Your Stories

In Search of Scotland 30th July 2007 Family History

In 1975 I wrote in an autobiography for school that: “Nana’s family originally came from Scotland and Portsmouth. My great great grandpa James Graham became a Captain in the Merchant Navy. During a stay in Portsmouth he met Jessie Clark, a daughter of a maker of blinds. They had no children for ... Read full article...

My Three Fathers 30th July 2007 Family History

In Just by Chance I have recounted, when I was 67 years of age, discovering that I had been adopted and the subsequent meeting with my birth mother and being welcomed into a large, extended family. Now I want to talk about the paternal side of my family, my fathers. While one is of little ... Read full article...

Family Legends: Shadow or Substance? 30th July 2007 Family History

FAMILY LEGENDS: SHADOW OR SUBSTANCE?





by



David Roberts













Church House
3 Station Road
East Leake
Loughborough
Leics
LE12 6LQ

Tel 01509 852870
david@evanroberts.fsbusiness.co.uk



FAMILY LEGENDS: SHADOW OR SUBSTANCE?


There is no such thing ... Read full article...

Story of a Moonraker 30th July 2007 Family History

STORY OF A MOONRAKER

Keith Desmond Reeve

Moonraker: A small sail carried above the skysail
Moonraking: The following of crazy fancies
Moonraker: A Wiltshireman

I was born at Franklin in the Huon district of Tasmania, Australia and in recent years have extensively researched my family ... Read full article...

'Over-paid, over-sexed, and over here' 30th July 2007 Family History

My parents were difficult people.
Father was uneducated, uncommunicative, and unemotional. Mother was intelligent, fairly well educated, managing, domineering, unsympathetic, and nagged us constantly. The only respite from her tongue was that she worked full time all the
time I lived at home, so ... Read full article...

My Story 30th July 2007 Family History

My great  great uncle was just an ordinary man, his name was David Todd, he was born in 1855.
He travelled to Philadelphia in 1913 his occupation was a florist.

In 1915 he was retuning to England to enlist in the army, tragically he was aboard the Lusitania which was torpedoed by the Germans on ... Read full article...

Serving at The Battle of Trafalgar 30th July 2007 Family History

My branch of the Clark family can trace its
history back to about 1650, with
a fair degree of accuracy. In those days men were
either called John or Thomas, which makes research rather difficult.

We were brought up believing that an ancestor,
John Clark, was a surgeon in Trafalgar. My family ... Read full article...

Family History 21st June 2007 BMD Indexes

I had been researching my mother's side for
several years.

She came from French Huguenot stock and with an unusual name of Le Surf. I wrote to everyone in the country with that name.

The name had been corrupted over the years from the original Le Cerf to Le Serf and then Le Surf/Lesurf ... Read full article...

My Story 15th June 2007 BMD Indexes

I have been researching my family tree for a few years now.

My father was the youngest of two children. His sister was 7 years older than him. When my father was 3 he contracted tuberculosis and was put in a sanitorium where he stayed for 6 years. Whilst he was in there his mother died, we ... Read full article...

My Story 15th June 2007 Family History

My paternal grandmother was taken ill in 1948 and believed that she was going to die. Because of this, she confessed to my grandfather that she had had a long standing affair with a man who later committed suicide. She had bore three children from him, (one of them being my father), as well as three ... Read full article...

My Family History Story 15th June 2007 Family History

My interest in family history began when I tried to trace my mother's Birth Mother and her siblings, whom she had never known.
 
My mother told me she had been "adopted" by her aunt when she was a baby as she was the thirteenth child, and that she didn't know any details of her parents other ... Read full article...

Where my caravan has rested. 13th May 2007 Family History

While continuing my seven year research into my wife's Cotswold farmer family, the year 2007 to date has proved to be unbelievable.

The 1881 & 1891 censuses showed my wife's great uncle Thomas Goddard Hill, his wife Ann and six children farming at Catswood Farm in Stancombe,Bisley. Also listed ... Read full article...

A Chance Remark 3rd May 2007 BMD Indexes

My sister and I were chatting on the telephone one evening in November 2005. As she lives in Wales and I live in Dorset, this and e mails are how we keep in touch.

A chance remark my sister made that evening regarding how little we knew of our family history and my agreement how good  it ... Read full article...

Connecting Past and Present, Industrially a Model Vacation for One 2nd May 2007 BMD Indexes

On previous visits to Britain, I purposely ignored Lancashire because I had a disagreeable idea it was "nought" but a sooty wasteland of chimneystacks and industrial grime left over from the era when "cotton was king" in the northern counties of England.

Lately, however, I've taken an interest ... Read full article...

