A tantalising find in an online archive reveals a family conversation hidden in plain sight for nearly 200 years
Cracking a 19th Century Cross-Written Letter
Category: Childhood & Family Life
The Brevoort Family Commonplace Book
A beautifully illustrated 1837 commonplace book kept by the Brevoort children reveals their distinct personalities, youthful ambitions, and family tragedies
One Photograph, Four Generations
One faded photograph of a 1920s motorcycle outing transformed my understanding of a grandfather I had known only as a bitter old man
Twins and the Paths of Poverty and Prosperity
Henry Mayhew (1812-1881) and Priscilla Mayhew (1812–1886): born together, lives apart - twins in an age of change
Discovering the Missing Mayhew Child
Lily Violet Dorothy Mayhew (1907–1942) vanished from the records as a baby, only to re-emerge as a young woman whose life was shaped by loss, work, and war
The Good Mother
Leah Ellen Mayo (1847–1927) a young widow, navigated poverty, prejudice, and impossible choices - then reinvented herself to keep her family together
Poverty, Place, and Childhood on Hayling Island
Catherine Dibben (1850–1934) early family life in a hardworking yet impoverished rural community, where illness and loss were ever present
Raising Children in a Changing World
Catherine Dibben (1850–1934) gacing displacement and relentless domestic work, she relied on ingenuity, thrift, and endurance to keep her household afloat
Missing: a Journey From Capture to Captivity
Ted Mayhew (1919-1982): A young soldier's journey from capture to captivity, as his family faces the uncertainty of his fate during the Blitz
Farming the future
John Mayhew (1716-1769): a Norfolk farmer at the cutting edge of a rural revolution
