Tag Archives: research

A Draper’s Tale

Posted on August 8, 2021 by Lifelines Research

Thomas Port, my great great grandfather, was born on 22 August 1822 in St Pancras, London. There is, however, no official record of his birth or baptism – at least none that I have ever been able to find. The … Continue reading →

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Birth or baptism?

Posted on July 17, 2021 by Lifelines Research

A couple of weeks ago, I was searching for some baptisms on Ancestry’s London Parish Register Database, when I noticed something odd. I’d just done a basic search for anyone with the surname ROGERS and the parents’ names William and … Continue reading →

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The Darkest Day

Posted on July 10, 2021 by Lifelines Research

The date is Tuesday, 29 January 1895 and Edinburgh is in the grip of a snowstorm. In fact, the whole country is suffering; snow fell uninterruptedly for 12 hours in Birmingham yesterday and London is experiencing temperatures of 15° Fahrenheit … Continue reading →

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Where have all the women gone?

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Lifelines Research

To mark International Women’s Day I wanted to have a look at the key records that we use to research our English & Welsh family history, and to consider how those records routinely under-represent the roles played by our female … Continue reading →

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So, what next?

Posted on September 20, 2020 by Lifelines Research

Two weeks ago today, I sat down and composed a blog post entitled, Where Have All The Registers Gone? I referred to it as a ‘soapbox’ piece and my aim was to highlight what I saw as a serious problem … Continue reading →

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Where have all the registers gone?

Posted on September 6, 2020 by Lifelines Research

Let’s make something clear right from the start. I am a huge fan of digitisation and online access in genealogy. Both as an enthusiastic hobbyist and as a professional genealogist with 37 years’ experience, I have reason, on a daily … Continue reading →

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Blank spaces and circumstantial evidence

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Lifelines Research

This is the fourth part of the three-part story of the life of my great, great, great grandmother, Mary Ann Port, which aims to explain why, despite the absence of evidence that she ever had any children, I believe her … Continue reading →

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My friend Miss Mary Ann Port

Posted on August 15, 2020 by Lifelines Research

This is the third and final part of the story of my great, great, great grandmother, Mary Ann Port. You can read the first part here and the second part here. The long, drawn-out Chancery Case, Port v. Hovil[1], had … Continue reading →

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Humbly complaining

Posted on August 2, 2020 by Lifelines Research

This is the second part of the story of my great, great, great grandmother, Mary Ann Port. You can read the first part here. Humbly complaining shew unto your Lordship your Oratrixes and Orator Elizabeth Port of Samuel Street Saint … Continue reading →

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All and every my child and children

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Lifelines Research

Our efforts to reconstruct the lives of our pre-Victorian ancestors are all-too-often thwarted by the lack of available source material. In an era before the decennial censuses and the (virtually) comprehensive civil registration system, our reference points can be severely … Continue reading →

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