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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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…
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London calling…..
I’m continuing the progress of my Great Grandfather from his home town of Towcester in Northamptonshire, to London. John Thomas Wilcox arrived in London by 1871. I have previously traced him in the 1861 Census return. He was 9 years old and living in a house in Lake Lane, Towcester. Like many streets and lanes…
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How did she get there?
Previously I have written about my wife’s paternal Great Grandfather who died at a very young age leaving his widow, Agnes, to raise six children with the help of the Parish. This week, I am looking at the story of my wife’s Great Aunt Louisa. She was the eldest daughter of John McKie. His widow,…
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From Canterbury to London
Previously, I outlined the story of my paternal Great Great Grandparent. A strong maternal upbringing of two generations of the Spillett family in the cathedral town of Canterbury in Kent. I had discovered my Great Grandfather, Henry George Spillett, living in Ivy Lane. This week I am looking at how Henry and in particular, his…
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My house……continued
There was a haste in starting this post last week due to my absence in Madeira and I was using a tablet to write the start of this post which is a challenge when I normally use a keyboard to write my posts. In last week’s post I got as far as the old entrance…
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My house…not quite in the middle of the street.
This week’s post is a short photographic essay about the street where I live to give some context for the history that I shall unfold in future months. Earlspark Avenue is on the south side of Glasgow close to a well heeled area known as Newlands. Recent electoral boundary changes means that we are now…
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The frustrations of family history research
Other than records and memories kept by a family, the best way to begin any research is with a family history research website. There are a number available and one or two are even free. However if your research is going to be serious and if your hobby is time restricted, then a paid for…
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A Poor Law Story
In a previous post I described how John McKie died tragically in 1879. When John McKie died he had been a Master Stonemason. Indeed he had been described as a Contractor in some of his children’s’ marriage certificates. The wages of a Stonemason during this part of the Victorian era would have been in the…
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An Average Victorian Family ?
My title poses the question because I was quite interested in the size of my Great Grandmothers family. In the space of twenty years she had given birth to twelve children, two who lived for very short periods of time. Apparently this was not unusual other than the number of births. The National Archives reports…