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In this second episode of Season Eleven, host Andrew Martin is delighted to welcome the family historian, author, lecturer, historical interpreter, One-Place and One-Name studier Dr. Janet Few who amongst these roles is also the President of the Family History Federation.

Janet explains how she got hooked on researching family history, her passion for One-Name and One-Place studies and how they complement family history research, and her thoughts on the genealogy industry.

THE LIFE STORY - ANN STRATFORD
Janet has chosen to tell the life story of her 2x Great Grandmother Ann Stratford b.c. 1834, with whom Janet discovered a surprise extra connection to. Ann's family were based in a rural community in Buckinghamshire, England, and times were hard. Ann learned straw plaiting (something Janet wasn't as successful with) and this brought the family a valuable income.

However, plaiting was taught at an early age in specialist schools, and those who were good at it could earn sometimes twice as much as the men... and this seems to have been a problem! The plait girls and women were thought of as disreputable, and they were victim of lots of bad press.   

THE BRICK WALL - MARY CARDELL
An unusual surname gives Janet a long-term brick wall - Mary Cardell - her 2x Great Grandmother and the only one of her 2x Great Grandparents whose parents (her 3x Gt Grandparents) remain unknown.

Janet has found several references to Mary having been born in Highgate, Middlesex, England, with her 1841 marriage certificate giving her father as James Cardell, and the witnesses including a Catherine Cardell. Janet can't find a baptism record for Mary, but she can find references to other Cardells, but she isn't able to link them up. Is there a Worcestershire connection?

Can you help Janet;

• Find Mary and her husband Philip Woolgar in the 1851 census?
• Find Mary's baptism, with James Cardell as her father?

If you think you can help Janet with a clue or idea, then you can contact her at her Granny's Tales website. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it on.

In the meantime, Janet is curious of Andrew's offer of help, but has concerns over her safety...

- - -

Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Dr. Janet Few - Guest

Family history isn’t just names and dates. Preserve voices, stories, and memories in a private, secure space. Built so future generations understand who came before them.

Begin for free at Ancestorii

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In this first episode of Season Eleven, host Andrew Martin meets family historian John Matheus. He hears how John only recently got hooked on researching his family's history, hears about his wonder of the spelling of his last name, and why he thinks Warren Zevon's 1978 song 'Lawyers, Guns and Money' describes his family tree well.

THE LIFE STORY - NOAH DAVIS

John has chosen to tell the life story of his 3x Gt Grandfather Noah Davis born in 1818, who went on to become a Judge and a significant figure in American law and politics after making it into the US House of Representatives in 1868. 

His success did not stop there, as after being nominated as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York by President Ulysses S. Grant, he ended up convicting the notoriously corrupt and powerful politician William 'Boss Tweed' Tweed.

THE BRICK WALL - HULDAH TAYLOR

John is looking for help to find records of the early life of his ancestor Huldah Taylor, and her parents. He believes that her father may have been called Gad Taylor, but evidence is somewhat thin - as he can't find a suitable Gad Taylor, and he's seen a few other trees that suggest other names than Gad.

Huldah, born in 1758, is present in Suffield, Connecticut, but can you help John confirm her parents, and shed light on Gad Taylor?

If you think that you can help John with a clue or research idea, you can send him a message via his Bluesky account, or alternatively, send us a message and we'll pass it right along.

Whilst John is curious of Andrew's offer of help, can they Connect with the truth?

- - -

Episode Credits

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• John Matheus - Guest

Family history isn’t just names and dates. Preserve voices, stories, and memories in a private, secure space. Built so future generations understand who came before them.

Begin for free at Ancestorii

Support the show

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The Family Histories Podcast is back, and ready to share a whole load of brand new episodes from our eleventh season.

Join host Andrew Martin and the 19th Century Hungarian assistant Sándor Petőfi as they welcome another 7 guests to the show, each with 7 fascinating life stories to tell, and 7 annoying brick walls for you to help solve.

