Latest Posts
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Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery opened in 1839, the third of the Magnificent Seven large private cemeteries built to help cope with the overcrowding issue in Victorian London. Out of the seven, Highgate feels most like a tourist destination as well as a… Continue reading
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Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in Spring
A selection of photos I took before volunteering in the Cemetery Park today. The robins are always happy to see the volunteers as they think we’re going to start digging up big juicy worms for them. I bet they were… Continue reading
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Gravehunting in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
I’ve not updated this blog in some time and the main reason for this is my NHS day job and that pandemic business being a bit time consuming and energy-sapping – not to mention the difficulty of getting to faraway… Continue reading
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Samuel Doidge Brent
Samuel Doidge Brent 1863-1937 Postmaster and my great grandfather I have a tradition of naming snails after my great grandparents. My two pet Giant African Land Snails were Percy and Phoebe, after Percy and Phoebe Beale, my dad’s mum’s parents. … Continue reading
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Leanor Ann Appleton – Part 2.
I found her. People who are not genealogists will probably never understand the excitement and sense of accomplishment that comes from tracking down an elusive ancestor that has eluded them for years. You may wonder why it matters so much… Continue reading
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Edmund Thornton Watkins
Edmund Thornton Watkins 1849-1929 (?) Professional Singer and no relation to me whatsoever Forever on the search for my fascinating name changing bigamist 4th great aunt, Leanor/Angelina Appleton/Collins/Moxon, I decided to try another tack and found myself researching a fascinating… Continue reading
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Runaway Ancestors
Charles Richard Curteis/Pilcher 1836-1915 Runaway to New Zealand and my cousin three times removed This is a lovely example of how DNA evidence and family hearsay can come together. One of my DNA matches, RP, caught my eye. We shared… Continue reading
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I’m currently taking part in the MIND initiative, RED January – the purpose of which is to do some form of exercise every day to raise awareness of mental health issues and how exercise affects the mental health. While I’m… Continue reading
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Jean Mary Olorenshaw: A Tribute to My Grandmother
Jean Mary Olorenshaw 1921-1958 My grandmother This is a hard post for me to write, because unlike the other ancestors I have written about, this isn’t just a piece of history that has been forgotten. There are people who knew… Continue reading
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My Northern Roots
I think of myself as not only almost completely British, but almost completely Southern as well – most of my research is within Kent and Essex. But I am actually one eighth Yorkshirese. My great grandmother, Elizabeth Danby, came from… Continue reading
Family Mystery 