Giving Back – FreeReg / FreeCen / FreeBMD

It's that time of year when giving is often foremost in people's minds so I thought I'd do a post on giving back to the genealogical community. My family tree research has involved my own legwork - getting certificates and finding other source records, and other family members' legwork (thanks!!).  Now I'm back in New …

Maw/Man/Shaw – Old Illegible Handwriting

Old handwriting has been the bane of my life for quite a while.  My Mum used to be summoned to read letters from my Great-Aunt - and she was quite legible!  If you ever look at old parish registers, sometimes you get lovely neat copperplate writing.  But often it's a style all it's own.  This …

GG-Grandparents – Paternal Side

Updated: 30 March 2016 My father's side is where the majority of the scandals are.  I suspect this is not because they were any more scandalous, but because they were more affluent and things got written down! General note: children with a '+' are known to have descendents, those with a '-' are known not …

GG-Grandparents – Maternal Side

Updated: 30 March 2017 My mother, to put it bluntly, is descended from peasants.  Upwardly mobile peasants as they're the side that has come up, as opposed to my Dad's side that has gone down.  However, if you go back a few generations prior to their arrival here, her family is made up of the …

Connecting with the Venn Diagram

Last updated: 29 December 2021 There are many famous Venn's: Henry Venn (1796-1873) - clergyman and member of the Clapham Sect which campaigned to end slavery John Venn (1834-1923) - logician and philosopher - he's the Venn diagram one William Webb Venn (1838-1896) - the first member of my family to get divorced The Venn …

Houses my family doesn’t own anymore

Updated: 23 February 2012 This is a silly-ish post.  When doing your family tree, you always come across houses which your family lived in but no longer own.  This post provides links to some of those that my family have lived in.  I'll add to them as I find links. So in no particular order: …

NZ Descendants of Arthur Pyne of Ballyvolane

Arthur Pyne (c. 1747 - 1839) was the owner of the lovely house at Ballyvolane, outside Cork in Ireland.  In 1794, he married Mary Masters of Castle Masters (aka Carrignacurra) near Inchigeela, Cork, Ireland.  They had eleven children (that I'm aware of!) and at least 32 grandchildren.  What is most interesting to me, is the …