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The Holdsworth family and ‘Mr Morley’ of Oxford: a mystery solved
There are few things more exciting for a family historian than discovering a whole new branch of your family tree. I’m grateful to Wendy Christie, via a comment on this blog, for providing me with new...
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Thomas Morley and Sarah Parker Holdsworth: new information
Following on from my last post about Sarah Parker Holdsworth, the youngest child of my 4th great grandparents John and Mary Holdsworth, and her marriage to Oxford bookbinder Thomas Morley, I’m grateful...
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The naming of Sarah Parker Holdsworth
In the last two posts I’ve been exploring the life of Sarah Parker Holdsworth, the youngest daughter of my 4th great grandparents John Holdsworth and Mary Webb, who was born in Oxford in 1810. In my...
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New information about Mary Ann Blanch Roe, a.k.a. Blanche Vincent, ‘the...
I’ve written elsewhere about my great great aunt, Mary Ann Blanch Roe, and her theatrical career as ‘Blanche Vincent’, the singer, burlesque artist and ‘dainty comedienne’. Born in 1857, Mary Ann was...
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Robb, Thomson and McLachlan: merchant families in Glasgow
I don’t know much about my own Uncles and Aunts but I know my Father’s eldest brother Revd. William Robb was for some time Professor of Greek in the College of St Andrews, Fifeshire. He never was...
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A brief visit to the city of my ancestors
I was in Glasgow last week, for a work-related conference. I was only there for one night, which didn’t allow time for any family history research. However, as I walked from Glasgow Central Station to...
View ArticleMy family and other slave owners
I’ve just come across this video about the compensation records uncovered by the excellent Legacies of British Slave Ownership research project at University College, London. The film focuses on slave...
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DNA match confirms information about the Webb family of Stepney
Some time ago I took an Ancestry DNA test, but I have to confess that, so far, it hasn’t resulted in any startling revelations or discovery of new relatives. According to my DNA report, the breakdown...
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My distant relative, the minor Victorian novelist
It’s always gratifying when my amateur, part-time family history research is found useful by professional researchers. For example, I was pleased to find this blog linked to by the excellent Legacies...
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New information about Rev. William Robb, clergyman and poet
My discovery of a distant family connection to a minor Victorian novelist has re-awakened my interest in other published authors in my family tree. The most noteworthy is probably Rev. William Robb...
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The life of Rev William Robb, clergyman and poet (1763 – 1830)
I recently came across conclusive evidence that Rev. William Robb, a Scottish Episcopal clergyman and published poet, was my 4th great uncle, the elder brother of my 3rd great grandfather, Charles...
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Wedding witness is source of new information about the Bowman family
I’ve often found that following up the names of witnesses at weddings can be a useful strategy in family history research. You have to be careful – sometimes the witnesses are churchwardens or other...
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Who was Mary Johnson?
I’ve spent a good deal of time over the last week or so exploring the connections between a group of families living in early eighteenth-century London and Stepney. As far as I’m aware, none of the...
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Were my ancestors Huguenots?
I’ve been reading Dan Cruikshank’s history of Spitalfields and have been fascinated by the stories of the different groups of people who sought refuge there, on the eastern edge of London: Catholics...
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Mary Johnson alias Bodington: the mystery deepens
I wrote recently about my quest to discover the identity, and fate, of Mary Johnson, the heiress and apparent goddaughter of Ratcliffe apothecary John Bodington, who died in 1728. Bodington was a...
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John William Bonner in Holden’s Directory of 1802
Thanks to a new hint at Ancestry, I’ve discovered a useful new source: Holden’s Directory for 1802, which contains an alphabetical list, as its cover states, of ‘ninety and one hundred thousand names’...
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The Nonconformist burial of Master Michael Bonner
Yesterday I wrote about my discovery of new information about John William Bonner (1762 – 1817), the London merchant and official of the Royal Ordnance Office, who was the nephew of my 5thgreat...
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New information about the history of the Roe family
When we moved to Hitchin twenty years ago I had no idea that there was an ancestral connection to the area. It was a revelation to discover that a branch of my mother’s family that I’d always...
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Confirming connections to the Roe family
The new information that I shared in the last post – about the origins of the Roe family, and their possible connection with Hitchin, where we now live – has made me want to make absolutely sure that...
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David Evans, Baptist minister, and the Roe family
The other day I shared some new information about links between my Roe ancestors and the Evans family. My fellow researcher and distant relative Keith Roe has discovered that Rev. David Evans, who was...
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