A few months ago, I was invited to give a talk to  London, Westminster and Middlesex Family History Society. They particularly wanted something with a London flavour. Nothing in my repertoire quite fitted the bill so I suggested, rashly, that I could put together something based on my Smith ancestors of London. These things always seem like a good idea from the safety of several months away. It should be easy. I’d already written the Smith family story. I even had a short power-point about them. I ‘just’ needed to pull together all the detail about the sources I’d used for the genealogy and the context and I’d be away. I set out to do ‘just’ that very thing. Perhaps, thought I, this would be a good opportunity to revisit that branch of my family, as I do periodically, in case anything new could be found. Forget rabbit holes. I descended into a pit roomy enough for a decent-sized elephant. It is one of those scenarios where the brick wall seems paper thin but is nonetheless impenetrable. Surely x must be the father of y but how do I confirm that, especially with a name like Smith in a highly populated area?

A saving grace for my Smith family is that they like marrying ladies from the Seear family. My three times great grandfather John Jeremiah Smith married Charlotte Seear, his son, my great great grandfather William Joseph Smith married his first cousin, Charlotte’s niece, Eliza Seear. Their son, Herbert Havet Smith, my great grandfather, married Eliza’s niece, Catherine Seear, who was simultaneously Herbert’s wife, his first cousin and his second cousin. I do hope that you are following this. You are probably thinking that it accounts for a great deal. It certainly makes DNA research on this branch ‘interesting’. You’d think Seear would be easy to research. I’ll own that it is an improvement on Smith but there a list of variants longer than several arms and once you stray into Hertfordshire/Buckinghamshire/Bedfordshire there are probably more of them than there are Smiths.

You are probably waiting for me to tell you that, as a result of taking another look at the family, there was a eureka moment and I added several generations to my family tree. Sadly, no but there are fewer bricks in the wall. I was looking for an example to use for the talk and decided to input Seear rather than Smith. This led me to a will that I hadn’t looked at before. A will that should crack my Seear brick wall but doesn’t, still, I now have the names of the siblings of my Seear brick wall ancestor and John Jeremiah Smith featured as a beneficiary. I also reread a will for a John Smith, someone I felt should be John Jeremiah’s father (I knew his father was John). I had previously dismissed it as there is no mention of John Jeremiah, or those I had identified as his likely siblings. Paring this will with marriage witnesses in the family, it now looks as if it is indeed the will of my 4x great grandfather and that the children he does mention are his oldest children, who I had not previously noted as potential siblings for John Jeremiah. I even have three teeny tiny DNA matches to descendants of one of these older children. Is this proof? Of course not but this John Smith of the will has moved from ‘probably not my ancestor’ to ‘almost certainly my ancestor.’ Will he ever be inked in as my 4x great grandfather, probably not but I can hope.

Oh and if anyone is reading this who is expecting me to give a talk on the Smiths in a few days’ time, never fear, I climbed out of the elephant pit eventually and there is a talk prepared.

My Smith Ancestors

‘What have you been up to lately?’, I hear you cry. Well, actually, I don’t but I’m going to tell you anyway.

I have been spending time with some drunken women, I should hasten to explain that this is in the historical, not actual, sense. Our Few Forgotten Women Team, aided by more than fifty helpers from all parts of the English-speaking world, have been tracing the stories of women found in two inebriate homes in the 1901 census. Their stories are mostly pretty tragic cycles of despair and degeneration but it is important that they are told. Photographs of many of the women survive in the online Habitual Criminals’ registers and they tell their own story. The stories of eighty six women are beginning to appear here.

