Echoes of our Past: NZ Society of Genealogists 2018 Conference

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The New Zealand Society of Genealogists annual conference has just been held in Christchurch. Christchurch is a beautiful city that has been through some very hard times and the scars are still visible. Sadly, many of their historic buildings were lost. Much reconstruction work has and is being done. Many families are only now getting back into their homes. I was privileged to be a speaker and attendee. While the weather was not the kindest, being cold and wet, this … Continue reading

My coalmining ancestor Joseph Stirland (1816-1879)

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I have several ancestors named Joseph Stirland. This post concerns my 2 x great grandfather, son of William Stirland and Dinah Hofton. He was born into a coalmining family in June 1816 in Cotmanhay, Derbyshire and, like his father, became a coalminer. He was born at a time and place when men were transitioning from the increasingly mechanised industry of framework knitting to the rapidly developing coalmining industry. The Stirlands and related families were non-conformist and this perhaps explains why … Continue reading

William Powell – a man with vision

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This wonderful portrait is of William Powell, the father of the USA branch of the Powell family from Loughborough, Ghent and Tiverton. Imagine my surprise when one of my extended family sent me a link to a website containing this photograph of their ancestor.  William was the brother of my 3rd great grandfather James Powell, and therefore my 4th great uncle. I had been researching my Powell family for many years, primarily because it was one of those family lines … Continue reading

Rosetta Johnson: a strong woman

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by Helen Connor Rosetta (Rose) Johnson – Johnston(e) – was born in County Louth, Ireland in about 1773. Rosetta was convicted at the Surrey Assizes – Lent 24 March 1814 [1] and sentenced to “Let them be transported beyond the seas for seven years.” Rose had stolen 18 yards of sheeting, value of seven shillings, and a shawl, value of 30 shillings, in the parish of St George the Martyr in Southwark, aged 29 years. There is no mention of … Continue reading

Looking for a letter: Elizabeth Hardwicke’s (née Chapman) letter to her daughter Maria

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Do many of us who are doing genealogy research think, as we are searching Trove or gazing at microfilm to find that missing link, that one way we may find the answer is to write our story and put it out there on a blog and see whether some distant relative suddenly presents the answer? Sounds far fetched doesn’t it? I certainly thought so when I started to contribute to this blog. Perhaps I was naive because I thought you … Continue reading