Week Seventeen: “One did not ask those things back then.”

My kids would always groan when I would say “Let me tell you a story about that”.  I have been a story teller for so many years that it is second nature to me.  It is no wonder that I should evolve into the family historian.  I love to discover everyone’s story.

In my travels I have uncovered some amazing things that no one in my immediate family was ever aware of.  No one knew that my paternal grandfather was a British Home Child or my maternal great, great, great grandfather was an Arctic whaler and sea-faring captain!

But there is one mystery that I have never been able to find the answer to and quite frankly it has been nothing but roadblock after roadblock in uncovering the mystery on why my mother’s father died so young.

Week Sixteen: Who Has the Finer Qualities of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson?

Every time there is a new newspaper added to the findmypast collection I will do a quick search for any Palins therein listed.  One of this week new newspapers was “The Barnoldswick & Earby Times”.  I felt like I had won the jackpot when there were over 200 listings in this newspaper.  But almost all of those results had a common name and a common theme.

Dr. H. C. Palin said that the cause death was asphyxia due to the inhalation of coal-gas.

Dr. H. C. Palin, of Brierfield, who carried out a post mortem examination, told the Coroner…

Dr. H. C. Palin stated that condition of the body was consistent with death from drowning….

Dr. H. C. Palin found evidence of cerebral thrombosis and slight abrasions to the forehead….

So just who is this H C Palin and is he connected?

Week Fifteen: 100 and Still Kicking!

It is one thing to find out about our ancestors and kin and what they did 100 years ago or even 200 years ago.  Imagine how wonderful it if to find out something about distant cousins that are alive today!

I was doing a typical google search and found something very exciting about a fifth cousin (we share the same 4th great grandparents) and with permission given by Worcester News, I am going to copy some of that article here.

Week Fourteen: Rat Catcher

In order to better understand some of the history of England, I have come across some wonderful documentaries on YouTube.  A couple of the narrators that I like are Lucy Worsley and Tony Robinson.   The documentaries they have narrated cover a wide range of topics. 

The one that comes to mind today is one of Tony Robinson's:  The Worst Jobs in History. The episode in particular was The Worst Jobs in the Victorian Era.