Ninth great grandfather John Hazell left Thatcham in Berkshire to start a new life on the Caribbean island of Barbados,as part of the initial wave of English colonization during the “Sugar Boom” of the mid-17th century. He owned a sugar plantation in Barbados – he was ‘sugar gentry’.
Life in 17th century rural France
The most striking thing about my French ancestors is how ordinary they probably were. They were not nobles, soldiers or famous figures. Yet families like the Lemaires […]
Little Breeches
It’s rare that you see a nickname appearing in Ancestry.com. So when we saw 12th Great Grandfather Alexander irvine listed as Alexander “Little Breeches” irvine, we had to find out more.
The Tin and Copper Miners
Our Trathen forebears may have ended up in the lead mines of Cumberland but before that, the family had worked in the tin and copper […]
The ‘Scots Slaves’
11th Great Grand-uncle James Elliott Paterson – a Scot – may have been the son of the Bishop of Ross but that didn’t stop him ending up as an indentured servant to English colonists in the New World.
The Scottish Archbishop
Tenth-great grandfather John Paterson was the last Protestant Archbishop of Glasgow – and there were mixed reviews about him
The Swedish Bishop – and Torturer
Annette’s 11th-great aunt married a man who seems to have been… well, let’s just say he wasn’t husband of the year.
Puritan Founding Father
Thomas Wilson was born around 1600 in Leicestershire though in his mid-thirties he took the momentous decision of moving to America where he was one of the founding fathers of the town of Exeter, New Hampshire.
The Royalist Soldier
A staunch royalist, Sir Timothy Featherstonhaugh’s support for King Charles cost his family everything and his own life.
Matthew and Nathaniel Irwin, Going to America
8th Great-Grandfather Matthew Irwin was born in 1678 – probably in Scotland – but moved to Co Antrim in Ireland soon after he married his […]