Instant Cousins

Instant Cousins : archiving my ancestry

  • Rosina Elizabeth Spillett

    This weeks post is written by my cousin, Sue Toms, who has been researching the story of her grandmother, Rosina Spillett, who was also my great aunt. Sue and I share the same great grandfather whose son, Henry fell in love with Rosina. They became responsible for the heart of this fascinating story. My grandmother,…

  • Writing letters, part two

    My mother’s letters were always quite short. Notes mostly, about her week, who she had met or visited. In October 2000 she was very busy with the British Legion annual Poppy Appeal. She had been a member of the Women’s Branch of the British Legion since the 1950’s when my father had joined the Legion.…

  • Letter writing, part one

    Now, in 2025, the number of letters being written are very few. In Denmark a decision has been made to stop collecting and delivering letters because the cost is now so prohibitive and there has been a 90% drop in the us of letter delivery. Given the annual and sometimes sharp increases in postage in…

  • John and Jennie

    I never knew them. My mother never talked about them. My grandmother never mentioned them. There are only two photographs that I have in hand that can give me an image of one of them. They had no children as far as I know. I knew where one of them was born for certain and…

  • A Great Man Has Fallen in Israel

    This is a story that is unique to my sister in law’s partner. He shared some documents and newspaper accounts of his great uncle Richard with me and we thought it was worthy of posting his story on this blog. The title of this post is a biblical reference to Samuel 2 when David asks…

  • The Stevenston Seaman

    The Nicol family were so well established in their community that each of Peter and Elizabeth’s children made roots in Stevenston and surrounding towns. Stevenston, Ardeer, Saltcoats, Irvine and Ardrossan are the lifeblood towns of my wife’s family. Many second generation children of the Nicol family may have settled in the area but it was…

  • The Welsh Tabernacle in Kings Cross

    This week I am returning to my research on Great Uncle John Wilcox, and particularly his wife Jennie. I have described my earlier research in a post last month. Jennie, which was her familiar name, is a significant person in this story, mainly because I am struggling to find any records that relate to her…

  • An Oxted Memoir

    I am really pleased to welcome a guest writer for this week’s post. My cousin Sue has prepared a memoir of her early years and memories of her life in Oxted, the home village of the Spilletts and the Carver’s, in Surrey. Sue and I share the same Great Grandfather whose daughter, Ada, was my…

  • A Short Thread to a Longer Tale

    Just twelve months ago I wrote a long post about my great uncle Herbert Wilcox. He was the eldest of the Wilcox siblings, born in 1874 in Notting Hill. His career was with the railways, and he lived in flats like the Peabody Trust style and type of accommodation in London, designed and developed as…

  • The Dairy Woman from Dyfed

    This is a continuation of my last post from two weeks ago entitled the Welsh Dairy in Clerkenwell. It was further research into the life of John Richard Howard Wilcox. My research that week came to a stop because I couldn’t find the sort of records that I rely on to confirm and triangulate certain…


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