Tracing the Nottinghamshire birth of Mary, wife of James HADEN (1831-1901), has proved to be very difficult. It would have been easier had the new versions of the General Register Office birth indexes (which give the maiden name of the…
Rootstech 2021 was an online event so, I must admit, I was wondering how the “Relatives at Rootstech” would work. I had experienced this at Rootstech London in 2019 – the first time I had knowingly been in the same…
Finding myself in Oldswinford, Stourbridge, recently, I took the opportunity of having a look around St Mary’s Church, which I know has connections with my Yeadon/Haden ancestors. Luckily, I had already downloaded a copy of the Oldswinford parish registers…
Receiving my AncestryDNA results prompted me to look again at family history research relating only to my direct ancestors. I had thought I was doing quite well – with one line going back ten generations to my 8x great-grandparents. However, because…
Results from AncestryDNA indicate my ethnic origins are 100 per cent European (52% England & Wales, 19% Western Europe, 19% Ireland, 9% Scandinavia and less than 1% Italy/Greece). No real surprises, apart from the 19 per cent Irish, as my…
I don’t have very much information on my 4th cousin twice removed, Jonathan Williams Summerhill, who was killed in the First World War (his 3x great-grandparents, Stephen Summerhill and Sarah Cratchley, were my 5x great-grandparents). I came across Jonathan via a…
I’ve blogged before about my brick wall regarding my 3x great-grandfather, James Williams, born in Aston, Shropshire. It now seems that I’ve made a breakthrough, thanks to the Shropshire Parish Registers, which have recently been added to Find My Past…
It seems that Joshua Summerhill (1834-1905) and his wife Elizabeth Tonks (1831-1903) had 6 children, 5 of whom survived to adulthood. Three of the four surviving girls became teachers, and three of them seem to have had mental health issues…
On Monday 3rd February 1862, a collier called Isaac Summerhill appeared at the Petty Sessions court in Kidderminster, charged with allowing his wife and children to become chargeable to the parish of Dudley. His family had been in the workhouse…