Last year, I visited Ypres and the surrounding area for the Passchendaele 100th anniversary commemorations. There was more to see and do than I could fit into that weekend, so a year later I returned to tick off the missing items: The 6km "Canadian Road to Passchendaele" signposted walk, Essex Farm cemetery and dressing station, … Continue reading Revisiting The Western Front
I had a very frustrating day at the Kent Archives yesterday! I had four Kentish Questions that I needed answering: I wanted to know the name of a father of an illegitimate baby who was born in Buckland in 1865. There is a slim chance this might appear in the baptism or workhouse records. But … Continue reading Difficult Ancestors
Eleanor Hope, 1767-1838 Single Mum and Garden Digger, Frittenden, Kent, and my 5th great grandmother I wrote a little about Eleanor Hope when I told you about her son, Thomas Sharp Hope, the ancestor who took my genes to New York, Kalamazoo and beyond. Last week I visited the Kent Archives in Maidstone in the … Continue reading Eleanor Hope: An 18th Century Single Mum
My great grandfather, Frederick Allen Downing, survived the Battle of Passchendaele. Half a million soldiers, mostly from Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, did not. I joined Guided Battlefield Tours for their Passchendale Centenary Tour and went to pay my respects to his fallen comrades. If Frederick had never returned home, my grandfather … Continue reading Passchendaele100
Family Mystery 