Hi from Adelaide

[Felinity]

I've been browsing around a little, but thought I should do things properly and post an introduction here before diving into any of the other threads.

I've lived here in Adelaide, South Australia, for about 9 years now, and before that grew up in Essex (although I was born in Manly, NSW when my parents were over on a three year contract back in the 60s - no doubt that'll cause some trouble to genealogical researchers in years to come when they can't find my birth in Essex like my brother's and sister's!)

I started researching my husband's family tree back in the 90's - I worked in London and was able to spend many long lunchhours in the records office at the end of Fleet Street, poring through the old record books. I was trying to link the Rawley family back to Sir Walter Raleigh but hit a block of about two hundred years that i could never fill. I also tried chatting to my maternal grandmother about her family history, but when it transpired that her father's name on birth certificate was 'unknown' she clammed up, being of the generation where this kind of thing was not talked about! My maternal grandfather also grew up in a children's home in Gateshead, in Northern England, and there were rumours that his father had run off to Australia....

Recently the wife of my Mum's nephew managed to find a death certificate for this person - and sure enough, he had died in New South Wales, here in Australia. This spurred me on to get out my old research notes, and load the tree up in Ancestry.com... which has since been responsible for many lost hours and many missed walks for the dog! Ah the joys of online censusses!!

Anyway, that's about where I am now. The main names in my tree are Rawley, Saysell, Chivers and Carl on my husband's side (including a family rumour about missing out on a large inheritance "the Dolloway fortune" with links to the names of Whitbourne, Price, Blandy and Knighton!) and Parker, Fairley, Brenchley, Charman and Dowding on my side. The Rawleys and Parkers were mostly London-based, the Fairley's Durham and Northumberland, the Charmans from Sussex, the Saysells from Herefordshire and the Brenchleys from Kent.

If any of you are still awake after that lot, then hi, and I look forward to exploring the site more, and hopefully getting some helpful and useful tips and advice along the way!

[Waitabit]

Hi Felinity, wow a here & there kind of suspense story much loved by most researchers, nice to see you here. You may want to post on a board for a particular county or just a general :
https://www.british-genealogy.com/for...istory-Queries
until you get going. looking forward to more news on this Family of yours.

[Sue Mackay]

Hallo Felinity, and a very warm welcome to BG. Glad to have you aboard. I look forward to reading your posts in the relevant place when you have had a good look round.

[Sandra Parker]

yet another antipodean! Welcome Felinity.
When you locate 'the Dollaway fortune', check and see if the Bradford fortune is in the next container. Wouldn't it be great to find that all this wealth and fame had not been squandered by some rogue rellie, intent on making his mark - doesn't ever seem to the female line who do the squandering - and that it is just sitting there waiting for you to discover it!.
Still, we have great fun searching, and this is a great place to find help with that.
Sandra

[Felinity]

LOL yes, all those unclaimed boxes of money, just sitting there, waiting to be claimed and shared out between all the descendants... which - going from the sizes of the families in those days - would probably result in about 10 quid each!! What I find intriguing is wondering how all these couples met.... how did someone from southern England in the 1800s end up meeting and marrying someone in Northumberland? I really must get hold of some good books on social history and read about why people moved from one place to another.

Thanks for the lovely welcome - I can see many more hours being spent on this forum in the future!

[Hatshepsut]

Hi Felinity...welcome to the site. I love SA...particularly the Barossa area
I am green with envy about you having been able to troll through those old records!