EmilyCathryn.

NPE: Non-Paternal Event or Non-Parental Event Mum’s paternal (biological) side of the family seems to feature a number of gaps in paternity. Let’s recap: Mum herself is in essence an NPE, her paternal grandmother is an NPE and there are scores of third cousins of Mum’s that are also NPEs (a third cousin of Mum’s was a sperm donor). All from this paternal side. There is one other gap on this…

“My Poor Boy”

Thomas Michael Purcill was born in 1895 in Tuena, New South Wales to George Purcill and Catherine Green. He enlisted for World War I on the 27th of January, 1916 at 21 years old. He was my 1st cousin 3x removed on Mum’s biological side. Sadly, like many others he died of wounds received in action in France on the 15th of August, 1916. He died in the 44th Casualty Clearing Station and was buried…

***Trigger Warning: this post contains references and details of suicide*** I have pondered for years about whether or not to talk about Solomon Hopson, my fourth great grandfather. His story, when I first came across it in 2017 shocked me, one doesn’t tend to expect to find such things hidden in their families. (I was very new to genealogy then, I was learning how incredibly common it was to…

Hiding in Plain Sight

In trying to solve my Mary Ann Nichols mystery, I decided to try out a different parent hypothesis for her the other night. It has taken a day or so for ThruLines to regenerate it’s familial connection suggestions, so in the meantime I have been researching the Crittle family and adding to the family tree. My second hypothesis is that Mary Ann’s mother is Ellen Emma Crittle (maiden name…

Who Are You, Mary Ann?

Before moving, I had a parent hypothesis for Mary Ann Nichols (third great grandmother) that I had put in to my family tree, the one that is linked to my Nan’s DNA kit. Since then, I haven’t had a chance to follow up on it. I had also bought one James Alexander Nichols’ (Mary Ann’s supposed father, my fourth great grandfather) death certificate, or rather burial certificate from NSW Births,…

Dr William Bailey, an Unusual Reverend

I’m still working out where the hell my third great grandmother, Mary Ann Nichols sprang from. I’ve taken to exploring every possible aspect of the documents concerning her in the hopes it will shed light on who she was. Whilst examining her 1871 marriage certificate to my third great grandfather, Christopher Reus, I noticed that they were married according to the rites of the “Free Church of…

Was looking over the lengthy obituary of my third great grandmother, Catherine McLeod (nee Ramsay) from 1932 when I noticed a portrait of another woman included in it.

This obituary is split into rather detailed subheadings (love it), and this particular one read: “Miss Isabella Kelly”:

“Catherine had a very “close” acquaintance with the celebrated Miss Kelly, of Brimbin, at her father’s…

Mysterious Mary Ann Pt II

My head has been endlessly swirling with possible explanations regarding how exactly my third great grandmother, Mary Ann Nichols came to be.

To recap:

Her birth year is estimated to be 1847, based upon her age when she died.

No birth record appears to exist.

Her father, mentioned in her death certificate and marriage announcement (but strangely not on her actual marriage certificate) in the…

Fair warning: this post poses more questions than it does answers. I welcome any input on potential scenarios or necessary clarifications. 

So, I have a third great grandmother on my paternal Nan’s side of the family who appears to have sprung from no where. Yep, seems to be the standard on this line!

  Mary Ann Nichols, as far as I can determine, does not have an existing birth record. I do…

1/7/1917 – Worgret Camp- Wareham, Dorset, England

*Great Great Uncle Norman Douglas Way, in a letter to his father, George Cameron Way*

Twelve months ago today we first landed in France, I have had a good many experiences during this time, funny when one comes to look back on them, but not funny when one has to go through them. To give you one little experience: One day in October, we (my…

Samuel’s Surprise Part II

Despite all of the patchy and contradictory details that continue to present themselves where Samuel is concerned, I was certain of one thing. That he had threechildren with Mabel Shoveller, that’s it:

1. Reginald 2. Sybil 3. Mabel

No Ethel to be seen!

I still wasn’t sure if I had found the right Samuel West in this public family tree. It’s a pretty common warning one receives when beginning…

When I met with one of Mum’s close biological paternal relatives at Congress in March 2018, she showed me a pedigree of the Purcill family and provided tidbits of information about some of the more recent generations. I remember her saying that one of her mother’s uncles had done ‘something naughty’ (her words!) in the army during World War II and had consequently changed the spelling of the…

I found this obituary for my third great grandmother, Mary Jane Fraser (maiden name Pepper):

“Mrs Mary Jane Fraser, to whose death on Tuesday morning last at the residence of her son, Mr Simon Fraser, brief reference was made in our last issue, was 80 years of age. The deceased lady, who was born at Tandragee, Countty Armagh, Ireland came to the Macleay River in 1872 to reside with her sister,…

“Eventually, everything connects.” -Charles Eames

I have never really had trouble with remembering dates. I can look back over the last two and a half years that have been spent on the search for my biological grandfather, Mum’s biological father and name points of significance from the very beginning.

December 6th, 2016: my AncestryDNA results came through. There had been a purpose to doing this…