Genes Reunited Blog

What do your ancestors' war medals mean?

Don't despair if you come across a brick wall. Read our five top tips on Genes Reunited on how to overcome your obstacles in your family history search on.

Recipe cards found at the back of the kitchen draw. Scrawled on scraps of paper found in aprons. Old cookbooks with scribbled notes in the margin. At some point most of us have come across these culinary gems. These are more than just recipes. They are links with our past and our connections to special events in the lives of our ancestors . 

Johnny “Allgood” Goodall, the Lionel Messi of his day, rose to fame as a centre forward for England during the first Football League in 1888. He became Watford's first manager in 1903 and played cricket in the County Championship for Derbyshire in 1895 and 1896, being one of 19 players to achieve the Derbyshire Double of playing cricket for Derbyshire and football for Derby County. 

Chicken Tikka Masala recipe - serves 4 

During World War Two thousands of children in the UK were born to American GI fathers. As those children became adults, many have only one thing on their mind, how to find their unknown dads.

I had a great great grandfather, who died 143 years ago. There’s nothing unusual in that, of course. Everybody had great great grandfathers. However, my great great grandfather was Charles Dickens and therefore I am able to find out all there is to know about him with a few clicks on a computer keyboard, and I feel so fortunate to be able to build a complete picture of who he was, where he lived, how he was received and perceived. Whilst learning about Charles Dickens I can see traces of him throughout the current Dickens clan, many of whom are involved in the world of communication. We have writers, actors, journalists, musicians, marketing experts and restaurant owners among our numbers.

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington's family tree bears a great resemblance to the life of his on-screen character Jon Snow. It is littered with heroes, royals and military greats! Like his fictional counterpart, Kit has noble blood, as his paternal great-grandfather sir Richard Harington was 12th baronet and High Sheriff of Herefordshire and served as a judge in Bengal, while his great-uncle Kenneth Harington married the queen's cousin, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon.

We can't believe that it was the start of the tenth series of Who Do You Think You Are? Last night. Ten series, and still each episode is individual and interesting. The series began with the story of Una Stubbs and her family. A popular actress and entertainer, like many of us starting out in family history she knew nothing of one side of her family.

It’s been a brilliant series so far and episode 5 of Long Lost Family was no exception. This week we saw the stories of twins Gail and Juliet looking for their twin brothers. We also saw Robert who was looking for the mother who disappeared from his life when he was just a toddler.