Q and A
Our Questions & Answers pages give FHM readers the chance to consult our genealogy expert Paul Blake about their genealogical problems, whatever they might be. Disappearing ancestors, obscure terms, emigrant forebears, confusing paperwork Ð Paul has seen it all before, and more often than not he knows where to look and what to do about solving the problem.
Here, we have uploaded some of Paul's solutions for you to peruse - perhaps you'll find the answer you've been looking for to help get over your brick wall?
If not, you can always send your own letter to Paul via FHM, Room 101, 140 Wales Farm Road, London W3 6UG, or an email via fhm@metropolis.co.uk. Set out your problem as clearly as you can, and include copies of any certificates you think might be useful.
Use the search box to find your Q and A or browse using the headings below
Search Q and A:
Click on a heading below to expand.
Missing Persons
- DID HE DIE OR DISAPPEAR?
- HOW DO I FIND HER DEATH CERTIFICATE?
- HOW DO I FIND MY BIRTH PARENTS?
- WHY IS HE NOT ON THE CENSUS?
- WHERE WAS HE THESE TEN YEARS?
- HOW CAN I FURTHER MY RESEARCH?
- DID HE DIE OR DISAPPEAR?
- HOW CAN I SEARCH FOR FREE?
- WHERE DID THEY GO IN 1851?
- WHAT’S THE STORY OF ‘THE GERMANS’?
- WHAT HAPPENED TO MY GREAT-UNCLE?
- WHERE DID THIS PAINTER’S SON GO?
- HOW CAN I FIND TWO MISSING ANCESTORS?
- WHERE DID MY GREAT-AUNT GO?
- WHO WERE MY GRANDMOTHER’S PARENTS?
- WHAT WAS THIS INSTITUTION?
Criminals and Bastards
- HOW CAN I FIND AN UNKNOWN FATHER?
- IS THIS EVIDENCE OF A BIGAMOUS ACT?
- DID HE FIND HIS MISSING FATHER?
- WERE MY ANCESTORS MARRIED?
- CAN YOU HELP TRACE MY MATERNAL FOREBEARS?
- WHERE WERE THEY FOR SIX YEARS?
- WHY IS IT HARD TO FIND A CATHOLIC?
Problematic Paperwork
- CAN YOU UNRAVEL MY COMPLEX PUZZLE?
- WHERE AND WHEN WERE THEY BORN?
- WHICH GIRL IS MY GRANDMOTHER?
- WAS SHE REALLY MY AUNT?
- COULD HE HAVE BEEN A SOLDIER?
- WHY WAS SHE BORN IN GERMANY?
- HOW CAN I SEARCH BEFORE THE CENSUS?
- WAS HE BORN ON THE CANAL?
- WHY CAN I FIND NO TRACE OF A MARRIAGE?
- HOW DO I BEGIN MY RESEARCH?
- ARE THESE PEOPLE ALL MY FAMILY?
- HOW TO FIND A BIRTH AT SEA?
- HAVE I GOT THE RIGHT PAPERWORK?
- WHY WERE MY ANCESTORS LABELLED ‘POOR X’?
- HOW CAN I FIND AN INDIAN BIRTH?
- WHERE CAN I LEARN ABOUT THIS ORPHANAGE?
- WHY ARE HIS RECORDS SO INACCURATE?
- WHY DID HE MISS HIS INHERITANCE?
Occupations
- WAS HE A BUILDER OR A RAILWAYMAN?
- CAN I FIND OUT ABOUT MY LICENSEE FOREBEAR?
- WHAT HAPPENED TO MY ATHLETE ANCESTOR?
- HOW CAN I FIND MY PUBLICAN FOREBEAR?
- HOW DID HE EARN HIS LIVING?
- COULD A FARMER BECOME A LAWYER?
- WHY WAS HE IN MALTA ?
Death and Disaster
- WHAT ARE PROBATE INVENTORIES?
- HOW CAN I FIND HIS DEATH AND BURIAL?
- WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS SAILOR’S WIDOW?
- WHAT CAN I DO TO FIND THIS DEATH?
- CAN I FIND THIS AIRMAN’S MEDICAL RECORDS?
What's in a name?
- WHY DID THEIR NAME CHANGE?
- ARE THEY THE SAME PEOPLE?
- WHY CAN I FIND TWO MAIDEN NAMES?
- COULD A FAMILY HAVE CHANGED ITS NAME?
- WHAT WAS MY ANCESTOR’S NAME?
- DID MY GRANDFATHER HAVE A TWIN?
- WHY DOES HIS FATHER HAVE THE WRONG NAME?
- WHY DID SHE HAVE TWO NAMES?
- WHY DOESN’T MY PATERNAL ANCESTOR SHARE MY SURNAME?
- ARE THESE TWO PEOPLE ONE AND THE SAME?
Servicemen and Women
Travellers Tales
Competition
Win British Newspaper Archive Subscriptions
Discover the genealogical goldmine that is the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) with an online subscription. This recently launched digitisation project has four million pages of searchable family notices, advertisements, obituaries, letters and illustrations from over 200 historic local and national newspapers.
We have a one-year subscription (worth £79.95) to give away as well as two 30-day subscriptions (worth £29.95 each) and four 2-day subscriptions (worth £6.95 each). To be in with a chance of winning one, simply answer the following question. Send answers to fhm@metropolis.co.uk or write to the usual address on page three, by the 15th March.
Q: Who invented the printing press in the Holy Roman Empire in 1440?