When tracing our ancestors back through the years, all can be going well until we hit the 1700s. Suddenly, sources seem to dry up and it's easy to lose heart. Maybe you have found your ancestors' names in a parish register, but know little about them as people: they remain faceless and anonymous. Perhaps you…
Ancestors who got into trouble with the law will feature in most family trees. Undoubtedly, some were hardened criminals whilst perhaps others committed crimes out of desperation, or were just foolish. Some of those convicted may even have been innocent. Whatever the circumstances, to be arrested, imprisoned, separated from your family and accused publicly of…
Over the years, I have discovered that many of my ancestors were country folk and l love to visit the villages where they once lived. I usually make a beeline for the church and immediately, my imagination starts to run wild. I envision a large group clustered around the font, as a tiny baby is…
Oast Houses, Sissinghurst, KentImage courtesy of Derek Winterburn via Flickr- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ The Garden of England, as Kent is often described, is the county of my birth and indeed, my ancestors have been living here since the earliest dates. Kent is known as the Garden of England because historically, it was full of pretty apple, pear,…
This year I have decided to launch a new series of blogs called Jude's Gen, which will differ slightly in content to my regular articles. I love sharing research stories and writing about specific record sources but I thought it would be refreshing to take a theme and thread through news, reviews, opinion and commentary…
It is an interesting question when you ask a couple how they met. Did they get together through mutual friends, or perhaps through a shared hobby? Maybe they met at university, or bumped into one another in the pub. For younger couples, a dating website may have provided the introduction. I like asking this question…
Some of the most intense fighting in the history of air warfare occurred over the skies of Kent in August 1940 when the Battle of Britain was at its height. 54 Squadron, having been posted to No. 11 Group, was one of the squadrons that bore the brunt of the German aerial assault. At this…
Previously, in Ancestors who were Blind, I looked at how our blind ancestors might have lived with their disability, specifically looking at the life of my husband's ancestor, Hannah Lilian Woodcock. In this article, I will be looking at ancestors who were deaf, illustrated by the life of my deaf relative, Maria Batchelor (1827-1903). At…
HMS Vanguard (1909) with Sister Ship of St Vincent ClassWatercolour "Dirty Weather by A.C.B. Cull 1912 In a corner of the churchyard of St Helen’s, Cliffe, Kent, at the base of a stone cross, are the names of villagers who gave their lives for their country in the two World Wars. One of those commemorated is…
Genealogy Jude 