully with the baptism of their first child in 1791. This could be a possibility. The witnesses provided no clue, they were church officials. I made a note of Francis’s signature (definitely different from the Francis Field who signed the marriage allegation with Ann Calley), Nancy did not sign.

review your family tree Field Culwick — Francis Field married Nancy Culwick March 1st 1790, at St Peter in Wolverhampton.

I have Culwicks!

Culwick is an unusual name. I did a bit of digging through surrounding parish records for other Culwick (and variant surname) families. Eventually, I hit paydirt. I found another marriage in 1797, witnessed by Francis Palmer Field and Ann Palmer Field! Checking the signature it was the same Francis Field who had married Nancy Culwick 7 years before. The only difference was that he had chosen this as one of the occasions when he used his middle name as well. This provided evidence that THIS Francis Field who married Nancy was the same Francis Palmer Field that I am descended from.

review your family tree Langford Cullett — Francis Palmer Field and Ann Palmer Field witnessed the marriage of Benjamin Langford and Frances Cullett (an accepted variant of Culwick) on July 5th 1797 at St Mary in Handsworth.

I split my tree. I’ve kept Gunsmith Francis and his wife Ann Calley as an unattached branch. I’m pretty sure they will turn out to be a collateral line, but now my Francis Palmer Field is unique. Everybody else who has researched him came to the same conclusion, based on logic and the easily available data, that he married Ann Calley. Sometimes you need to dig deeper. He married someone else entirely.

The Cherry on Top

Because Culwick is so unusual, I decided to also check my DNA matches. I did a search for Culwick in their trees. One hit. I knew this match was related on my Field line already thanks to our shared matches. He had no Fields in his tree, but he does have a Culwick from the same parish as the marriage where Francis left his confirming signature as a marriage witness. On its own, this is not enough to confirm my theory, but it’s a great piece of supporting evidence!

So, no matter how long you have been researching, periodically review your family tree. Can you find more evidence to support your conclusions? Or perhaps it leads you in entirely a different direction. Either way, your research will be stronger for it.

February 1, 2020February 1, 2020

The Spanish Flu Epidemic and Your Family History

spanish flu epidemic police — Police wearing facemasks during the Spanish Flu epidemic

Right now, the world is worried. The current coronavirus outbreak has now been declared a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’ by the World Health Organisation. People are rightly concerned. However, over the centuries there have been many epidemics – including the Black Death, the ‘Sweat’, cholera, smallpox and several influenza outbreaks. The population as a whole has always survived, though you will doubtless find evidence in your family trees of individuals (or sometimes whole families) who were lost to one of these diseases. One massive epidemic which is almost still within living memory, but is strangely not very well known considering the massive impact it had, is the so-called Spanish Flu.

The Spanish Flu

The Spanish Flu outbreak happened just over a century ago. Although the name may lead you to think it began in Spain, this is not true. The first cases were recorded in 1917 in an Army Camp in Kansas, USA. It is believed the virus spread to Europe, and from there to the rest of the world, on US troop ships going to join World War I. The reason it became known as Spanish Flu is because of wartime censorship. No mention of it was initially made in the newspapers of countries involved in the war. No admission of weakness was to be made publicly in case it gave the enemy confidence. Spain was neutral during this war, so when the outbreak reached that country it made the papers for the first time. Hence it became referred to as Spanish Flu forevermore.

spanish flu epidemic emergency hospital — Emergency Hospital in Kansas, 1918. Credit: Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine

During the Spanish Flu epidemic, it is estimated that 50 million (and perhaps up to 100 million people) died around the world. This is certainly greater than the number of casualties from World War I itself, and it could be argued that it was this epidemic that helped draw the war to a close.

Around 20% of the world’s population was infected by this flu. 5% of the world’s population died. To put this in perspective, this is the equivalent of around 390 million people dying of coronavirus in 2020. This is roughly the same as the current population of the US and the UK being wiped out completely. This is why I am reasonably confident that you will find traces of the Spanish Flu epidemic in your family tree.

Spanish Flu in your family tree

You may have a direct ancestor who was lost as a result of this epidemic. You may find some who were infected but recovered. Almost certainly there will have been losses or illness amongst the FAN Club (friends, associates, neighbours) of your ancestors. And most definitely it will have impacted their way of life in some way during late 1917, 1918 and 1919 while the virus raged through communities.

spanish flu epidemic warning — Health advice in 1918 to reduce the risk of airborne transmission of the flu

Check death certificates of ancestors and relatives for the time period. Do you have any old diaries detailing life at the time? Later newspapers talked about things such as population quarantine efforts similar to those in force in China currently. Are there any reports for your town?

