Exploring my family history - past and present

Who Benefits?

2026-06-13T02:38:15.341-07:00

As we near to a conclusion on the drama surrounding the Marsden sisters of Holmesfield, their identities swirl in the typical drizzle of the area.Knowledge is coming to us: galloping on the hooves of DNA knights from the future. We start to think who benefits? Which particular piece of the tapestry will be stitched together more tightly? Where will the results of this torchbeam into the 1700s end

Solves with the name Ann

2026-04-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

A lot of coups in the family tree have been people with the name of Ann:Ann Gibson born 1836 Northumberland. I was not the solver, but it transpired she was visiting her previously unknown mother in the year 1861 accompanied by her two eldest children. Very helpful. Solve: censusAnn Morgan born 1761 Glamorgan. Her unmarried daughter's estate duty papers from 1859, a hundred years later,

Finally at Home in Holmesfield?

2026-02-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

This blog explores the possible connection between two women who married the same man, Nathaniel Gee, in the 1790s. The evidence suggests they may have been related through the Marsden family of Holmesfield. If so, it may identify the otherwise unknown origins of Nathaniel’s first wife, Ann Shaw.The First Wife: Ann ShawIn 1792 Ann Shaw married boatman and publican Nathaniel Gee at Chesterfield

Suffolk and Leicestershire

2026-02-16T04:12:00.000-08:00

My least well known corner of my family I suppose are Henry Smith born 1827 and his sisters. He was from a large family of ten or so and I know nothing of how they were raised. Except that he is catapulted into our family when Miss Mary Flowers, 32 and in trouble, makes the brave decision to marry him on paupers' favourite, Christmas Day, 1850. Three children are quickly rushed out: 1851, 1852,

Newly available Worcestershire record from 1715 helps 8-great-grandpa mystery

2025-11-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

Early November 1715 was not a great time to be getting married. The Jacobite army was in full swing in northern England and that might explain why the marriage record is missing. The parish registers for Chaddesley Corbett seem to be missing from August 1715 up until 1717.Thomas Kidson's wife Sarah had been buried in April, having borne him several children. His next child would be Hannah Kidson

All change at the Tavern: re-assessing tree leads to changes

2025-11-17T12:34:00.000-08:00

For years I've wondered if you really belonged, Harriet Jones, wife of whip-thong maker Thomas Jones of Deritend, Birmingham. Your grandkids made it into my book (page 207 in fact). And your daughter Harriet Jones Hawkins was the first woman to say NO to plural marriage in a law court in the state of Utah, in 1891. She sounded like she ought to belong.I have several DNA matches to Harriet's

Move over Somerset: Staffordshire is the new kid in town (pt 1)

2025-11-06T01:23:00.000-08:00

In my youth it was easier finding out what was happening in horse-drawn Somerset than it was finding out what was happening on ITV. And the former was far more wholesome. I had only to hop up a few stairs above 'Next' and the faded leather-bound volumes in the disused probate registry opened so very easily. No remote control needed.A gain 'here' equalled a piece of information 'there' as all the

Wrong trees: what to do

2025-10-01T01:11:00.000-07:00

There should be a question mark at the end of the title. This is a problem from a few years ago. It felt remarkably personal when there were enquiries about family history through to email, post or even Ancestry message.There were only four areas of confusion that I can think of right now:Hannah 'Robinson' the wife of William Bagshaw of Eyam - born 1792 Chesterfield. There was no baptism that

Counties of interest: where my ancestors were

2025-09-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

This quick post shows the counties my ancestors occupied.Somerset, Cornwall, Glamorganshire, Lancashire, Norfolk, Derbyshire, and Westmorland are the main counties from the last 150 years. Going back to 3xgreat-grandparents, we need to include Kent (birthplace of Maria and the place where her parents later lived), Pembrokeshire and Monmouthshire (birthplaces of my Welsh forebear's parents),

Connecting in South Wales

2025-09-18T00:44:00.000-07:00

My Hunters and Harrises were from Cornwall.The Ponsfords and Hanneys were from Somerset.The Cadogans and Francises were from West Wales.They all connected in the tinplate works and associated industries around the north of Swansea in the mid-1800s.My grandfather being from Morriston, Swansea, I knew about many of the family connections. But it is only a bit more recently - thanks to some puzzling

The Carpenter of 1839: finding his Nephew's Rolling Pin

2025-09-10T00:08:00.000-07:00

Exhibit A: You will possibly have to trust me that this document says 'Guillermo Hunter... Carpenter'. It is from untranscribed Notarial Records now fully indexed on FullText at FamilySearch (2024-5).The thick ink has bled through the pages and the Spanish (we are in Barranquilla, Colombia) is a bit of a scrawl. The year is 1839, and the offered apprenticeship will expire cuaranta y cinco (1845).

