RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: coombs on Tuesday 23 December 25 18:28 GMT (UK)
-
Now that 2025 is almost gone, what have been your major discoveries this year? And/or what new databases have helped you with your FH? Many new Cambridgeshire records are on Ancestry, and of course Suffolk, where about 30% of my ancestors are from.
I was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to Essex parents with many Suffolk and some Norfolk/Durham/London/Oxfordshire ancestry.
This year I found 2 direct ancestors who spent time in GY, and when I found out, it was like I had won the lottery. One ancestor witnessed a wedding in the town in 1775, and another direct ancestor was stationed in Gt Yarmouth in the late 1790s, and was from Oxfordshire.
And found a Norwich ancestor who witnessed an admin of someone who lived in a village just a few miles NW of Great Yarmouth, and near where I grew up.
And an Essex seaman ancestor William Ingram from Leigh On Sea who was in Cornwall in 1812 when his boat was lost. He had to get another one made and registered upon his return to Leigh On Sea.
-
After years of looking, I finally found the grave of my grandfather, after finding a relative on Facebook.
Zaph
-
After years of looking, I finally found the grave of my grandfather, after finding a relative on Facebook.
Zaph
A good find.
-
I had become convinced my gt. gt. grandmother's eldest brother had emigrated to USA; traces - but no proof. Her second brother had gone to Canada - lots of evidence. Then someone on Rootschat gave a link to One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse and I checked the one-step shipping lists. (https://stevemorse.org/index.html)
And there he was - on a ship in 1836. "Yes!" I exclaimed out loud, and slapped my hand on the chair - so loudly that I frightened the cat and he shot out of the room.
-
0n that link I get:
This page isn’t working
stevemorse.org didn’t send any data.
ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE
Zaph
-
0n that link I get:
This page isn’t working
stevemorse.org didn’t send any data.
ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE
Zaph
It's not just you! stevemorse.org is down.
Last updated: Dec 24, 2025, 9:34 AM (1 second ago)
https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/stevemorse.org
A very valuable website for the US, in case you aren't familiar with it.
I had a feeling he was a math genius of some sort with an interest in genealogy, but I didn't know
"He is best known as the architect of the Intel 8086 (the granddaddy of today"s Pentium processor), which sparked the PC revolution 40 years ago."
from https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/speakers/stephen-p-morse/en
edit: it sounds like that short bio was written some time ago.
-
I realized that last post might be taking the thread off topic, so ....
I'm glad you asked that question. I had forgotten that earlier this year I heard from a 3rd cousin or so in Wales - I'm in the US - and between the two of us we found our gr-gr grandfather's parents in Derbyshire in the early 1800s. He also shared a letter from my gt grandmother to her sister that I hadn't seen before, and another from two of her other sisters to their parents. So a good year overall, despite having taken another run at two brick walls and not getting anywhere.
Aside from that, my journeys for the year have been mainly working on some challenging US threads here on rootschat.
-
and an update
stevemorse.org is up.
Last updated: Dec 24, 2025, 10:15 AM (1 second ago)
-
I had become convinced my gt. gt. grandmother's eldest brother had emigrated to USA; traces - but no proof. Her second brother had gone to Canada - lots of evidence. Then someone on Rootschat gave a link to One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse and I checked the one-step shipping lists. (https://stevemorse.org/index.html)
And there he was - on a ship in 1836. "Yes!" I exclaimed out loud, and slapped my hand on the chair - so loudly that I frightened the cat and he shot out of the room.
Reminds me of when the contestants on The Crystal Maze won a crystal and all cheered loudly, like they won £1000'000 but all it got them was 5 seconds more in The Crystal Dome. That is how i feel when I find an elusive ancestor, or elusive ancestor sibling, or cousin.
I sometimes take a break from the direct ancestral line and go far and wide.
-
0n that link I get:
This page isn’t working
stevemorse.org didn’t send any data.
ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE
Zaph
Sorry to have alarmed everyone. It was working when I made the post and I did not read your reports until Stephen was back again, thank goodness. He must have been at a trans-Atlantic Christmas party!
Anyway, I was very glad to have found it the first time. (But Jaikie the cat now requires prior warning of major discoveries.)
-
I found that I had a Sister last year and for the last 18 months we have been getting to know each other.
I met a 3rd Cousin in Manchester back in April and we are in regular contact.
Two days ago we Facetime’d a distance Cousin for the first time who lives in the USA.
So far this year many DNA Matches have now been traced and includes multiple branches to different MRCA’s on my Irish side. The main Paternal Paternal line beyond 1834 has a big ? at present, there are a couple of possibles but no DNA MRCA as yet.
-
All my same generation nearly seem to have died, and no real discoveries for years - boring families, no scandal or excitements on any branch of my own family tree.
TY
-
Try doing someone else's tree. Just after Remembrance Day a friend said he had an uncle who was in the navy and was killed in 1945 but didn't think that he was commemorated anywhere except on his parents' gravestone (which is in Findagrave). I said have you looked at the CWGC website? It turned out he is on the Fleet Air Arm memorial at Lee-on-Solent and also on a very small memorial with just seven names, near the farm where his family lived. Nobody had his full date of birth, which was waiting to be found in the 1939 register.
Then I linked all the Findagrave entries on two family graves. That led me to persue the family further, which was slightly tricky because they had lived on farms a few miles around the junction of Yorks, Notts and Derbys with one wife born in Lincs, so I was continually changing record sets and registration districts, but at least nobody disappeared to London. I presented my friend with the names and dates of all eight GtGtGrandparents on his maternal side.
-
I have thrown everything at the Paige/Page family of Plymouth this year.
Mostly through transcribing records ordered from the National Archives which has been able to grow my understanding beyond the traditional parish records (which, of course, have been helpful).
In a pamphlet based on the murder of William Paige in 1590/1591, it mentions a Mrs Harris as his sister. It's always annoyed me that everyone else is referred to as their full name, but she never was. I am 99% sure now that I think I know who she was which has been a long time coming.
To top it off, there is a Page of Plymouth literary project funded by the National Lottery and ran by Literature works based on this pamphlet. I've been to one of their webinars and privately presented to 3 of the people behind the project about the family and what I have found out.
There's still more to be done and in fact, a one name study could be in the pipeline at some point.
-
My most satisfying discovery actually came this morning. My late father always treasured a cup he won playing in a cricket competition when he was 14 - over 86 years ago. I still have it but the inscription tells me little about who he was playing for etc.
Why I haven’t researched it before, I’ve no idea but I found a report of the match in the FindMyPast newspapers earlier today. He was playing for his school and they lost - bit like the current England team - they were all out for the grand total of 18 runs, and my father even gets an honourable mention; he didn’t bowl but, as a batsman, he was “not-out for 0”. He was the last man standing!
-
My most satisfying discovery actually came this morning. My late father always treasured a cup he won playing in a cricket competition when he was 14 - over 86 years ago. I still have it but the inscription tells me little about who he was playing for etc.
Why I haven’t researched it before, I’ve no idea but I found a report of the match in the FindMyPast newspapers earlier today. He was playing for his school and they lost - bit like the current England team - they were all out for the grand total of 18 runs, and my father even gets an honourable mention; he didn’t bowl but, as a batsman, he was “not-out for 0”. He was the last man standing!
That's a great find. Reminds me of when I found a picture of my great grandfather earlier this year in a cricket team photo that was published in a village book. The little things add up.