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Funny where life takes you…

Stories from beyond the family trees

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Category: 🏡 Social History

The Damnedest Rebel

Margaret Todd (1736-1809) 1778-1809, life in occupied New York

Natalie Mayhew American Revolution, New York, Women's Lives October 21, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906)

Victorian carte de visite photograph of a young girl

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906) Overview with links to separate stories about her life

Natalie Mayhew 🌐 Migration & Emigration, England, France, New York, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 1 Minute

Exodus from the New World to the Old

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Aug 1857 to Sep 1864, New York to the French Riviera

Natalie Mayhew Alps & Switzerland, Art, Sport & Performance, France, New York, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

The wandering years

General Map of the Alps annotated to show the location of Cannes, Genoa, Mt Cenis, Geneva and Thun

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Oct 1864 to Jan 1875, a circuitous route from Cannes to Oxford

Natalie Mayhew Alps & Switzerland, Art, Sport & Performance, 🌐 Migration & Emigration, France, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

A most difficult year

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Jan 1875 to Dec 1876, introduction to Dorking society

Natalie Mayhew Alps & Switzerland, England, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

Staying in and ‘Coming Out’

A pale lady is seated alone in a schoolroom holding a black-edged letter, obviously downcast and presumably musing sadly about home and family, as suggested by 'Home, sweet Home', the music on the music stand. Three pupils play happily in a sunlit background.

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Jan 1877 to Jun 1880, the rocky and twisting road to finding love

Natalie Mayhew Domestic Service, England, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 8 Minutes

A doctor’s wife

photograph of the Old House, Dorking, now a Grade II listed building

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Jun 1880 to May 1896: happiness and tragedy in a small country town

Natalie Mayhew Business, Trades & Professions, England, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 7 Minutes

Things are never so bad

Lil Coolidge (1857-1906): Jul 1896 to Oct 1906: doing the best she could

Natalie Mayhew ⚕️ Health, Medicine & Mental Health, England, Guernsey, Women's Lives July 30, 2022June 24, 2026 8 Minutes

He Answered the Call

Alfred John Payne (1899-1916) He was a son, a brother, and an underage soldier of WW1

Natalie Mayhew Childhood & Family Life, Continental Europe, 👥 Beyond the Family Tree, England, First World War July 16, 2022June 24, 2026 8 Minutes

“Tail End Charlie”

Historic black and white photograph of the rear turret of a Lancaster bomber with the rear gunner in post

The remarkable life of a child born from a First World War love-affair

Natalie Mayhew Childhood & Family Life, England, Second World War May 31, 2022June 24, 2026 9 Minutes

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Funny Where Life Took Them
Some of the surnames on this site — click one to find stories behind it

Bailey Baker Banfield Banfield aka Wackrill Barrett Baynes Booth Bovill Bowes-Lyon Brevoort Bristow Brock Carson Chaldecott Collingwood Conway-Gordon Coolidge Cooper Cotton Courtauld Daley Dibben Dowman Down Earle Finch Fitzgerald Gordon Hall Harvey Hill Irving Kirby Krug Lane? Levens Mayhew Mayo Napier Obee Payne Poulton Rose Saumarez Sheldrake Todd Twohey Wackrill Whetten

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