Find out more about this season and meet our guests.

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This is a special episode released as part of Podcasthon - an annual event for podcasters to produce an episode to raise awareness of a charitable cause. This year we have chosen to support the veterans' mental health charity Combat Stress. This episode contains references to trauma.

In this special Season Ten episode, host Andrew Martin meets family historian Natalie Mayhew who has spent more than 2 decades researching her family tree, has found a connection between her family and Charles Booth (of the poverty maps), and she shares her love of newspapers.

THE LIFE STORY - TED MAYHEW

Natalie has chosen to tell the life story of her Great Uncle, Ted Mayhew,  who fought in World War Two but was captured by the Germans after Dunkirk. He was sent to a Prisoner of War camp where he lived for almost 5 years. 

Whilst Ted survived, the horrific effects of war affecting him for long after - with him suffering from what we'd likely recognise now as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). To help us navigate this part of the episode, we're joined by Professor Walter Busuttil - the Consultant Psychiatrist and Honorary Advisor to the Board at Combat Stress.

If you're able to support Combat Stress' work, you can donate here. For those of you outside of the UK, there's a list of support organisations in other countries.

THE BRICK WALL - MARY ANN COOPER

Natalie's 3x Great Grandmother Mary Ann Cooper, baptised in Portsea, Hampshire, UK in 1820 is puzzling her.

By 1840, a George Cooper is baptised in Portsea, but surprisingly born at Stamshaw House - an asylum. 

This puzzle leaves Natalie with a few questions:

1. Where was Mary Ann Cooper in 1841? 
2. Why was George born at Stamshaw House in 1840? 
3. Was Mary Ann a patient, employed there (whilst pregnant) or just a visitor?

If you think you can help Natalie answer these with a research clue or idea, then you can contact her via her website Funny Where Life Takes You or via Bluesky. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it along to her.

In the meantime, host Andrew offers his help, but Natalie appears to know more than he expected… 

- - -

Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Natalie Mayhew - Guest
• Prof. Walter Busuttil

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... following on immediately from our previous episode - 'The Glassworker', we find host Andrew Martin and guest Lene D. Kottal in the garage, where they've been interrupted by Andrew's old friend Santa. When Santa starts to act strangely, they find themselves fleeing for their lives...

- - -

Episode Credits

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Lene D. Kottal - Guest
• Peter Baker - Santa
• John Spike - Sándor Petőfi

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In this seventh and final full episode of Season Ten of The Family Histories Podcast, host Andrew Martin meets Danish professional genealogist Lene D. Kottal. She explains how she got hooked on family history, why she turned professional, and how skills in researching patronymics can help researchers of Danish ancestry.

THE LIFE STORY - ANNA MARIA SÖDERLUND 

Lene has decided to tell the life story of her Great Grandmother Anna Maria Söderlund - someone that she has seen smiling in photographs but has since discovered led a hard life.

When Anna's father is fired for supporting a strike, the family fall upon harder times. Lene finds that Anna also worked in a glass factory too, but not within the glass blowing, but in the lesser skilled (and lower paid) jobs - much like her father had been forced into after being fired from his skilled job. 

The hardship continues as Anna marries and grows older, and with her husband, she ends up living in a convent. Lene likes to imagine that she lived here peacefully and in some comfort.

THE BRICK WALL - FREDERIK DRÆBY 

Lene is trying to find evidence that proves or disproves the paternity of her 2x Gt Grandfather Frederik Dræby, born in 1849 as the reputed son of customs official Frederik Dræby of Silkeborg, Denmark. 

However, Lene is struggling to find documented evidence, or genetic evidence that either confirms this, or points to a different paternity.

Frederik Dræby senior has plenty of other children, and Lene has traced their descendants but has not found them in her matches with MyHeritage. She has yet to take an Ancestry test, but hopes that a paternal match for this branch will prove it was Dræby or will point elsewhere instead.

• Can you help Lene find evidence of Frederik Dræby, or do you have that name in your tree?

