My Blog

As I was adding Jethro Shaw to our family tree a few days ago, I came across this claim:   “Jethro SHAW of Oakerside Wensley farmer was a...

It’s always quite exciting to discover that your relatives had a role to play in sensational events of the day. Last week we visited...

Overton Hall is a country house just outside Ashover in Derbyshire. It was described as “a pleasant old residence, embosomed in ancient...

Ari’s 6x great-grandmother, Mary Flint, was born on 23 August 1791 in Middleton By Wirksworth, Derbyshire. Her parents were William Flint...

Today we visited the grave of Flight Sergeant Frederick David Johnson at Botley Cemetery. He died in 1943, at the age of twenty-two, when...

James Sims (also Syms and Simms) was Ari’s 8x great-grandfather, born in Duffield, Derbyshire in 1681 when King Charles II was on the...

As noted in the blog post for Mary Kitchen Pearson, shortly before her son Henry was born in 1842, a tin plate worker named Henry Walker...

John Kent was Ari’s 6x great-grandfather, born in Kirk Langley, Derbyshire, in 1781. His parents were James Kent and Elizabeth Blood, and...

Isaac Spencer was Ari’s 7x great-grandfather. He lived in Middleton by Wirksworth, Derbyshire, and was born in 1740. His parents were...

Six men are working with combs, irons and brushes as they make hats of various descriptions, some tools of their trade are hanging on the...

Elizabeth Ann Murfin was Ari’s 3x great-grandmother. She was the first child of John Murfin and Mary Ford, born on 22 September 1877 in...

Sarah Buxton was Ari’s 7x great-grandmother. She was born in Middleton By Wirksworth in Derbyshire in 1744 and baptised on 21 November...

William Phipps was born in the village of Ockbrook, which is near the canal on the road from Nottingham to Derby. William was one of...

Eliza Kent was one of Ari’s 5x great-grandmothers. She was born in 1814 in the village of Kirk Langley, which is 4.5 miles north-west of...

Ari’s 3x great-grandmother, Elizabeth Phipps, was born on 11 December 1876 in Holbrook, Belper, Derbyshire. She was the fifth of the...

What do we do when the facts don’t fit our story? Sometimes we just give up at that point in our tree, deciding that it’s too complicated...

George Pearson was Ari’s 6x great-grandfather, born in Bonsall, Derbyshire, in 1792. His baptism took place on 26 Feb at the church in...

I was contacted by a relative this morning asking about the mysterious Ann (maiden name unknown). Ann was Ari's 6x great-grandmother,...

Mary Ann was one of Ari's 4x great-grandmothers. She was born in the village of Whatstandwell, which is between Matlock and Belper, on...

One of Ari's ancestors who I think had a very difficult life was Ellen Boothby. She was Ari's 4x great-grandmother, and not only did she...