Moments in Time

Blogs which describe moments in my life, or the lives of my family.

An ancestor from the 1600s plus a duel equals a story

As a family historian and writer, I am always keen to discover stories about my ancestors. So when I stumbled upon the story of one of my ancestors fighting a duel, I just had to find out more! It was not the easiest task, as the original story was in

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Missing or Incomplete – Where are the female stories?

Those of you who have read my posts know that I am always interested in the stories of my ancestors – the places they lived, the culture and circumstances they lived in and the historical context of their lives. One thing I have noticed is how difficult it is to

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The Grand Duchess, her art and war

The image above is of a postcard in my possession. It is entitled “On their way to war” and was taken from a painting by Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia. Olga apparently painted this artwork in the early 19th century, perhaps at the beginning of World War I. But

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Wherever there’s a family, there’s a family tree

One thing I had to consider when updating my grandmother’s memoir Upheaval, was whether or not to include a family tree. My grandmother had included a list of the important characters at the beginning of her memoir, but I thought a family tree would be better, as it would not

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