July's Interesting Genealogical Blog Finds...

This month I have read lots of really interesting blog post which I felt were worth while sharing with all my readers...

GeneaBloggers - Data Backup Day - What About Backing Up Your Blog?

Some really great advise about the importance of backing up your information.

FindMyPast - Findmypast & Wall to Wall introduce Who Do You Think You Are? Story!

This sounds like a really exciting adventure and website, once it's up and running... watch this space!?

Worldwide Genealogy - Just "Google" It

It's amazing what you can find about your ancestors through a random "Google" search.

The British GENES Blog - Deaf & Dumb in Glasgow

Sometimes, thinking outside the box and following new leads can lead us to the correct result.

GeneaBloggers - Genealogy Blog Tip: Obituary Posts

Practical blog post about Obituary finds from your research...

Worldwide Genealogy - Killing Them Off

How can killing off your ancestors help with your research?

The Armchair Genealogist - Reviving Your Tired Family History Blog

Refreshing ideas to relaunch your blogs

Young & Savvy Genealogists - My AncestryDNA Review: A Cautionary Tale

What do you expect from DNA genealogy?

George's Accident, the Newspaper Reports

I have been targeting the newspaper collections on FindMyPast as well since subscribing to a month subscription for just £1.

There was a specific newspaper report which I wanted to find and that was one in relation to my great great grandfather, George Presswood (or Prestwood or Preswood). George Presswood was born in 1858 in Retford, Nottinghamshire to George Presswood and Mary nee Wright. In 1861 he was living at Lea, Lincolnshire with his parents. His siblings who were born after 1861 upto 1866 were all born in Lea. In 1871 the family is residing at Kexby, a small village about 2-3 miles east of Lea. But the newspaper report in question is dated 7th October 1870, when a young 11 year old farm boy is taking a horse to the blacksmiths in Lea and it takes fright and young George is found in a poor state.

Newspaper Report from the Lincolnshire Chronicle 7th October 1870

George must have made a full recovery by the 2nd April 1871 when the census was taken as he was living back with his parents at Kexby, working as a farmer's day boy. George lived a full life and died nearly 60 years later at the age of 70 years old, having worked as a farm and agricultural labourer for all of his life.

Merchant Navy Ancestors

As I blogged a few days ago, FindMyPast (FMP) had an offer of a month subscription for £1 so I had to take advantage of such a great offer, but what have I found with my subscription?

The main target of my FMP research was the Merchant Navy collection which has been on their site for a little while now. When it was first put on I was really interested in researching the collection as I was aware that my Redwood ancestors were in the Merchant Navy. What was the Merchant Navy?

The merchant navy was a register of all the ships and seamen employed in shipping goods. In times of conflict the merchant navy would be called upon to assist as necessary, the most famous event in which this occurred was in the evacuation of Dunkirk in May & June 1940.

My ancestors who were merchant seamen were the Redwood's, who lived on the Kent coast in Herne. My 3x great grandmother, Jane Redwood moved to London and married John Davidson (see The Davidson Family for more information about their story). The Merchant Seamen whom I have discovered records for are Jane's 5 brothers: Stephen, William, George, Alfred & Jesse.

Some of the records are a bit sparse of information but a few of them give descriptions of her brother's appearances...

George Redwood

Stephen Redwood

William Redwood

...I find descriptions help you imagine what your ancestors may have looked like, fair and auburn with blue/grey eyes. I am blonde with blue eyes so I wonder if it was this side of the family I got these genes from? They were also all quite short, but perhaps that is a generational thing, I wonder what the average height of a man in 1850 was?

What records or collections have you discovered recently?

1 month subscription for £1

FindMyPast are trying to coax their subscribers back with a month subscription for £1 with the code GENES1POUND
You must subscribe before midnight tonight though.

I must admit I have fallen for this offer and we'll see what interesting things I discover through the subscription for this month.

Free Credits for FINDMYPAST.CO.UK

Finding that during the holiday season you have plenty of free time on your hands?

Why not do some family history researching on FindMyPast.co.uk as they're giving away 30 free credits with the promotional code: XMAS13.

I've signed up for mine, make sure you get yours before 2nd January 2014.


They're also doing a 20% off subscriptions with the code: SANTA13.

Go on you know you want to!