In this fifth episode of Season Eleven, host Andrew Martin welcomes Australian genealogist and tech nerd – Andrew Redfern. Host Andrew hears how he got hooked on family history, his work on the Ironclad Sisterhood Project, and about his love for using AI in genealogy.
Listen to the episode
S11EP05 – 'The Debtor' with Andrew Redfern – The Family Histories Podcast
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The Life Story – William Millwood Bestwick
Andrew has chosen to tell the story of William Millwood Bestwick, who was baptised in 1818 in South Wingfield, Derbyshire, UK.
In the 1840s/early 1850s, William had been part of the Santa Fe Trail trade route, writes a letter who explains that he was captured during this and worked on a Man of War ship but escapes and eventually ends up in Australia. Meanwhile, his mother Amy was completely unaware that he was still alive.
William did leave Australia to return to the US, but the ship was turned around and William was escorted off the ship as he was bankrupt and trying to escape his creditors.
Andrew has worked hard to find the trail of documents scattered around the world, including a letter to the US President of the time..
The Brick Wall – Robert Redfern
It’s a 3x Great Grandfather’s origins that has guest Andrew puzzled.
Robert Redfern and his siblings were born circa 1770s, somewhere in Ireland, but Andrew cannot find any birth or baptismal records for him or his siblings.
Robert gets arrested, finds himself banished to Portugal, he’s then off to the USA, back to the UK, and then Australia.
Stuck for answers, Andrew’s cousins have even employed the services of one of Australia’s top psychics to try to help solve this. The psychic advised them to look at the slave trade.
Andrew does know that like Robert, his brother was also a convict.
Through DNA, it seems that the Redfern’s may have been O’Neil before changing it – perhaps due to Queen Elizabeth I threatening the O’Neil name bearers. Does a potentially surviving letter sent to Percy Bysshe Shelley hold the key?
- When and where was Robert Redfern born?
If you think that you can offer Andrew a research idea or clue that could help him solve his brick wall, then you can message him at his website or alternatively you can send us a message and we’ll pass it right along.
In the meantime, host Andrew and Sándor make guest Andrew an offer of help, but things get complicated…
Episode Credits
- Andrew Martin – Host and Producer
- Andrew Redfern – Guest
- John Spike – Sándor Petőfi