I thought I would start Ancestral Anecdotes with one of my least known ancestors. I chose her because of her beautiful name – Sophia Dance – her name conjures up a vision of dark flowing silky hair, smiling eyes, and the poise of a ballerina. This is purely my imagination as there are no
Family history research can sometimes be a little like unraveling a ball of wool; you never know what you will find among the twists and turns. I like it like that. I like to go beyond names and dates and find out what was happening in the world so that I can try to put
Always read every bit of information in a Parish Register. You never know what you will find. Here I take you through a brief history of Parish Registers before showing you how a little side-note demolished my brick wall. Parish Registers Before civil registration started in 1837, life events of our ancestors were recorded in
Where your most recent ancestors lived isn’t necessarily where they started. This is the story of a family whose ancestry was firmly in Portsmouth back to the early 1800s but whose roots were in Surrey. Our family is the Blandford family; a family with a long military history. From James Moorsom Ernest Blandford who served
Most people have a box or two of old photographs lying in a cupboard or gathering dust in the attic; some you’ll know as grandma, grandpa or great auntie Doris, some will bring back happy memories and make you smile, but there are always a few faces that no-one knows. When my grandmother died she
It is often thought that Irish records useful for family history were lost in a fire in the Four Courts Building in 1922. While many records were destroyed, other records survived. Here are just a few examples: Census Returns A complete sets of census returns survive for 1901 and 1911; some census records for 1821
It was sad to read in ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ that Archives wouldn’t reopen until ‘September at the earliest’ – I miss my trips to the archives and the people I meet, and cannot wait for them to open again – safely of course. I have loved libraries, bookshops, and museums for more
Sir Joseph Mawbey, Bart. (1730 – 1798) Joseph Mawbey was born on 2 December 1730, the fourth son and youngest child of John Mawbey and his first wife Martha Pratt. He came to Surrey with his uncle, Joseph Pratt, the owner of a distillery at Vauxhall. Joseph joined the business aged 17. Joseph Pratt died
Victory in Europe Day — Hythefield Avenue My parents were both born during the Second World War. In fact, my Dad is just a toddler in this photo, taken on 8th May 1945 in Hythefield Avenue, Egham, Surrey. My mother was only 3 months old. Their memories stretch back as far as rationing,
I was born on 4th May, usually a spring like day, sometimes wintery and associated with lambs and other baby animals. But since George Lucas launched the Star Wars movies in the 1970s it is now more affectionately known as ‘Star Wars day’; with ‘May the Fourth be with you’ being a common birthday greeting.
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