In this fifth episode of Season Ten, host Andrew Martin meets professional genealogist and adoption researcher – Kathy Wilshaw. He finds out how she got hooked on researching family history, the challenges she faced as an adoptee, and how she’s helped people discover their birth parents or reunite with their adopted child.
Listen to the episode
S10EP05 – 'The Adventuress' with Kathy Wilshaw – The Family Histories Podcast
Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, and others…
The Life Story – Ivy Collison
Kathy has chosen to tell the Life Story of her maternal Great Aunt, Ivy Collison born in Northamptonshire, England in 1893.
Her family’s consistent need to not talk about Ivy was clearly a magnet to Kathy with her genealogical needs, and therefore she set upon researching her when she could.
Ivy died in a fire in 1940, and when Kathy ordered Ivy’s death certificate it came back naming her as “Ivy Collinson or Ivy Buckler or Ivy Briggs or Irene Butler”….. and of course, this curious result caused Kathy to dig further. What she found was a woman who had multiple names, including aliases, and a string of court and jail appearances. She appears to have lived a glamorous but criminal lifestyle, funded by the wealth of the men she met along the way.
She even earned herself a feature in The People magazine where she’s given the name ‘The Queen of Adventuresses’.
The paper trail gives Kathy a fascinating story to follow, but whilst the story takes extravagant turns, she wonders whether Ivy’s story is really one of a woman who is unwell, or is desperately sad and lonely….
The Brick Wall – John Wilshaw
Kathy has been looking for her husband’s 3x Great Grandfather John Wilshaw for a long time. Wilshaw is a somewhat unusual surname, but not in Staffordshire, England.
John was born in about 1804 allegedly in Cheddleton in Staffordshire, England. He’d been married twice (in 1829 in Hanley, Staffordshire, and later in 1840 in Leek, Staffordshire). At this time, he’s noted as being ‘of Thorney Edge’. He had a son also called John Wilshaw, baptised in 1841.
John writes his will in 1848, puts up his farm for sale in 1851, and dies ‘aged 50’ by suicide in 1854.
In her research, Kathy has found that there are many John Wilshaws in the area, but the clues Kathy has found (1841 census age adjustment aside) evidence that collectively puts him as born 1804. John’s marriage certificate notes that his father was also John Wilshaw.
However, Kathy cannot find John Wilshaw, born 1804, of John Wilshaw.
- Can you help Kathy find the correct John Wilshaw born around c.1804?
If you think that you can help Kathy with a research idea or clue, then you can send her a message via her website or via the email address she gives in the episode. Alternatively, you could send us a message and we’ll pass that along.
In the meantime, Andrew offers his help to solve her brick wall, but Kathy chooses a different adventure…
Episode Credits
- Andrew Martin – Host and Producer
- Kathy Wilshaw – Guest