John the Con
John George Arney (Halladay)
By Jean Hedges
The bulky envelope sits heavily in my hands. It just arrived in today’s mail from my Great Aunt Marion , my mother’s cousin. I had written to her, telling her of my wish to write our family memoirs. I rip open the packet. Inside are ...
Read full
article...
Why did my grandfather, Thomas Maber, have the second name Abraham? It was one of those family mysteries often discussed round the dinner table. None of my family seemed to know. I knew that my grandfather, Thomas Abraham Maber had been a hairdresser and umbrella maker. The first fact to come to ... Read full article...
My name is Peter John Dawson b1938 Coventry Warwickshire and my family consisted of, father Alfred John b1909 Lee London, mother Mary Jean b1908 South Shields Co Durham and sister Patricia Phoebe b1936 Greenwich London. We lived in Coventry when World War two started in 1939.
My Dad Alfred John ...
Read full
article...
I have been researching my family history for about 25 years, my parents couldn't help me much as they didn't know anything about their families, in those days children didn't ask questions and should be seen and not heard or so my father told me.
I plodded along after my father died and found that ...
Read full
article...
My husband and I have just become proud grandparents of twin grandsons, born to our daughter on December 19th. They have two older brothers who have second names for father and grandfather. The babies are Hudson Joseph; the Joseph is for our son in law's beloved Granpa Joe, whilst the second twin is ... Read full article...
I would like to tell you the story of a great breakthrough in my family history.
My great grandfather James Young, was born in 1835 in Redgorton, Scotland and he had a younger brother called Alexander. James immigrated to Australia in the mid 1800's and Alexander stayed in Scotland, however, ...
Read full
article...
Don't ignore information which appears not to relate to you.
I had researched the National Library of Scotland's archives for information about my direct ancestors and had therefore ignored references to documents with a reference to their siblings. Mistake!
Last year the New Orleans Collection ...
Read full
article...
A great aunt of my wife had the unusual name of Kate Duguay-Trouin Jackson. She had the distinction (although not unique) of having been born on a British warship, HMS Implacable. Admittedly, in 1881, when she was born, the vessel was permanently moored in Plymouth Harbour and was being used as a ... Read full article...
My daughter inherited a box of Family History which included a copy of the Family History written by my Great Grandmother Annie Camilla whose sister Alexina was your 2 x Great Grandmother. Amongst the papers was a letter from SJH Flude written in 1939:
Transcript of letter from S J H Flude ...
Read full
article...
I started researching my Gran’s family history a couple of years before she died – she had told me some very intriguing stories about her ancestors and said she’d like to know if they were true or not. She was very pleased to be interviewed at length and said she thought her paternal ancestors ... Read full article...
Joan had often wondered why she had never been allowed to be evacuated. Also, her Mother, Dolly and her father, Thomas Abraham, were very secretive about their family. Joan had often said to them that she would have loved a brother or a sister but her words were met by stony silence.
In 2001, after ...
Read full
article...
So what did I know?
Verbal information from her brother (Grandfather):
“She was jilted and went a bit funny.” Sounded ashamed of her. Mental illness was something to be ashamed of in 1900; it was spoken of in whispers behind your hand.
Thinks: What mental hospitals were in existence ...
Read full
article...