Family Coat Of Arms Mug

If you are looking for the perfect gift idea for a family member, loved one, newlywed,  genealogist or just for yourself we have a fantastic surname origin mug which would fit the bill. 

Complete with your chosen surnames coat of arms, this product is available to personalise with almost any name (double barrelled names not accepted). We also have a matching coat of arms plaque available.

Item would also make a great stocking filler for someone. Great for people you know who are doing plenty of genealogy family tree searching work at the moment.

Click here for more information about this great family cost arms mug.

Celebration of the Completion of the Tower

Blackpool Tower was completed in 1894. Amazing what they had done in those days when you think about all of the special clothes and equipment that is used today.

The picture above is a celebration in the backyard of a Kirkham public house a few days after the completion of the tower in 1894. Walter Smith is the only one ID in the picture, the third man from the left in the back row, had worked on the building of the Tower as a ganger. No hard hats and bright coloured jackets. Flat cap the order of the day.

My Great Grand Father, Thomas Gaskell and his brother William Gaskell were Stone Masons for the project of building the Blackpool tower. they may have helped prepare the foundation stone, which was laid on the 25th September 1891 by Sir Matthew White-Ridley who was Blackpool's Member of Parliament at the time.

His words were recorded presumable beforehand on a phonograph cylinder which was placed under the foundation stone alone with coins and newspapers. The Mayor and mayoress of Blackpool were there also.

Blackpool Library

Still on the hunt for information and records for Blackpool.

Information for the Blackpool Tower Company. The Lancashire Archives only have records of the board meetings and shareholders records. Not much detail about the tower itself. I am looking for information about the building of the tower as Alfred and William Gaskell, stone masons, built the stone foundation of the Blackpool Tower.

The senior archivist did give me the link to the Blackpool Library, who may have local newspapers from the 1890s, which may contain some pictures etc. the t the library is http://www.blackpool.gov.uk/Services/G-L/LibrariesLocalandFamilyHistory/

Blackpool Central Library,
Queen Street,
Blackpool
FY1 1PX
Tel: 01253 478090
Fax: 01253 478071reference.library@blackpool.gov.uk

Cemeteries

• Holy Trinity, Dean Street, Church of England
• St John, Church St, Church of England
• Bethesda, Bethesda Rd, Independent

Monumental inscriptions for the parish church, St John (which no longer has a graveyard), Holy Trinity, and the Bethesda Chapel have been published by the LFH&HS.

Census

Details about the census records, and indexes for Blackpool.

Getting a head start on the family tree

So you have a small acorn of a family tree with you in it. The next stage is, where possible, to ask your family. So often, people wish they had asked elderly relatives more about their lives and memories while they had time. This is your chance. Whether you phone, visit or write, remember to make a note of every detail they tell you. There might be clues in their memories of older generations that will be really important later.

And remember this isn't just a fact-finding exercise; more than any other topic, genealogy brings families together across generations, talking over the dinner table or a cup of tea. Memories do fade so you might need to be patient as your relatives search through their recollections. Often what is most rewarding about these early stages of your family tree aren't the names and the dates but the stories and anecdotes about the characters and quirks of those earlier generations. This is your family's oral history and it's just as important and just as valid as written records in government archives.

This is where the real world meets the virtual one. As you start to put your family tree together online, you will want to add colour with photos and documents from the past. A lot of people find amazing collections of family photos in their loft or garage and there's something beautiful and slightly illusive about those posed sepia shots of an old family wedding or day out.
Sometimes, helpfully, a relative has written names on the back of photos so you can identify who is who, but often the faces sport familiar eyes but are otherwise anonymous! Don't worry - this is all part of the detective work of the family historian and you will hopefully be able to put a name to a face later. Your family photographs might go back as far as 1870 when portrait photos became more mainstream. Before then, people were recorded in paintings, sculptures and engravings. If you discover you have an illustrious family, you might find images of your ancestors at the National Portrait Gallery or other galleries local to the area in which your family originates.

TIP: When a relative can't remember a name or date, suggest something incorrect and allow them to contradict you. It's a great way of bringing people's recollections to the surface - try it on your own family.