Tag Archives: documents

1813 And All That

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Lifelines Research

A comment on Twitter this morning in response to a tweet of mine about George Rose’s Parish Register Act got me thinking. My original tweet suggested that the post-1813 printed burial registers introduced by Rose’s Act were “somewhat lacking in … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources, research | Tagged documents, family history, genealogy, George Rose, parish registers, Parochial Registers Act 1812, registration, research | Leave a comment

Don’t Believe The Hints

Posted on June 13, 2020 by Lifelines Research

We’ve all been there. We’re following a line back, we’ve got our ancestor in the census, and we’ve found her marriage. We know the four key pieces of information that we ideally need to formulate a search for her birth; … Continue reading →

Posted in research | Tagged census, documents, family history, genealogy, registration, research, tna | 7 Comments

The Joy of Signatures

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Lifelines Research

As family historians, we should never rely on transcripts. Access to original documents, or at least, to digital images of original documents is an essential part of the process of genealogical research. Even the most thorough and comprehensive transcripts are … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources | Tagged documents, family history, genealogy, research, signatures, tna, transcription | Leave a comment

The story behind the stone

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Lifelines Research

About 35 years ago, I was involved with a project to record the monumental inscriptions in Aldenham churchyard for the Hertfordshire Family History Society. The churchyard contains hundreds of gravestones but one in particular, recording the death of a woman … Continue reading →

Posted in Local History, Stories | Tagged Aldenham, census, documents, drowning, family history, gravestones, Hertfordshire, newspapers, research | Leave a comment

A mariner’s tale – with a twist

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Lifelines Research

William Annal was born to the sea. His father, John, together with his uncle William, left their native Orkney, and worked as fishermen along the UK’s east coast, before eventually settling on the Thames Estuary in Gravesend, Kent, sometime around … Continue reading →

Posted in Stories, Uncategorized | Tagged census, documents, family history, Gravesend, Greenwich, Mariners, Merchant Navy, orkney, research, tna | Leave a comment

The Joy of Chancery

Posted on March 29, 2020 by Lifelines Research

This is the Court of Chancery … there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give—who does not often give—the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Bleak House, Chapter … Continue reading →

Posted in Document Sources | Tagged chancery, Charles Dickens, documents, family history, research, tna, transcription | Leave a comment

A very convincing theory

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Lifelines Research

This is the third and final part of the story of how I broke down a 30-year old brick wall in my research. Read Part One and Part Two first… My search for the origins of my great great grandfather, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged documents, Dorchester, family history, old photographs, Oxfordshire, research | Leave a comment

False dawns and first cousins

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Lifelines Research

This is the second of a three-part blog, telling the story of how I broke down a 30-year old brick wall in my research. Read Part One here… The information that my grandma passed on to me had allowed me … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged census, documents, family history, old photos, registration, research | 1 Comment

You really can’t do it all online…

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Lifelines Research

Yesterday, I made a flying visit to the library of the Society of Genealogists in London. The main purpose of my visit was to view some parish registers which I had identified as being part of their collection, thanks to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bedfordshire, documents, family history, Hertfordshire, parish registers, research | 1 Comment

A mystery wedding photo

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Lifelines Research

Every now and then, I dig out some old family photos and see if I can work out who’s who. I usually vow, then and there, to sort them all out, scan them and begin the process of identifying as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bmds, documents, family history, old photographs, old photos, registration, research, wedding photo | 1 Comment