Have you lost an ancestor? – Go to Jail! 2nd May 2007 Family History

What can be more exasperating than losing a direct-line ancestor when your researches are going well?

You may try looking in all the surrounding parishes to no avail. You may ask yourself whether he joined the army, or was pressed into navy service, or had he died and his demise somehow been ... Read full article...

My Search for Ancestors 2nd May 2007 Family History

Alfred Baron Tennyson was the son of Reverend George Clayton Tennyson and Elizabeth ffytche.
 
Elizabeth ffytche was the daughter of Reverend Stephan ffytche who was the vicar of Louth in Lincolnshire.
 
Close to Louth in South Elkington in 1881 was Thorpe Hall owned by John Lewis ffytche ... Read full article...

The Life of John J. Kenny 2nd May 2007 BMD Indexes

There once was a man who lived in Ireland, who had the misfortune to be born in 1827.

He suffered through one famine with his family and then in 1846 started on through another. But this famine was his limit and he called it quits. Off to America for food, freedom and fortune.

The ship that ... Read full article...

Henry Jackson Sherman and the $20 Match 2nd May 2007 Family History

The Sherman family of York County, Pennsylvania, in the United States had a long history, dating back to the 1730s when the first “Scherman” came to America from Germany.

The family over the decades had done very well as farmers, acquiring land, livestock, possessions and keeping fairly ... Read full article...

Born in America 2nd May 2007 Family History

My father was a very proud American, born of the generation that had gone through the Great Depression and the Second World War. He was also a military veteran of thirty years, first serving with the US Army and then the US Air Force, both states side and abroad. 
He was of pure English heritage ... Read full article...

Family Story 2nd May 2007 Family History

I have been researching the PORTER family for some time, tracing the family back to Cornwall and covering several branches and links with other families, such as PASCOE, BAKE, SINCLAIR, all of whom have long Cornwall histories.

The search has involved the use of National Archives, College of Arms ... Read full article...

Finding James 2nd May 2007 Family History

I had always safe guarded an old reel-to-reel tape recording that I remembered my Father making in the late fifties. It was his attempt to interview his older sister Fan, born 1893, about her Family memories. Fortunately 50 years on and I was able to have the tape written to C.D. and then my journey ... Read full article...

I Wish I'd Done this Twenty Years Ago! 2nd May 2007 BMD Indexes

I started researching my family tree about 5 years ago, after my paternal grandmother, Daisy, died. She didn’t talk at all about her upbringing or her mother and father, even to my dad or to his brother and sister. Nobody knew very much at all, except that she’d had a very hard time. My dad ... Read full article...

Family Story 28th April 2007 Family History

Some three years ago, I became interested in learning more about my family history. My father, Daniel, having died when I was 17 years old in 1984, and my mother, Sylvia, some years later at the age of 65 in 1998.
I think as time goes on you become more aware of your past as you understand more ... Read full article...

It all Began with Jack The Ripper! ( Or getting started because of him) 27th April 2007 Family History

I have read many articles in various genealogical publications where the authors give their reasons for getting started.

Many years ago, when I was only fourteen years of age, my grandmother sowed the seeds of curiosity in me by hinting that we had a skeleton in our family cupboard, which was in ... Read full article...

Bridgends Royal Harpist 26th April 2007 Family History

For more years than I care to remember, my wife has regaled me with the stories told her by her late father, passed down to him by his mother, born Mary Jenkins of Laleston near Bridgend.

On one such occasion a few years ago, I casually remarked that although these tales were interesting, they ... Read full article...

WWI 25th April 2007 Family History

I have managed to trace my family roots back to 1760 in the research of my Family Tree.

One of the most interesting finds was a photograph album left by my father, Cyrus John Syred, showing his life when he joined the Royal Navy in 1914, at the age of  16.

The ship he joined was the HMS ... Read full article...

Crossing Paths 25th April 2007 Family History

I had already been tracing my father's family for a number of years when I hit a brick wall.
I decided to go to Winchester Records Office to see if I could get more information.

I had been there about an hour and was quite ready to give up but as I had booked a 'reader' it seemed a waste so I ... Read full article...

The Life and Loves of Edward Tyrrell Smith 24th April 2007 Family History

Very little is known of the circumstances surrounding the birth of Edward Tyrrell Smith, save that it occurred, according Boas who wrote his obituary, on the 26th August 1804 and that his father, also Edward Tyrrell Smith, was then a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy.

His mother is said to be the ... Read full article...

Stranger Than Fiction 24th April 2007 Family History

After many years researching in to our family history, tracing one branch back to 1550, I decided to start on my daughter-in-laws family to create a complete family tree for my grandchildren.

My son Andrew was born in Wales, my daughter-in-law Kerry in Portsmouth, at the other side of the country ... Read full article...

