Convicts in the Closet

Family histories often hold hidden secrets, skeletons and untold stories. These hold great interest and intrigue for the family researcher but also great frustration. These skeletons are frustrating as it is extremely difficult to get accurate information from those who may hold some insights. 

As a family researcher, how many times have you probed your relations for information and received responses along the lines of "nobody ever spoke about it", "we heard whispers, but never knew for sure", "my mother told me it didn't concern me"? 

For many people, it is discovering that they are descendants of convicts. For many Australians, this is not so unusual if their ancestors in Australia go back at least four or five generations. There is much interest now in tracing convict ancestry and much of the stigma has disappeared. There are numerous avenues now for tracing your convict roots and Genealogy for All is keen to develop a list of such resources.

We are always happy to include resources that you have found, so if you are aware of a great site, please let us know and we would be happy to include it. Visit the Convict Ancestry page of the blog to see this growing resource list.

Free Geneology Resources - Family Search

Family Search

www.familysearch.org

A great site for searching for information for your family tree which is free. This service is provided through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and includes information for births/christenings, marriages and deaths for many countries. Census information is also available, with a wide range of new indexes being added due to the Indexing Project (which anyone can volunteer for - a very worthwhile project and very rewarding!)

There is a wide range of resources available on the website - free online classes, free family history software as well as a number of databases which are reasonably priced.

There are also Family History Centres around the world and their website allows you to search by country for their location.

I have used this website extensively for family research for Scotland, England and Australia and have found it very useful. There is another great source which can be used in conjunction with this family search indexes, which makes it even easier to use, which will be added very soon.

Visit the 'Free Resources' page regularly to see the soon to be growing list of free genealogical resources for all those keen family tree reseachers. If you know of resources which could be added to the page, please feel free to let me know.

Family History Treasures

We found this great binder for storing all the important information for your family tree. The binder can be customised with your family name and a photo of your ancestors. The perfect gift for the keen genealogist.

Visit tnbackroads on zazzle for more information.

View "Family History" by tnbackroads

To view other family tree binders from a range of amazing designers and artists, visit Zazzle. There is something there for everyone!

Free Genealogy Resources

Genealogy for All is developing a comprehensive list of free resources for the keen family researcher. It will be continually growing list of resources, making use of our experiences in researching a number of family trees. We will also include resources that we stumble across in our genealogy research, but may not have extensive knowledge of or experience in using.

Whenever possible, we will include feedback on the ease of use or the extent of information available on the site. If we have listed something and you would like to add to the feedback on that site, please feel free to leave a comment. If you know of a great free resource that is not included in the list, please let us know and we would be happy to include it.

As this will be a continually growing list, make sure you visit often to take advantage of all the free resources available to research your family history.

Peter McCluskey - The Lost Ancestor

My great grandfather, Peter McCluskey, has proven to be one of the most elusive members of my family tree on my father's side. In fact, my research into that particular side of the family line almost comes to a full stop once I get to him.

Here are some things I do know:

• Born 6 March 1865 in Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland (I have verified this against the BMD for Scotland).
• His parents are Patrick McCluskey (born c.1832 in Derry, Ireland) and Mary McCarron (born c.1832 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland). There are a number of variations of Mary's surname, including McCarrow.
• In the 1881 Scotland Census, he was living with his older brother, Hugh, Hugh's wife, Anne, and their son, Patrick. The were living in Thorntons Row in Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland and he was a coal miner.
• On 18 February 1891 he married Mary Gardner in Peebles, Peebleshire, Scotland.
• In the 1891 Scotland Census, he was still living in Thorntons Row in Carluke and was a coal miner, but living with his wife, Mary.
• In the 1901 Scotland Census, he was living with his wife and 5 children (Mary, Cornelius, Peter, Agnes and Annie) in Cowie Road Greenyards in Bannockburn, Stirlingshire, Scotland and he was a coal miner hewer.
• A further two children were born early in the first deacde of the 20th century: Martha and John.

From this point on, all becomes very difficult when trying to locate Peter McCluskey. His wife died in 1906 and the trail goes cold.


Family stories suggest that my grandmother, Agnes, was sent to a convent with her sisters after their mother died. As my grandmother is no longer with us, I am unable to verify this information. I am anxiously awaiting the release of the 1911 Scotland Census in 2012 to see if this holds any more information on what happened to the children following the death of their mother. 

