Going back to basics, and assessing the evidence clue by clue

KATHERINE COBB is a member of AGRA based in Somerset REBECCA PROBERT is professor of law at the University of Exeter STEVE THOMAS is a genealogist with over 20 years’ experience PHIL TOMASELLI is a mi

I remember, many years ago, a potential client making a very specific request. They wanted me to research their family but they were only interested in the direct male line. ‘I don’t want to know abou

Most of us have unfortunate brick walls in our family trees – those frustrating relations who seem to have appeared into the world as if from nowhere. Perhaps a person does not feature in the baptism

Back we go to the 1830s and beyond; the dark but exciting days of no censuses, no civil registration and no guarantees of what, if anything, you might find. But the challenge of tracking down William

This portrait (the larger image) has been copied on Ancestry trees by many people. It purports to be my 2x great-grandfather, Cain Mayer (1841–1881) who was killed in a mining explosion at Chatterley

THE train was slowing. Augustine Brown looked again at the letter in her hand. Exciting news! her sister Cordelia had written. “An unexpected guest at the hotel: Maria Mironova. Exciting news indeed.