Author Archives: Pauline Williams

My coalmining ancestors

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GSQs Writing Group met in June 2025 and we considered the subject of writing family stories around a theme. The writing exercise for the meeting was to develop a plan for doing this. It is usually the case that members interpret the brief for the writing exercise differently and so the plans received from members were varied. Our focus on developing themes that spoke to the history of our families and ancestors led to in-depth discussions on the benefits and … Continue reading

Extending family history research

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I often broaden my family history research into extended branches of my family tree. This can add greater context to the environment and lives of direct family members. In October 2024 I wrote about a potential extended family member who had fallen foul of the law. At the time I commented that another potential ancestor – one of 9 called Herbert Stirland – had been in a similar situation, although probably not as dire as the one involving a Joseph … Continue reading

A reformed ancestor – maybe. Will the real Joseph stand up

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I was recently challenged with reviewing my family tree to identify any ‘naughty’ ancestors – what they did and the consequences of their actions. I knew that at least one of my Stirland ancestors had fallen foul of the law, so decided to focus on that line and searched for newspaper reports of any criminal cases. I found two likely offenders, Herbert Stirland and Joseph Stirland. Even though the surname is not all that common, it is often problematic to … Continue reading

What to keep and what to leave behind

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The ABC has recently been promoting a new series featuring Shaun Micallef called Eve of Destruction. The premise of the series is to discover from a number of celebrities what is really important to them. I have seen a similar scenario on Antiques Roadshow where the experts are asked to select the three most important things they would take if they had to leave their home suddenly. It seems to me that the ‘things’ themselves are not necessarily what is … Continue reading

Writing a Memoir

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Have you thought about writing up the results of your research and producing a family history. How to do this can be quite a daunting prospect and therefore something which many family historians defer. Not everyone has the time or inclination to write a full family history and many explore other ways of recording the family’s story. Some produce books, others create stories around their photo collections, yet others write blog posts, create websites – the options are endless. One … Continue reading