If you think you can help her with a research clue or idea, then you can send her a message via her website, join her Dræby Facebook group, or alternatively you can send us a message and we'll pass it along to her.

In the meantime, Lene is happy to accept Andrew's offer of help, but they're interrupted by an old friend... or are they?

- - -

Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Lene D. Kottal - Guest

Family history isn’t just names and dates. Preserve voices, stories, and memories in a private, secure space. Built so future generations understand who came before them.

Begin for free at Ancestorii

Support the show

Thank you for listening!
You can sign up to our email newsletter for the latest and behind the scenes news.

You can find us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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In this sixth episode of Season Ten, host Andrew Martin meets New Zealand-based genealogist, author, storyteller and 'story listener', Simon Young. He hears how Simon got hooked on family history after a brown envelop was handed to him, and his thoughts on where the genealogy community may go next.

THE LIFE STORY - DR. JAMES LIND

Simon has chosen to tell the Life Story of his 5x Great Grandfather, Dr. James Lind, who was born in 1736 in Gorgie, Edinburgh, Scotland.

By 1766, he'd joined the East India Company as a surgeon, and two years later earned his Doctorate after completing his dissertation in marsh fever (malaria). 

However, James was somewhat a polymath, and surrounded by other polymaths in Edinburgh at the time. He missed out on a voyage with Captain Cook after asking for too much money, and instead headed to Iceland to study the stars.

He also mentored Percy Bysshe Shelley, and this clearly left an impression on Percy who wrote James as characters in some of his work. James was also perhaps an inspiration for Percy's wife - author Mary Shelley - who it's said, was inspired by James when she wrote Frankenstein, after one of James' 'scientific' tricks was to electrocute dead frogs so that they would twitch and jump, as if brought back to life!

THE BRICK WALL - WILLIAM and HANNAH SMITH

Yes, that's right... Simon is asking you to help him find some ancestors bearing one of the most common surnames from Britain - Smith! 

Simon knows that his ancestor George Henry Smith was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1859, but he has no further information about his parents William Smith and Hannah Smith (née 'Dardin').  When George Smith marries in the 1880s, his father is named, but the marriage takes place in New Zealand. Simon doesn't know if George's parents were alive, went to New Zealand, or stayed in Australia.

Can you help him find the correct William and Hannah Smith, parents of George Henry Smith?

If you think that you can offer Simon a research clue or idea, then you can contact him via his website, or alternatively send us message and we'll pass it on.

In the meantime... Simon is happy to accept Andrew's offer of help, but has a few questions first....

- - -

Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Simon Young - Guest
• John Spike - Sándor Petőfi

Family history isn’t just names and dates. Preserve voices, stories, and memories in a private, secure space. Built so future generations understand who came before them.

Begin for free at Ancestorii

Support the show

Thank you for listening!
You can sign up to our email newsletter for the latest and behind the scenes news.

You can find us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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Message us.

In this fifth episode of Season Ten, host Andrew is joined by professional genealogist, adoption research specialist - Kathy Wilshaw. She tells Andrew about how she got hooked on family history, the challenges of researching as an adoptee, and her work to mediate for other adoptees and their birth parents.

THE LIFE STORY - IVY COLLISON 

Kathy has chosen to tell the story of her... shhhh.... Great Aunt, Ivy Collison who was born in Northamptonshire, UK in 1893. The problem for Kathy in researching Ivy, is that no-one was supposed to talk about her. Obviously, Kathy had to go rummaging as soon as she could...

What Kathy found was, at face value, a woman living a somewhat uneventful life, but then a turn of events leads Kathy to the newspapers... and suddenly Ivy's extravagant and criminal lifestyle began to appear.

Ivy was a con artist, a fraudster, and she managed to take large amounts of money from unsuspecting hopeful men, and from those who fell for her schemes. Of course, this landed her in trouble many times and this led her to prison sentences and a host of pseudonyms too.

