#52ancestors (Wk52): Me, Myself, and I – Joyce Hale

A different theme has been handed down each week for a whole year and now the final, Week 52 of the #52ancestors family history project for 2023 has arrived. Each theme provided the opportunity to write about a different ancestor on my family tree and has proved to be the perfect stimulus to reflect on …

#52ancestors (Wk47): This Ancestor Stayed Home – Frank Holland

This story is close to home. My maternal Grandad, Frank Holland (1921-2014) was always close to my home. Growing up, my Dad was often working long double shifts to make ends meet, and since my Mum’s parents lived in the next street, I saw a lot of my Nan and Grandad, and thought a great …

#52ancestors (Wk43): Dig a Little Deeper – James Swayne and Mary Philpot

I can’t lie. When I first caught the family history ‘bug’ the first time around in my teens, it was all too easy to get carried away after the ‘whiff’ of scent of a particular blood line entranced my nostrils. In those early days, it felt like more of an addiction, with ‘how far back’ …

#52ancestors (Wk31): Flew the Coop – Anthony Simpson

Of eleven brothers and sisters born in Leeds, West Yorkshire to Spencer Simpson and Gladys Backhouse before, during and after World War Two, my Dad Anthony (better known as ‘Tony’) was the only one to break free of his West Yorkshire roots, the only one who ‘flew the coop’ – the theme for Week 31 …

#52ancestors (Wk29): Birthdays – Barbara Swayne and Barbara Sellon

Who would have thought that I would find the name ‘Barbara’ twice on my tree back in the 17th century! Not only that, for some of the names found furthest back on my tree, I did not expect to find what appeared to be such precise birthdays. On reflection, what are given in many sources …

#52ancestors (Wk17): DNA – Elizabeth Margaret Rose Coombes

Chicago, Illinois, USA opened up as a whole new front on my family tree last year when a DNA kit led to friendship with one of my cousins on my Mum’s Dad’s side of the family – Andrew Michael Castillo – although that wasn’t his name when we met. His DNA test revealed a whole …

#52ancestors (Wk15): Solitude – Reginald Richard Hale

The isolation of a farm cottage surrounded by rolling Hampshire fields above Wootton St, Lawrence, just north of Basingstoke, England provides the backdrop for the beginning of the life of my Mum’s Mum’s Dad – my great grandfather, Reginald Richard Hale (1899-1981) – and likely infuses this tale with more than its share of solitude …

#52ancestors (Wk2): Favourite Photo – Ellen Eliza Sawyer (or ‘Nana Coombes’)

Casting a spell for many a year, this photo of my great-grandmother Ellen Eliza Sawyer [b. 30 March, 1898 (Dogmersfield, Hants) – d. 1 March, 1953 (Guildford, Surrey)] has entranced three generations of my family – her son (my grandfather, Frank); her grand-daughter (my Mum, Mary) and yours truly. 'That' photo of Ellen Eliza, As …

Hampshire Day – and the importance of ‘place’

I've been enthusiastically marking the first 'Hampshire Day' - established as the 15th July, which is also the feast day of St. Swithun, the patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. The day is meant to celebrate the diverse culture, tradition and history of communities across what is often referred to as 'the first shire'. It means …

The Hows and Whys of the Hampshire heaths

With the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Kingsley, I posted recently about his contribution to a sense of 'place' in this corner of North-East Hampshire where I live, which referred to one of his works ("Prose Idylls, New and Old"), and how it described the 'rough commons' terrain of the area. Since that post, …