The Crafty Genealogist

I started The Crafty Genealogist during the summer of 2018. Previously I worked for a charity called Young Enterprise which enables young people to run a real business for an academic year. Whilst running the Company Programme for these young people I kept thinking that I would like to have a go at running my own business. The more I thought about it the more I became determined to challenge myself and give it a go.

Researching my own family tree has given me a greater sense of belonging and well-being. I would like to help others feel the same. I am currently helping a family member find their relatives using DNA. I am very aware that she has so many unanswered questions about her heritage and I am hoping that by finding the answers she craves it will bring her peace of mind. Again, I would like to be able to help others achieve this.

To ensure the equality of your finished research I adhere to the Society of Genealogist’s “Standards and Good Practice” and the Association of Genealogists & Researchers in Archive’s “Codes of Practice”. I also follow the Board for Certification of Genealogists’ “Genealogical Proof Standard.”

n the 1990s I worked in a military museum and assisted in the archives creating a new labelling system and looking after the objects in store and on display. I gained a Master of Arts degree in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester in 1999. The work experience and qualification gave me an insight into document preservation and conservation. It also kicked started my love of history.

I started researching my own family tree in 2009. The focus until 2016 was collecting oral histories and scanning photographs from relatives. Since 2016 I have spent more time on researching the tree and have traced one line back to 1780s using civil registration, census records, parish registers and military records. I have visited and used records at regimental museums, local archives and The National Archives. I have recently started using DNA and have found a family member’s maternal Canadian grandfather and her half-brother’s Norwegian father.”