Karen Murphy Genealogy
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We tend to get a lot of enquiries, where people simply require help or a bit of advice.
We like giving advice because it means we're helping other like minded people take up genealogy as a hobby.
A new feature on our website is our blog page. We'll update a new topic on a regular basis based on a general enquiry we've had, or just things we think others will find interesting.
If you want us to include a subject - just drop us an email on our contact page and we'll look to include the subject in a future blog. Or, if you have an interesting article you want to share with others, just send it to us at our contact email adresss and we'll publish it here.
Similar to our other pages, just use the arrows at the top to turn the pages of our blog book - there may be something of interest inside!
JULY 2010
Its back! The BBC is poised to screen a whole new series of Who Do You Think You Are? from July through to September and this time theres nine family history-packed episodes for you to look forward to!
Veteran entertainer Bruce Forsyth unravels the truth behind a mysterious letter from America and his great great grandfathers time in the country, television gardener Monty Don finds out what happened to the millions made by his marmalade-manufacturing forebears and how one of his family changed Scottish history, while actor Rupert Everett discovers a relative that he never knew existed.
The draw for Irish actress Dervla Kirwan was to understand her family connections to Michael Collins, though the discovery of an unconventional marriage takes her on a journey to a tragic miscarriage of justice.
India is the setting for Rupert Penry-Jones episode where the Spooks actor seeks the source of a family myth about their Anglo-Indian roots.
Comedian and recent BATFA-winner Alexander Armstrong encounters some very illustrious kin and tries to solve a murder, meanwhile Holby Citys Hugh Quarshie uncovers a love story that challenges our understanding of Europes role in Africa during the 19th century.
Jason Donovan, 80s soap star and now all-round entertainer, investigates the family tree of his mother, who walked out of his life when he was four and makes some shocking discoveries.
In his film, actor Alan Cumming learns the real events behind the death of his hero grandfather during the Malayan Emergency.
We're certainly looking forward to it - we hope you are too!
MAY 2010
AMERICAN IDOLS, BRITISH ANCESTORS...
We all know that the great nation across the pond has a love affair with British history - just watch any number of Hollywood blockbusters and there's often an old British legend or myth lurking beneath the screenplay. Watching Robin Hood Prince of Thieves or more recently Sherlock Holmes, we see the USA claiming the history of times past and re inventing it. But which famous Americans really can lay claim to a history embedded deep in the British landscape?
In the blog this month, we take a quick look at some of the names that have cropped up in recent press articles to see where exactly their history takes them, except here, unlike Robin Hood and Sherlock Holmes, it's all fact and no fiction!
Tom Cruise
• Born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse, New York, in 1962
• The superstar Hollywood actor has Welsh ancestry through his paternal great-great- grandfather, Dylan Henry Mapother
• Dylan emigrated from Flint, Wales to Louisville, Kentucky in 1850
Halle Berry
• Born Halle Maria Berry in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1966
• The Oscar-winning actor's maternal grandmother was 9 months old when she set sail from Liverpool with her mother and 5 siblings in 1912 on board the Merion
• The family settled in Philadelphia
Laura Bush
• Born Laura Jane Welch in Midland, Texas, in 1946
• The First Lady's great-great grandparents sailed on board the Southampton from London
to New York in 1865
• Laura's great grandmother was born 5 years later
Donald Trump
• Born Donald John Trump in Queens, New York, in 1946
• The world famous entrepreneur, property magnate, and star of U.S. TV's The Apprentice has Scottish ancestry through his mother, Mary MacLeod
• Mary was a native Gaelic-speaker, born on the Isle of Lewis in 1912 who set sail for the States on The Transylvania in 1935
MARCH 2010
CERTIFICATE PRICE RISE
01 March 2010
New charges for people ordering birth, marriage and death certificates were announced today by Registrar General James Hall.
From Tuesday 6 April 2010 the eight separate fees currently charged by the General Register Office (GRO) for ordering a certificate will be reduced to two - one for standard orders and one for the priority service.
The changes - the first for the GRO since 2003 - will ensure that the costs of providing the service are recovered from fees and not subsidised by the taxpayer.
Mr Hall said:
"The General Register Office receives more than two million certificate orders every year, the vast majority of which, over 90 per cent, are ordered online.
"This is our first change to fees since 2003 and we believe that the new fee structure will be simpler to use for our customers.
GRO certificate services are self-financing and costs must be recovered to ensure taxpayers do not subsidise them. This is a responsibility we take extremely seriously.
