Author Archives: dgm

The Sydney Gazette story of Captain Hasselborough’s demise is interesting typographically for its use of the long s. In the handwriting of the time the long s was only really used as the first s of double s in a … Continue reading →

I was listening to a Radio New Zealand podcast about the archaeology of sealers’ camps on Campbell Island, way to the south of New Zealand, when I heard a story that I had never heard before. ‘The last grand daughter … Continue reading →

This morning I tweeted a link to a Gizmodo article reporting the discovery of fifteenth Venetian glass beads in Alaska. Obviously the article is written from a US viewpoint, and makes the point that the beads were probably deposited before … Continue reading →

As I’ve said before, I’ve been messing about with family history to keep my skills sharp during this thing which is the pandemic, even to the extent that I bought myself a one year all-knobs-and-whistles subscription to MyHeritage as a … Continue reading →

When I was researching my great-great-great grandfather’s marriage the notice of his banns was simply an entry in the Airlie Kirk Session minute book for 1805. When I downloaded the record, actually what I got was a copy of page … Continue reading →

I was going to leave Madeleine alone for a bit, but while I was researching the marriage of my great-great-great grandfather several things about Madeleine and Emile’s relationship clicked into place. In her letters to Emile, Madeleine signed herself as … Continue reading →

One of the things that I like about family history is that you learn things about how a society worked. For example I was researching the marriage of my great-great-great grandfather who I knew was named James Moncur. I also … Continue reading →

While I still had some credit left on my account with Scotland’s People, the Scottish Government’s genealogy service, I thought I’d try and find the birth record for my great-great grandfather, who was rather unimaginatively named James Moncur. I already … Continue reading →

One thing that has puzzled me in recent years is why there are quite a few people in the Bahamas whose surname is Moncur. Given that Moncur is a relatively unusual name, and the Bahamians with that surname are the … Continue reading →

A few years ago, we took advantage of a free day on Ancestry to research Judi’s grandfather. And then, having confirmed his record at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, we left it there. However, I’ve just bought myself a … Continue reading →