‘guild records led to a breakthrough’

DNA is a wonderful resource and I am so glad I decided to take a test way back in 2017 – but little did I know where it would lead me and the things I would discover. Some of the outcomes have been wo

I have just read Diane Lindsay’s piece (FT June) about decluttering. That did ring a large bell. I have been doing family history for something like 65 years. I have managed to file a lot of the infor

When I first started to trace the Tonges, my mum’s dad’s side of the family, I thought they might be a tad predictable. We didn’t know very much about them, but surely if there were any interesting ta

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

It all started with an email. Regular reader Lee Passmore was having difficulties finding out what had happened to one of his three times great-uncles, a man called Bryan (or Brian) Dean, and he wante

Dear Simon, The history of Pitman shorthand told by Angeline Wilcox in the July edition of Best of British (Write on Time) evoked so many memories. I was amazed to learn that Isaac Pitman actually cre