Tag Archives: ancestors

Rootstech Ramblings – my pick from the live online schedule

by thehistoryinterpreter

So the Rootstech schedule is now available and the excitement is building as we can begin to plan our time for the three days of intensive family history fun from 29 February to 2 March. Do you need to head off to Salt Lake City? – no – although I am sure in-person attendance would be great. Do you need to part with large sums of hard earned cash? Again no, if you are attending virtually, as I am, absolutely free. If you haven’t registered yet you can do so here.

I’ve been trawling the schedule of online talks deciding how to spend my time. It has required tricky choices, as there are often clashes but here is what I’ve decided. Bear in mind that there are plenty of great sessions and because this is not geared to UK time, I have had to forego some presentations that really are in the middle of the night. You can make you own choices here.

These are my decisions, though I reserve the right to change my mind. I’ll be back to tell you about some of them after the event. Thursday first. I am going to kick off at 3pm UK time with Nicholas Dixon’s Metropolitan Ancestors: finding families in Georgian and Victorian London. This complements my own ten minute recorded session that you can view any time London Calling, listing some key online resources for London research. With Smith ancestors in London this one is a must. I’ll follow it with Who is my Ancestor? Tracing individuals with similar names by D Joshua Taylor. Although it is US based, I thought it might be fun. Then an evening session with Diane L Richard Researching Modern Ancestors: unlocking the life of an English Rose, focussing on twentieth century research. This takes me to past my bedtime, so I will call it a night.

Friday next. I thought I’d listen in to the Impact Forum about the impact of family history beyond the genealogy community. I’ve changed my mind several times about the 7pm session but have gone for Reconstructing the Lives of our Female Irish Ancestors by Stephanie O Connell. I don’t have any Irish ancestors of my own, although my grandchildren do but with Forgotten Women in mind, I thought it would be interesting. No choice for what follows as it is my own Marginalised Ancestors talk, so I guess I’d better be there. The talk is written but is a bit too long, so I will need to decide what to leave out. It is going to be a fun talk to do going forward, as I can swap the case studies in and out for variety. Just a heads up. I will be mentioning my Marginalised Ancestors book, which is due to be published on 29 February. At the moment, you can pre-order this at a reduced price from Pen and Sword here. I am not sure if this offer will still be available by 1 March, when I am giving the talk, so if you think you might want the book of the talk, now is the time.

On Saturday I am going for Finding your Common Name Ancestor, with Shaunese Luthy – those Smiths again. Then, with my interest in the history of medicine in mind, Diseases our Ancestors Faced and How those Illnesses Changed our World with Gregory C Gardner. I am going to finish my smorgasbord of in real time talks with Nick Barratt’s Researching English Industrial Labourers.

But there’s more – literally hundreds of recorded talks that I can pick and choose from over the coming weeks. I’ll be back to tell you about my choices from these another time.

Oooh and I’ve just spotted that these delivered live talks will also be available after the event. I’ll definitely be reviewing the schedule and adding more from those that clashed with my choices, or were at less favourable times.

Tales of sorting the garage/sheds and garden will resume shortly – P.S. 190 boxes.

Is it Time to get the Kilt Out?

by thehistoryinterpreter

In a few months’ time I will be embarking on my 48th year of serious family history research. In all that time, all but one of my lines can be taken back into the eighteenth century, several into the seventeenth century and a few to the sixteenth century. My direct ancestors are spread across nine English counties, from Northumberland to Cornwall, with an additional three counties if I count where I am pretty certain brick wall lines came from. Every single one of all those direct ancestors and there are well over two hundred of them, that I have identified, was born or baptised in England. Until perhaps now. I have been whiling my waiting to move time away by revisiting my Northumbrian ancestry. Part of the story has already found its way on to my Granny’s Tales website. Incidentally, I decided to splash out and convert Granny’s Tales to a paid website so it now has a new URL, although the old one will still work.

Northumbrian ancestors then. This is an eighth of my ancestry, so there’s a lot to tell, even though great great grandad is a brick wall. I sorted the Hoggs and the Pearsons to the best of my ability, so it was time to turn to the Eadingtons. The Eadingtons are tricky; partly because there are so many spelling variations and partly because every last one of them, well almost, is called Patrick, David or James. Except of course when some of the Patricks decide to call themselves Peter just to add to the fun.

My earliest Eadington ancestor is 5x great grandfather David Eadington who married in Embleton in 1756, had some of his children baptised about ten miles from Embleton in Warenford Presbyterian Chapel and had some more children who he didn’t baptise at all, or whose baptism records don’t survive, then ended his days in Alnwick. His gravestone gives his age at death, which suggests that he was born in 1731 or January 1732. Of course, ages at burial are notoriously inaccurate but that’s all I have to go on. Conveniently though, David left a will and this includes mention of several nieces and nephews, children of his late, unnamed, brother. Following up these nephews and nieces, one of whom was also David’s daughter-in-law, at least some of whom have baptism records, revealed that the brother was called James. James married on Holy Island in 1768. James too has a convenient gravestone that leads to a birth between October 1729 and October 1730; so I was now looking for two brothers. There the research sat for several years.

If you believe the ‘wisdom’ of online trees (I don’t), David was baptised in Earlston, Berwickshire, Scotland in 1738, the son of Robert. Not only does these mean he was probably only eighteen when he married but there isn’t a single Robert in my Eadington family, nor was there a brother James. Although this was possible, I remained to be convinced. Investigating the Eadingtons of Holy Island, I discovered an Alice, or Alison Eadington who had an illegitimate son Patrick in 1763. It is almost certain that this Alison was the daughter of Patrick and Alison Eadington née Allen, who moved from Coldingham, in Berwickshire, to Bamburgh, Northumberland. Better still, this Alison had a brother James baptised in 1730. There is no David in the family but the family are on the move between 1729 and 1740 and there is a ten year gap in the children’s baptisms after James. The naming patterns of James and David’s children are a good match for this family; Alison Allen’s father is called David. Even supposing I adopted Patrick and Alison as my 6x great grandparents and I really feel I need more than this, there is another unanswered question. My ancestor is David’s son Patrick (when he isn’t calling himself Peter). He is mentioned in David’s will and on his gravestone as ‘son’ but there is no baptism. He was born c.1762/3. Alison’s son Patrick has no future as Eadington, Chirnside (his father’s name) or Anderson (his step-father’s name). Did David bring his sister’s illegitimate son up as his own child?

Scottish research is not my area of expertise. If anyone has any idea how I might find more evidence that would support or refute this theory I’d be very grateful. I really would like to be able to confirm my Scottish ancestry and get my kilt out.