Alex from Family Tree Frog Blog has invited us to a blog challenge to celebrate National Family History Month 2022. This is my first in the month’s series. You might think that after researching for 36 years, I’d have solved all mysteries for my families, written up all my notes and turned them into stories. … More Family Research Mysteries
This will be a short and sweet Sepia Saturday post but how could I resist such a perfect match to the theme? This photo includes my grandmother’s younger sister, Edie and her daughter, Muriel. They are obviously out camping somewhere and having a fine time though they do look rather well dressed for the … More Sepia Saturday – Bikes in the bush
Without a doubt, we all owe a debt of gratitude to our immigrant ancestors, because without their courage either we would not be here or our lives would be completely different. There are many characteristics we might associate with them: integrity, inspiration, intelligence, independence or initiative. Unless they were “doctors, lawyers, or Indian chiefs”, as … More Inspiration and Influence of Immigrants
Do we under-estimate the significance of serendipity in our research: those felicitous timings of people, place or discoveries? Or do our ancestors really want us to know something and make sure we find it? Many years ago, one of my relations told me that my great-grandparents, Duncan McCorkindale and Annie Sim, had lost twins as … More Serendipity meets Genea-generosity
Last week I presented my readers with a confusing question arising from letters between two cousins. The jury is still out on whether Catherine McCorquodale later McColl does indeed belong to my family, being a daughter of Duncan MacQuorquodale. My investigations have sent me down the rabbit hole of discovery so I thought I’d set … More Revisiting the MacColls/McColls of Kenmore and Ontario
Do you ever have the feeling that your more distant branches on the family tree are rather like Swiss cheese, full of holes with tenuous structure? Please bear with me while I think online – I’d be interested in any feedback other genimates can offer. I’ve been revisiting my McCorkindale (aka McCorquodale and many variants) … More Thinking “out loud” online
Many years ago, I found occasional references to my great-uncle Peter McCorkindale on microfilmed newspapers. It was apparent that he regularly “smashed” the competition at various Highland Games. While I’d written a blog post about the McCorkindale pipers a long time ago, I’ve recently found even more on Trove. That’s what happens when I putter … More Trove Discoveries: The Skirl o’ Pipes
Quite some time ago, I found a family story among the British Newspaper Archives on Find My Past. It’s taken me ages to get to it, but I finally transcribed the whole story[i]. It involved the prosecution of my great grandmother’s brother, William Sim aka Sym, for feloniously shooting Hugh Cowan on 12th July 1872. … More The Backrow Shooting Case 1872
Shauna Hicks has initiated a new 52 week series of prompts, Genealogy Records. We’re only into Week 3 but there have already been some interesting topics: Military Medals, Internal Migration and Probate. Over the past few years I’ve done several 52 week series: Personal Genealogy and History (2011), Abundant Genealogy (2012) and my own Beyond the … More 52 weeks of Genealogy Records: Internal Migration
This week’s Sepia Saturday focuses on old books and the treasures (photographic or otherwise) found in them. I don’t think I’ve ever found photos tucked away in old books but we did find a group photo behind another picture from my Grandparents’ house and I talked about that in my Moustaches and Mystery post recently. … More Sepia Saturday 210: Award-winning relatives
Family history across the seas 