Category: Blog
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Pattern Recognition in Genealogy: Naming, Census and Work Patterns
Genealogy is often described as a search for names and dates, but family history research also involves recognising patterns. Repeated names, similar census entries and recurring occupations can help researchers form useful theories about family relationships and movements. Patterns are valuable clues, but they should always be tested against reliable records. Naming Patterns Many families…
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A Swansea Workhouse Story: How One Family Fell Into the Victorian Poor Law System
Victorian Swansea was a place of industry, migration, and hard labour — but also of deep precarity. While researching a recent commission, I uncovered a story that captures the reality of the Poor Law system in the mid–late 1800s. It is the story of one family, but it stands for thousands whose lives were shaped…
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Mini‑Education – Manors and Pre‑Parochial Structures
Going Back Before the Parishes Last week we explored the role of the parish in family history research — but the story doesn’t start there. Before parishes became the main unit of local administration, communities were shaped by manors and earlier land‑based jurisdictions. A manor wasn’t a grand house, but a territorial and legal unit.…
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🌿 Understanding Civil Parishes: A Quick Guide for Family Historians
If you’ve spent any time exploring British family history, you’ll have seen the term civil parish appear in all sorts of records — censuses, certificates, maps, and administrative documents. But what exactly is a civil parish, and why does it matter for your research?Let’s take a look. ðŸ›️ What is a Civil Parish? A civil…
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🌿 A Thread Carried From Mother to Daughter
What mtDNA Actually Is This is why mtDNA can hint at where a maternal line has been for thousands of years, even when written records only go back a few generations. 🧬 What Is a Haplogroup? A haplogroup is a genetic branch — a way of grouping people who share a very ancient maternal ancestor.…
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Ty Mawr and the Language of Belonging: A Genealogist’s Reflection
Last spring, I spent a quiet morning at Ty Mawr near Betws‑y‑Coed. The valley was just beginning to wake — blossom on the trees, soft light on the stonework, and the steady movement of the stream cutting through the grass. The buildings stood as they have for centuries: weathered, dignified, and deeply rooted in the…
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✨ Looking Deeper: Continuing a Practice of Critical Thinking in Family History (New Year 2026)
Every January, people talk about resolutions — new habits, new goals, new ways of working.But in my genealogical practice, the new year isn’t a moment to reinvent anything.It’s a moment to reaffirm the habits that matter. For me, that means continuing to look deeper. Genealogy is often imagined as a hobby of collecting names and…
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🧭 Three Paths from Wales: Vision, Industry, and Defiance
Tracing Welsh lives across oceans and upheavals—through chapel records, censuses, and quiet clues in the margins. ✍️ By John Colclough – Genealogist & Narrative Historian What happens when we follow a name through time? A minister becomes a settler. A brothers from Penderyn help build an iron empire in Tennessee. A young mother survives a…
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🧬 Clustering Cousins: What My DNA Matches Are Trying to Tell Me.
In my exploration of genetic genealogy, I recently used the AutoCluster tool from GEDmatch, this time with the non-endogamous setting. This approach allowed me to focus on genuine, mid-range matches that often reflect recent, traceable ancestry — and the results revealed how certain relatives cluster through shared DNA, while others stand intriguingly apart. 🧩 What’s…
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A walk to the Pittville Pump Room. Some history on three Luminaries including a Colclough.
From Oct. 2021. Recovered from WordPress crash Dec 2024. This week, reflecting a bit of freedom for Eva, to let her have a run about off the lead. We walk from the Racecourse towards Cheltenham and a park we had noticed on another day. Leaving the racecourse, we headed south to the A 435 Evesham…