Hi everyone!
It's time to get another one of our wonderful WikiTreers. This week's member is Gwyneth Taylor.
Gwyneth became a Wiki Genealogist in March 2018. She is a Cemeterist and also active in our Wales and England projects.
When and how did you get interested in family history?
I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in family history. I first started collecting information from me and my then fiance's families in the 1970's but wasn't able to do any serious research at the time.
What are some of your interests outside of genealogy?
Our dog, photography, walking, getting out and about, reading, local history, making cards, music, WW2 aircraft, steam trains, amongst other things.
What is your genealogical research focus?
My focus is and always has been on looking into the history of my and my husband's families, but since getting involved with WikiTree, I've found it's just as interesting to follow other people's lines - there is so much to learn, about them, their history and the places they come from.
Are you are interested in certain surnames?
None specifically but I'm likely to go down rabbit holes when I come across surnames in locations which might fit in with my own researches.
Do you have a favorite ancestor?
I have a few for different reasons. There's Jonathan Underwood. I first came across his name a a little girl. I found what I now know is a memorial card on my grandparents' dresser (sideboard) and asked Mum who he was, she said it was Great Granddad, I assumed she meant my Great Granddad, but she meant hers. When I started researching properly, Mum gave me the memorial card which proved a good starting point for confirming details about Jonathan and additionally, his place of birth made him stand out on censuses which considerably helped my early research into the family. He was working at a colliery by the age 7, lived through mining and family tragedies and dire poverty, later becoming a pointsman in the early days of the railways.
Following a major railway accident, which he didn't personally witness, he was required to give an account of his daily duties to the Board of Inquiry investigating the accident. I have managed to obtain a copy of his contribution and so have an account of his daily working life in his own words. This has to be my favourite genealogical discovery so far.
Another favourite ancestor is my Dad's Grandma, Alice Ann Hazlehurst. She was 99 years old when I was born and died at 103 so I do have vague memories of her. Hers is another story of surviving the worst kinds of poverty. She and her husband raised all of their 9 children to adulthood but she was widowed for 30 years. I've lost count of her descendents, some had large families, some did not, but I know there are at least 3rd great grandchildren out in the world by now! Strange to think I personally knew other people's 3 x great grandmother, when I think how far away my own 3rd great grandparents seem to be. I have a few tales from my older brothers about Alice Ann and a selection of newspaper cuttings. She was not only the town's oldest resident at the time, but was an avid reader of the local weekly paper which made her a favourite with them and in the course of celebrating her "milestone" birthdays she gave interviews which now give us an insight into her life.
What is your toughest brick wall currently?
Unsurprisingly this is in my Welsh family with my 2nd Great Grandad William Hughes. In the first place I don't yet have a death date for him, because several William Hughes's died within the time frame and location where I would expect to find him but that should be easier to solve than the identity of his parents. From his marriage record, his father was called Thomas. I've found a possible baptism which gives parents' names as Thomas and Jane and a couple with those names show up not far away from him on the 1851 census. Both William and Thomas have a son called Timothy (not such a common name in that area at that time). That's where the story has ended for me for a long time. Trees on the internet mostly show other people have matched William to 2 different couples with parents named Thomas and Sarah, but I can't find anything to back those claims either!
What brought you to WikiTree?
I've been on WikiTree for just over 5 years. I probably first found it through a Google search and I looked at it again when I decided I wanted to try to develop a tree on the internet. I've never been sold on the idea of paying a company to provide them with information and I had been disappointed with the FamilySearch tree where it wasn't even obvious for several weeks that I was working on a collaboration rather than an individual tree. WikiTree, on the other hand, made it very clear from the start that it was a single tree and that the intention was to work as a community to make it as accurate as possible. I also liked the idea that if there was a problem, you could contact a real person to help you sort it.
(interview continues in comments)
