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Your Family Historian

Your Family Historian - helping you connect with your past.

Professional genealogist and Family Historian providing expert help with Family History Research, Family Tree Research Packages, Genetic Genealogy and Family Tree Tuition.

09/05/2025

Today, on the 80th anniversay of VE Day, we visited Kirknewton in Northumberland and were moved to see the beautifully tended Commonwealth War Graves in St Gregory's Churchyard.

These are the graves of airmen killed while flying from RAF Milfield, Northumberland, ten of them while at 59 Operational Training Unit (59 OTU). They came from the UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand.

It is heartbreaking to see so many young lives cut short, most of them before they even got into combat. And a poignant reminder of how grateful we all should be for their sacrifice.

Read more about these young men in our blog post

07/03/2025

TGIF!!! How was your week? This was how ours went! Thanks to YouTube we can now completely dismantle, clean, unblock print heads, and re-assemble our Brother Printer. Just as well since no-one seems to repair them anymore - or even bother phoning back!!! I'm pleased to say we finally, after many attempts, emerged victorious, but we've got even more grey hair now!!

02/03/2025

It's amazing what you find in the attic! These 5 parchment sheets, 18th century Accounts from Long Benton Colliery, were given to Walker resident Edward Bell in 1970 by a 'Geordie Exile' who he met in a London hospital. Later Edward swapped them for £5 worth of groceries at his corner shop in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne. 50 years later the shop owner's son found them when clearing his Dad's house. The Hartley family now plan to donate them to Northumberland Archives. They contain some fascinating information. E.g. William Johnson, Matthew Butler and John Wakefield earn 7d a day for their work in the stable while 24 pounds of candles cost 12s 8d!

10/02/2025

Helping or hindering? What do you think? 's dog, Kali, can frequently be found curled up on Andy's lap while he works. I'm sure she thinks she's a cat!

11/10/2024

Still our Queen.

15/09/2024

Queen of all she surveys.

13/09/2024

Andy is famous 😉 Last year he did some genealogical research for a Swedish TV show - their equivalent of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' - and was interviewed and filmed discussing his findings. This apparently aired last night on Swedish TV station SVT1. We've not seen the show but were sent this photo by another Swedish client who spotted him! Fame at last!

06/09/2024

We came across this family heirloom recently when working with a client on his late wife's family history. Mizpah jewellery was particularly popular from the mid 1800s through to around the 1880s. Mizpah is a Hebrew word that means 'watchtower' and is loosely interpreted as 'May God watch over you.' Many believed that inscribing the word on an amulet would ensure the safe return of a loved one. These items of jewellery were often given to a loved one during a period of long separation such as military service.

We believe the young man in the photograph is John Ratcliff (1857-1920) who served for three years as Gunner 1419 with the Royal Artillery.

John was in Cape Colony, South Africa for 3 months in 1879 before being discharged on medical grounds. His discharge papers describe him as 5 foot 6 3/4 inches tall with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

His uniform would have been a dark blue tunic with red collar and a black ‘pill box’ hat with yellow band which fits with the image here.

15/08/2024

We can hardly believe that our small business has now been running for four years! We've so enjoyed ourselves 'digging into the past'. Here's just a handful of comments taken from testimonials on our website. Thank you to everyone for your continued support!

12/08/2024

Just lovely to get such glowing feedback 😍 Our goal is always to create something really special which brings people's ancestry 'to life'. Something beautifully presented which will become a family heirloom. This client has just commissioned a third Ancestry Package with us for 2025 so it's good to know we're getting it right!

28/07/2024

First trip to the Laing Art Gallery in a while to see their JMW Turner inspired exhibition. Fronted by his 'Fighting Temeraire'.

Well worth a visit and highlights Tyneside's links to Turner's work. Including the two Tugs which towed the famous ship to her end.

Great painting but interesting to see how many liberties Turner took with the facts!

09/07/2024

Seriously? This is the weather in July!! But we were well wrapped up and had a lovely break from our desks with the dogs this afternoon. The good thing about the weather was the fabulous deserted beach!

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https://www.yourfamilyhistorian.co.uk/

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