Finding ancestors who went to the US.

It's been a while since I posted here. My apologies for that. My only excuse is that summer seems to have arrived in the UK so I'm enjoying it while I can - it could all go away as quickly as it arrived. I'm just popping in to share the url of a site which … Continue reading Finding ancestors who went to the US. →

How Google Maps can help eliminate false leads

Click image to see larger map I have noticed that, on the whole, my ancestors did not move around a great deal and tended to marry people who lived within a 10 mile radius of their home. While this isn't always the case, this knowledge can be useful when it comes to finding alternative locations … Continue reading How Google Maps can help eliminate false leads →

Isles of Scilly – a place my ancestors called home

My great, great, great, great grandfather, James Thomas Shipley was born on the island of St Marys in the Isles of Scilly in 1805. Like his father John Shipley, James worked as a gig pilot, a perilous job which involved rowing out to sea to meet incoming ships, climbing aboard - often using nothing more … Continue reading Isles of Scilly – a place my ancestors called home →

Family History Mystery – Can You Help?

Are you familiar with old (17th century) Dutch, or old English place names? If the answer to either question is yes, please pop over to this thread on the Ancestry message boards and share your wisdom about the meaning of the sentence "van Absin in Engelt". It appears to mean 'from Absin in England'. If … Continue reading Family History Mystery – Can You Help? →

Don’t laugh, someone lives there

The Genealogue published an interesting post yesterday about the origin of the name of the Christmas Mountains in the US. The ironic thing about the theories is that one sounds quite reasonable, the other like the opening scenes of a horror film, but the latter is most likely to be true! Here in the UK, … Continue reading Don’t laugh, someone lives there →