
Paternal DNA markers – the highlighted sections indicate differences. The red are faster changing STR markers
From: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/grannum?iframe=yresults
Findmypast has recently launched indexed images for people who served in the British army during the First World War. Read their blog for more information.
These service and pension records are held by The National Archives (UK) in two collections:
The two collections have been available online on Ancestry in partnership with The National Archives for a few years but I did find some new information and records. Continue reading
I had heard about DNA tests as a genealogical tool for many years but costs were quite high and I was not convinced of their value to my research or for wider Caribbean genealogical research.
However, because of documentaries such as BBCs Motherland in 2003 Caribbean genealogists increasingly asked me if DNA tests would be useful for their research and help them reconnect with their African ancestors; I added several slides on DNA to my talks.
As the price came down I thought about taking a test – so that I could understand what was involved and if the results could actually help someone to extend their family tree or link them to their ancestral home. I was also curious if such tests would help answer these three questions:
Reginald Clifton Grannum, is my paternal great-grandfather.
Born: 17 April 1872, St Michael, Barbados, to Edward Thomas Grannum and Mary Elizabeth Armstrong, nee Jordan
Married:
Died: 7 January 1946, St Helier, Jersey
Reginald Clifton Grannum was a career colonial civil servant serving in a number of colonies in the Caribbean and Africa between 1892 and 1930. Because he was in the colonial civil service during the 19th century it is possible to discover a wealth of information about his life and career and many clues leading to information about his family.
To find out more about his life I used five main sources:
Today I received TheGenealogist’s latest newsletter and they have just launched a new dataset: an index and images to the Tithe Apportionments for England and Wales held by the National Archives in the collection IR 29. This is a survey of all landowners and occupiers who held land and who were liable to pay tithe for the upkeep of the parish church. The apportionments and accompanying maps (in IR 30) were established under the Tithe Commutation Act 1836 aimed to change payments of tithe (a tax to support the church) from in-kind to money in the form of tithe rentcharge. These tithe apportionments were created to record liability to pay tithe rentcharge. The National Archives has produced a short guide to these and associated records.
I started researching my own family in 1987 and thought that with such an unusual name that this would not be difficult!
At the time I could not find much information before the birth of my grandfather. However, because Grannum, and its variants, is extremely
uncommon I decided to extract all entries I could find. I registered the name with the Guild of One-Name Studies in early 1988.
From my research I believe that the name originated in Barbados in the 18th century. Indeed, all the Grannums I have been in contact with have come from the Caribbean and in particular Barbados.
There were Granhams and Garnhams in Barbados in the 17th and early 18th centuries but these were isolated individuals and do not seem to have been related or to have left descendants in the islands. The surname Grannum can be shown to have been in continuous use in Barbados since the 1780s.