In this episode, host Andrew Martin meets genealogist Valmay Young to find out how she got into researching her far-flung family tree. We'll also hear about what it's like to work for a county archives, and her work with the Families In British India Society (FIBIS).

Relatively Speaking
Valmay chooses her 3x Gt Grandfather, Richard Sheridan Wardley. As you'll hear, he sounds like a complicated man, with regular vanishing acts, trips to the USA, his attempt to publish someone else's work, and more seriously, posing as a medical doctor. In the process, Valmay also quashed a family rumour about Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

The Brick Wall
Fred Beckwith is Valmay's 2x Gt Grandfather, and he's proving to be a mystery for her. Aside from his marriage to Selina Woolf at West Ham Registry Office in 1882, and his death in 1939, there seems to be no other trace of him. Where was his father Henry? Why is he so vague about addresses? Is Fred the link to Valmay's rumoured Romany ancestry?

Andrew tries to help Valmay with her breakthrough, but they're not alone in the garage....


Credits:
Series One, Episode Five.
Andrew Martin (Host, producer)
Valmay Young (Guest)
Eliot Lees (Foley)
John Spike (Sándor Petőfi)
Show notes: familyhistoriespodcast.com

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