Eds Adventures in Genealogy

Today I uploaded a static page for my Great Grandfather Frederick Arthur NEW. Frederick is of particular interest to me from a number of reasons.  Firstly he was born to a Scottish born father and a medway born mother. As my ancestry appears to consists almost entirely of English descent, any births outside of England are fascinating to me. Secondly, I was born in the Medway towns and I am searching to see how far back my roots in this area go. I know my roots here lie with my mothers ancestors and it appears with Frederick's mother I must continue looking down the female line for their history in the area. I look forward to find more on the Scottish past and Medway roots.

Today I uploaded static pages for three more of my great grandparents.  The life of my great grandfather James George BAILEY.  Born in the poor urban slums of manchester in the 1880s he lost his father when he was ten. He lived in poverty his whole life in what one observer described as part of the "submerged strata of these islands". The other two were my grandmother Ada Ethel BLOXHAM, daughter of a roadman and her husband William Thomas TEW, a sailor.  It is interesting to see another naval ancestor, however this couple were from Warwickshire an exciting new area to investigate the history of. As always if anyone has any information on these individuals please drop me an email or leave a comment!

Violet Elizabeth Fordham née Potter (1897 – 1956) A couple of days ago I updated my chart and created a profile page for my Great Grandmother Violet Elizabeth Fordham nee Potter.   Like my Fordham ancestors, my Potter ancestors spent at least a few generations living round the Islington area of London. I’d done some research on Violet before but trying to put together a profile page on her made me realise how hard it is to know something of the personality of our housewife ancestors.   From certificates and census I can find no record of her having a profession (as was the norm) so much of her identity is derived from her father and later her husband.   I understand that historically the status and identity of women was closely tied to their male relatives but she must have had opinions, personality and a brain of her own so if not surprising this is very frustrating!   To understand her a little better I have started looking into other general topics in...

So my last post introduced my Great Grandfather Albert Edward Charles Fordham.  Today I have added Albert's static sheet (see the right of this page).  It is identical to my original post on Albert but will be updated as I learn more about his life and the period he lived through. Yesterday I added a static sheet to the right for my chart.  It still needs work but it's nice to get something up there.  I'm hoping to create a more decorative chart that wouldn't look out of place on the set of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings.  Coming up next: introducing Albert's father Albert Edward Fordham.

Albert's childhood Growing up my Dad told me a lot about my Great Grandfather Albert Edward Fordham.   Being something of a hero to my dad I was named after Albert and after discussion with my mum (who it turned out was not a fan of the name Albert) I was given one of his middle names Edward.   For this reason my Great Grandfather is one of the individuals I have researched a while before this blog and here is what I know. Albert was born on the 17th of October 1900 at their pleasantly sounding home at 7 Love Lane in the coastal town of Weymouth.   His birth was registered 41 days after his birth on the 27th November by his mother Helena Amelia Fordham nee Miller.   Albert's father (and namesake) was Albert Edward Fordham a stoker in the Royal Navy (see Albert junior's birth certificate in the last quarter of 1900).   Albert's parents married on the 28th of January 1900 - meaning that his mother gave birth Eight and a half months after she ...