If your family has lived in North America for more than a few generations, chances are that part of your story began in England. For centuries, English men and women boarded ships that sailed toward...
Category - England
The Night Soil Man: Digging into the World of Human Waste
Before the comforts of indoor plumbing and municipal sewage systems, someone had to do the dirty work. And by dirty, we mean truly revolting. The Night Soil Man was the one tasked with removing human...
Genealogy Research for English Ancestry
Genealogy can feel like an adventurous journey through time, connecting us to individuals who lived many generations ago. When we set out to uncover our English ancestry, we’re not just looking for...
Elizabeth I: The Queens of England
Elizabeth I is one of the most famous monarchs in English history. The daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was never expected or meant to become Queen. Yet, the throne fell into...
Victoria: The Queens of England
Alexandrina Victoria was Queen of England for an astounding sixty-three years, a feat not surpassed until that of her great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth II. Known for her strict moral standards and...
Mary II: The Queens of England
Mary II was Queen of England in the later 1600s. She was crowned and ruled jointly with her husband, Prince William of Orange. This is the only fully equal joint monarchy in English history. Mary...
Elizabeth II: The Queens of England
Queen Elizabeth II was the most recent monarch of the United Kingdom before the current Charles III. She was also the longest reigning monarch in British history. Born to the second son of King...
Mary I: The Queens of England
Mary Tudor, also known as Queen Mary I (or, less charitably, “Bloody Mary”) was Queen of England from 1553 to 1558. She was England’s first Queen Regnant whose reign was not disputed. The daughter of...
Lady Jane Grey: The Queens of England
Lady Jane Grey was Queen of England for only nine days, but her story is a fascinating one. Full of trials and triumphs, abuse and privilege, betrayal and honor, and above all, one of deep and...
Anne: The Queens of England
Anne Stuart was the daughter of King James II of England. She was also the last of the Stuart line of English monarchs. Despite seventeen pregnancies and a happy marriage, she left no surviving heirs...
Matilda: The Queens of England
Matilda of England was meant to be Queen, but never quite got there. The only surviving legitimate child of King Henry I, she was supposed to take the crown after him, but her cousin Stephen had the...
The Puritans in New England Ban Christmas: Famous Christmases in History #8
The Puritans in the New England colonies, particularly Massachusetts, did not approve of the celebration of Christmas. It was discouraged from the time the colonies were founded, until Massachusetts...
William the Conqueror in England: Famous Christmases in History #1
Was your ancestor present at an important or famous Christmas Day event in history? It is always fun to be able to connect your family to a famous event or person. One famous Christmas Day event was...
Did Your Ancestors Go Back to England?
Did your ancestors immigrate to America from England? Did they stay? Sometimes, people who disappear from the record in America actually returned to England.