There’s been a bit of a social media discussion lately about large online trees. Do people take large trees seriously? How large is too large? Here is my take on the issue. I was 100% against EVER putting my family tree online until I took an Ancestry DNA test about five years ago. I didn’t even have an Ancestry account at this point, being an inveterate FindmyPast fan (and I still am, finding their searching infinitely easier. Horses for course and familiarity is a great  thing, others will feel differently). Anyway, I took the test, the results came, I started looking for matches. Which were the matches I was prioritising? Those with online trees. Well, I thought, maybe I’d just add a very basic, private tree of my direct line. So I did. With all those thousands of DNA matches, in my case mostly very tiny, I found myself concentrating on those with public trees; so I went public. Of course, to link with DNA matches you need to be wide and deep, so I began, slowly to add all those individuals that lurk on my family tree, garnered over nearly fifty years of research. This I did cautiously and meticulously, one person at a time. One reason for not importing a tree wholesale was because I don’t have one single tree but about twenty different trees for different branches, as I prefer to work that way. Yes, I could have merged them and then uploaded in one go but I deliberately chose not to, using it as an opportunity to check what I’d done. Only one 9x great grandmother was felled from the tree as a result.

I wasn’t going to add sources because why would I? This was not my primary way of recording my tree, this was just for DNA. Then of course I realised that I was only taking online trees seriously if they were sourced, so sources were added. I included my children’s ancestors as well as my own and then, later, some of my grandchildren’s. I began by only adding individuals that I considered to be verified. Then, hesitantly, I have added a few individuals, clearly labelled ‘hypothesis’, in case the hypothesis is right and a DNA match could help to support it. Even with all this, as of today, my tree contains 3161 people. Maybe it isn’t larger because I never add information from other trees, although I do use them as clues to further research.

So what is wrong with larger trees? Do I dismiss them out of hand? Well no, that would be short-sighted but I must admit to a certain amount of scepticism as the numbers stretch beyond 5000. I find myself wondering if each one of those individuals really is carefully researched and verified using original sources. I’ve been at this for since 1977 and spend more time than I am going to admit on it. No way could I add upwards of 5000 people with any confidence. Of course, in some cases, these ultra large trees are well researched. Some are large because they are the result of one-name or one-place studies. It doesn’t take a great deal to gain an impression of the quality of the research on these mega trees and sort the good from the downright ridiculous. Is there a danger though that a large tree might give an impression of careless research? The jury is still out on that one but it is an interesting debate.

There’s been a lot more going on but this post is already too long so I’ll leave you with the tale of my mother’s day gifts. One daughter sent a package that included a mystery book (she chose the genre not the title) the title is ‘Family might be the death of you’, possibly not the most appropriate! A planted (I use the word advisedly) floral arrangement from other daughter was delivered to the neighbouring chapel porch, which shares my postcode. Fortunately, someone spotted it, retrieved it and handed it to me. It was also delivered by someone who had clearly ignored the ‘this way up’ notice and arrows. I seem to have successfully salvaged/replanted it and it is now flourishing but there was quite a bit of earth everywhere.

On the third day of  RootsTech I had been really looking forward to Wanda Wyporska’s session (from late UK time on day 2) about researching women and was sad to see that it was not able to be recorded. As the custodian of ancestral christening gowns, wedding dresses and quilts Preserving your Ancestors’ Textiles and Handmade Treasures by Melissa Barker was another that was high on my ‘must watch’ list. Again, if you watch, you can skip the first 3 minutes 19 seconds of setting up chat. Sadly my house is too small to follow all of her advice. Interesting to learn that folded textiles should be refolded in a different way every few months to avoid deterioration along the creases.

Next, another talk from Diahan Southard, My Messy, Complicated Birth Roots Story. This was a fascinating and well-presented session, highlighting the problems of trying to identify DNA matches, particularly if you are related to someone through two different family lines. Highly recommended.

30 Fun and Meaningful Activities for Kids and Grandkids to Celebrate their Ancestors Sharlene Habermeyer was also on my watch list. Two minutes in before this one starts. I do appreciate and welcome the fact that these videos have been made available so quickly but wonder if a little editing out of the set up might have been useful. The presentation does what it says in the tin and Sharlene’s website has free downloadable resources http://www.growinglittleleaves.com/printables.html. A few are US orientated but there are others that are applicable to all. I did cringe however at her suggestion of cleaning graves and making rubbings of them. This is common practice elsewhere but is definitely not advised, or indeed legal, in Britain, where the lichens that grow on gravestones are protected. I did love the idea of sharing memorabilia; I just wish my grandchildren visited often enough to do this. Trying on ancestral wedding dresses or uniforms was another great idea, although I don’t see why this should be a gendered activity. Plenty of really good suggestions for using ancestral photos. I shall be reading the full details of the activities mentioned by Sharlene on her website and trying some of the ideas; first I think will be the talents and hobbies activity and the timeline. On a similar topic, I listed to Sarah Day’s short GenZ Genealogy presentation from 2022, outlining how we can support 10-24 year olds on the genealogical journeys. She also suggests what GenZ themselves can do. Pleased to hear that this included joining societies. Another catch up from last year was Write your Family Stories (in 30 minutes or less) by Brenda Hudson. Useful suggestions here for those who struggle with starting to write stories.

