The third episode of Series One – THE BUTCHER is now live across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and all the other usual platforms.

Note: There is a background sound on this episode that was not observed during recording, and sadly we’ve been unable to remove it. I hope you’ll agree that our guest puts in such a star turn, that we just had to share this episode anyway.

In this episode we’re joined by guest George Hall – a ‘Generation Z’ family historian (meaning he was born between about 1995-2010). We’ll be finding out how he got hooked on tracing his family history, and what it’s like being a younger researcher, as well as hearing about the work he does with The Hidden Branch, and his One-Place Study.

Listen to the episode

Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, and others…

The Life Story:
Henry Hopkinson

George chose his 4x Great Grandfather Henry Hopkinson (1832-1907) the son of Joshua Hopkinson and Mary Crowther of Birstall, West Yorkshire as his chosen life story.

Henry marries Agnes Law in 1853, and the couple soon begin their family.

By 1861, Henry has somehow made the leap from the textiles industry to butchery, where he attempts to build a business empire for his family – but this is not without its challenges, and he often finds himself being fined, and reported in the newspapers.

In 1869 Henry appears in the newspaper for refusing to vaccinate his daughter Lucy Hopkinson, and was fined. He reappears in February 1886, where he is put in front of a bankruptcy board, and the planning and building by-laws at Birstall.

The Brick Wall:
James Conley

Everyone hits a blocker in their family history research, and here George picked out the case of his 3x Great Grandfather, James Conley born approximately 1818 to a John Conley.

George has traced him backwards to the 1871 census, where he’s living on John Street, Sunderland with his mother and a mysterious Catherine Collins, but this is where the trail runs cold, but a hint on Ancestry suggests a place known only as ‘Criffcearn’ in the County Armagh area… but it doesn’t seem to exist.

George’s DNA matches to some Conley relatives shows a County Monaghan in Ireland, but he can’t document the match.

• Where was James Conley born?
• Who were James’ parents?
• Is ‘Criffcearn’ a real place or a mis-spelling/mis-transcription?

If you think you have information that might help George to progress his research then you can reach out to him either directly via his twitter account, or The Hidden Branch, or via our contact form, remembering to select him in the drop-down episode list.

Andrew offers to help George find out more about James’ household on the 1871 census night, but not everything quite goes to plan….

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Resources

A list of resources and websites mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.ancestry.co.uk – Ancestry
• https://www.familysearch.org – FamilySearch
• https://www.findagrave.com – Find A Grave
• https://www.findmypast.co.uk – FindMyPast
• https://genealogywithgeorge.com/liversedge-cemetery-one-place-study – Liversedge Cemetery One Place Study
• https://www.rootsmagic.com – RootsMagic
• https://thehiddenbranch.com – The Hidden Branch
• https://thehiddenbranch.com/podcast – The Hidden Branch Podcast

Episode Credits:
Series One, Episode Three

• Andrew Martin – Host & Producer
• George Hall – Guest
• Eliot Lees – Foley Artist