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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 7h

If you’ll excuse a bit of shameless self publicity I can highly recommend the latest issue of Family Tree Magazine @familytreeplus.bsky.social My FT Academy piece features one of the most fascinating cases I’ve ever worked on. I like the term ‘Super Sleuth’. I might put that on my business cards! 🕵🏼‍♂️

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 11h

Welcome to #BigScreenThursday* Today I’m taking advantage of my weekly access to the big screen to do some research on a family I’ve been working on for many years (pro bono for the past three). We’re back to someone who was born ca.1390. Eighteen generations and counting… * it’s a thing

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Every day's a school day! The testator in an early 17th century will was described as, 'being visited in bodie but of p[er]fect memorie and understanding'. The Oxford English Dictionary gives this (obsolete) definition of 'visited': Afflicted with illness; attacked by plague or other epidemic.

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

There are some issues relating to restricted access to a computer which your IT helpdesk probably can’t help you with…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Most of our ancestors have peaceful deaths but my 2xGt Grandfather, John Flynn's life came to an end in Granton Harbour. The records don't tell us whether he jumped, fell or was pushed, simply that his body was found in Granton Harbour on 13 August 1881, the cause of death, drowning. #MyFamily52Maps

Ordnance Survey 6" Map, First Edition
Edinburghshire, Sheet 2
Survey date: 1852-77, Publication date: 1885 (Edinburgh revised 1877).
Size: map 61 x 92 cm (ca. 24 x 36 inches), on sheet ca. 70 x 100 cm (28 x 40 inches)

National Library of Scotland Maps
https://maps.nls.uk/view/74426701

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Always happy to speak in God's Own Country, even it's just a virtual visit...!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

They would have had to drag me in, kicking and screaming on my first day... 😬

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

An obituary from the Edinburgh Evening News, 10 July 1935

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

She's definitely one of mine, in as much as her family were from South Ronaldsay, Orkney. Unfortunately, the South Ronaldsay parish registers don't survive before the mid-18th century so it's all family speculative before then but there's no doubt that we're related!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

She never married and died in Corstorphine on 9 July 1935, aged 59. Her death certificate records her as a 'Headmistress (School)'. The informant was a man called Rodrick Murchion, described as her 'intimate friend'!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Margaret 'Maggie' Helen Annal, born 25 July 1874, 15 East Arthur Place, Edinburgh. Listed as a Pupil Teacher (Board School) living at 5 Caledonian Crescent in the 1891 census and as a School Teacher in 1901 (living at 18 Ardmillan Terrace).

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Here's a link to a list of all the talks that I do, together with a list of all my current bookings. My fee will be going up next year but all existing bookings and any new bookings agreed by the end of 2026 will be at the current rate. @federationfhs.bsky.social lifelinesresearch.co.uk/talks/

lifelinesresearch.co.uk

Talks

I am an experienced speaker with a large repertoire of talks, covering a variety of family history-based topics. I have spoken at RootsTech, The Genealogy Show, Who Do You Think You Are Live? and o…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Absolutely. And one of the good things about Ancestry’s model is that you can still do things the old way…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I had a bit of a eureka research moment earlier. I cracked a case thanks to the discovery of a settlement examination in one of those unindexed collections on Ancestry. They don’t make it easy but if you know what you’re doing there’s some good stuff there…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My grandma (on the right in the photo) and her friends were quite artistic and a bit bohemian. We have some very quirky photos…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Some family photos are just crying out to be used as book covers. Now, I’ve just got to write the book…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A recent purchase which has just reached the top of the pile. Looking forward to reading this one..

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm talking to the Northamptonshire FHS at 7.30 this evening (via Zoom). I'm giving them my increasingly inaccurately-titled talk, Bringing it up to date: Research in the 20th Century Are we really over a quarter of the way through the 21st Century already...?

