Despite the bleak outlook for John McCarthy during his confinement in Grove Hall Asylum, he eventually managed to leave its walls. The last record of his residence there dates from 1881; at some point thereafter, he left the asylum and returned to Ireland. It is unknown exactly when he returned, but he can be found in records in Co. Cork. By the mid-1890s, John McCarthy had returned to his home area, living within the same environment and exposed to the same health risks as h

One of those who survived the Great Hunger was my children’s great-great-grandfather, John McCarthy. He was born around June 1844 in Ballyvourney, Co. Cork. The Ballyvourney baptism register records John McCarthy, son of Owen McCarthy and Ellen Ryan. From later records I do know John had a brother named Denis. I have nothing else on John from the time he was born until he joined the British army. Enlistment and Training John McCarthy enlisted into the British Army (65th Foot)

Ballyvourney, Co.Cork 1840’s - 1860’s: Faith, The Great Hunger and the Hills of Muskerry. In the early 1840s, Ballyvourney lay between the Derrynasaggart Mountains, a patchwork of green fields, peat bogs, and the River Sullane. The hills rose steep and silent, dotted with small cabins where smoke from turf fires curled into the cool air. Irish was the language of the people; prayers, songs, and stories flowed easily, and the music of the local fiddler could be heard across th

Florence Lock was 9 years old when she entered the workhouse. She would spend the next 10 years inside the walls of Victorian institutions. Discover the hidden life of a Victorian orphan, documented in her own correspondence.

Just before Beatrice Vaughan’s death in 1985, she confided in her son a secret she had kept her entire life

While researching my ancestral parish of Much Marcle, Herefordshire, I uncovered a court record that told a story far more desperate than my own family's hardships. It was the story of Milborough Trilloe, a widowed agricultural labourer, whose life reveals the struggle of survival faced by the rural poor in the 1840s. My Evans family line moved to Wales from this same parish. My ancestor Richard Evans, a one-handed farm labourer, knew relentless toil and tragedy, losing three

In 1820 William Burk was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. His father was a recent arrival from Ireland, driven by a desperate pursuit of...

We were asked to research the Black family by their descendants, who now reside in California. As we traced each generation, we...

The Hotel Realty Co. was incorporated on the 24th of January 1903 with the goal to build a new hotel in St. Louis, in preparation for the...

Vowchurch is a small village located in Herefordshire, in the shadow of the Welsh Black mountains, nestled in Bannau Brycheiniog national...

Our client asked us to research their family who had lived in the Welsh town of Swansea for a number of years. Their great grandfather,...

James Seaborne, Vowchurch, Herefordshire

My Nephew’s wife has Irish ancestry from her great x2 grandfather, John Field. John Field was baptised in Killeagh County Cork, Ireland...

Above is a photocopy of a parish census from 1828. It shows my Gx3 and Gx4 grandparents. What's remarkable is that it shows siblings...

Over the years I have discovered many references to my ancestors. Below is an absolute gem that relates to a Great grand aunt of mine....

Family William Seaborne was born on the 19th December 1872 in the picturesque town of Hay-On-Wye, Breconshire, Wales. William's parents,...

Charles ‘Percy’ Evans - Death of a Boy Soldier, Ypres, The Great War 1915