I keep seeing "advice" given that says a dash for the maiden name on the GRO on-line birth index means there is no father named on the entry. NO, it means there is no maiden name recorded for the mother, no more, no less. A father's details could be there .. #Genealogy #CivilRegistration #GetItRight

A WW1 note from my grandfather to grandmother. I can read most of it but a couple of lines are faded and a bit unclear so as an experiment I asked #ChatGPT to try. It deciphered it as a beautiful love note - but a completely fictional one ! Every word it "read", except one, was wrong. #AIInvention

Some people just set out to confuse future researchers. Joseph was baptised in 1855, to unwed parents shown as #Hough and #Borough. They did go on to marry a couple of years later, but Joseph switched between the surnames #Hough and #Burrow(s) for the rest of his life... #MakeYourMindUp #Lancashire

Some interesting new relationships shown on #Ancestry transcriptions these days.... I've got one of these ..

I was often asked why registrars use special ink, in a fountain pen, to sign register entries - was it really necessary ? Here's why - this is a document from only 14 years ago signed by the Met Police Commissioner - signature almost gone already. @mpsheritage.bsky.social #CivilRegistration

Sometimes unravelling a complex family means going back to the drawing board ... literally. One of the best tools for solving a difficult #Genealogy problem #PenAndPaper

Interesting to find an infant relative, born in 1874 who sadly died a couple of months later. Birth and death both registered as Wilfred, a boy, yet the RC baptism clearly shows Winifred, a daughter . #Genealogy #Mystery #WhosRight #Blackburn

Had a lovely family #FathersDay #BBQ yesterday with sons and grandchildren, was a little confused by the instructions on the apron I was given though ❓️

Having a good #FathersDay so far, my son got me a great #vinyl album from the year he was born (1988). Best supergroup ever ? #80s #TravellingWilburys

I know it's a #Catholic record and therefore in #Latin, but #Ancestry really has no excuse for this level of transcription error. #BuriedAlive #Genealogy #AncestryHour

Remembering another of my G-Aunts - Mary Corless. Born #OnThisDay in 1875, in #Blackburn. Never married and lived with my grandparents - died 1958.

Sometimes researching a family really makes you stop and think - a couple (relatives of mine in #Blackburn) had 8 children and only 1 survived infancy. In March 1918, they (age 81 & 82), their one surviving son (47) and his wife (43) all died of #pneumonia within just 25 days. #SpanishFlu ?

Remembering my G-Aunt, Florence Corless, who died 11/6/1963. One of the generation of #WW1 widows. Married for 3 months before her husband left for France and didn't return. She never re-married, and her son, who his father never saw, was my God-Father. #OnthisDay

A report of the 1899 death of a relative (with a clear & tragic implication), printed only a day after it happened ... interesting though that the report of the inquest held a week later was worded much more sympathetically. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory #Blackburn

My country cottage getaway for a #family get together this weekend ( only 7 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms) ...built in 1628. Should be fun.

Interesting to find a couple who married in 1920 living together in 1939 but now both shown as widowed. He is retired and she is his housekeeper. When they married they both claimed to be widowers, he definitely was but I wonder if she wasn't ..... #Interesting #Genealogy #Bigamy #Perhaps

My 5xG Grandmother managed to live just long enough for her death in Sep 1837 to be registered - but the registrar didn't record her husband's name (he died earlier that year). I'm sure it's her, but it would have been nice to have confirmation. #frustrating #Genealogy #CivilRegistration

Seems appropriate, and sad, on #StPatricksDay to find evidence that my 3xGrandfather William MAHER (and children) may have been sent back to #Ireland and into the #Dublin #Workhouse from England in 1848, like many trying to escape the #Famine

Digging through #archive catalogues can be so useful - this b*stardy order ( more politely known as an "order for filiation and maintenance") from 1812 relates to a child who was my 3xG Grandmother. Now I know who her father was - allegedly. #Lancashire #Genealogy #NotOnline

So nice to have a #morningwalk without rain ...local wildlife appreciating it too #Worcestershire

Snap ..... although a bit earlier. My grandmother's policy from 1889. Paid out £10 when she died in 1967.. #Genealogy #Insurance

Wonderful film of London in 1985 - includes two young police women I remember so well ( Steph & Jo). The days when patrol didn't involve stab vests, tasers or CS spray ( and sometimes not even a radio). www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... @mpsheritage.bsky.social #Kensington #1980s #Memories #Police

A very interesting article in the @telegraph.co.uk today about the ongoing issues for researchers at the #BritishLibrary #Genealogy

Ready for today's game, with my new #Rovers coffee mug from @brfcs.bsky.social , and great design by @gailmyerscough.co.uk

Sloe gin this year ?

My wife is away visiting family, so tomorrow I'm moving in my new girlfriend .....Pippa #Greyhound #Genealogy will be off my radar for a while...

A family grave at Wauchope, #Langholm in #Scotland. Contains details of my family from 1786 to 1930 #priceless. Hope it is still standing, it's quite few years since I visited. #31DaysOfGraves #Genealogy

It's almost like the enumerator is taunting us .... today I'm trying to sort out a complicated family in the 1851 census and so very helpfully the key person in the household is just noted as a "Relative". Still - who wants #Genealogy to be easy .. #FamilyHistory #Census

Nice to see one of my relatives and their unusual combination of occupations get a mention from @chiddickstree.bsky.social. @familytreeplus.bsky.social #FamilyHistory #Lancashire

There are a few albums that everyone should have in their collection...this is one. Time for coffee and #vinyl #Frampton