My father was not even aware of the existence of his Uncle John, the youngest of the children, so that leaves even more questions unanswered. As he was still a baby when his mother died, was he adopted out? Were the other children so young that they didn't even remember him?

I cannot find Peter in the 1871 Scotland Census. His own mother died when he was two years old. His own experience of losing his mother at such a young age mirrored by his own son, John.

I cannot find an entry in Scotland's BDM index for the death of Peter McCluskey. What happened to him after his wife died in 1906? Will the 1911 Census provide any information on his whereabouts five years later? Was he still alive? Was he near his children? 


The McCluskey name varies considerably on any documents and census materials - variations include McLusky and even McListy, which means at times they have been incredibly hard to track down.


I hope the release of the 1911 Scotland Census brings some answers or perhaps someone will come across this blog who already has the answers. I would love to share the information I have with anyone researching this family line!

Winston Churchill - Random Genealogy Case Study

Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, British Prime Minister 1940-1945 and 1951-1955

By searching the England and Wales Free BMD, a birth record is found for Winston Churchill in the October quarter of 1874 in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England (Volume 3a, Page 695). 

In the 1881 England Census, he was living at 29 St James Place, London with his parents, Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill, and his younger brother, John (aged 1). Lord Randolph was listed as being a Member of Parliament, and they have a number of domestic staff. It is obvious that they were living in a prestigious area of London when noting their neighbours were royalty, high ranking military officials, barristers and other Members of Parliament.

The census provides us with additional information, which is of use to trace Churchill's family line further back. Lord Randolph is shown as being 32 years of age and born in Chelsea. Lady Randolph is shown as being 26 years of age and born in New York, United States. His brother, John, was born in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland.

The 1891 England Census shows Winston living his mother, his brother, Jack Strange Churchill, and his maternal grandmother, Leonard Jerome (Clara Hall) at 34 Barnstead Manor, Chevely in Cambridgeshire. Again they have a large number of domestic staff.


His grandmother is shown as aged 67, a widow, and born in Rochester, United States. Lady Randolph's birthplace is shown as Brooklyn, United States. His father is not listed at the residence, however his mother is not listed as a widow, so at this point in time we can assume that he is alive but not staying at the residence at the time of the census.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Random Genealogy Case Study

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, famous English civil engineer. 

 He was born on 9 April 1806 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England and christened on 1 November 1806 in Saint Mary's in Portsea, Hampshire. His parents were Marc Isambard Brunel and Sophia Kingdom. He married Mary Elizabeth Horsley on 5 July 1836 in Kensington, London. He died on 15 September 1859. The above information was easily found by searching the International Genealogy Index (IGI) at www.familysearch.org

In the 1841 census, Isambard was living at High Street, St Peter and St Paul in Somerset. He was 35 years of age and a civil engineer. He was not living with any other family members, although we know from above that he was already married at that time. Other people living in the same street included merchants, a surgeon and a solicitor, indicating that it was an affluent area. Further investigation showed Isambard's wife, Mary, in a hotel in Salt Hill, Buckinghamshire (now in Berkshire), with their son, Isambard, aged 4.

The 1851 census provides even more insights into the Brunel family. They were living at 17 and 18 Duke Street, Westminster St Margaret, Middlesex. Living in the home was Isambard, Mary, Lady Sophie (Isambard's mother) and their three children, Isambard (13 years), Henry Mark (8 years) and Florence Mary (3 years). They also had a governess, a butler, a kitchen maid, a lady's maid, two nurses, three housemaids, a housekeeper and a cook. Their next door neighbour was Thomas Greene who was a Member of Parliament.

Isambard died in 1859, and by searching death/burial indexes, we were able to find that he was buried on 20 September in All Souls Cemetery.

Clifton Suspension Bridge II, Bristol, England by OldeWorldGifts

Vintage photomechanical print of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, which was taken towards the end of the 19th century. This bridge was one of Brunel's famous designs. Photograph courtesy LOC (LC-DIG-ppmsc-08048).

A Love of Family History

My love of family history has developed slowly over many years - and like so many other people, it comes too late to benefit from the oral histories of grandparents and extended family. Even my parents struggle to remember everything I would like to know - so I am left with snippets of information, half stories, family ghosts and far too many questions.

The growth of genealogical information on the internet has helped my quest considerably and I have become linked with distant relations - and with that comes a sharing of family history and a yearning to know much, much more.