Dave Annal Lifelines Research

The windmill to the east of Coggeshall...! 😍

It's always difficult to make comparisons as value and spending power are not necessarily the same thing. It's safer to look at earnings: in the mid-19th century 3s 6d would have been about a day's wages for the average labourer.

https://maps.nls.uk/joins/12836.html Chapman, John.; André, Peter., A map of the county of Essex from an actual survey taken in 1772, 73 & 1774 / by John Chapman & Peter André., 1785

I will never cease to be grateful that my job allows me the opportunity to work with things as beautiful as this 1785 map of Essex.

Just stop and consider the care and attention to detail here and the pleasure that the cartographer must (surely?) have felt in a job well done...

#MappyMonday

Definitely worth being able to see in detail!

A screenshot from an 1847 edition of Bradshaw's Railway Guide showing the times of Easter Countie trains from Bishopsgate to Bury St Edmunds, via Chelmsford, Colchester and Ipswich.

No, I haven't spent the last hour feasting my eyes on this 1847 edition of Bradshaw's Railway Guide!

Well, OK, I have... but I've learned that my client's ancestors could have travelled to London for just 3s 6d and that it would only have taken them 2 hours.

Which sounds like research to me...

I haven't looked that hard but I haven't found any evidence of close family chain migration here. There were other Orkney (and therefore South Ronaldsay) Annals in Edinburgh and, I'm sure, many other South Ronaldsay families that had moved south but I haven't seen any obvious links.

Not really. My great grandfather travelled down with my great grandmother's family. The family story was that they met on the boat but as he had been working as an agricultural labourer for her maternal grandfather I suspect that they already knew each other well. They married in September 1902.

I'll take that as an excuse - thank you!

https://maps.nls.uk/view/228781718 25" Ordnance Survey Map (detail) Drawing for Edinburghshire I.16 Revised: 1906, Published: 1908, on a blue of previous edition Size: sheet ca. 71 x 104 cm (ca. 28 x 41 inches)

Sometime in early 1902, my great grandparents, Samuel Annal and Margaret Miller, travelled from their native Orkney to Edinburgh. They would have arrived in Leith Harbour and I often wonder what their first impressions must have been of the hustle and bustle of the docks.

#MyFamilyHistory52Maps

Ha ha! And I call myself a researcher! 😆 🤦🏻‍♂️

Well, that’s definitely one for my list! What’s the publication date?

Where have all the women gone? To mark International Women’s Day I wanted to have a look at the key records that we use to research our English & Welsh family history, and to consider how those records routinely under-repres…

To mark #InternationalWomensDay2026 here's a blogpost I wrote five years ago about the under-representation of women in the key sources that we use for our family history research...

lifelinesresearch.co.uk/2021/03/08/w...

a man in a blue shirt is standing in front of a green chalkboard teaching a math problem Alt: a man in a blue shirt is standing in front of a green chalkboard teaching a math problem

If your Family History Society are reluctant to embrace the idea of hosting hybrid events (i.e. an in-person audience AND a live-stream) get them to speak to Bedfordshire FHS. My talk on Friday was expertly handled, accommodating 30 in the hall and 40 watching via Zoom.

@federationfhs.bsky.social

I'm heading up the M1 this evening to speak to the Bedfordshire Family History Society on the subject of Crime and Punishment in the 19th Century. Lots of great case studies to share...

Oh, my advice is always not to have Welsh ancestors if you can possibly help it... 😬

robert downey jr. is wearing a purple sweater and looking at something . ALT: robert downey jr. is wearing a purple sweater and looking at something .

When I'm in charge, I'm going to ban common surnames... 😡

That's it.

That's the post...

It’s on my ‘to read’ pile!

Preparing for the most local talk I've ever done! I'll be speaking this evening to the Friends of Bushey Museum at a venue just ten minutes drive away.

busheymuseum.org/fbmt-events-2/

No explanation. It's quite rare for there to be no birth registration in Scotland - particularly this late. His two younger siblings weren't registered either - and no, they weren't registered under a different surname...

National Library of Scotland 25" Map of Linlithgowshire (detail). 1914/15 https://maps.nls.uk/view/228782750 Drawing for Linlithgowshire nV.11 Revised: 1914, Published: 1915, on a blue of previous edition Size: sheet ca. 71 x 104 cm (ca. 28 x 41 inches)

My grandfather (my mum's dad) was born at East Craigie in the West Lothian parish of Dalmeny on 24 May 1898 (not that there's a record of his birth...).

This part of Dalmeny parish had formerly been part of Cramond parish but was transferred to Dalmeny in the early 1890s.

#MyFamily52Maps

😎

That’s the one!

Keyboards 🎹

Well, I was in band! But you wouldn’t have heard of us… 😀

Just me in the local paper 41 years ago…

Item wee amears Samewell Holly of Brainford End for not scourring the walter corse before his house acording to the former payne Isleworth Syon Manor Court Minutes, April 1630 The London Archives ACC/1379/087

This is your regular reminder that you should never neglect the water course in front of your house. It needs scouring and you know it.

Of course, should you fail to scour it you'll only end up being amerced by the Court Leet. And you wouldn't want that to happen now, would you?

#ManorialDocuments

Have you ever wondered if your ancestors could read? Have you ever wanted to know what they read? I'm joining the SoG on Saturday to talk about my journey of researching the literary interests of my ancestors! There'll be lots of methods for you to take away & try out for yourself! #Genealogy

It’s quite simple…

Use them or lose them!

#YourFamilyHistorySocietyNeedsYou

Thanks Rowena!

I was fascinated by the 1841 census entry that you mentioned. I'd be happy to take a look at it if you think it might help.

Thanks to Margaret and Janet @devonfhs.bsky.social for looking after me last night. A great audience with some perceptive, thought-provoking questions afterwards and some lovely comments in the chat...