Unhappy beginnings illegitimate children in the parish records

Recently, at the Western Cape Archives in Cape Town, South Africa, I had to suppress my tears as I finally read the horrifying details about my late mother’s tragically cruel early childhood. Iris Ale

This month we start off by looking at the value of personal storytelling and the power of preserving personal memories, which was inspired by a wonderful quote from Denyse Allen, of Chronicle Makers h

RESEARCHERS at Findmypast have embarked on a project to recognise and highlight the contributions of an estimated 68 million women who might otherwise go unrecognised historical records. Findmypast fo

Q My 7x great grandfather, Charles Shelley, was born on 24 October 1733 in Badger, Shropshire, to George Shelley (also listed as “Georgius”). However, his birth record does not name his mother, unlike

ANTHONY ADOLPH is a professional genealogist and the author of 11 books DAVE ANNAL is a genealogist, author and lecturer KATHERINE COBB is a member of AGRA based in Somerset ROGER KERSHAW is migration

For many years, my existence was a true case of “Who do you think you are?” I was born in 1952, and grew up thinking that my mum’s first husband was my father. His surname was Cassidy. Mum died in 198