August Newsletter

Dear all,

August is often the time when families return to favourite holiday resorts of their childhood and it’s worth thinking a little about how far back these traditions go. It’s perfectly possible that you are still visiting the same places that your ancestors have been visiting ever since seaside holidays became really popular in the mid-nineteenth century. Scarborough, North Yorkshire was my family’s destination of choice and I was surprised to find recently that my ancestors’ connection to the place goes back to at least 1881 when my great-grandmother, Mary Ann Taylor, was cook to a wealthy family in Albermarle Terrace there.

I’m currently working on a series of articles about how our ancestors reacted to new technology – using their own words. This month, you can read how some were appalled and others fascinated by the appearance of telephone boxes on the streets in the 1920s. ‘Verminous Receptacles’ is out in August’s edition of Discover Your Ancestors Magazine. You can read it by paid subscription at http://www.discoveryourancestors.co.uk.

[See a mention of this article on my blog: ‘The Latest Phone’: What Our Ancestors Made Of The First Telephone Boxes – searchmyancestry – Ruth A. Symes]

Sheffield Daily Telegraph 1st March 1927. Via http://www.findmypast.co.uk

One of the latest episodes of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? BBC One – Who Do You Think You Are? – Episode guide (saw actor Adeel Akhtar return to Mombasa, home of his ancestors. This was an exceptional episode covering a complicated period in the history of British East Africa. It held particular resonances for me and my family as my husband comes from Tanzania and has a similar family history with his ancestors travelling by dhow across the Indian Ocean (from the province of Gujurat) to Africa in the late nineteenth century. He’s writing up his family history now, and I’ll be making further updates about this work-in-progress as time goes on. I’ve also written a short article about my husband’s grandfather (and the secrets revealed by examining his passport) in my book, Unearthing Family Tree Mysteries, Pen and Sword, 2016.

Very much enjoying the new series of Long Lost Family – Born Without Trace, Mondays on ITV at 9pm. The stories of foundlings finally finding out about their origins and in some cases reuniting with lost relatives continue to perplex, shock and satisfy. I do wonder about the sad stories that don’t make it to the screen for whatever reason. But the certainty of knowing that, in this series at least, good things await at the end of the hour, makes for extremely compelling viewing.

Happy Holidays and Mind the Heat !

Ruth