Every Family has a story to tell……….Welcome to mine
This week I was delighted to be a guest on Dr. Michala Hulme's brand new podcast called 'Unearth The Past'. Unearth The Past takes a fresh and fun look at both history and family history and each week host, Dr. Michala Hulme is joined by special guests and will discuss the latest family history news … Continue reading Unearth The Past…………..
Sometimes we discover a story that's so remarkable that even though it's not a member of your own family, we feel compelled to make sure that the story is told. The photograph of the young boy standing outside the White Star Line offices in London, holding an Evening News poster announcing ‘Titanic Disaster Great Loss … Continue reading The Boy Behind The Picture
Can you really truly know who you are, if you don't know where you came from? It's a simple enough question and one that I am sure that many family historians and probably many psychologists will have considered at some point. Even to the point of analysing why some people are so passionate and so … Continue reading Do You Know Who You Are?
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to visit the National Arboretum in Staffordshire, which holds over 300 memorials to those lives that have sadly been lost in conflict and civilian life. The Arboretum stands as a place which honours the fallen and recognises their service and their sacrifice for their country. It was first … Continue reading My Visit to The National Memorial Arboretum
In many ways being a family history researcher can feel a bit like being a 'detective', on the hunt for clues to help you solve the latest 'mystery'. You might have a few uncorroborated facts that you have pieced together, but it's that one piece of 'Critical Evidence' that is missing, which is stopping you … Continue reading How To Become A Family History Detective Using My ABC Guide
All families have secrets, and it’s almost inevitable that when we undertake genealogical research, that family secrets will emerge. Discovering family secrets might be wonderful, but they can often be distressing, upsetting and even confusing, for those involved. We might even find ourselves having to stop our research and reflect on what we have discovered … Continue reading Ethical Dilemmas and How To Approach Them
For those of you that enjoy a good genealogy podcast series, then why not have a listen to The Journeys Into Genealogy Podcast by the delightful Emma Cox. This week Emma interviewed me on all things genealogy related. We discussed how I became interested in genealogy myself, how I became the writer of the Dear … Continue reading Journeys Into Genealogy Podcast
It's a simple enough question, you have found your family in all the census returns and you have captured every birth, death and marriage for your ancestors, but have you discovered everything there is to find out about them? The census returns only give you a quick snapshot of what the family were doing; in … Continue reading What Did Our Ancestors Do Between The Census Years?
Every once in a while you stumble across a story, almost by accident and you wonder how on earth have I missed that! Well recently I did just that, whilst doing some random searches on the newspaper archives section of the FindMyPast website. It was while I was revisiting some old searches, that I found … Continue reading Was She Pushed? Did She Jump? Or Did She Fall?
Over the last two years I have been writing the biographies of my 8 great-grandparents (complete) and my 16 x Great-grandparents (one more to go!) and with this in mind, I have been looking ahead at where to go next with possible 'themes' for future blogs about my ancestors. So I did what I normally … Continue reading When All You Need is a Little ‘Prompt’
The Chiddicks Family Tree 