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My 2xGt Grandmother, Catherine Crinnell or Krennel came from the Isle of Man's most northerly parish, Kirk Bride. Or, as it appears on John Blaeu's map from his 'Atlas Maior' (1662/65), 'Kirk Bridge'. Never mind the cartographic accuracy, just revel in the beauty of the map... #MyFamily52Maps

Blaeu Atlas Maior, 1662-5
Volume 5
Insvlæ Britannicæ (page 386) / Mona

National Library of Scotland
https://maps.nls.uk/atlas/blaeu-maior/browse/5/page/258

Name: Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673
Title: Insvlæ Britannicæ (page 386) / Mona
Imprint: [Amsterdam : Blaeu, 1662]
Pagination: 1 map : hand col. outlines ; 38 x 27 cm., on sheet, ca. 52 x 61 cm.
Scale: [no scale bar]
Shelfmark: EMW.X.017

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This is my Great Auntie Jan, 100 today, on her wedding day in May 1944. L to R: Margaret Sinclair Annal (1904-1973) Robert Annal (1921-2006) Janet Annal (née Arnold) Joseph William Batters Arnold (1903-1982) Maria Jane Arnold (née Andrews) (1908-1967)

Wedding photo, 27 May 1944
Robert Annal & Janet Arnold
St Paul's church, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire

L to R: Margaret Sinclair Annal (1904-1973), Robert Annal (1921-2006), Janet Annal (née Arnold), Joseph William Batters Arnold (1903-1982), Maria Jane Arnold (née Andrews), (1908-1967).

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I know, right? Still fully mobile, still sharp as a tack!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I recently became a grandad for the first time but I've been a great nephew since the day I was born - 65 and a half years ago! This is my Great Auntie Jan, celebrating her 100th birthday, with her nephew, James - a slip of a lad, at 81! Happy Birthday Jan!

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Or, Through The Microfilm Reader And What Alice Found There

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I know. I've apologised to her parents... 😉

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

And yet, everyone says she looks like me...! 😜

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Yes, that particular point wasn’t lost on us! And there were little cards with the names of each of the places on the map. Aberystwyth on the board, Aberystwith on the card. I mean, pick a lane! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Well, OK, but the proportions are all wrong…

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Only the crumbliest, flakiest documents… 🎶 (A paean to ADM 35) @uknatarcsector.bsky.social

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Working out exactly where our rural ancestors lived can be a bit of a challenge, but thanks to James Wood's 1867 Atlas & Gazetteer of the Isle of Man, I know exactly where my 2x Gt Grandfather, Charles Howland, grew up. His parents owned the farm at Leodest in the parish of Andreas. #MyFamily52Maps

A NEW
ATLAS & GAZETTEER
OF THE
ISLE OF MAN,

CONSISTING OF
SEVENTEEN HIGHLY-FINISHED MAPS,
COMPILED FROM ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES DESCRIBING THE
CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL BOUNDARIES OF EACH PARISH AND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE SEVERAL
BARONIES, FREEHOLDS, AND QUARTERLANDS, AS WELL AS THE BOUNDARIES OF THE
SEVERAL FARMS AS THEY ARE NOW HELD IN POSSESSION.

APPENDED IS AN
ELABORATE AND COMPREHENSIVE REFERENCE TABLE,
SHOWING THE NAME OF EVERY PROPRIETOR OF LAND IN THE ISLAND, WITH THE
MANORIAL DESCRIPTION AND EXTENT OF LAND HELD BY HIM,
TOGETHER WITH AN
APPENDIX OF USEFUL AND INTERESTING INFORMATION,
BY JAMES WOODS, SURVEYOR.

HOWLAND, William Intack Pt. 14. All 124 And 81 12 3 26˝
" Smeal-Beg Pt. John Eloes And (81) 1 1 5ľ
" Alia Leodest Pt. Leodest-e-Cowle And (81) 20 3 7

Map of the parish of Andreas

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm making the long trip* this evening to talk to the Friends of Bushey Museum about those infuriating ancestors of ours who felt that it was perfectly acceptable to lie when they completed their census forms and to lie to the church and civil registration authorities... * it's a 5 minute drive 😉

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Ha ha! Yes, but there must have been a secret passage leading from the lodging house to the pub on Moorgate so that Ibberson could make his getaway unseen...

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The illustrations that you find from time-to-time at the top of Merchant Navy crew lists are little works of art. And they serve no 'useful' function whatsoever - they're there just because they can be...

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Dave Annal Lifelines Research @davelifelines.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Sometimes it's SOOOO hard to resist! I was browsing through some mid-19th century newspapers when this map jumped out at me. It was entirely connected to what I was looking for but I couldn't help notice the words: 'Place where the body was found' I mean, what's a guy supposed to do... 😉

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