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I am a full-time professional
genealogist and family history researcher living in Bishop's
Stortford. In addition to the nationally-available resources,
I regularly use several major archives in London which give me
access to a substantial amount of material from across England.
My main period of interest is the mid-18th century onwards.
I specialise in researching and
writing heirloom-quality family histories, but I undertake smaller
projects too. In particular,
I may be able to help you if ...
 you
need someone reliable to visit one of the central London archives
on your behalf.
- you have tried to do the research
yourself but have given up in frustration.
- you have inherited an interesting
family story and would like to know whether it is true.
- you are intrigued by your ancestors,
but you just don't have time to do the work yourself.
- you would like to give someone
their family story or pedigree tree as a special gift.
Discover your ancestors ...
For most of us, our ancestors
have played a major part in shaping our lives. As well as inheriting
our physical features from them, less tangible things such as
their attitudes and cultural habits, shaped by their experiences,
will have tended to filter down through the generations to influence
our own upbringing  and
the people we have become. Decisions your ancestors made generations
ago about moving to a new area, perhaps in pursuit of a particular
line of work, may be the reason that you live where you do today.
How much do you actually know
about your family over the last 200 years? Was your great-great
grandfather a shopkeeper, a musician, or perhaps a skilled craftsman?
Did your great-grandmother spend all her life in the same community,
or did she travel far from her roots?
Some people are lucky enough
to have inherited a collection of letters or diaries to give
a detailed insight into their ancestors' thoughts and personalities,
but for most of us clues must be gleaned largely from the traces
they left in official records. From these we can discover where
they lived, the kind of work they did, and the  family structure that surrounded
them. This in turn enables us to find out about the physical
conditions of our ancestors' lives and the social pressures that
they lived under. A family history should be so much more than
names and dates. In some cases, the names our ancestors chose
for their children might reveal their political or religious
sympathies. A simple death certificate may provide evidence of
a tragic accident or years of illness.
Some fragments of stories that
your parents or grandparents passed on to you may have become
distorted over time, or perhaps it is no longer clear which ancestor
the stories applied to. With a sound understanding of the family
tree it may well be possible to substantiate and add more detail
to these old stories. A name engraved on a watch or written on
the back of a photo will take on a whole new significance when
you know more about the person and the life they led.
Every family has a unique story.
If you would like me to help you discover yours, please read
about the services I offer.
Angela Aldam BSc DipInfSc
(AGRA Member)
Tel: 01279 755089
Angela@FamilyFolios.co.uk
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