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Dave Annal Lifelines Research

@davelifelines.bsky.social

1.7K followers 870 following 1K posts

Family historian, lecturer, author. Former Principal Family History Specialist at The National Archives. Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. 41 years in the business. Loves a good map. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory https://lifelinesresearch.co.uk/

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 1d

I was looking at a will today that was written on 15 January 1794. One of the testator's sons had died 3 months earlier. He was mentioned in the will but only as the father of the testator's grandchildren. There was almost certainly an earlier version of the will naming the son as a benficiary. 2/2

Extract from a handwritten will dating from 1794.

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 1d

The date of a will is worth paying attention to. The version of that was proved (i.e. the one that's been preserved by the court) may not have been the first version written by the testator. The death of a family member can lead to a new will being written and you can often link the two events. 1/2

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 1d

What Antony said!

Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 1d

100% with you on this Janet…

Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 1d

Looking forward to this on Tuesday 21 October…

Society of Genealogists @sogorg.bsky.social · 1d

☕ #GenHour - Lunchtime Chat on Zoom: A Stroll Around Fleet Street
Join @elsesoggenealogist.bsky.social & @davelifelines.bsky.social for a relaxed, members-only chat exploring ancestors’ lives through maps & records.
🗓️ Tue 21 Oct, 12:30–14:00 | Online | Not recorded
Book now portal.sog.org.uk/Ev...

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 2d

Or it’s a very small laptop… 🤣

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 2d

It’s #BigScreenThursday * and today I’m making the most of the opportunity to work on a highly complex 14 generation family tree in which nearly everyone is called either Robert or George and, for various reasons, there are hardly any surviving baptismal or burial records.

* it’s a thing

Photo of a large computer screen with a very zoomed out family tree. On front of the screen is a laptop showing a section of a page from an old marriage register.

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 3d

I had a nice big screen - I wouldn't attempt it otherwise!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 3d

I spent yesterday reading and transcribing five wills, dating from 1642 to 1794, and relating to five generations of the same family. Particularly useful as there's little in the way of supporting parish register material. And one of the wills was never proved but turned up in a collection of deeds!

Screenshot of thumbnail images of old wills

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 3d

There's no easy answer and the depressing fact is that most of our working class ancestors were buried without a marker of any sort. Try DeceasedOnline www.deceasedonline.com/ which has a lot of Scottish records and Ancestry which has a database of burials in various Edinburgh Cemeteries.

Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 4d

I'm back in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Edinburgh for Day#7 of #31DaysOfGraves This gravestone commemorates no fewer than five members of my mum's family; her grandparents, her mother and her two brothers. Three generations on one stone...

Early 20th century gravestone with angel and cross. Mount Vernon Cemetery, Edinburgh. David J DAVIDSON. Kathleen SMITH. Elizabeth Gray DAVIDSON. Charles FLYNN. Dennis FLYNN.

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 4d

A people’s champion if ever there was one… 🤪

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 5d

But a minefield which needs to be explored - for purely academic purposes, of course!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 5d

A heartfelt and genuine endorsement!

If nothing else, it's worth reading for the list of old pubs to investigate... those on the good list AND the bad list!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 5d

Just finished reading this wonderful book by @jpwarchaeology.bsky.social

Recommended reading for anyone with an interest in old buildings and an enquiring and critical mind…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks to Griffiths Valuation and the accompanying maps on www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-val... I've been able to find the precise location of the house that the soldier I'm currently researching lived and died in. He served in the British Army between 1805 and 1814.

#MappyMonday #MapMonday

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 6d

#31DaysOfGraves - Day 5 Birds

Not a gravestone as such but a huge carving from a tree trunk of a small bird (a wren I think) in Macclesfield Cemetery, Cheshire.

Several of my wife's ancestors are buried nearby...

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 7d

Quite right too!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 7d

I’ve just written a short piece for @familytreeplus.bsky.social in which I took the opportunity to quote from this wonderful book by the late George Redmonds.

It’s also known as The Best Family History Book Ever Written

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 9d

Kirkland, not Kirkgate… 🤦🏻‍♂️

Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 9d

Stopped off in Kendal last night on our way back from Edinburgh. This is the house that my wife’s 3x great grandmother, Mary Graveson (née Clark) died in.

At least, she died at 20 Kirkgate in 1880 and this is 20 Kirkgate in 2025. Now I need to work out whether it’s the same address or not…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 9d

#31DaysOfGraves - Day 1 Flowers

This is a detail from the gravestone of my 2x Great Grandparents, James Smith & Catherine Reilly. Over 100 years after the stone was erected, the detail on the stonework is still quite stunning.

I believe they’re passion flowers…

Mount Vernon Cemetery, Edinburgh

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 10d

Keep fighting the good fight…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 11d

Lovely to have a chat and a stroll. I’m privileged to have such a beautiful cemetery to visit!

Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 11d

Popped down to Edinburgh’s Mount Vernon Cemetery to visit my mum’s grave and bumped into @historylady2013.bsky.social *

What better place to have a family history chat!

* OK, it was a pre-arranged ‘bump in’!

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