Category: Family History
-
Ötzi the ice man
Ötzi the Ice Man caused a sensation when he was “discovered” in 1991. There are hundreds and hundreds of reports, analysis, research and conjecture both published and floating through the internet. This is most of Chapter 14 of a book, “A Little History of Archaeology” by Brian Fagan. “In September…
-
CRYPT
Archaeology is not ancillary to history; it is not its slightly scruffier, grubbier handmaiden. It’s unashamedly earthy, grounded and physical, but out of the dirt come gems of understanding, bringing together these two disciplines – history and archaeology, with all these new scientific techniques – we now have an extremely…
-
BURIED
In the post-Roman period in Britain, contemporary written records all but disappear. Literacy is still there, but it’s harder to find traces of it. We get some glimpses from high-status sites, including monasteries. This is the period which used to be referred to as the “Dark Ages”, which is now…
-
ANCESTORS
Some people can get obsessed by ancestry, by trying to establish links with long-dead relatives. The lineages that always seem to cause the most excitement are those suggesting links to royalty. Sometimes those ancestral links are used to try to establish claims to territory. That can never really work as
-
THE SYDNEY SWANS -5. HAYDON
Over his life span of 70 years, he took on variations of his name to include ADEN, HAYDON, HENRY, and EDWARD which were sometimes used in different sequences and combinations. He fathered ten children to three women, two of whom he married.
-
THE SYDNEY SWANS – 4. LOUISA
Louisa’s story is very sad. She was seventeen when she married Francesco at the Sydney Registry Office, just a few weeks before her eighteenth birthday. The marriage document shows that her father, William Swan, signed his permission for her to marry Francesco. For the entirety of their married life Louisa…
-
THE SYDNEY SWANS – 3. THOMAS
Thomas Cormick Swan was born on the 19th of March 1858 in West Maitland, the third child of Elizabeth, “Bessie“(Cassidy/Cain) Swan and William Swan. His Birth Certificate has his father, William as 31 years old, yet all other documentation suggests that William was actually about 41 years old when Thomas was…
-
THE SYDNEY SWANS – 2. LETITIA
The name Letitia derives from its Latin counterpart Laetitia, which directly translates to joy in English. With its roots in the ancient Latin language, Letitia has a rich historical background. In ancient Roman mythology, Laetitia was the goddess of celebration and mirth, known for her cheerful and lively nature. The…
-
THE SYDNEY SWANS – 1. WILLIAM
One of the most interesting branches on the Family History tree is the descendant line of Sarah Murray and Cormick Cassidy who were from the Irish border town of Monaghan. They were my 4th great grandparents and Sarah Murray’s story can be found in another entry in this history blog…
-
WILLIAM RUNDELL: The Royal Navy Shipwright
William Rundell was born in 1788 in Maker, a small Cornish village very near where the Tamar River enters the Hamoaze Harbour which then joins the Plymouth Sound, no more than five miles from Devonport. This safe anchorage had been a major naval port for centuries – as early as…
miles of irvings 