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Dave Annal Lifelines Research

@davelifelines.bsky.social

1.7K followers 870 following 990 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/

lifelinesresearch.co.uk

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 19h

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

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 19h

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 · 1d

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 · 1d

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 · 2d

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

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

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 · 2d

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 · 2d

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 · 2d

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 · 3d

#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 · 5d

Quite right too!

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

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 · 6d

Kirkland, not Kirkgate… 🤦🏻‍♂️

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

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 · 7d

#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 · 8d

Keep fighting the good fight…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 8d

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 · 8d

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

I'm up in Edinburgh for a few days and I nearly missed #MappyMonday

Here's a detail from the 1763 edition of John Laurie's map of Midlothain which, unusually, is orientated with 'North' at the bottom of the map. Cramond village is, of course, on the south bank of the Firth of Forth.

#MapMonday

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 12d

Essential reading for genealogists, whether you have Scottish ancestry or not…

scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/09/ance...

Ancestry and the NRS - when the corporate genealogy world turns ugly

From Scotland, a daily news blog about genealogy, family history and personal heritage.

scottishgenes.blogspot.com

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 12d

I meant to add that the number (29) is a sequential number. They numbered all the corrections and listed them sequentially in the register as a means of fraud prevention.

Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 12d

It’s a simple error. He wrote ‘Boy’ in the wrong column 0p!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 12d

It will just say something like ‘corrected by’, the initials of the registrar and the date of the correction. Although this is one that was probably corrected at the same time as the birth was registered.

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 12d

Not a foot note but a marginal note. Sadly, the GRO decided not to scan the marginal notes with the digital images. You’d need to get the full certificate or a pdf copy to see what it says, but…

In this case I can tell you what it says…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 13d

Sadly, it's not at all uncommon for just the father's name to be recorded in parish registers. It's almost the default before the early 1700s and it's something you can encounter much later as well. Unfortunately, the clerks were largely left to their own devices when it came to what to record.

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