Amongst Ivy's story, Kathy has found what is perhaps a woman who was unwell, or desperately sad and lonely, leaving her wondering who the real Ivy was. 

THE BRICK WALL - JOHN WILSHAW
One of Kathy's longest-running brick walls is in her husband's family - with his 3x Great Grandfather John Wilshaw born circa 1804.

Whilst Wilshaw is an unusual surname, it isn't unusual in Staffordshire, England, and Kathy wants to know where her husband's ancestor John Wilshaw was from. Sources seem to point to a birth circa 1804, and there's references to Cheddleton too, but despite there being John Wilshaw in the Cheddleton parish register, they don't appear to be him.

Can you help her find the correct John Wilshaw, son of John Wilshaw? 

If you think that you can help Kathy to break down this brick wall with a research idea or clue, then you can message her via her website or via the email address she gives in the episode. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it on to her.

In the meantime, Andrew offers Kathy help to break that brick wall... but she chooses a different adventure...

- - -

Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Kathy Wilshaw - Guest

Family history isn’t just names and dates. Preserve voices, stories, and memories in a private, secure space. Built so future generations understand who came before them.

Begin for free at Ancestorii

Support the show

Thank you for listening!
You can sign up to our email newsletter for the latest and behind the scenes news.

You can find us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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In this fourth episode of Season Ten, Andrew once again has two guests… and they’re siblings! Joining him are brothers who as Parra Genealogía, focus on researching family history in Mexico - it’s Roberto and Ramón Parra! 

THE LIFE STORY - FLORENCIO PÉREZ COMOTO 

Ramón and Roberto have chosen to tell the life story of Florencio Pérez Comoto - the son-in-law of their 5x Great Grandfather.

Florencio was born around 1775 in Cádiz in Andalucía, Spain, and when he graduated from medical training, he headed over to Nueva España (part of which is now modern Mexico) and settled in Veracruz. He worked as a military medical doctor and after arriving he found himself deep in epidemiology. After Edward Jenner's discovery of using cowpox to vaccinate against smallpox, Florencio ended up leading the efforts of vaccination against the spread of a deadly smallpox epidemic in Mexico, and encouraging people to get vaccinated.

Florencio's work is a success, but when Mexico gains Independence in 1821, he and his family flee back to Spain.

THE BRICK WALL - FLORENCIO PÉREZ COMOTO

It's a research brick wall that also surrounds their Life Story choice Florencio Pérez Comoto, that has Roberto and Ramón asking for help.

Whilst Florencio and some of his sons were writers, translators, and poets, Roberto and Ramón have yet to find anything biographical about his life during the smallpox epidemic and his family's fleeing back to Spain after the Declaration of Mexico's Independence in 1821.

If you think that you can help with a research idea or a clue to help bring their brick wall down, then you can contact them via their Parra Genealogía website, or alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it along.

In the meantime, Roberto and Ramón are keen to accept Andrew's offer of help, but it's all a matter of timing...

- - -

Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Roberto Parra - Guest
• Ramón Parra - Guest

Family history isn’t just names and dates. Preserve voices, stories, and memories in a private, secure space. Built so future generations understand who came before them.

Begin for free at Ancestorii

Support the show

Thank you for listening!
You can sign up to our email newsletter for the latest and behind the scenes news.

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In today's 3rd episode of Season Ten, host Andrew Martin is joined by tech nerd, un-retiree, and YouTube and Facebook live-streaming genealogist, who is perhaps better known by her award-winning blogging nom-de-plume - it's the wonderful DearMYRTLE!

THE LIFE STORY - MYRTLE ELIZA WEISER
Myrt has chosen to tell the life story of her much beloved, and namesake, grandmother who was born Myrtle Eliza Weiser in May 1895, in Salt Lake City in Utah, USA.

Grandmother Myrtle heads to a strict nursing school. She then gets a job for US $1 a week as a postpartum nurse - involving caring for infants and doing laundry.

