Sudden Death

Sometimes, particularly if the death of an ancestor was sudden, there may be records that give you more information about the circumstances.

In the past, I've come across the death certificate of a woman who died suddenly in her home village. The coroner found the cause of her death to be 'found dead in road.' For some reason this seemed to be good enough - although I don't really think it counts as a cause of death. A newspaper reports how she had collapsed in the street while returning from a neighbour's house, not far from home.


Image courtesy of dan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Her son's death was no less sudden. At a much younger age when he died suddenly in the middle of the night, his apparent stroke was reported to have been caused by over-working in the garden the day before. Newspapers claim he sighed, turned over in his sleep, and died - although, they also managed to get his first name wrong, speed being more important than accuracy to many Victorian journalists.

Family trees are full of stories - but some seem to stand out more than others!

Scandal and Circumstance

Illegitimacy (or being born outside marriage) could be a big social stigma in the past, and often kids would assume the surname of stepfathers, or be 'passed off' to the community as siblings, nephews, nieces, or cousins.

Sometimes the parents would marry later or sometimes the mother of the child would marry a relative of the father as a kind of compromise, often the mother and father would simply go their separate ways.

Scandal was sometimes impossible to avoid - you can only imagine the gossip in a rural town when the married wife of a soldier, who was away, gave birth to the son of another man, particularly when she was considerably older than the father of her baby.

Illegitimate children can often be harder to trace (given that they often changed their last names and also sometimes were not living with either parent,) but it is possible, and their stories add yet another strand to your family's history.

For more on how I could help you trace your illegitimate ancestors - or any other ancestors - through my hourly rate or packages see my website - www.familyhistorybycerys.co.uk

Bye for now!

New Pinterest account

Just got a new Pinterest account - http://pinterest.com/fhbycerys  - put a few things on my boards already so take a look!

Talk again soon!

Looks Like a Job For a Woman

While it's true that, in the past at least, the vast majority of people in employment were men, there were some jobs that it was seen as acceptable for a woman to do - particularly if she wasn't yet married.



Image Courtesy of Thirdparty/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In the past I've come across the records of two sisters who worked as photographer's assistants - it was sometimes assumed that women would do the tasks such as preparing the costumes/sets and leave dealing with the chemicals needed to develop the pictures for the male photographer. This was often not the case. A female photographer's assistant would be just as likely, if not more, to be mixing the chemicals required in this period (makes me glad I can just upload pictures when I want!)

Some women even set themselves up as photographers, though this was more unusual.

So, photography, a chance for middle-class women of the late Victorian/early Edwardian period to be on the front-line of technology, and a great story for anyone's family tree.

Family Questions and Answers

One of the great things about family history is the individual stories that you can come across, but sometimes you can be left with yet more questions - it's the nature of the thing.

Why was this lady buried with her first husband not her second? Why would you move from Oxfordshire to a tiny Welsh village where they don't even speak English at this period?

An ancestor of my own was trying to sell a 30ft Cornish boiler via a classified ad in the paper - I have no idea why he had it, or where on earth he was keeping it, but I'm not going to stop looking.

...and then there are the answers - sometimes more surprising than the questions. This Victorian middle-class lady fell in love with the farm labourer working on her father's land, accounting for his sudden rise in fortunes. Another gentleman disappears from the family home... because he ran off with the circus!

If you have a question about your family's ancestry or background - it could be as simple as wanting to know more about a grandparent's upbringing, then you may find my hourly rate 'Leaves' is just what you've been looking for. Alternatively, you may find one of my packages more suited to your needs. Full details can be found on my website - http://www.familyhistorybycerys.co.uk/ - if you have any queries, please get in touch via the contact details provided on the site. Even if you think I can't help you, I may be able to.

Bye for now!

2013 Anniversaries

Image Courtesy of Simon Howden/

FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Found this list of 2013 anniversaries from The Telegraph - and yes, there are a lot of them. I'm guessing the picture of Henry VIII on this page with a caption about Henry IV is a mistake.

It's a page full of interesting bits and pieces - like, did you know it's the 100th anniversary of the birth of American runner Jesse Owens in 2013? Me neither.

I also didn't know that David Lloyd George was born in the Manchester area - I think the name and the Welsh nationalism had me fooled. I'm pretty sure you can still be counted as a Welshman if your parents were Welsh and you grew up in Wales - don't you think?

There's more about Lloyd George here if you're interested.

It's always nice to think about finding someone notable in your British family tree, but the lives of ordinary people can be just as interesting - not least because they're related to you.

Looking Into the Past

I've just been browsing through the fantastic BBC 'Your Paintings' site - well worth a look, some amazing pictures held by local councils etc. around the country. Plus, technically these paintings belong to the public - always nice.

'Remember Scarborough' by Edith Kemp-Welch really caught my eye - well, it's quite striking after all, given the amount of red in the picture, but there were also a couple of other things that got me thinking...

Firstly, I couldn't quite tell if this was propaganda or not at first - since looking at it, I've found out that the image was used on an enlistment poster, so I guess it was. At first though, while it was obviously patriotic, I couldn't really tell if this was from 'the establishment,' or not. What do you think?

Secondly, why Scarborough? Turns out Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough were raided by the German navy in 1914. You learn something new every day.

Another thing that struck me was that it was painted by a woman - not unheard of in this period, though not common either, particularly as the stereotypical war artist is a man. There's a brief video from the IWM last year on the subject of women war artists here.

If your ancestors were from Scarborough, maybe they witnessed the raiding - could you imagine that? Or maybe there's a woman artist hiding in the branches of your family tree, you never know.

See you next time!

Here It Goes...

Here it is then - the first post for my new blog! I think I'll start by explaining a little bit more about Family History By Cerys:

I work as a UK genealogist providing a range of services for British family history research. I specialise in British genealogy with particular experience in researching English/Welsh family trees. I have packages available (including a starter/beginner package) and a competitive hourly rate.

All the details of my services can be found on my website http://www.familyhistorybycerys.co.uk/

Finding out about your family background and heritage makes history feel more real - and definitely more personal - talk to you again soon!