Family History 22nd April 2007 Family History

I have recently developed an interesting story while researching my husband's paternal line in England.

His grandfather was born in Liverpool and died in Canada and as I had his Birth and Death information, I did not immediately send for the Birth Certificate.
I concentrated on expanding my ... Read full article...

Just by Chance 21st April 2007 BMD Indexes

This is the story, taken almost verbatim from my diary, of a discovery made when I was almost 67 years of age, that changed my life. It is recorded here just as it happened.

Chance, or luck, plays a great part in our lives.
Of course when we look back at a sequence of decisions and their ... Read full article...

For King and Country 21st April 2007 BMD Indexes

When I was young I had very little interest in my family. Like so many young people I was more concerned with the here and now. When my parents did talk about their family I never asked questions.
It wasn't until those people most dear to me had passed away that I began to think about who I am and ... Read full article...

Two Mothers- A Mother's Journey Through Life with her Mother 20th April 2007 Family History

FINDING ‘GRANDMA’

As the youngest son of Stella McQuaid, I have of late come to realise that I knew very little about my mother’s life; from where, when and whom she came.

Much has been told of the life and times of my father and his family - the McQuaids, whose name I carry, but the ... Read full article...

My Family's Story 20th April 2007 BMD Indexes

I thought you might be interested in reading about my family's history.

The research has taken place over the last 40 years and there are still pieces of the "jigsaw" to be fitted together..

I was told confidentially by my mother when quite young, the true facts, as far as she knew them, ... Read full article...

Interesting Family Discoveries 19th April 2007 Family History

Although I research my family history on a broad plane, I have placed special interest in my mother's maiden name of Folker. This was partly due to the fact that much information was already available along with many keepsakes. We have good information going back six generations but, as always, ... Read full article...

A Victorian Tragedy and Other Mysteries 19th April 2007 BMD Indexes

A VICTORIAN TRAGEDY AND OTHER MYSTERIES

I began tracing my family history in the early 1970s when I decided to look for the graves of my grandparents.

As an only child of ‘older’ parents I felt deprived of living ancestors. I knew my maternal grandmother but she died when I was 15. She ... Read full article...

My Research 19th April 2007 Family History

I began to research my family tree in December 2005 after being given an original letter dated May 1869, which had the address of Boston Highlands. 
This letter my mother had had in her possession since my grandma had died. in 1997.

The letter had no author but as letters do, had various names ... Read full article...

My Family History 18th April 2007 Family History

I have always had an interest in family history, ever since I realised that my fathers side the SHILSTON's were well known boat builders based at the China House [which is now a pub] in Plymouth.

According to the local paper of the time 'Plymouth and Dock Telegraph' - July 9th 1819  William ... Read full article...

Back To My Roots 1st April 2007 BMD Indexes

When I started to trace my family tree in 1992 I had no idea that, over 12 years previously, I had moved back to my roots. I was fortunate that my ancestors mainly originate from Essex and finding them in the B.M.D
indexes and Census was relatively straightforward.

I found out quite early on ... Read full article...

Love and War 30th March 2007 Family History

When I started my involvement in this fascinating but totally abscorbing pastime, I had in reality left it too late.

My mother had demetia and I had absolutely no idea about her family at all. Armed with what I thought would be the best possible place to start, (her Marriage Certificate to my ... Read full article...

The saga of my 'almost' relationship to Captain James Cook. R.N. 2nd February 2007 Family History

The saga of my 'almost' relationship to Captain James Cook. R.N.

Setting the scene:

According to the book "Captain James Cook', by Richard Hough, James Cook Snr. was a Scot, who migrated South in search of work. He settled in the village of Marton, in the district of Cleveland, in the far ... Read full article...

Research 16th January 2007 Family History

I originally started researching my father's family in 1977 doing things the hard way. I was working full time and I did not know our local family history and the Mormon Church existed. I did searches for family members in a 5 year period. The only thing I knew from my father, (he unfortunately died ... Read full article...

Family History Article 8th January 2007 Family History

My maternal great grandparents, Henry & Eliza Jane Roch lived in various places over the years, finally ending up in Abercarn, Monmouthshire, where Henry was the master of the Works School.

Henry had been born in Sheerness, Kent, in 1838, more or less by accident. His father was a shipwright in ... Read full article...

Ancestors' Stories 1st January 2007 Family History

Whilst indexing the Kings Lynn census I made a discovery about my great great grandmother, Elizabeth Hornigold (1845 - 1927).

She was one of 13 children born to William and Margaret (nee Grimmett) Hornigold of Kings Lynn, Norfolk. I then discovered at the age of 16 Elizabeth gave birth to an ... Read full article...