Genealogy Chat

save for myself

On one of the census returns I found a possiblr reference to my G Grandmother in an 'Industrial Home for Women' aged 20, on further investigation it was more like a remand home for petty criminals. Many people have sent messages of sympathy BUT I think its really exciting as I've got copies of her records and her complaints about not getting on with her step-mother and step-siblings. Without this information she could just have been another 'Smith' and not identifiable as my ancestor. Background information really makes it real. Jo

Oh yes, this really does flesh out the bones. I am working on several projects at present to flesh out these intriguing ancestors, but one that I am currently doing is where I found one ancestor writing to an Irish National Newspaper and found so far six letters written by him over 10 rather troubled Irish years. It is taking me a long time to research, as it cannot be done on the internet, and I am reading all of the newspapers to pick up on the social history of the 1850's to 1870's in the area in which he lived. I am collecting quite a potted history of the times he lived in, to the point where I 'feel' I really know this ancestor. Fortunately for me the Irish Newspapers are at Colindale so I do not have to go Dublin. I have completed another project on the Muster rolls for another ancestor who went through the Crimea War. Again you can download a small amount of information through the National Archives at Kew, but to obtain the War Diaries, Muster Rolls and Ship information you have to go to Kew/Greenwich Museum and the Imperial War Museum for the research. The Muster Records have given me a real feel for what these men went through in the Crimea. There is nothing like visiting the villages where your ancestors were born and sitting in the church where they married, baptised their children and died. This really does bring out the depth of feeling. Janet

Look at all the folk on the census page, not just your relatives' household. For starters, you will soemtimes find people who are related or who marry into your family later on. Does everybody on the page do the same sort of job? Get a feel for the area. When I found my gt grandfather's inquest report, I read the entire newspaper issue. It told me that the area was heavily flooded a year earlier and gave information about events of the day. When I read The Times report of a murder trial featuring a relative, the whole of the front page was devoted to the 'cotton famine' in Manchester, because of the American Civil War. Inside the paper was a review of a classic book, newly published. nell

I had always believed my G-g-grandfather had died in Ireland, so when the Hammersmith and Fulham Archives told me that he was in West London with his family when he died I was bowled over! They were able to give me the date and time of his burial as well as the plot number, so I established from the local paper that it would have been raining heavily when he was buried and there were large crowds nearby for the opening that day of Hammersmith Bridge. You see - this isn't just about dates and places! I now have a mental picture of the day he was buried.