Barney Reynolds

My son’s great-great-grandfather, Barney Reynolds, was one of the later victims of the Spanish Flu. He died in 1919 when the flu finally reached Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. His official cause of death was pneumonia. You will find this is often listed as the cause of death, as it was ultimately the pneumonia that the flu caused which killed the patient. His granddaughter is still very much aware it was the Spanish Flu. This is another example of why it is important to talk with the elders in your family to get the details around their memories.

The Spanish Flu finally fizzled out, as viruses often do. Already weaker by the time it eventually reached Australia and NZ the casualty rate was far lower than at the height of the epidemic in 1918. Barney was one of the unlucky ones.

Generally, people a century ago were less at risk of being affected by an epidemic than they are today. The Spanish Flu was so virulent that it made its way right around the world before disappearing despite travel being so slow. If we were to be faced with that virus today in the age of air travel, the impact would be far greater.

So far the coronavirus has not demonstrated the level of lethality that the Spanish Flu did, thank goodness. Still, this is a pertinent time to remind people that basic sensible precautions to prevent airborne and contact transmission of bugs are always appropriate. Please cough into your elbows and wash or sanitise your hands frequently as a matter of course. I want to see you all digging around your deceased ancestors’ records rather than joining them before your time!

November 8, 2019April 28, 2021

Walking the Streets of My London Ancestors – The East End

John and Sarah (nee Morter) Rigby were living here at Wilkes St, Spitalfields in 1861, when the census was held and when their son John married Charlotte Teague.

While I was in London attending RootsTech, I put aside a day to go wandering. Not so much tourist-style wandering, but ancestral wandering. A maternal branch of my family has strong roots in the East End of London, so I decided to walk in the footsteps of my London ancestors for a day! It is something I heartily recommend you do if you get the opportunity. However, as with trips to the archives, preparation is key. If you know exactly where key events occurred in your ancestors’ lives, or exactly where they lived, and worked, you can literally stand where they stood. An amazing feeling!

Preparing to visit your ancestral neighbourhood

Go through the documents you have collected for the ancestors in the area you will be visiting. Look for addresses, landmarks, churches, workplaces, schools etc. Make a note of the addresses. I made a spreadsheet so I could sort by street name, ancestor, event and so on. I added an additional column for ‘current street name’. Why? Because street names change more frequently than you might think! London was extensively bombed during WW2, and also underwent a lot of growth prior to that. Many many old street names were lost. I found this site invaluable in finding the current day names for 19th-century London addresses.

The next item I looked for to help me was an old street map. By using a street map from the era of your ancestors you can see not only where the streets are in relation to one another but, for example, how comparatively rural the area may have then been. Over the decades, streets may have been partly demolished, changed course or extended. I found a map from 1853, another from 1882, and even one from the late 1700s. I printed all these out, highlighted the relevant streets and attached my spreadsheet. Now I was ready to visit my London ancestors! Using Google Maps on my phone once there I could chart a course for my East End wandering.

The local church

The first place I stopped was St Matthew’s church in Bethnal Green. It wasn’t the only church used by my London ancestors. They often got married down the road at Christchurch Spitalfields. But for baptisms, burials and regular Sunday worship, this was their main church. When I arrived, to my surprise it was open, an unusual thing these days! Then I remembered it was Sunday. I tiptoed inside hoping to get a quick look at the interior, but I was spotted by the small congregation and ended up attending the service (and having a cup of tea with them afterwards!)

St Matthew's church, Bethnal Green — St Matthew’s church, Bethnal Green

The church had been badly damaged during the war, so the inside was quite modern. The old font that many of my family had been baptised in was gone. But it was lovely to spend a little time in the space where so many of their significant life moments had occurred. A little later in the day I popped into Christchurch Spitalfields too.

St Matthews Bethnal Green plaque inside church — Plaque commemorating the bombing of St Matthew’s church in Bethnal Green.

The neighbourhood

Leaving the church, I followed the trail on my map and began seeking out the addresses my London ancestors had occupied. My main people from this neighbourhood were the Morter, Rigby, Teague, Townley, and Wright families.

