Genealogy Em

Ever since I was young I have said that I wanted to see the place where my ancestor's lived. I never cared if it was a castle or if it was a broken down shack in the woods. What I cared about was that feeling I get when I am able to stand somewhere that one of my ancestor's did many years ago. I spent the past four years researching where in England my ancestors lived with the hope that one day I will be able to go there and experience this feeling. Like many people, COVID had other plans. Its been a year since I initially was planning to take that trip and it seems like it might be at least one more before it can happen. In the mean time I have been revising my route and furthering my research. One of the first things that I do when I get an address for where one of my ancestor's lived, is search for it on Google Maps. Depending on where you are researching, the area may have changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable when compared to when your ancestor lived. For ex...

When it comes to research, we encounter many different languages that we dont understand. If your just starting out that might mean its technical terminology. For more experienced genealogists this might mean performing research in a foreign language. Much like starting genealogy, delving into foreign research can seem like a daunting and confusing task. To date I have conducted research in English, French, Latin, and Gaelic. Each time I attempted a researching in a new language, I found myself becoming increasingly more comfortable and proficient.  Leverage Technology For languages that we have a vague familiarity with, it is much easier to being this journey. As someone who has deep roots in Quebec, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before I was forced to recall what I had attempted (and failed) to learn many years ago in school. Lucky for me, there is technology that can help bridge the language barrier.  Depending on what you are researching, you will realize t...

Yesterday I wrote about how to read a British militia attestation form and used the example of a young man named James Sword. His story truly embodies what it was like to grow up in poverty during the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras.  The Early Years James was born July 27 1889 in Bow, London, England - making him the baby of the Sword family. He had four older sisters and one older brother. At the time of his birth the family was struggling financially, and that would only worsen a month later when his father died. Now widowed with five children still in her care, James' mother had no choice but to turn to the Board of Guardians for relief. Within a year the entire family was admitted to the Wandsworth and Clapham Union Workhouse. The duration of the family's stay was brief. By 1901, they had left the workhouse but were still struggling to get by. They were living on Ammiel St in Bow. Their home literally fell down around them, and the neighbouring homes that remained...

During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, militias were a central part of the British military. Although their service was limited to 'home' service, many of the men also opted to serve overseas. Militia attestation forms were formally referred to as Army Form E 504. They contained the following types of information: Birth place Place of residence Occupation and employer Marital status  Number of children under the age of 14 Next of kin (name, relationship, address)  Previous military experience Physical description What battalion they served with To better understand the structure of a militia attestation form, lets look at one that belonged to James Sword.  Front of Attestation Form How do we know that we are dealing with a militia attestation form? There are two main indicators, both of which are found at the top of the page. In the central bolded font it says "attestation for the militia" instead of stating 'short service' (which was for the army). The seco...

They say that 1 in 10 people with British ancestry can trace their family back to the workhouse. For my family this statement is true. The process of filing for relief from the Board of Guardians was long and required the individual to provide detailed information about themselves.  In two of my previous posts I spoke of a woman named Bessie. After her father died in 1889, her mother mad no choice but to turn to the workhouse. She had six children between the ages of one month and 15 to support. The Poor Law records I found on this family contained a wealth of information - much of which I had never seen before.  Settlement Examination   The process began by with a settlement examination. The main purpose of this record was to determine what Poor Law Union was responsible for the pauper's upkeep (otherwise known as residency). The head of the family would be asked to provide the following information: where each member of the family was born if they are married and i...

Battersea: The Sinkhole of Surrey During the Victorian Era, Battersea had gained the reputation as being “the sinkhole of Surrey” due to its widespread poverty and slum-like conditions. Many of the poor in Battersea were subject to irregular income from the building trades. For a family to scrape by in the winter they would have to apply thrift spending during the summer. This was often complicated by the reliance on alcohol which was used as a means of escape from the depression of living in such widespread poverty. The irregular income caused many of Battersea’s poor to frequently be on the move. On average a family lived in one place for less than two years before moving no more than a few streets away. After hopping from neighbourhood to neighbourhood the family would eventually return to where they were once exiled from, moving in only a few doors away from their former address. Ford’s Folly and the slum of Little Hell In Keith Bailey’s report Orville Road, Battersea: a Victor...

Ever since I was a young child I have been terrified of sailing on large vessels. There was no good reason for this as I had never had any bad experiences on ships or even with water. The origin of this phobia was unknown. It wasnt until s everal years ago while performing my genealogical research that I realized maybe my phobia of sailing was not completely  unfounded. As I began to trace the lives of one family   I noticed something strange - almost everyone died on the same day. They were the Taplin family - comprised of John, Caroline (nee Holton), Emma , Mary Ann , Sarah, Maria and Carrie (twins). John was a navvy. He spent much of his adult life travelling across England working on the railways. By late 1872 he had a new offer of employment, this time it would not be in England. He, along with his wife and three youngest children, were going to move to Tasmania so he could help construct a railway that would connect the now Australian state. The two eldest daughters...