Looking down towards Builth just after 7 a.m. yesterday morning.
I know - I should be doing housework. I HAVE to do some later on but for the moment I am in a delightful steady frenzy (IS there such a thing?!) of family history research involving people and places in the 18th C on the Isle of Man. I am like a dog with a bone! I have solved a family mystery which has been neglected many years and research is so much easier now that so many more links and documents are put on-line. I am currently perusing the actual parish registers which have been scanned - AMAZING!
As I only had snippets of names and very sparse details which had come down from Keith's dad, who sadly died when Keith and I were just friends, it was not a very easy journey. BUT yesterday I made a huge breakthrough and have found the family holding and what was happening there around the 1890s from a book written in 1945, reliant on wonderful memories from the oldest people in the parish who knew everyone who lived everywhere, even in long-ruined cottages and plots. It also looks like I have been researching in the wrong parish for some of "his lot" as they appear to be hefted elsewhere. I still have to trace beyond g.g. grandfather though and that hasn't been easy. No cast iron links - just guestimates until today, but now I am confirming notes I made back in 2000 when the only tool I had on the internet was the basic IGI (it is now MUCH improved and called Family Search).
Fascinating to see the the common folk (our lot and their neighbours) chose family names for their children - John, William, Philip, Patrick, James, Ann, Mary, Margaret with the occasional more exotic Isabel or Elinor. The Royal Naval births, however, really went for originality - how about Victoria Sophia Alfrida? Or Belvedira Clarissa Eliza? Or John Adolphus Frederick? So, I am immersed in Kellys, Cowleys, Quayles, Christians, Sayles and Shimmins . . .
Anyway, yesterday very early I went for a long walk, right to the very top of the hill this time, so my fitness levels are definitely improving. Today I treated myself to "Walking the Old Ways of Radnorshire" - a companion to the book in the same series which is of Herefordshire. I hope there will be soon one of Breconshire too, which is actually the county we live in, although it is part of Powys now. So, lots of photos and not much in the way of writing, but you probably know I just LOVE to research and so I am like a terrier down a rabbit hole and keeping cool at the same time.
Before we know it the rain will begin and we (certianly me) will be longing for the sun again. So hot here in Pembs that even the sea seems warm. Enjoy those wonderful Brecon bridleways - you will have them more to yourself than almost anywhere else!
ReplyDeleteIndeed - we're never pleased are we! It definitely IS Too Darn Hot right now though. We just braved the sun to do a mostly shady walk beside the river to St David's Church. Cooler yes, and Tam had a paddle at the Ford where Llewelyn must have crossed to get up to Cilmeri. I bet HE didn't get bitten by horse flies!! though it would have been deeper in December there.
ReplyDeleteWe only saw one person (dog-walker) whilst we were out. Everyone else was sensible enough to be indoors :)
Nothing as good as burrowing down a rabbit hole of research!
ReplyDeleteIt has made me SO happy!
DeleteSadly staying in today as the sky is full of the smoke particles from the western US and not good for those of us with asthma( I’m on the East coast). Oh I wish I had that countryside that you have to ride and walk in. My horses woulnLOVE it!
ReplyDeleteOh no - my goodness- you're the other side of the country and suffering. What must it be like for folk in the West? I hope that the fires are put out soon.
DeleteGreat countryside for hacking round here, it really is. My horse would have LOVED it.
Great photos. Hope it cools off enough so some of your walks are not so taxing.
ReplyDeleteAnd, the joy of finding family history, yes? That Ah, ha! moment when you discover something new. My DD has done most of the research with the info I have been able to provide her. Not easy as my grandparents were all born in the 1860/70s and all but one died before I was born. Two were English (traced), one a Scot and the other Irish. The Scot (my paternal GF, died 1929) has proved the most difficult with the Irish (Paternal GM who died six months after GF) a close second. Not entirely sure whether GM's last name was changed, as we were once told by relatives. I did see what I think was her name on a wall on Ellis Island with the same timeline of her arrival around 1900, but still, hard to be sure. Happy you have made some new discoveries.
I think Scottish and Irish records can be quite taxing - especially if you're the other side of the world. I have been delighted to find SO much more on line with the Manx records. I hope to properly tie up the "likely" link in the next few days.
DeleteWhich part(s) of England were your folks from?
My mother and her family were all from London, though a paternal GGGF was born in Bristol, but it appears the family moved to London before he turned two as he was christened in London and all records afterwards indicate they never went back to Bristol.
DeletePeople often went to London for work, and no real reason to leave after that - you get hefted to one area I suppose. Bristol these days is very On Trend! THE place for young folk to live.
DeleteHow well I know the hours that go into family research--and too often the hours are spent without the concrete leads that we hope for. I doubt I shall live long enough to reliably trace that elusive twice great grandfather and his family, but its a grand moment when the clues begin to connect.
ReplyDeleteGenealogy is wonderful for any kind of weather that makes it more comfortable to stay indoors.
You will know more than most how elusive these ancestors can be. I've got a real breakthrough in one area, but of course, that has presented more problems too! I've found a couple of Wills today which may help once I can join the dots.
DeleteIt was a good way to mop up the day when doing anything the least bit energetic was a no-no.
Exciting times with the breakthrough of your research journey, I am thrilled for you. Another beautiful walk.
ReplyDeleteThoroughly enjoyed and was excited by studying both my husband and my ancestry prior to visiting Europe and actually seeing the villages from whence they came. It was truly a superb experience.
ReplyDeleteHello Regina. Family history is so absorbing and you learn so much about where your folk came from though mine were mostly agricultural labourers, working on the land and stayed put. I am very much tied to the countryside, so guess that has come down in the genes.
DeleteWonderful to travel Europe and seeing your ancestral villages.
So pleased for you about the breakthrough - always an exciting moment! :) I found parish registers online at Broseley Salop where my ancestors lived for hundreds of years before moving to Herefordshire. Took ages to note all the relevant entries although thankfully I could search for the surname so they were highlighted. Now have to use notes to tie with family tree my cousin prepared!
ReplyDeleteDoing little housework here apart from washing and ironing and meals - it is SO hot and humid :(
Beautiful photos of your local area of the views and wild flowers :)
The Manx records are just absolutely amazing in their age and scope. Gosh, how I'd love a month over on the Island JUST in their records office!
DeleteI am now trying to look through the oldest records to see mentions of the family name and see which parish we were truly hefted too - apparently Kirk German but getting lots of "right names" in Ballaugh too.
I abandoned the ironing today - just too darn hot. I normally do it when I want to warm up.
You have managed to settle in a lovely place.
ReplyDeleteIt took us thirty years to find record of my father's mother..and five to start unraveling her tangled history.
Best of luck for that...and isn't it surprising how things pop up unexpectedly, even when you think that you have been hunting thoroughly?!