Turning onto Brick Lane, I was suddenly confronted by market stalls, buskers, crowds and the smells of delicious foods! Brick Lane Market is held on a Sunday. I love markets! The sun was shining, I was on a genealogical adventure whilst simultaneously experiencing a market. Could life get any better?

Bacon St, Shoreditch. Formerly Thomas St, this street is the epicentre of my mid-1800’s London ancestry. John and Sarah (nee Morter) Rigby lived at number 5 in the 1861 and 1871 censuses, and Sarah’s mother died there in 1866. Enoch Teague as at 17 at the 1851 Census, his wife Sarah (nee Townley) having died at number 19 in 1842. Their daughter Charlotte was at 23 in the 1861 census living with her married sister Emma.

Cygnet St, Shoreditch — Cygnet St (formerly Swan Yard and Swan Terrace), Shoreditch. Between 1815 and 1820, John and Sarah (nee Wright) Morter were giving Swan Yard as their address as they were baptising their children, including their daughter Sarah. By 1841, Sarah junior was married to John Rigby and they were living in Swan Terrace at the time of the census.

Some of the original buildings at the addresses could still be found, however by no means all of them. Many old houses had been bombed and since replaced by office buildings, a school and a park. This was especially apparent when I visited New Inn Yard in Shoreditch, where hardly an old building could be seen.

New Inn Yard, Shoreditch. When John and Sarah Morter left Swan Yard, they moved here and continued baptising several more children. From this we know that they lived here for at least 16 years. Nothing remains of the buildings of the time.

10 Hanbury St, Spitalfields — This was formerly 10 Brown’s Lane (now Hanbury St), the home of Charlotte Teague in 1861 when she married John Rigby. The blue plaque at number 12 is to commemorate the birthplace of Bud Flanagan in 1896. Just across the road, Jack the Ripper claimed his 2nd victim, Annie Chapman at number 29 (long since demolished).

Get walking!

I recommend walking in your ancestors’ local area if you get the opportunity. If nothing else it will give you a feel for the relationship of the addresses and landmarks to one another and the local geography. This will give you better insight when researching.

In my case, I truly felt a sense of belonging as well. I felt happy there. This feeling often occurs when I visit places that my family inhabited. I wonder if it is as simple as enjoying being there and seeing how my ancestors lived. Or is it something deeper? Is there something to epigenetic memory inheritance? Does it feel like home because part of me recognises it as such?

October 18, 2019January 6, 2021

Walking the Streets of My Birmingham Ancestors – Kings Norton

This week I am back in England, staying in the Midlands with my remaining close English family. Much of my family history has links to Birmingham and the surrounding areas. I was born there and many of my family lines extending back for several centuries are within the modern-day boundaries of Birmingham. Indeed, my maternal grandmother lived in the (now) suburb of Kings Norton right up to her death in 2007 without even knowing of the depth of her heritage there.

Map Kings Norton — Map showing location of Kings Norton, on the edge of modern day Birmingham

My family links to Kings Norton, however, precede the commencement of parish registers and on some lines go back at least 700 years. It seems as though almost all genealogical roads lead to Kings Norton on several branches of my tree, both maternal and paternal. I’ve often wondered if that is why I’ve always felt a connection to Kings Norton village green or whether it’s just because it is a lovely little historical oasis in a large city.

It actually blows my mind to think that so many of my ancestors crossed paths on a daily basis with each other in what was at the time a small rural village. Their descendants gradually dispersed from Kings Norton to other towns, villages and cities such as Birmingham, Stratford on Avon, Dudley, and even further afield. Yet the lines still managed to merge again by the 20th century to produce my generation who are now living in Australia!

As you know by now, the thing I love about genealogy is not the names and dates but the stories of my people. So today, I’d like to share a tale about one of my least favourite ancestors. We all have black sheep, and they often create the best family stories!

Edward Field (1623-1685) of Kings Norton

The Field family of Kings Norton, Worcestershire had been in the village for many generations and were quite powerful and well-respected in the area. Edward was the son of William Field of Bells Farm which still exists today. William had taken ownership in 1638 and lived there at Bells Hall with his family.

In 1642, the Civil War broke out. Although nearby Birmingham was strongly on the Parliamentarian side, Kings Norton and William himself were staunchly Royalist. Bells Farm was situated on the road that commanded the east, and while he was building fortifications and digging tunnels, the tradespeople of Birmingham were making weapons for Cromwell’s army.

