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Blythes I've started writing biographies

duckweed

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#1
I've started writing descriptions of individuals. Taking what information I have at present. I recommend this for any geneaologist.

I have also started the story of my husband's family in the 19th century using census records, birth certificates etc and putting in the events that were happening around them such as cholera etc.. and you end up with a great story, especially if you can add old maps photos etc.

The early Blythes don't have the luxury of certification or census records, but there is enough to write a short biography. I've started with Bishop John Blythe. See what you think
http://bishopshouse.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/the-biography-of-bishop-john-blythe/
 

duckweed

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And this is the beginning of my family one.


John Bullivant (1786) from Lincoln married Martha Brown by Special licence in 1808. Martha was born on the 19th Sep 1791 in Torksey so she was just 16 at the time. No parents appeared as witnesses , only a brother of Martha’s . John was a butcher and Martha’s family were cattle dealers. They had a long marriage together and had 15 children, 5 died in childhood.
When John was born the writing was already on the wall for small farmers and the agricultural labourer. In the 1760s the population had expanded greatly and farming was becoming more profitable for land owners. Landowners and farmers were encouraged to seek more land. This increased pressure on Parliament to enclose more land. In England and Wales half of all land was open farmland, common land and waste land. 2 and a half thousand acts of parliament enclosed more than four million acres of Open Land. Another 1800 act enclosed two million acres of Common Land and Waste Land. Many tenant farmers were being evicted. The agricultural revolution was meeting the challenge of feeding the expanding population which expanded from 6 million to 9 million by 1801. But this was at a cost as more efficient farming meant that fewer agricultural workers were needed. New threshing machines, and harvesters needed bigger fields and bigger farms. Smaller farms were no longer economically viable.
Before field enclosure almost every family had at least the use of a small piece of common land or waste land , running a goat, a few chickens or a pig. Provided they could produce most of their own food, repair the roof and work the required number of days designated by the land owner the agricultural labourer had been virtually self sufficient. Food prices continued to rise as the population rose. Farmers now needed fewer workers to work the land. New root crops were being planted such as turnips and swedes for animal feed , to winter more stock. Depending on the area the major part of these changes did not take part till after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815.
The Napoleonic Wars came to a dramatic end in 1815 costing One Billion Pounds . Demobilisation from Wellington’s army and the British Navy had made half a million servicemen, joining the thousands of Irish Immigrants and the now dispossessed agricultural workers all seeking employment in the now overpopulated small towns such as Gainsborough, near Torksey. During the war Napoleon blockaded European corn from reaching Britain. Thus increasing the price of bread. This was great for the grain farmers but now the war was over prices were expected to fall. Farmers thought they would go out of business if they did. So they chivvied their landowning Members of Parliament to bring in New Corn Laws . These allowed imports of European Corn –only if the home price rose over eighty shillings a quarter . Needless to say prices did rise above eighty shillings but by then European grain prices had also risen, causing bread prices to escalate still further. John and Martha lost 3 children in the winter of 23/24. To make matters worse the grain harvests were poor and in 1826 and 1829 they were a disaster.
 

duckweed

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#4
There are some great websites out there where people have done even better than this. Even relatives who don't show a lot of interest get interested if you produce it this way, plus you can really see the world through their eyes. I started with the Bullivants a while ago. It started from my wondering why they all left Lincolnshire and moved to Yorkshire. Recently I was given some more info from other family researchers so I can fill in more gaps. BBC History site gives you loads of info and timelines. If you are not publishing ity ou can copy and paste. No one is going to sue you for breach of copyrite. Of course if you are going to publish online or elsewhere you will have to rewrite and say where you got info from.
 

benny1982

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I start with an introductory note then work my way through from their birth and brief details on parents then work through to their marriage and death giving images of certs, census, parish records and poo law records or newspapers and include maps and photos of areas pinpointing their movement. I use them for home use.
 

duckweed

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#8
I think thats when having the certficates can help you tell the story. You know exactly where they were born, what occupation their father had at the time.
My mother went to get her full birth certificate and discovered that her father had set up as a sock knitter due to lack of employment at the time. My husband learnt from a death certificate that his Uncle died of tubercular meningitis in the childrens hospital 10 days before his father was born. It brought home to both of them what a hard life their parents had.

Army records can be revealing. One relative who claimed he had been an artillary man was in fact removed from the front when they found he was too young and sent to learn to be a saddler and never saw action.
 

benny1982

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I am doing a bio on the ancestor who spent time in America 1775-1782 and am including an overview map of the country and pinpointing where he served over there and a map of the Atlantic charting the route he went from Cork to Boston in the army in 1775.
 

benny1982

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I am amazed he survived as he was at Boston fighting in 1775 which was Bunker Hill then Battle of Long Island in 1776 then onto fighting in Carolina.

He was a corporal until May 1780 when he was made a sergeant.
 

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