Prodigal Son

Elias Howe (1819–1867) was an American inventor best known for his creation of the lockstitch sewing machine.

My most recent custom project for a new customer!

The project was to find a connection between their family and that of a fiction writer who lived in the early 1900s: Clark Ashton Smith.

Smith’s mother’s maiden name was Gaylord, a prominent surname in colonial America. This customer was interested in knowing if there was any familial relation between their Gaylord family and that of Smith’s Gaylord family. After researching each Gaylord line, through generations of records such as baptisms and census records, the answer was found. Indeed there was a connection between Clark Ashton Smith and my customer, although their most recent common ancestor was born approx. 1585 in England.

Naval and military records can sometimes be challenging to find when doing family research. Not all databases such as ancestry or familysearch.org house the correct collections to view records. It can be worth reaching out to local archives and national archives — some countries or counties might even have specialized collections for navy and military records you can consult — for all the information regarding your ancestor.

In my own family, we have an ancestor who was part of the UK Royal Navy, having joined when he was only 15 years old. Over the course of decades, William Henry Pollard, travelled the world on numerous different vessels, having gone from England to the Straits of Gibraltar and Naples and more. Census records taken aboard the vessels list the exact location when the documents were filled out on — for example, on April 7th, 1861 the 1861 English census records William Pollard aboard the ship “Queen” off the coast of Beirut, Syria. At only 17 years old, William had explored more of the world than just his tiny town in Cornwall, England.

Being a part of the navy or military gave ancestors — as well as people today — opportunities they would not have had otherwise. William stayed in the UK Royal navy for over two decades, dying in 1915 at the age of 71, leaving behind a wife and five daughters — some of whom emigrant to the United States and some whom went to Australia.

Valuable information can come from just one sheet of paper — a will. Names, dates, and locations along with inventories are all included in probate documents and wills, providing more information that you might not be able to find elsewhere.

Each country — and sometimes, regions, states, and counties within those countries — have their own ways of releasing wills. This image above is an English will that belonged to a man named John Browne, dated 1658. As I did research on John Browne, finding births for his children, his marriage record, and so on — it seems that this man was just someone from the past but upon reading the will, life is put into John Browne and it’s clear to see how he perceived life. What he chose — or chose not — to give to his surviving family says a lot about the man he was.

Starting a family tree can be a tedious and daunting process, but once you get started — you’ll soon have an entire family tree! When I first started researching my own family years ago, I began with the basic steps I’ve listed out above. Asking my family for information about their ancestors and writing down every little piece of information I heard or could find out. Inputting what you have found into a family tree (by using any genealogical website or database — many allow for free tree building!), soon hints and records will become associated with your ancestor and you will be able to expand your tree! Birth, marriage, and death records are vital for sometimes listing parents names and possible ages; while census records also show names and ages, the documents can also lists address, occupations, and sometimes extended relatives!

Get to know me:

My name is Brittany, I’m 24 and recently completed an MA from Newcastle University in Classics and Ancient History. My undergraduate degree was in Art History from Temple University. I’ve had a passion for history for a sling as I can remember, always scouring sources for all the information I could possibly find.

My interest in genealogy started when I was young. As a child, I discovered a family history book written in the late '90s that traced my mother's lineage back to the American Revolution. Filled with names, dates, and unknown photos — I was immediately taken by the book and that very day had begun my own ancestry adventure. Thirteen years later and the obsession has not stopped! Researching and contacting archives, churches, cemeteries, and more, to find all the information about my family that I possibly could, and there is still so much to discover!

Finding records from country, state, or national archives can be a tedious task, with most of the collections not being transcribed for the general public. Hours upon hours can be put into sifting through microfilm just to discover the one document that breaks through to the next generation. But once that one record is found — it can open up priceless information.

This happened within my own family when I began to research my mother’s Swiss roots. I knew limited information about my ancestor, Casper Kohler; all I had was an estimated birth year of 1818, a brother’s name, and the fact that they were both born in Switzerland. But with this information, I began to scour the Swiss National Archives — took weeks to page through the baptisms as many national archives are separated by district, parish, and town with no searchable database to narrow down the records. But the time and effort paid off as a I discovered both a baptism for Casper Kohler and his brother Nicholas, matching the birth years and possible location with Switzerland that I had theorized. And now, because I continued to pour through the archives, I can date my Swiss lineage back to the early 1700s in Bern, Switzerland. My family has been floored with the results I have found and we now feel more connected to our Swiss roots.

I do all the research I can to discover all everything there is within a family tree. If you purchase a research package, I will take on your case as if I was researching my own family history and follow through with all avenues of research — including contacting national, state, district, or country archives and providing you with all the details and documents.

Image 1: marriage record from Meiringen, Bern, Switzerland between Niklaus Kohler and Barbara Jaun Nov. 29, 1810

Image 2: baptism from Meiringen of Niklaus and Barbara’s son Niklaus dated Jul. 6, 1811

"Brittany is fantastic! Not only does she work quickly, but she is thorough and single minded in hunting down family history things! We have so many unknown things in my family, and Brittany, instead of being out off by those things, has helped me solve some, uncover others, and is determined to solve what’s left. She also determinedly traced my family back hundreds of years - she is great at this and I can’t recommend her enough!!"

This package of five hours of research is a great way to kickstart discovering the history of your family! At only £35 per hour, it’s a great deal for those who want a foundation of knowledge or as a gift for someone else! The research can be conducted with a particular goal in mind such as finding immigrant ancestors or narrowing in a certain great-grandparent, or just as a generalize search of the entire family.

Additionally, this package can be used to find out not only document-based research, but genetic research, too.