Prince Rupert and his troops turned up in 1643, finding a friendly local welcome (including the Field family), and overpowered the Parliamentarians, almost destroying Birmingham in the process. However later in the year Cromwell’s army made a comeback with large numbers of men and heavy artillery and attacked Kings Norton. William had to surrender.

There is no further trace of William. He was never seen again. There is no burial record and his body is not in the family crypt. He is believed to have been executed and his body dumped.

Edward, a young man of about 20 years of age, profited well from his father’s death. Naturally he inherited Bells Farm, which had been damaged during the battle but was then left alone. He also however mysteriously managed to acquire several other properties and much wealth. To do so at this time indicates that he was in favour with the Parliamentary forces, despite them having seen his father and the village of Kings Norton as enemies.

By the time Edward died in 1685, he was a very wealthy man indeed. He had repaired and several times extended Bells Farm, to the point where by 1666 he was paying Hearth Tax for seven fireplaces. His will is voluminous and his six children each inherited properties and a significant amount of money (except his son John who got his watch and his books!). No trace of his inventory has been found though I hope it turns up one day as I’d love to see the list of items he had acquired!

Edward was clearly a resourceful young man, who saw which way the winds of war were blowing and switched sides. To have profited so immensely, it is hard not to believe that he must have betrayed his father to assist the Parliamentary forces in breaching the fortifications of Bell Hall. Whether or not he realised it would result in his father’s death is a matter of conjecture, as is whether he ever felt regret at what he had done. Whatever the truth I do not like this ancestor. But hey, it makes a fabulous family story!

Worcestershire resources are scarce!

One of the great things about having so many ancestors from a single village is that over the years I have gathered quite a collection of resources about it. Parish register copies, local history books, collections of memorial inscriptions, some poor law records, loads of local wills etc. Being in Worcestershire, there is comparatively little available online that isn’t just indexes and transcripts. Even then it is not well covered in comparison with other English counties.

Shout out to Familysearch, FindMyPast, Ancestry, etc…please get around to digitising and publishing Worcestershire records!

March 2, 2019May 17, 2019

Finding the Stories in Your Family – Interviewing Your Relatives

Your family history is so much more than names, dates and places. It’s the stories that make it so fascinating. Tales of overcoming hardship, exploring new lands through immigration, the impact of changing technologies in a fast-evolving world, and even yes, the odd scandal! It all puts flesh on the bones of our ancestors and brings those bare facts found in documents to life. As you begin exploring your family’s stories you may even recognise some of your own personality and character traits in your ancestors and see where they have come from.

I highly recommend that you sit down with some of your older relatives while they are still available to speak with. If they are not local, can you Skype, FaceTime or even call them? Letters are great, but stories tend to come out most effectively when the conversation is two-way in real time. Whatever method you go with, do it now…the stories die with those who hold them. Don’t be fooled into thinking that if they had anything interesting to tell you they would have done so by now. They may have assumed you already knew or wouldn’t be interested in hearing it!

Last year, I had the great privilege of spending some time with an elderly uncle on the other side of the world from me. I asked him if we could talk about his life as a child. He was surprised but very willing. He started by saying that he wouldn’t have much to say as he couldn’t remember much. Almost three hours later he drew breath after sharing some amazing and fascinating tales that put his life and that of the broader family into great context and answered many questions that would never have been solved through documents alone. It was invaluable.

Some tips when interviewing your relatives:

If at all possible, record the conversation (with their permission). There is no way you will remember everything they say, and it means you won’t distract them or make them feel self-conscious by writing notes or having to ask them to pause mid-flow while you get everything down. You can just give them your full attention. Place the recording item (which may just be your phone) close by but unobtrusive so that they aren’t feeling uncomfortable.
Prepare some ‘prompt’ questions before you go, in case they have trouble getting started or go blank. If there’s any particular era of their life that you are interested in, try asking a question around that time to get them started. For example, “I understand the family was bombed out in World War 2, can you tell me about that? I imagine it would have been a very scary time for you as a child”. You may find once they get started, the stories will segue into others as further memories are prompted.
Be sensitive to their comfort, signs of fatigue or distress, and do not be tempted to keep going because you want the information. If they are straying into areas where they are clearly uncomfortable going, steer the topic to something else so they don’t feel compelled to continue down a path they accidentally got onto. Take breaks if necessary. Make them a cup of tea. Even if they’re enjoying it they may need to pause for a while and talk about other things.
If possible, visit them in their own environment. They will be more relaxed there and they may remember during a story that they have photos, mementos or other items that they can show you, a wonderful bonus!
Take them a little gift as appreciation for their time and effort, and perhaps a nice cake to go with the cuppa!

