In the seventh episode of Series Six of The Family Histories Podcast, host Andrew meets James Danter – a family historian who is also a professional Archaeologist. James explains how he got hooked on family history fairly recently, and how he uses his skills as a genealogist to help him with his archaeological work and vice versa. He also shares his thought on how the genealogy and archaeology communities might be able to help each other in future.

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The Life Story – Darcy Fowler

James has chosen his wife’s ancestor Darcy Fowler who was a solicitor. However, as his research unfolded, James was able to track him from his early life in County Durham, England to the thick of Patriots vs Loyalists in the American War of Independence in North Carolina, USA.

Darcy, who later appears as D’arcy, was baptised in County Durham, England, on 12th November 1738. His parents William and Mary were living comfortably due to William’s career in the maritime trade.

By 1755, Darcy is found to be apprenticed in Darlington, and by 1760 he can be found at The King’s Bench (a division of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales).

It remains unclear whether D’arcy’s wife Jane and their children cross over to be with him in North Carolina, but it is known that they were in England in 1780, when Jane and their son both die.

D’arcy continues to travel – heading over to Jamaica, where he finds it hard to return to practice Law, so heads back to the UK by 1784 and returns to legal work by 1786.

The Brick Wall – George Richard Cordwell

It’s a First World War soldier that has got James scrabbling for clues – his 2x Great Grandfather George Richard Cordwell.

Whilst James knows about George’s life before and after The Great War, and that he fathered children during the war, and received medals, and had a uniform (courtesy of a photograph of him), James has been unable to find ANY records relating to his service.

Whilst many records were destroyed, the complete absence of any record referring to his signing up, service, medal index cards, and discharge is seemingly unusual.

George was born on 30th August 1894, married Winifred Edith Prior in 1914, and the couple had two wartime children in 1914 and 1916, and some post-war children too.

James is aware of name variants for George’s surname, and chiefly this is Caldwell.

• Where was George conscripted?
• Are his records completely destroyed, or are name variants hiding his service history?

If you think that you can help James with a clue or research idea that might help him break through this research brick wall, then you can message him directly via his Twitter/X account @jdanter or alternatively you can send a message to us and we’ll pass it on to him directly.

In the meantime, James is hoping to dig into some new clues in Andrew’s garage…. but will he strike gold?

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Episode Credits

• Andrew Martin – Host and Producer
• James Danter – Guest