Despite the fact that I have now been researching my family history for almost 25 years, there are always new documents to be found and ancestral haunts to visit, so in this final post of the 52 Weeks challenge I’m going to reflect on the discoveries that stood out as particularly memorable during the past… Continue reading Memorable
Author: Emma Maitland
Musical
This week’s post could easily have been very short as I have never heard a single member of my family playing a musical instrument ! I know that my mother and my aunt had piano lessons when they were children, and my grandmother’s sister, Ada Howe, played the violin in an orchestra in Winchester, but… Continue reading Musical
Family Heirloom
An heirloom is simply an object that has been passed down through a family from generation to generation, but the term is generally applied to something that has some monetary value, such as jewellery or a piece of furniture. To be honest, I would struggle to name any such relic that once belonged to my… Continue reading Family Heirloom
Written
I have already written about the letters that my grandmother, Mildred Howe, received from her mother but I also have three others that were sent to her by an earlier ancestor - my great great grandmother, Sophia Grant. Sophia Grant Sophia was born in 1845 in St Giles, Oxford where her father, William Grant, was… Continue reading Written
Family Recipe
Those who know me well will not be surprised to learn that many of my happiest childhood memories involve cake. My mother, grandmother and aunt were all excellent bakers, and there was always a delicious homemade cake or two to be enjoyed at family gatherings. The recipe I have chosen to share is for my… Continue reading Family Recipe
The Name’s The Same
Prior to the 20th century, ancestors tended to baptise their children using a frustratingly limited range of names, which can make it challenging to determine whether you have identified the correct person. This issue is further complicated in Scotland, partly because the pool of names is even smaller, but also due to the tradition whereby children… Continue reading The Name’s The Same
Wartime
All genealogists have a fantasy list of the ancestors they would most like to have a conversation with, usually in the hope of unearthing some vital piece of missing information. Although there are several such people on my own list, my maternal grandfather, William Jack Cullingford, would be at the top as the stories I… Continue reading Wartime
Multiple
Given the high mortality rates of the time, it is not surprising that multiple marriages feature in the earlier branches of my family tree. In most cases, these were due to a widower remarrying since childbirth remained risky well into the 20th century, and it is sobering to reflect on the fact that I owe… Continue reading Multiple
Rural
Wantisden is a tiny rural parish in Suffolk, which lies mid-way between Woodbridge and Orford in open countryside that still feels isolated today. For more than 100 years, my ancestors called it home - in 1851, there were just 78 inhabitants living in 23 houses, and remarkably they include three sets of my maternal 3x… Continue reading Rural
Urban
During the 19th century, there was a well-documented shift of the British population from rural to urban areas driven by the many challenges and opportunities offered by the agricultural and industrial revolutions. By 1851, for the first time, at least half of the population was living in an urban area but, with the exception of the… Continue reading Urban
Sleuthing Notes 