Full-text searches at FamilySearch: in Colombia, Barranquilla

2025-09-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

FamilySearch have recently made full-text searches available on their site. One of my first ports of call was to see what new information there might be about the Hunter brothers, who had left England for Colombia in the 1820s/30s, 40s and 60s. The famous engineers Richard Trevithick and Robert Stephenson were there. And DNA had showed that the eldest brother William had settled in, of all places

On Finding Dinah... or Dinah Might!

2025-04-26T13:57:00.001-07:00

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...Hang on isn't that the iconic opening shot of Daphne Du Maurier's novel Rebecca (set in the true residence of beautiful Menabilly, Cornwall?)What's that got to do with my mother's unexpected grrrrrreat auntie Dinah, born perhaps in 1712? Well everything, as we shall see.~~~In the days of Christmas 1998 the newly installed Lady

Are you sitting comfortably? These are your new aunties from Somerset, 1856.

2025-02-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

In 1992, the retired bursar of Wells Cathedral School read out the will of Priscilla Creed (1856) to me down the phone. I was in for some shocks. The bell tolled for Priscilla at Pilton church and after the actuary had calculated how many years her children might live for, and paid off the Tasmanian son, we get down to business:There were six daughters and their names were spellbinding: Ann Tabor

Letting the youngest catch-up

2024-08-26T02:24:00.000-07:00

While looking into distant auntie Betsy, I wondered about her brother Benjamin's family.He and his wife had seven children, and the way things turned out has proved very fair in terms of marking each milestone.Edwin (1839), Jane (1841), Joseph (1842), James (1844), Annie (1846), Sarah (1848) and William (1849). Several of them had the middle name of Haine whilst Jane had the middle name of Eliza.

Betsy's daughter v. the queen

2024-08-26T01:30:00.000-07:00

We earlier looked at the mysterious case of why 'auntie Betsy' appears to have virtually no DNA matches to us, despite being not that distant a relative and also someone with hundreds of descendants.The answer was that a typical DNA-tester in their mid-thirties would actually be a SIX-times-great-grandchild of Betsy, meaning they might possibly have none of her DNA whatsoever, and more likely

The Betsys Best Forgotten

2024-08-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

So, Betsy has been driving me up the pole.She first appeared on a tree drawn by my cousin Janet in 1993. I was very grateful for this tree. And when I went to the archives at Taunton I was able to see the evidence for myself. There she was listed in 1825 as "Betsy, daughter of [my wife] Mary Padfield, by a former husband".Benjamin Padfield (1808-1891) was so straight-forward, a farmer and

Ancestry ProTools

2024-07-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

Not having ProTools has been an interesting mental challenge these last few years.Now they're here, what mysteries have they resolved for me on my family tree?The 101th person on my matchlist, Dorothy, 29cM had been bugging me. No tree, distinctive Scottish-sounding name. She was a 295cM match to Anne great-great-granddaughter of William Rodda (1799) whose family left Cornwall for Australia. Anne

The family of Jonathan Gee, the canal-builder

2022-03-18T02:53:00.003-07:00

Jonathan Gee was baptised in 8 May 1743 in the parish of Hyde, Cheshire, the son of Nathaniel Gee. An older boy named Jonathan had been baptised there on 11 May 1737 to the same couple, but he had died. (This boy by pure fluke is literally within touching distance of his brother on the same page of closely written baptisms.)The parish registers do not give the mother's name.There are several

Second cousins of my grandparents: a window on times past and right now the present

2022-03-05T01:15:00.002-08:00

No question I have fond thoughts of my grandparents. They (mostly) lived in my era, and they also lived in the previous, fascinating, era of the early-mid twentieth century. They knew older people. All four grew up in towns. But even towns weren't that industrial back in the previous generation. Before long you are back in the countryside, which feels a healthier place to research, and definitely

Welsh Research 2008-2021

2021-11-22T08:08:00.001-08:00