Jenny Dunford Genealogical And Historical Research

https://theconversation.com/who-do-you-th ink-you-are-most-d…

A Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to everyone.

Some county record offices are making old maps available online. Check out yours. http://maps.warwickshire.gov.uk/historica l/

https://www.populationspast.org/imr/1861/ #7/53.035/-2.895

Wire sculptures in Slimbridge. Have the stories about WW1 sparked your interest in family history? Email me for a free consultation.

https://astreetnearyou.org/…

People didn't live to be old back then ... Not quite true! It's a misunderstanding of the idea of "average life expectancy". If you average out the numbers, life expectancy was lower. A lot of children died young. That brings the average down. If a man reached maturity he stood a good chance of living into his 60s. If a woman got past the years of childbirth without dying then she might also live into her 60s. Reach your 70s or 80s and you were exceptional! That works pretty well through from the 1500s to the 1800s. It's a different story when we get to the Industrial Revolution and urban poverty.

Give the gift of family history. A package of research specially prepared for you to give on Christmas Day, a personal "Who Do You Think You Are?". Offer price this season from £100. Contact me to discuss your ideas without any obligation to buy. Last minute orders are not possible as research takes time. Ask now.

Have you got a family will you can't read? I can do you a full transcript, an abstract of the main points, or just help you with odd words. Send an image for an estimate of cost.

At what age did women get married? Mostly ... in their early 20s. They were usually younger than their husbands but not by much. Teenage brides? Yes, if you were royalty or aristocracy. Rare in working families.

At what age did a man get married? When he could support a wife. For most men, throughout the period of most family histories, this meant aged 25+. Yes, there were exceptions, but this is a pretty good "rule of thumb" for working families. Of course, if you were royalty, you didn't need to worry about money.

Confused? Stuck? Need a little help with your research? Message me.

Monumental Inscriptions, the words on the gravestone. Is it worth finding them? Sometimes! They may give personal information or links to family members you won't find anywhere else. Many family history societies have made transcripts of monumental inscriptions, in an effort to record them before they are destroyed by erosion. Ask the local family history society or look in the county archives. Try local history societies; write to the vicar ... get your wellies on and go looking.

When the grave is not in the churchyard ... it could be in a cemetery. The Burial service could take place in the parish church but the burial itself might be in a cemetery. This often happens nowadays - a service in the local church followed by a separate burial or cremation. In most places in the UK cemeteries were opened in the 1870s though a few urban ones were earlier. The local authority will have recent records; older ones may have been deposited in the county archives or they may be held at the cemetery itself.