Instant Cousins : archiving my ancestry
- Cheesemongers and Dairies
- House History
- Other Stories
- Reviews, Reports and Research
- Stone, Steam and Dynamite
- The Welsh Connection
- Wheelwrights, Publicans and a Country Lad
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The Landed Proprietor’s Wife
My title comes from an unusual find in the 1891 Census return when I was searching for one of my wife’s Great Uncles. Alexander McKie (1873 – 1951) was the younger brother of Andrew, my wife’s Grandfather. He was born in Kirkinner, Wigtownshire, as were all his siblings. In later life I tracked him down…
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I need to write about the Walkers
I have been getting carried away as many family history researchers do when they see an interesting thread to follow. I had every intention of writing about the Walkers from Rotherhithe, the family of my maternal Grandmother. Since the publication of the 1921 Census return I have checked names against the records to see what…
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Bankrupt in Bognor
I recently wrote about my Great Grandfather’s move from Bognor in Sussex to Oxted in Surrey and pondered about what made him make this move. I had been researching his life in South Bersted, just outside of Bognor on the main Chichester Road. He had become what I had presumed to be a successful entrepreneur…
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Feus, Sasines, Jus Mariti and Dispositions
Medieval terminology dominates much of the house conveyancing language of the twentieth century in Scotland. Getting my head around some of it has been the result of research at the Glasgow Archives in the Mitchell Library and also examining the title deed of my house that I now have in my possession. I will try…
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When the Railway came to Braehead
This week I am writing about my wife’s Grandfather, Andrew McKie. The second born child of John McKie and Agnes McKean of Braehead, Kirkinner in Galloway, formerly Wigtownshire. I have previously described John McKie’s tragic death and Agnes McKies reliance on the Parish for Poor Law relief. Agnes had six children to care for and…
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When Fred and George Came to Wales
When I was an adolescent taking an interest in family history I discussed the idea of searching family members at Somerset House with my Grandmother, Grace Wilcox. She warned me off from doing this saying that I might discover skeletons that I would not wish to know about. Such a wasted opportunity ! In recent…
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Henry Comes to Oxted
In last week’s post I described Henry Spillett’s arrival in Bognor after leaving home in Canterbury. Henry, my Great Grandfather, became the Licensee of The White Horse in South Bersted while also operating a Coachbuilding business at the back of the pub. In this post I explain his arrival and first decade of life in…
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Henry Leaves Home
In previous posts I have established the origins of my Great Grandfather, Henry George Spillett, in Canterbury, Kent. He was born in 1858 in Ivy Lane. He and his mother were living in her mother’s house with his older brother John and his Uncle Stephen. This is recorded in the 1861 Census return. Because his…
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Cheesemonger
The Wilcox family of which I am a direct descendant would be nothing without the Walker family. My Grandmother, Adelaide Wilcox was the daughter of an interesting London family who made their money out of provisions, importing and wholesale. The Walkers originated from Bermondsey in the parish of St. Mary’s, Rotherhithe, the almost peninsula shape…