In our second episode of Series Eight, host Andrew Martin meets professional genealogist and Chair of the Register of Qualified Genealogists – Sylvia Valentine. Andrew hears how Sylvia got hooked on family history, her love of life-long learning, and her thoughts on those sometimes terrifying workhouses!

Listen to the episode

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

The Life Story – Naomi Hawarth

Sylvia has chosen her Great Grandmother Naomi Hawarth as her choice of life story.

Naomi was a twin, but sadly her sister Ruth did not survive infancy. Whilst researching though, Sylvia discovered that Naomi wasn’t from the only set of twins in the family – in fact she had a much older sister Mary who was also a twin, and who’d also lost her twin sister.

Sylvia then embarked on a discovery of her tree partly during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, which revealed many parallels between Naomi and her other siblings, their descendants, and Naomi’s very strong physical likeness to the other twin – Mary.

The Brick Wall – Bernard Brand Fiegehen

It’s a brick wall with an unusual surname that has defeated Sylvia and her research. Whilst initially seeming to be of Irish origins, Sylvia has seen her husband’s ancestor Bernard Brand Fiegehen in many online trees stating a connection to Berlin, Germany… but without citation!!

He is believed to have been born circa 1755, and dies in 1830. Can you help her to identify where Bernard was from, and who his parents were?

Sylvia knows that he was working as a china man (a seller of china plates etc) on City Road, London in trade directories, but his past remains a mystery.

If you think that you can help Sylvia with a research idea or clue, then you can contact her on the email address she gives in the episode, or alternatively you can send us a message and we’ll pass it right along to her.

In the meantime, Sylvia is fascinated by Andrew’s offer of help, but isn’t sure it’ll actually work…

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Episode Credits

• Andrew Martin – Host and Producer
• Sylvia Valentine – Guest

Useful links

Links to resources and websites mentioned in this episode

• The History of the Workhouse by Peter Higginbotham
• The Register of Qualified Genealogists