About my blog

I first became interested in my family history in the early 1980's and have been researching my family history since then.  Over the years, I've made contact with lots of others researching their family history and appreciate their willingness to share information and between us, we’ve made some very interesting discoveries...

Like many researching their family history at one time I had hoped one day to put together a book however, family history is a never-ending hobby, new information often comes to light and there is always been something else I want to research.   

In 2000, a website seemed the best way to make information available to many people and during the Olympic Games I created Vicki's Vintage Vault.  However, after several years I found this difficult to maintain and keep updated. Online trees then became available and I transferred my tree to Ancestry and whilst I was working found this the best way to keep my tree updated and also available to others. 

While an online tree was a great way to document information about my ancestors, it didn't easily allow you share their stories, so in 2020 after presenting at few SAG Hang Outs, I started to write up my presentations as blog posts. Hopefully the writing will continue and I will share some of the stories related to the above questions over time. 

I have two other blogs, DNA Discoveries, where I have shared some stories about how I've used DNA techniques together with traditional research to solve some family history dilemmas. My other blog, Roll of Honour documents the stories of some of my military ancestors. 

In 2017 I took a DNA test and it has developed into a major interest for me and I am keen to use DNA to confirm my paper research. Here's my genetic tree showing those lines I've been able to confirm through DNA. 



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Maggie Moore Conundrum

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My 2 x great grandmother, Maggie (or Margaret Jane) Moore was born c1873, presumably in County Down, Ireland. Despite an exhaustive search, a birth certificate and confirmation of her parentage have not yet been found, or have they? Believed to be Margaret Jane Conway nee Moore, seated on right with daughter, Margaret Jane Martin nee Conway on left and grandchildren, William, Robert and Sarah Martin c1916.   What do we know about Maggie? Maggie married Robert Conway on 09 February, 1892 at Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church in Bangor when she was 19 years of age. Robert was a driver of a post car, Maggie had no occupation. Both were of Conlig and the witnesses were Samuel Gamble and Anna Bella Clark. The other key information was that Maggie was the illegitimate daughter of Thomas Spence, a labourer!  Marriage Certificate - Robert Conway and Maggie Moore - 1892   When Maggie and Robert's daughter, Margaret Jane was born later that year, Maggie's maiden name was given as Brown, th
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Ancestral Places - Ayrshire, Scotland - Haste ye back

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My mum was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and although we always knew that her paternal ancestors were from Ireland we had presumed that her maternal ancestors were all Scottish. However as you can see in her birthplace tree below, research revealed that one branch of her maternal tree was actually English and another was also Irish! Since 2017, Mum has taken several DNA tests with different companies to help me with my research. Over the years, she's become more and more Scottish each time Ancestry update their DNA Ethnicity Estimates. AncestryDNA calculates ethnicity estimates by comparing your DNA to a reference panel made up of thousands of DNA samples from people with a long family history in one place or within one group.   Over time, Ancestry tests more people in these reference panels which is why we get these updates every 12-18 months.  Mum's results have gone from 53% Scotland to 75% Scotland.  When you look at the Ancestry map it depicts the long history of movement amo
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