So that’s a wrap. I do still have a couple left on this year’s play list and few few lingering from previous years. I will no doubt add more when others share their recommendations. I will try not to leave it until next year to watch these. The dates for next year are announced – so make a note in your diaries.

I am still recovering from our Few Forgotten Women Friday back in January. In the end, fifty three of us each took one or more of the girls from the Leeds Industrial School and attempted to find out more about them. Given that we had a zero budget (though a few of us did succumb to buying a certificate or two) and were restricted to what we could find online, we were remarkably successful. Of course there were those for whom very little could be found and others where we found someone of the right name but couldn’t be sure we had the right person. The nature of the lives that these girls and their families led meant that they were likely to avoid appearing in the official records, or did so under an alias. Nonetheless, some fascinating stories are emerging. Sadly, many of them did not end happily but some of the girls did seem to turn their lives around. The stories are gradually appearing on the website, so do take a look. There’s a now a new Forgotten Women Friday on the horizon in March. So do get in touch if you fancy honing your research skills on an inebriate woman.

Every now and then I revisit one of my family lines to see what more can be found. It is currently the turn of the Smiths of London (I know – someone has to take one for the team). I have (possibly rashly) agreed to make them the subject of a talk, focussing on the possibilities when researching the country’s most common surname in the most highly populated city. It is surprising what a range of sources can be used, both for the genealogy and the contextual history. I am getting lost down more rabbit holes than you can imagine.

Whilst on the subject of elusive ancestors, I have been working on a new course for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring about Migration and those ancestors that just disappear. A positive warren of rabbit holes here. If any of you have managed, thus far, to escape being drawn in to the obsession that is family history, despite reading my blog, now is the time to start. Pharos have just launched a two-part Foundations of Family History course that can be taken at any time; ideal for those who are just stepping their toes in the water but be warned – there is no going back. While I am on the topic of courses. There’s another chance to take my online ‘Are you Sitting Comfortably? Writing and Telling your Family History’. This usually runs twice a year but this will be the only chance in 2023 and there is an option to submit a piece for me to feed back on if you wish. The course starts with Pharos Teaching and Tutoring on 13 March.

Writing has mostly been about finishing the draft of the non-fiction book I’ve been working on for the past year. I’m afraid the title is embargoed and it may be a year before copies hit the bookshelves but it has been great fun to write. I am now dealing with the dreaded task of sourcing copyright free illustrations. There are plenty of documents I’d love to include but the responses are usually along the lines of ‘that will be £200 please’, which means it will cost me a fortune to produce the book. I accept that, if it sells well, I will be making a few pence an hour for writing it but that really is, literally, a few pence, so shelling out to use illustrations is not an option. Despite what trawling the internet might suggest, you really can’t just use images as and where you please.

I’ve been keeping in touch with my lovely colleagues from the Experimental Archaeology Course and there was great excitement three weeks ago as certificates marking our success began to be delivered. I eagerly searched my doormat – nothing. Days passed – still nothing. I know I live in the back of beyond, where postmen rarely dare to tread but certificates have reached Australia and I still don’t have mine. I have asked the powers that be and am now anxiously awaiting a reply as well as a certificate.

I’ve been giving talks here and there, in person and on line and had a chat about family history to Radio Devon last week, as you do. Everything you know about family history in ten minutes was a tad of a challenge but always a pleasure to speak to the lovely Pippa Quelch.

Signs of spring are wonderful. I just wish the sun could shine without showing quite so much dust.