My Journey into Genealogy: From Family Stories to Professional Research

Some of my earliest memories smell of roast potatoes, rich gravy, and sweet, caramelising carrots, all mixing into that irresistible, homely hug. Both my maternal and paternal grandparents’ were masters of a good roast, Nanny Wade’s was made with precision and savoured like a fine dining meal after a long drive, while Grandad’s was a rustic countryside mountain of grub – proper job! Both homes were treasure troves of family photographs on walls, mantlepieces, and carefully kept albums full of faces from the past. Who were they?

At home, we didn’t have photos on display, so visiting my grandparents felt like stepping into a photo album. I was a quirky child, now I am just a quirky adult(!), and even back then I’d fire off questions about every face in the photos, every trinket on a shelf, every strange old object and that’s when the stories would begin. Most triggered stories of mischief, cheeky childhoods, friendships, songs and relationships. Not all were cheerful as is life’s ups and downs but even the bittersweet ones made me feel closer to who my grandparents really were and what moulded them into the people I adored.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but these small moments were quietly sowing the seeds of a lifelong fascination with genealogy.

The Moment Everything Clicked

As a teenager, I dabbled in family history research, scribbling out trees and trying to work out how to find records, but without much know-how (and absolutely no budget for subscriptions)…it was slow going. Then life happened and work and studies took up most of my time and genealogy got pushed to the back with each slow attempt to find more information.

Years later, we found out we were expecting a son. We wanted a name that held meaning and was a nod to his ancestors, which only refreshed my drive to build not only my own history but now my son’s history too. Before long, I was staying up late with census returns, parish registers, and far too many snacks. To my delight the internet had caught up since my teenage attempts and so had my budget for subscriptions so what used to take months now took no time at all and that’s without discovering my passion for DNA testing.

One DNA match solved a mystery that had quietly consumed my Grandad for years: an unknown parentage no one could quite untangle. The theories were there but nothing concrete. Giving him those answers felt like lifting a lifetime of weight off his shoulders.

After that, I was hooked. Friends, relatives, anyone who ‘just wanted to know a little bit’, and I would happily disappear down rabbit holes for all of them, unearthing lost branches and dusting off family stories that had been long forgotten. At the time, I was working as an Agricultural Design Engineer having spent my career following interests but not passions. Situations changed and I was able to leave my job to start homeschooling our son as we had always planned. However, I do love a side project and education has always been like a hobby for me. The issue was I felt lost since leaving work; I had worked full time since I left school and felt like my husband had a passion career and I wanted that feeling but felt like I didn’t know what my passions were. Afterall, all I do is family history research in my spare time…oh wait…is that it? Had the answer been staring at me all this time? I spotted a part-time summer course in autosomal DNA for genealogy that was being run by Strathclyde University.

That was it. The penny dropped. The rest, as they say, is history. A master’s degree in Genealogical, Palaeographic, and Heraldic Studies followed, which only fed the fascination and now three years on and I’m taking a leap into my ultimate dream goal of completing a PhD.

What You’ll Find Here

This blog is about more than just names and dates. It’s about whole lives, choices made, chances taken, sacrifices endured, love and loss that have intertwined to stitch together your web of generations.

Here, you can expect:

Stories bringing ancestors to life.
Exploring archives, cemeteries, castles and all things historic.
Practical tips for digging into your own family history.
Ways to make genealogy part of your living family life, not just your past.
Updates from my PhD journey, warts, wonders, and all.

And because I can’t write without celebrating Devon, you’ll find plenty of local life here, from retracing old paths heavy with wildflowers, to church bells ringing over the hills, and of course some cider history. My Grandad, a true Devon boy, had cider in his veins. For him, a pint wasn’t just a drink, it was a pause in the day for company, laughter, and sharing stories with a view across the fields of the county he called home. Talking about it here feels like letting him pull up a chair to join the conversation with a sprinkling of mischief and a roaring laughter…pint in hand, of course.