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Posted by Emily Gillatt-Ball on Oct 24, 2016 in Cornock, Writing Family History |

Cornock family history research: change old money into new

It’s hard to understand the value of money back in the past. For example, when writing home during the 1800s from Australia to his wife in Bristol, UK, my ancestor Peter Cornock describes his purchase of a ring:

At Auction, I got incredibly low figures, I invested 20/- in a gold ring with a crest in a bloodstone, exactly the same color as my initials in pencil case (of course it is always its value) The Crest is a Griffin with a bird in Collar I intend to seal one of my letters with it.

So, did he get a bargain?

Posted by Emily Gillatt-Ball on Oct 18, 2016 in Paice |

My Mum’s Guide to Ladylike Behaviour (and why it didn’t work!)

My mother raised us to be feminine and ladylike. It didn’t work. My sisters and I usually wore dresses or skirts, even when building a treehouse or playing in the snow....

Posted by Emily Gillatt-Ball on Oct 17, 2016 in Writing Family History |

Where to check census results for your family history

Got plenty of money to spare for your family history research? Me neither. But I’ve been doing a lot of skipping from one website to another lately, trying to...

Posted by Emily Gillatt-Ball on Oct 10, 2016 in Young |

The Chartist ‘attack’ on the Isle of Wight in 1847 – well… nearly!

Keen Isle of Wight historians may be unaware of an episode in the Island’s history involving the Chartists, a radical working-class political movement in Victorian times.

Transcribing an old letter from Priscilla Young to her cousin Ann in 1847, I came across the following anecdote:

Posted by Emily Gillatt-Ball on Oct 3, 2016 in Project Progress |

The Jollyman Letters: project progress October 2016

The first stage in creating the Jollyman Letters books was getting organised. These amazing family history letters were found in boxes in our attic, many with their envelopes but in no particular order.

Over the years, family members have pulled out the odd letter here and there to decipher the writing, but the scale of this project is so enormous that the task of simply reading them all has always defeated us.

Cornock family history research: change old money into new

My Mum’s Guide to Ladylike Behaviour (and why it didn’t work!)

Where to check census results for your family history

The Chartist ‘attack’ on the Isle of Wight in 1847 – well… nearly!

The Jollyman Letters: project progress October 2016

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