Illegitimacy on the record: stigma, concealment & the law

As far back as medieval times, unmarried women in Scotland could take the fathers of their children to court to force them to pay maintenance towards the expenses incurred during birth and her subsequ

Surname studies are not always the whole, or the easiest, answer to researching families. Most of us love to research the name we currently go by or were born with. But does that give us the complete

QMargaret Woodhall (née Smithson), born c1827 Liverpool (according to the 1851 census), was the sister of my great grandfather, James Murray Smithson, born c1835 in Edinburgh. Their father was William

A tree bunny put on Facebook by the Small Press Rescue Centre. We are always glad to receive pictures of spontaneous forms and figures, or any curious images. Send them (with your postal address) to F

One of the major reasons people take a DNA test is to find a ‘missing’ ancestor. It may be that they have no knowledge of their family due to adoption or were brought up by a single parent with no inf

Before the introduction of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales in 1837, it is the parochial registers recording the baptisms, marriages and burials of our ancestors