Category Archives: Death

A brick-wall called Ann Williams

Stumbling upon a brick-wall when you’re researching your family tree is very common. It can prove a difficult mystery to solve, but these situations are after all what make genealogy fascinating – how boring it would be if it was … Continue reading

Posted in Birth, Colwall, Death, England, Genealogy, Herefordshire, Marriage | 2 Comments

Adolf Hitler’s family tree

It is often stated that Adolf Hitler, the man responsible for the death of over 6 million Jews and countless other innocents in the Second World War, had Jewish blood flowing through his veins. The story, is in fact, false, … Continue reading

Posted in Birth, Death, Famous Genealogy, Genealogy, Germany, Killed In Action | 9 Comments

Titanic victim’s niece survives Concordia disaster

Like many of you out there, I am utterly stunned by the amazingly horrific images of the recent Costa Concordia disaster off the Island of Giglio, on the western coast of Italy. The footage showing the ship gradually listing to … Continue reading

Posted in Death, England, Genealogy, Italy, Ships, United States | 2 Comments

John Tippins, the fate of a family passion

Guns and bullets seem to have been central in the life of my distant relative, John Tippins, an expert rifleman who won many medals during his all too short life. Ironically, it was also a bullet – an enemy bullet … Continue reading

Posted in Death, Engagement, Genealogy, Killed In Action, War | 3 Comments

Discovering new aunties in the 19th century

Ever since my dad bought me a subscription on Ancestry.co.uk last Christmas, I have spent many hours researching and downloading documents about my relatives in England, America and the Commonwealth. A few days ago I discovered someone had published their … Continue reading

Posted in Birth, Colwall, Death, England, Genealogy, Herefordshire, Illegitimacy, Marriage, Surrey, Wales, Yorkshire | Leave a comment

The stigma of illegitimacy

Illegitimate children abound in every family; if you haven’t found any yet, then you just haven’t searched enough. In our modern age we tend to think of the past generations as being prim and proper, ultra-respectable, morally conservative and social-conscious. … Continue reading

Posted in Birth, Death, Galicia, Genealogy, Herefordshire, Illegitimacy, Marriage, Spain | 6 Comments

My slave-owning American cousins

If a couple of days ago I commented on the grief of parents over the loss of their infant children, I wonder how much worse it would be to receive a letter or a telegram containing the awful news that … Continue reading

Posted in Death, Emigration, Genealogy, Killed In Action, Louisiana, Marriage, Spain, United States, War | 1 Comment

Finding Aunty Rita

Two days ago, genealogy came to life. Less than two weeks ago, you’ll remember, I posted about a recent discovery we made, concerning my grandfather’s younger half-sister, Rita. Through a distant English cousin of mine, Anne (related to us through … Continue reading

Posted in Birth, Death, Emigration, Genealogy, Italy, United States | 1 Comment

Coping with the loss of children

There is probably nothing more painful, nor more unnatural, than the death of a child. Fortunately, in the world of today fewer and fewer parents experience such a terrible loss when their children are young , but not many generations … Continue reading

Posted in Birth, Death, England, Genealogy, Spain | Leave a comment