ABOUT ME

I have been researching my own family tree since 1986 when I was presented with a piece of an old newspaper with the obituary of a famous ancestor.  I have travelled the world from my armchair filling in the branches of my tree, and have extended it right back to the Kings of Medieval Britain and beyond.

It has been a fascinating adventure, and it just doesn't stop there.  The skeletons in the cupboard are a thrill to me, the gaps are a mystery to be resolved.

I have also been working on a friend's tree which has brought so much joy to him, to find a long lost family he had never known.

Unclaimed Estates is a new skill, and having discovered the Treasury List, I researched 4 or 5 estates and discovered that with the right certification it may be possible to resolve at least one of the cases.

So, I am looking to pool resources with other family historians so that we can work together on some of these unsolved cases and bring together families that have lost touch, or to ensure that estates that have lain unclaimed for years will find their rightful home.

CLAIRE LYDIA RAY

RESEARCH

Research involves a lot of imagination, putting of yourself into another person's shoes. Family history research is a true example of this. Much of the time you do not have a photograph on which to see expressions of wealth or poverty, dress, even relationships, but the only window on their world is through records such as the census, electoral register, birth, marriage or death certificates. Many of their homes have been destroyed and replaced by modern monstrosities, and people's values and moralities have changed. Therefore, there is no surety as to a persons lineage, because paper cannot look into the eyes of the individual for the truth. It requires a detective mind, a visionary who is not afraid to discover a skeleton and to travel the world to get beyond the story and feel its intensity.