“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” Alice in Wonderland This advice is perfect for family historians! For me, the beginning of my family history journey had its roots in the stories my grandmother told me and
When I decided to begin my family history search, in an attempt to learn more about my ancestors, I was not sure where to begin. Naturally, I fired up my computer and began to search Google for ideas and information. I was taken aback at just how many genealogy websites are out there.
As a family historian and writer, I am always keen to discover stories about my ancestors. So when I stumbled upon the story of one of my ancestors fighting a duel, I just had to find out more! It was not the easiest task, as the original story was in
As some of you might know, or remember, I have been working on updating my grandmother’s memoir Upheaval to include explanatory notes and her diary from 1919. Upheaval describes my grandmother, Olga Woronoff’s life as a young aristocrat in Imperial Russia and details the impact of the Russian Revolution and
The recent death of the Queen of England, and the arrangements for her funeral, made me think of this post from earlier in the year. My great-grandmother, mother of my maternal grandfather remembered the funeral for Tsar Alexander II and I am fortunate to have her memories in my possession.
On the 13 March 1881 (1 March in the Russian old style calendar) Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. His carriage was bombed in St Petersburg by the group known as People’s Will. Initially the bombs missed their target but, when the Tsar insisted on leaving his carriage to check on