The story of my great-great-great-grandmother Maggy Tighe is a story of Ireland’s Great Famine. A story of Liverpool’s slums. A story shared by millions of her countrymen and women who fled Ireland in desperate starvation. A story of tragedy, loss, and pain. A story of survival. She was my grandfather’s great-grandmother, a woman he never Read More…
Old maps give extraordinary insights into the layout of a town and what daily life may have looked like in the past. You can get a real sense of how far an ancestor had to walk to Church or to school or, as in the case of my Liverpool ancestors, to the riverside docks where Read More…
My grandfather never said much about his mother; he never even mentioned her name. All he ever told us was that she was an alcoholic and regularly beat him viciously, which is partly why he ran away from home at the age of fourteen. I never gave her much thought beyond that and certainly when Read More…
This is the final article in a 3-part series focusing on your DNA results: Disappointed with Your DNA Ethnicity Estimates? Solving Mysteries Using Your DNA Results How to Delicately Approach a New-Found Relative My last post described how I identified one of my mother’s mysterious DNA relative matches and determined that she was likely a later-in-life Read More…
Someone asked my kids recently what their mum did for work. They both rolled their eyes (they’re seven and ten years old) and joked “she researches our ancestors and doesn’t stop talking about them!” The funny thing is that whenever I do talk about our family history, they secretly love it. They listen. They ask Read More…
The inevitable brick wall. They are a part of every genealogist’s journey, so don’t be put off when you hit yours. Brick walls take extra patience, creative thinking and sometimes sheer luck to crack, but it’s an amazing sense of accomplishment when you do eventually find that missing piece of information. One of the most Read More…
Researching family history is an exciting journey. I feel elated when I find a new piece of information or break down a brick wall. What I don’t feel like is properly filing and citing this new-found information. That’s the boring bit. Or so I thought until I did a major revamp of my organization system. Read More…
Below is the story of how we discovered my grandfather’s secret life and true identity. It’s what kick-started my love of genealogy and desire to learn more about my roots and help others find theirs. I’ll warn you now: it’s a long one. I didn’t want to cut corners, although there are still so many Read More…