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Wendy Percival
- May 27, 2022
- 2 min
A Crack in the Mystery Photo Door
You might remember reading on this blog about My Mystery Photo Pouch – a small brown leatherette wallet full of little photo snaps which...


Wendy Percival
- May 6, 2022
- 3 min
Secret Sibling
A lot can happen between censuses, as I found out while researching my great grandfather, George Shelley. I began investigating George...

Wendy Percival
- Jan 14, 2022
- 2 min
Revealed in the census!
I was most upset last week, having excitedly looked forward to finding where my great aunt, Mary Ann Diggory (known as Annie) was living...


Wendy Percival
- Nov 19, 2021
- 1 min
The family history 7UP treatment!
On a recent #ancestryhour someone shared a fabulous photograph of their grandmother as a child, all dressed up for a special occasion....


Wendy Percival
- Nov 5, 2021
- 1 min
A #WWI roll call
While I’m busy working on the next Esme Quentin mystery and have less time for my blog and the associated research, it’s an ideal time to...


Wendy Percival
- Oct 22, 2021
- 2 min
Mystery silhouette
My husband has an old photograph album which once belonged to the Viner branch of his family. We were thrilled to find in the first...


Wendy Percival
- Oct 15, 2021
- 1 min
The Added Tragedy of 1918
While I'm busy writing the 5th Esme Quentin Mystery, and have less time for family history researching, it's the perfect opportunity to...


Wendy Percival
- Sep 10, 2021
- 1 min
A House Through Time
While I'm busy writing the next Esme Quentin Mystery and not posting on the blog so often, it's an ideal opportunity to revisit posts I'd...


Wendy Percival
- Sep 3, 2021
- 2 min
Lost precious pets
Welcome back to the blog! I hope you all had a good summer. Sadly, ours will for ever be marked as the time we said our last goodbyes to...


Wendy Percival
- Jul 9, 2021
- 2 min
One mystery solved... and tennis
I’ll get to tennis in a moment. First, an update and an exciting discovery… While digging around for information on my gran’s singing...


Wendy Percival
- Jul 2, 2021
- 2 min
A musical investigation
All the world’s a stage, William Shakespeare said, and for my grandmother, Winifred “Wyn” Griffiths, a professional singer, all her world...


Wendy Percival
- Jun 25, 2021
- 2 min
Ancestors in the “beautiful game”
They say, if you can’t beat them join ‘em. So, as the whole of Europe is currently fixated on the European Football Championships, I...


Wendy Percival
- Jun 11, 2021
- 2 min
Surprise coincidences
Family history connections can take you by surprise sometimes, as I wrote about in a recent post, Shock Shared Ancestor. A couple of...


Wendy Percival
- Jun 4, 2021
- 3 min
A special centenary!
Today is the hundred-year anniversary of my grandparents' wedding! When they got married in 1921 they were living in the same road –...


Wendy Percival
- May 14, 2021
- 2 min
Finished!
I’ve been excited to complete a family history project close to my heart this week – it’s not often in family history we can say we’ve...


Wendy Percival
- May 7, 2021
- 3 min
A memorial bear
My Dad’s old teddy inadvertently led me to a family history discovery this week. But, as is often the case in these situations, it raised...


Wendy Percival
- Mar 26, 2021
- 2 min
Tragedy & Loss
In my post, From ankle deep to knee deep, I discovered my great-grandmother Eliza Roberts, had been only 13 when her mother died. Well,...


Wendy Percival
- Mar 19, 2021
- 3 min
Propaganda & Mystery
I found an odd – and slightly disturbing – postcard amongst my family history collection this week while searching for something else. I...


Wendy Percival
- Mar 5, 2021
- 2 min
Long hair & lugs - memories of my gran
My paternal grandmother, Edith Alice Diggory, was born 123 years ago this week. Happy Birthday, Gran! Edith’s mother was a Roberts – the...


Wendy Percival
- Feb 19, 2021
- 3 min
Flat on his back & plastered!
If you read this blog last week, posted on my late dad’s birthday and you clicked to read Preserving the Memories, you’ll know that my...