After marrying in 1917, Myrtle gives birth to her first child amidst the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 (often called 'Spanish Flu'). DearMyrtle reflects on the experiences that her grandmother must have had as young mother and trained nurse during that flu epidemic, and relates it to her own experience during the Covid-19 pandemic that swept the world in 2020.

Moving to Seattle, her kindly ways emerge again - serving as a nurse during World War Two, giving inoculations to servicemen on the waterfront and would bring an occasional young recruit home to have dinner with the family. She also campaigned for children to have shoes.

Myrt's fond memories of her beloved grandmother beam from this episode, and has clearly shaped her own life.

THE BRICK WALL - HANNAH HUDSON
It's a brick wall in Bisham, Berkshire, UK that has Myrt asking for help. Hannah Hudson and her husband Benjamin Sanders take their daughter Zillah for baptism in 1788, but prior to that, remains a mystery.

Myrt has searched for Hannah's origins - checking the parish registers for marriages and baptisms, but she can't find Hannah Hudson's parents, nor her marriage to Benjamin Sanders.

A record on FamilySearch gives a baptism of a Hannah Hudson of John and Anne Hudson elsewhere in Berkshire, but there's not enough evidence yet to connect her Hudsons to them.

• Who are Hannah Hudson's parents?
• When/where was she born?

If you think that you can help Myrt with a research idea or clue, then you can message her via her Substack page. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it on to her.

In the meantime, Myrt is enthusiastic about Andrew's offer of help, but maybe she knows more than he does... 

- - -

Episode Credits

Family history isn’t just names and dates. Preserve voices, stories, and memories in a private, secure space. Built so future generations understand who came before them.

Begin for free at Ancestorii

Support the show

Thank you for listening!
You can sign up to our email newsletter for the latest and behind the scenes news.

You can find us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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Message us.

In this 2nd episode of Season Ten, host Andrew is joined by Norfolk-based family historian, churchyard lurker, heirloom re-uniter, and TikTok video maker - Simon Howard.

THE LIFE STORY - ELEANOR THORNBERRY SMITH

Simon has chosen to tell the life story of his 3x Gt Grandmother Eleanor Thornberry Smith, who was born circa 1822 in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.

Simon discovered Eleanor was baptised by her mother Elizabeth Smith, who was unmarried. There was no mention of a father, but that middle name of Thornberry seemed unusual, and would be the clue to help him unlock the identity of his 4x Gt Grandfather.

What he found was a man called David Thornberry living a very different life than Eleanor's mother Elizabeth. He was a young engineer working on the sluices and riverways of the area.... and he was also married.

As Simon discovers, Elizabeth manages to get David to contribute to his daughter in her early years, but when he discovers that she's not mentioned in his Will, did she ever know who he was?

THE BRICK WALL - BERNARD LOWN 

Simon is looking for help to track down Bernard Lown and his family, who go missing in the Norfolk area of Clunchwarton, Terrington St. John, and Terrington St. Clements. 

He's been able to find the Lown family - Bernard, his wife Mary, their sons Richard, George, and Bernard, in the 1841 and 1851 censuses, and he's found Mary with a burial in 1867 at Clunchwarton... but that 1861 census remains a mystery. 

• What becomes of Bernard Lown? 
• Where were the Lown family in 1861?

If you think you can help, you can send him a message via his social media channels - Facebook, Instagram, or via the email he gives in the episode. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it straight along to him.

In the meantime, Simon is curious of Andrew's offer of help, but does he have time?

- - -

Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Simon Howard - Guest
• John Spike - Sándor Petőfi

Family history isn’t just names and dates. Preserve voices, stories, and memories in a private, secure space. Built so future generations understand who came before them.

Begin for free at Ancestorii

Support the show

Thank you for listening!
You can sign up to our email newsletter for the latest and behind the scenes news.

You can find us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
If you liked this episode please subscribe for free, or leave a rating or review, or consider giving us a 'tip' to keep the show funded.