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!