"We will continue to play our part in keeping costs as low as possible by bringing in technological efficiencies and improvements."
The cost of ordering certificates online with a GRO reference number, using the standard service, will rise from £7.00 to £9.25. A number of other charges, however, will fall to this new standard fee, including those for certificates where customers do not know the reference number.
Three of the four priority overnight service charges will also fall to a flat fee of £23.40.
The Registrar General has also announced new fees to be charged by the Local Registration Service throughout England and Wales for issuing copies of certificates, and officiating at weddings and civil partnerships for those who are housebound or detained.
The charge for registering marriages at registered buildings - those buildings that are registered for the solemnization of religious marriages other than Anglican churches - has also been changed.
These new fees, which also come into effect on 6 April, reflect the actual cost of providing the services and follows a review undertaken by local authorities together with the GRO.
For more information on GRO services and to order certificates online go to www.direct.gov.uk/gro
NOVEMBER 2009
Jack the Ripper Genealogy!!
The gruesome Jack the Ripper slayings of 1888 sparked a pandemic of panic and fear, unlike any London had seen before.
The identity of the killer still perplexes and fascinates history buffs today. But despite a wealth of conspiracy theories and numerous investigative books, it seems we're still no closer to discovering who was responsible.
To mark the 121-year anniversary of the murders, KM genealogy thought it'd be good to take a look at the 1881 census, which offers a snapshot of the victims lives just seven years before they met their tragic end.
Modern cinema has portrayed the victims as young, lifelong prostitutes, struck down in the prime of their lives. But the 1881 census shows that by the time of their deaths they were mostly in their 40s, and had previously been living at least on paper respectable family lives.
Catherine Eddowes, who appears on the 1881 census as Kate Conway, is listed as a charwoman and was living in Chelsea with her common-law husband, Thomas Conway (a hawker), plus their two children:
Elizabeth Stride, who is believed to be the third victim, had worked as a prostitute in her 20s. But by 1881 (then aged 37), it seems she had escaped that life, and was living in Bow with her husband John Stride, a carpenter:
1881 census catherine eddowes (kate conway)
1881 census elizabeth stride
Annie Chapman whose story is perhaps the most tragic was staying with her parents on the night of the 1881 census with her three children. She is listed as a stud groom's wife. (Her husband, John Chapman, was living above stables in Berkshire, where Annie and the children later joined him):
Annie and John Chapman's eldest child, Emily Ruth Chapman, died in 1882 of meningitis, aged just 12. In the wake of the tragedy, both parents took to drink, which probably precipitated their separation.
Annie's husband was paying Annie 10 shillings on a semi-regular basis until his death on Christmas Day 1886. It is not until after his death that Annie Chapman descended into prostitution.
Mary Ann Polly Nichols, and Mary Jane Kelly (the only victim in her 20s), are not found on the 1881 census, so they may have been walking the streets on the night it was taken. But Nichols, at any rate, was married with three children at the time of the 1871 census, so the reality, once again, has not been faithfully depicted by Hollywood.
According to contemporary newspapers, by the time of their deaths, none of the three victims we found on the 1881 census were living with their husbands.
Poverty was rife in the East End of London, so its likely, following the breakup of their marriages, that these women turned to prostitution simply to survive - a decision which, ironically, led to their untimely deaths.
So there you have it, a Genealogical look at the most infamous murders in history!!!
1881 census annie chapman
SEPTEMBER 2009
What does "cousin once removed" mean?
The relationships to your cousins can seem a bit confusing. You will undoubtably uncover second cousins and third cousins and then sometimes they will be "once removed" or "twice removed". But what does all that mean?
Firstly a cousin is someone with whom you share a common ancestor. My first cousin and I share the same grandparents. They are our common ancestors. My second cousin and I share the same great-grandparents - our common ancestors are a generation further back.
The word "removed" means that the cousins come from different generations. "once removed" means that they are one generation apart, "twice removed" means that they are two generations apart, and so on.
Here's an example:
My first cousin's child is my first cousin once removed.
My first cousin's grandchild is my first cousin twice removed.
However my child and my first cousin's child are second cousins. They are of the same generation, hence they are not "removed", but their common ancestors are their great-grandparents which is why they are second cousins.
And if you're not already confused you can also have Double First Cousins who are first cousins twice: once on your father's side and once on your mother's side, since your father's sibling married your mother's sibling.
Any questions? - Just drop us a line!!
