Distant Kin

Distant Kin Musings and stories from an amateur genealogist trying to learn more about those who came before

After visiting Somerset & Devon, I stopped off on the way home in Ashbrittle, a small Somerset village where my 3x-great...
18/06/2025

After visiting Somerset & Devon, I stopped off on the way home in Ashbrittle, a small Somerset village where my 3x-great-grandmother was born.

Although it was a beautiful churchyard, it was very overgrown and a lot of the graves and areas around had not been managed for a while, so I was unable too find the grave of my 5x-great-grandparents Thomas Vickery and Jane Hill, despite knowing from burial records that they are buried there.

I was however able to find some Vickery graves, and can confirm that these are cousins of my 3x-grandmother, Maria Vickery (1842-1896), who moved with her parents briefly to Stonehouse in Gloucestershire, before settling in Swindon in Wiltshire. Although her parents lived the rest of their lives there, Maria eventually moved to Twickenham, where she married my 3x-great-grandfather George Bradford and settled in East Molesey in Surrey. Her Vickery surname was passed down to my great-grandfather Frank (her grandson) and then onto his son; my grandmother's brother.

I recently stumbled upon a rare record - an extract from the 1821 census of Ireland which recorded my 4x-great-grandpare...
04/03/2025

I recently stumbled upon a rare record - an extract from the 1821 census of Ireland which recorded my 4x-great-grandparents James Garrahy and Honora Clancy living with their children in Mooghna, a small townland in County Clare, close to Miltown Malbay and Ennistymon.

I am not sure why it has been crossed out, but the record (starting with "7") lists James, 60, a farmer of 12 acres, living with his wife Honora, 45, and their children Daniel, 26, Michael, 12, Johanna, 21, Hannah, 16, Anne, 13, Ellen, 8 (my great-great-great-grandmother), Agnes, 5, as well as a servant Michael Kinucane, 20.

This is one of the earliest records I have that records a family with such detail. Ellen would go on to marry Edward Neylon, and died in her 90s in 1904. Their daughter Catherine (who predeceased Ellen) married James Marrinan and their daughter Susan was my great-grandmother.

04/03/2025

Hundreds of love letters between two gay WWll soldiers were discovered and sold to a museum.

One of them said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time. Then all the world could see how in love we are."

They are now being made into a book.

It's been a while since I posted anything and since then I've had an influx of new followers (hello!) in 1806, my 4x-gr...
22/01/2025

It's been a while since I posted anything and since then I've had an influx of new followers (hello!)

in 1806, my 4x-great-grandfather Henry Rochat Smith was baptised at St James Church in Clerkenwell, London. Henry's descendants were born and raised in the small Cumbrian village of Ainstable, so upon seeing Henry's birthplace as "London" in a census record - combined with the Smith surname - I gave up hope of being able to trace his lineage. Finding this baptism record was the key to tracing this line back further.

Henry's father Joseph was actually from Ainstable originally, but was living in London, working for the Bank of England (according to family legend), at the time of Henry's birth. Henry's unusual middle name comes from his mother Elizabeth Ann's maiden name of Rochat - she came from a family of French Huguenots who emigrated to England in the mid-1700s (although the Rochat surname comes from a Swiss ancestor).

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