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Category Archives: Birth
The mystery of Samuel Morris’s origins
Morris was my great-grandmother’s maiden name, so when I was growing up, I was well aware of its existence in my recent family history. However, when I later became interested in genealogy, I soon discovered how difficult it was going … Continue reading
Posted in 1841 Census, 1851 Census, 1861 Census, Archives, Birth, Death, England, Genealogy, Herefordshire, Kington
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The 1921 census uncovers a new family mystery…
On 6 January 2022 I was one of many happy genealogists who logged into FindMyPast to start digging into the newly-released 1921 census. Although I do not have many ancestors who were alive at the time the census was taken … Continue reading
Posted in 1911 Census, 1921 Census, Birth, Canada, Emigration, England, Genealogy, Herefordshire
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A fatherless line of Italian ancestors
When my 24 year-old Italian great-grandfather Giacomo boarded a ship and emigrated to the United States in 1910, he left behind a tiny family unit composed of solely by his mother, Margherita. She was listed on the passenger list as … Continue reading
Posted in Birth, Civil Registration, Death, Genealogy, Illegitimacy, Italy, Marriage, Nizza Monferrato, War, World War II
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Why YOU should do the #RussianDollChallenge?
Some of you may have heard of the #RussianDollChallenge, a hashtag I created on Twitter in September 2018 to discuss direct female ancestral genealogies. And why, you may ask, did this become a popular (dare one say, trending!) topic and, … Continue reading
Posted in Birth, England, Famous Genealogy, Genealogy, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Women
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Finding missing children on your family tree
Next to tracing our ancestors, finding our ancestors’ children must be the hardest thing a genealogy researcher can be faced with. There is no shortage of records that will often point us in the right direction as to who our … Continue reading
Quest to solve two Spanish mysteries with DNA continues…
NOTE: The genealogical chart at the end of this article may help to understand the relationships and hypothetical family links mentioned in the text. When I first took a DNA test (with AncestryDNA) in 2016 I half suspected most of … Continue reading
Posted in Ancestry.com, Archives, Birth, DNA, Galicia, Genealogy, Genetic Genealogy, Illegitimacy, Women
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The saga of the Vickresses of Marden
The following is an account of a branch of my own family whose fascinating story has captivated me since I began researching my family tree many years ago. It is, you might say, a family saga, as it covers several … Continue reading
The confusing story of Henry Hodges and Catherine Morris
I remember years ago when I first researched my great-great-grandfather’s eldest sister Catherine Morris that I did not find her story particularly interesting: she married, had children, and died. It was all rather dull and straightforward – or so it … Continue reading
Posted in 1841 Census, 1851 Census, 1861 Census, 1871 Census, 1881 Census, 1891 Census, 1901 Census, 1911 Census, Archives, Bigamy, Birth, Death, Dymock, England, Genealogy, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Marriage
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Looking for Edwin
In 2014 I decided to take advantage of my Ancestry.co.uk subscription and expand my research area beyond my own blood-relatives to collateral lines and families who intermarried with my own. By doing so I knew I would probably hit a … Continue reading
The curious private life of Mary Willoughby
On 23rd December 1880, a wedding took place in the church of Saint James the Great, Colwall, at the foot of the Malvern Hills which separate Herefordshire from Worcestershire. The bride was twenty-five-year-old Mary Willoughby, my great-grandfather’s third cousin and … Continue reading
The Genealogy Corner 