52 Ancestors 2025

52 Ancestors: Family Secret

I’ve been away from 52 Ancestors for a while – nothing bad, just that most of the intervening topics I’ve covered before here, and there will be some in the upcoming weeks that, likewise, are duplicates of previous posts so they will be skipped! A full list of this year’s posts will be made at some point (presumably in December!) which will include those equivalent versions.

This post has, I suppose, been a few years in the making. I’ve uncovered many ‘family secrets’ over the years. Illegitimate children, stillborn babies, extra-marital affairs, court cases, entire family lines rediscovered, but this one is a real doozy …

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52 Ancestors: Challenge

Clearly I could have saved last week’s topic for this week … The Neal family is one big challenge – even worse than my disappearing Holborows and troublesome Hallidays!

(And, yes, technically I’m late with this prompt. Sorry about it.)

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52 Ancestors: Overlooked

Overlooking ancestors or entire lines can easily be done when researching. I find that I am more likely to look at one of my American lines, or my mother’s Holborow family than my father’s English side. That is just personal preference (and the number of people also seriously researching the Holborows is fairly small).

However, there are family lines that rapidly run out of steam due to a lack of records. In this case I wouldn’t so much say they are overlooked as under-represented: if the records were there, I’d be all over them like ants at a picnic. Case in point, my 3 x great-grandmother Mary McMillan/McMillian Payne. She appears from nowhere, married and gives birth and then disappears! Where did she go? Where is her family?

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52 Ancestors: Nicknames

I have a nickname.* You probably have a nickname. Your dog definitely has a nickname. Your mother, your husband, your kids. Your best friend in school. Someone probably came up with it one day and it stuck.

Or maybe you don’t. Maybe your nickname is just a shortened version of your actual name. My brothers are Al, J and Stu, we are rarely our full names unless being told off (doubly so if middle names are invoked!).

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52 Ancestors: Favourite Photo

I’ve made it to week two!

Favourite photo. Hmm. I’ve already shared two of my favourite family photos in previous posts, one of my mother on her wedding day with her stepfather and one of a multi-generation group, plus my grandfather (and Henry Cavill because … why not?). So what to write about and share this time around …?

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52 Ancestors: In the Beginning

The genius that was Sir PTerry Pratchett (GNU) had a lot to say about beginnings. One being that what we see as a beginning is often the result of many things that came before. As he opened Lords and Ladies:

“The curtain goes up, the first pawn moves, the first shot is fired* – but that’s not the start. The play, the game, the war is just a little window on a ribbon of events that may extend back thousands of years. The point is, there’s always something before. It’s always a case of Now Read On.”

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