Has anyone else had the experience of interviewing their elderly relatives, and if so, did you come across anything that completely changed your perspective on the life of the family? Share your experiences in the comments!

February 26, 2019December 6, 2020

Starting Your Family History

When you first set out on your genealogy journey, it can be difficult to know where to begin. When I began, I was a teenager and it was the 1980’s. Yes, I’m that old. Really. So, every resource was accessed the old-fashioned way. Snail mail or visiting the site where they were kept.

It wasn’t like today where it seems like everything is digitised and just the click of a mouse away (that is an illusion and the subject of another blog post to come!). If I wanted a certificate from overseas, I had to write to a professional over there, get them to find the item, purchase it and post it to me. As a poor student at the time, this was both frustrating and expensive.

My strong advice, even in these days of easier access to information online, is ALWAYS begin with what you already know or can find out from people and items in your family. You might be surprised how far you can get before having to decide which subscription genealogy services you might need to invest in or to consider the services of a professional.

I talked with my parents, and wrote to surviving grandparents in England, and got as much information as I could from them. Names, dates, places, stories, photos, things that had been passed down through the family…anything they could tell me that might give me a clue as to where to look next.

Then I asked them who else might have information, photos or documents that might assist. I’m a hopeless letter writer, but I remember sending swathes of aerogrammes over to the UK, as I wrote to elderly barely-known relatives asking them for their memories. Those memories are precious now. Those letters were often my last contact with them before they passed away, and their writing was so much more interesting than the facts listed in an official document. Hints at family secrets, feuds, and random puzzling snippets (such as ‘We think Mrs McKnight is dead now’ from a slightly dotty great aunt which made no sense for 25 years!) add flesh to the bones of the burgeoning family tree.

Now that genealogy has become such a popular hobby, you may also be lucky enough to find out that someone in the extended family has already done some work on their side of your tree and be willing to share what they have found out with you (along with copies of their documentary sources if you’re super lucky!). And in return, as you find new things out about your common ancestors, you’ll share back with them, won’t you?

By the time you’ve finished with talking with everyone, you should find your tree has extended back to at least the early 20^th Century for very little outlay. You are now back into the era of ancestors who can be confidently presumed dead, and thus publicly available records exist. We’ll be talking about records and where to find them in future blogs.

By this time too, there is no going back. The genealogy bug will have well and truly bitten you, so the quote above is really a mockery. There is no end to a family tree. You won’t stop, trust me!

Has anyone found out anything interesting from family members which sent them down the genealogy rabbit hole never to return? Comment below!

February 20, 2019May 17, 2019

Welcome to Lyfelynes Family History!

My name is Samantha John. I am British-born but have been living in Australia for many years. Leaving my extended family behind as a child left me with a yearning to know more, and so my passion for genealogy began at a young age.

Now, after 35 years of pursuing family history as a hobby and not only working on my own tree but on many other peoples’ trees for the love of it, I’ve gained formal qualifications in the subject and am branching out (no pun intended!) into professional genealogy.

My experience began with English genealogy, as that is where my most recent ancestors came from, mostly around the Midlands area. As a result, I have many many resources and quite a bit of local knowledge (both from research and regular visits) to help those who are looking in this area. However, as my tree went back further generations, the roots spread wider and cover most areas of the United Kingdom.

I married an Australian man whose family had mostly been in the country since the earliest days of settlement, one way or another (you will no doubt hear some stories as my blog progresses!), so for the past 30 years I’ve also been working on Australian family histories – his family and many friends and others who have needed help untangling their branches.

Other research has led me into the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Germany (I knew that high school German would come in handy one day!), colonial India, the West Indies and many other points on the globe. Genealogy has a great way of bringing places, people and history to life.

This blog is not intended as somewhere for me to just shamelessly promote myself and my research service. I hope to regularly bring you useful content for assisting with your own journey, a little bit of entertainment, and I would love to make it a conversation via the comments section below, or you can message me privately if you wish. Please subscribe and feel free to participate, I look forward to getting to know you!

Tag: familyhistory

Take Another Look! – Review Your Family Tree

Why Bother Reviewing Your Family Tree?