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So, don't ask me how it happened, but I am back researching my English roots. Not the ones who have been in the states for centuries, those who are my immigrant ancestors, arriving between 1835 and 1884. Now, let me tell you, it is without a doubt one of the most difficult and confusing things I have researched. England is a whole different pickle, the setup of parishes and shires and districts, in most cases leaves my head reeling. Add to that the difficulty in actually obtaining records , well, ...

Every family has a story, something that has been handed down with a little embellishment or perhaps a spot of cleaning up as the years went by. There were three things that were said at Sunday tea by my Aunty Muriel and they were... perhaps I should explain about Sunday tea should I?

I am an only child but I grew up in a large family. My Dad was one of 12 children. They were kept close by Muriel who was the eldest. She had been told by her mother to look after her brothers and sister ...

I am a mutt genealogically speaking. Though I subscribe to the belief in canine's, mutt's are sometimes the best, prettiest, and healthiest of the animal, I am not so sure about the human correlation. I am a rather proud mutt, but my family history is a varied mixture of heritage that makes me envy those who can trace their trees back 400 or more years. I can tell you with all honesty, I will never be able to do that. Nonetheless, what I have found has been astounding.

My paternal ...

Growing up in Kent in the 1960s, our visits to Wales were few and far between until the M2 was opened and we got a reliable car. Even then, the drive took 8 hours and we only went once a year in the summer. There were three things we looked forward to on those long drives: crossing the Severn Bridge as we entered Wales, our first glimpse of the mountains and our first glimpse of a pit head wheel.

Auntie Polly was the last surviving sibling of my paternal grandfather and she lived ...