Best discoveries of 2020?

[Phoenix]

If nothing else, lockdown has given me the opportunity to revisit or study in detail various brick walls. So I have lots and lots of discoveries.

What is yours?

[Merry]

I've studied some brick walls, but they are all still there!

[kiterunner]

Thanks to the Somerset PR's on Ancestry, I managed to get my Granny's Portman line back a few more generations, to a Matthias Porteman born in 1592 at Minehead, my 9xg-grandfather. Unfortunately his baptism record doesn't give his parents' names.

On my Grandpa's side, I traced the Philpott line back as far as my 18th g-grandfather John Philipott, born in the early 14th or late 13th century, coat of arms "Sa. a bend erm impaling Arg. on a chevron between 3 eagles gu. 3 roundels arg." This thanks to my 1st cousin 12 times removed turning out to be John Philipot, 1588-1645, who was Somerset Herald 1624-1645 and responsible for many visitations and pedigrees. His family's surname was spelt Philpott or similar in the PR's but he insisted on changing it back to Philipot to match his ancestors, such as Sir John Philipot who was Mayor of London in 1378. I had to laugh when I saw the 1645 burial record said "Mr John Fillpott". Sad to say, I know this is not my biological line, though, since DNA matching showed that my 2xg-grandfather, who was descended from these people, was not my biological ancestor.

[Jill]

For me it has to be the return of my husband's grandfather's diaries, photos and letters, and his great grandfather's letters from Broadmoor. My brother in law has lent them so I can record and catalogue everything, I'm currently working on the 1917 diary.

[Phoenix]

I know my very best discovery (though I was contacted, not the other way round) was finding out exactly who the Handcuff Queen was, and finding some second cousins I'd known nothing about

[KiwiChris]

It has to be finding my grandmothers birth parents, and sorting out all of her full and half siblings, a total of at least 16! There is still a lot for me to do sorting out all the ancestors on that new side of the family, which should keep me occupied for 2021.

And connecting with cousins of my Dad that we did not know existed, a number whom grew up in the same city and who know some of the same people!

[Pinefamily]

Finding a whole new line of clergymen and attornies, after breaking the brickwall of an ancestor who married as a widow.

[maggie_4_7]

I cracked a few for other people but none on my own FH. I did solve a few little niggles of where some ancestors' siblings ended up after seemingly disappearing off the face of the earth.

[ElizabethHerts]

I found several more Cornish ancestors from wills and parish registers.
I have slowly been chipping away at some of the ancestral lines.

My cousin e-mailed me yesterday to say that my father's paternal family bible has been given to a second cousin "to sort out". I have tentatively suggested that some digital photos of the relevant pages be taken and distributed to family members. I have researched the line myself but I'd love the extra details and to be able to verify my findings.

[Jenoco]

Thanks to the Wiltshire PRs on Ancestry, I managed to trace my 3x great grandmother's Smith ancestors. They lived in a hamlet in Wiltshire close to where I used to spend my summers when I was young.

[Glen TK]

I've found quite a few relatives this year through a facebook group devoted to Lincoln. Lincs PR's and newspaper cuttings have allowed me to untangle the dozens of Chambers who share the same forenames and put them in the proper place in the tree, which then leads back to the FB group and finding yet more relatives.

I finally looked at the Blaggs of Car Colston (married my Goulson family), and unearthed some real gems about the manor houses and halls they lived in. The first generation of Blagg/Goulson children is 13 children who have a combined lifespan of over 1050 years between them. Ten of them lived to between 90 and 98 years of age.

The oldest headstone in my family dates to the 1720's and I learned it's a rare "Belvoir Angel" gravestone. Quite rare as only around 320 are known to exist and were only carved for a period of about 70 years. A 1970's survey failed to locate mine even though it's just yards from another example. Many are Grade II listed though mine isn't. I also have another two in extended branches of the family which could be some sort of record. Have to tip my hat to the Blagg and Goulson lines again for those

And yet another case of "just missed each other" discovered today when I learned a half brother and myself both worked for the same company though he left about two years before I started there.

[vita]

My two brick walls remain stubbornly in place. From time to time I have another stab at

them, but no luck.

[Nell]

i've studied some brick walls, but they are all still there!

snap!

[Kit]

I could not really settle down to proper research and online school did not give me the free time I thought I'd have during lock down.

I decided to clear my ancestry hints. I deleted the "select" hints where i already had images. There were no major, or memorable, breakthroughs but I was able to add some more details to some people, the details beyond BMDs were quite interesting.