The Davidson story thus far....

Well, Christmas is the season to be jolly but it is also the season of holiday and relaxation. For me this means further family history research and writing has to be done!

I am still in the progress of writing the Davidson page on the blog but it is gradually getting closer to being finished. Pop along and have a good read sometime...The Davidson Story.

I was amazed last night in a matter of hours to discover another three generations of my family going right back to a chap named Mordecai Seddon from York who was born c1720!

I think this is the oldest known ancestor I now have in my family tree, its amazing what a holiday and continual research uncovers.

Free credits from Findmypast.com

Today Findmypast UK have an offer on their Facebook page for 50 free credits to use on viewing their online records . . . a useful tool for starting to research your family history or if you do not have a subscription but want to do a little research during the holidays.

Happy Christmas to all my readers.

An apprenticeship record

Once upon a time, when looking through a box of old papers that had been passed down through the family I came across this document:

Apprenticeship record of Edward Davidson

It is a really interesting read....although some of it is difficult to distinguish. Edward Davidson was my great, great grandfather who was born in 1866 in Poplar, London. His father had been a Boiler Maker in the London docks and latterly in the Hull docks, where Edward followed suit.

It was interesting to read about the pay my ancestor would get throughout the time of his apprenticeship. Starting with 7 shillings a week increasing to 12 shillings a week towards the end of the apprenticeship. Having found an online currency converter tool a few years ago, I decided to see what that pay equated to today. The equivalent in todays money (or 2005's money), my ancestor would have been earning the equivalent of approximately £17 per week to approximately £29. I think it would be impossible to live off that weekly today.

I wanted to know more so I Googled the name of the employer, David Parkinson Garbutt to see if I could find out more about this employer of my ancestor. He was the benefactor for "The Avenues" in Hull. "The Avenues" were middle class housing built on in an area on the outskirts of the city of Hull, with wide tree lined streets, there is more information about the "The Avenues" on Wikipedia. In mentioning to my dad about this, he pointed out that when my mum was at university, they had both lived in these houses at different times. In effect the employer of my great, great grandfather also built the housing that 80-90 years later my parents would reside in and is also now a Conservation Area.

Interestingly only a year after employing my great, great grandfather, David Parkinson Garbutt would be made bankrupt but yet, he has left such a legacy that still exists today in this small, but significant city in East Yorkshire.

To read more about the life of Edward Davidson in Victorian Hull, follow this link...THE STORY OF MY DAVIDSON ANCESTRY.

Copyright © 2012 Ruth Hogan

Another chapter to the Davidson story

Today, I have been very busy writing another chapter to the Davidson story. There are now seven and a bit chapters of interesting information to peruse at your leisure about my Davidson family.

To discover the story of my great, great, great grandparents life in Victorian London during the 1850s and 60s click the "Davidson family" link above.

Famous family trees: John Craven

Early morning surfing led me to reading about John Craven's family history. I was surprised to discover his ancestors were from the same areas in Leeds, West Yorkshire as many of my Sutcliffe and Thompson ancestors. How interesting...Famous family trees: John Craven

Back....

Well, I am back...

...back from my lengthy holiday in New Zealand which you can read about on, Ruth's Adventures, but more importantly I am back blogging about my research and writing my family history for you all to enjoy.

A quiet blog

If you are following this blog you will notice that not a lot is happening on it at the moment. This is because I am currently travelling around New Zealand for 10 weeks with my husband.

I have another blog where you can follow my travels if you would like, my other blog is "Adventures in New Zealand"

Have a good read and catch up with me again in August/September when we return to the UK.

Davidson page...slow progress!!

This week I have been working on the Davidson page of my blog, I keep adding bits when I get a few free minutes but I think it could take me a long while before I manage to get the full story of the family on here....

Do keep visiting and seeing what new things have been added.

Scanning old documents and photos

My great, great uncle Ted

My uncle Andrew

A very important part of researching the family tree is finding old photos, documents and birth, death, marriage certificates our relatives have tucked away for safe keeping.


I am fortunate enough to have many of these documents, that I have been passed down from other family members and then other birth, marriage and death certificates which I have purchased to aid my research.


Today, I have managed to scan a huge proportion onto my computer and linked them with the family tree. It has taken a full afternoon to do about two thirds of all the documents I have but its been worth it.


Now, I have all those documents at my fingertips digitally I can store the old documents away safely, so as not to damage them. In doing this I can start adding more to my family stories on the other pages of this blog.

My dad and uncle Andrew

A school class photo, my great grandfather is on the left of the front row

My great great grandmother with her 2 sons 

My great grandfather's certificate of demobilisation after  WW1

My great grandfather

Copyright © 2012 Ruth Hogan

Surname Distribution

I find the meanings of names very interesting. Especially, my own names and surnames in my family tree.

Today, I have been looking at meanings of some of the surnames in my family tree. In the process of this I  discovered an exciting webpage where you can search the distributions of surnames in England from the 1891 census.

Check it out...www.ancestry.co.uk

I was fascinated to find only 72 families with the surname Presswood (my maternal grandmother's maiden name) in the whole of England and Wales in 1891!!  For more information about my Presswood family, take a look at my Presswood family page.


Copyright © 2012 Ruth Hogan

Pre-1837 Parish Records

This weekend I have discovered the website below....

www.freereg.org.uk

An amazing site, easy to search on and well transcribed.

Copyright © 2012 Ruth Hogan

Hello,

I just thought I'd explain my intentions for this blog....

I have been researching my family history for over 10 years now and have built up a wealth of knowledge about my family. This research is not in an easy format for me to share with my friends and family so I wanted to set up a blog where you could follow my research.

I am going to write a little bit about each of my great, great grandparents family trees on the separate pages and then blog about my daily/weekly/monthly research as and when it happens. I suspect it might take me a while to get each page set up with my current research so it will be matter of watching this space....

Enjoy!