The Family Histories Podcast

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In this final full episode of Season Eleven, host Andrew Martin meets genealogist, writer, and storyteller, Olwen Moseley. She tells him how she got hooked on researching family history and how she inherited lots of research, she shares her love of death certificates, and explains how she feels like a detective when researching.
THE LIFE STORY - MARY ANN BOWLER
Olwen has chosen to tell the life story of Mary Ann Bowler - but it took Olwen a long time to realise that Mary Ann existed. 
This is a case of a group of young women - all cousins - united by the care of their grandmother and the fact that they were mostly all orphans, and died as young adults. 
When research hints keep flagging a connection to Bristol in England, rather than Llangybi in Wales, Olwen kept dismissing them... but... a newspaper article caught her eye, with Olwen assuming they'd made a mistake with the name 'Mary Ann Bowler' rather than Mary Jane Bowler.
Further investigation was needed when the references started to stack up... resulting in Olwen discovering Mary Ann Bowler existed, and that her story was just as fascinating as the others.
THE BRICK WALL - ELIZABETH BOWLER
An Elizabeth Bowler (another of the cousins) is what is giving Olwen a research headache - particularly when it comes to her life after the 1851 census.
Where did Elizabeth go after appearing on the 1851 census with her parents Joseph and Elizabeth at Market Street, Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales? Olwen knows that Elizabeth (her mother) dies in 1858... so what becomes of the family by then?
If you think that you can help Olwen with a clue or a research idea, then you can send her a message via her Substack account, or via the email address she gives in the episode. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it along to her.
In the meantime, Olwen is happy to accept Andrew's offer help, but they're in for a bit of a shock...

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Episode Credits:
Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
Olwen Moseley - Guest 
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Joining host Andrew Martin for this sixth episode of Season Eleven, is public historian and award-winning author Tamiko Nimura, who tells Andrew about how she got hooked on history, how she ended up deciding to publish her father's memoir of his time as an incarcerated Japanese-American child, and her thoughts on the future of archives.
THE LIFE STORY - JUNICHI 'FRED' NIMURA
Tamiko has chosen to tell the life story of her Grandfather - Junichi Nimura who was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1885.
Junichi emigrates from Japan to Mexico in 1925, before entering the US the following year. His first wife, unhappy with life in the US, returns to Japan, and so Junichi then meets his second wife via the 'picture bride' service (think; Tinder by mail). The couple stay together, and raise a family.
However, when World War Two begins, Junichi, his wife, and their children, have to leave their home with whatever they could carry and move to a concentration camp at Tule Lake, California, where they lived for years.  Junichi becomes separated from his family and is taken miles away.
Eventually Junichi was reunited with his family and they all left the camps for home - but everything was lost. The impact of this time never left Junichi, but his son - Tamiko's father, recalled his childhood years at the camp - which Tamiko has now published as her book 'A Place For What We Lose - A Daughter's Return To Tule Lake' (UW Press, 2026). 
THE BRICK WALL - JUNICHI NIMURA
It's a brick wall in Mexico that has Tamiko scratching her head.
Whilst researching her Grandfather, Junichi Nimura, she found a tourist certificate in Mexican Spanish, dated 19th November 1926, which states that her 41 year old married Grandfather was traveling alone and had been permitted to spend 15 days in Mexico.
Tamiko would love to know;
Why was Junichi there? 
What did he get up to?
If you think that you can offer Tamiko a research idea or clue to help her solve her brick wall, then you can send her a message at her website or via her Bluesky account, alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it right along.
Meanwhile, Tamiko is fascinated by Andrew and Sándor's offer of help but is it safe?
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Episode Credits:
Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
Tamiko Nimura - Guest
John Spike - Sándor Petőfi
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In this fifth episode of Season Eleven, host Andrew Martin meets Australian genealogist, tech and AI fan, and former school teacher Andrew Redfern - whom some of you may recognise from the podcast Ironclad Sisterhood which uncovers the lives of convict women in Australia.
THE LIFE STORY - WILLIAM MILLWARD BESTWICK
Andrew has chosen to tell the life story of his 3x Gt Grandfather William Millward Bestwick whose life has left a fascinating paper trail. William is born in 1818 in Derbyshire in England, but in the early 1830's his family migrated to the US. 
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
Another globetrotting 3x Gt Grandfather is up next - this time Robert Redfern is causing Andrew a headache with his research.  
Robert was born circa 1770, and he ends up in jail, then finds himself in Portugal, then the USA, then the UK and eventually Australia... but Andrew is wanting to know about his early life, which stems back to Ireland.
However, Andrew can't find details about Robert's birth or baptism, and his cousins even consulted Australia's top psychic to help - who advised them to look for a slave trade connection.  DNA has also thrown some curious matches, and what seems to be a name change from O'Neill to Redfern...
Can you help find Robert Redfern's birth or baptism?
If you think you can help Andrew with a research idea or clue, then you can message him via the email address he gives in the episode or check out his website. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it right along.
In the meantime, Andrew and Sándor offer guest Andrew some help... but things are about to get complicated...

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Episode Credits:
Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
Andrew Redfern - Guest
John Spike - Sándor Petőfi
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In this fourth episode of Season Eleven, host Andrew Martin meets Polish professional genealogist Eliza Karpińska - the co-owner of Genealogia Polonica. He hears how she got hooked on researching family history, the challenges of researching in neighbouring Ukraine, and how she ended up turning professional.
THE LIFE STORY - WLADYSLAW SIEMIONOW
Eliza has decided to tell the Life Story of her grandfather Wladyslaw Siemionow of Lithuania, who was captured by Nazis during World War Two and put on a train to do forced labour. Despite his father bribing the German station guards to let him off the train, Wladyslaw decided he wanted to stay on the train with his friends as he wanted to travel.
Things did not go well, and despite being shot at during the forced labour, he escaped. Unfortunately he fell into the hands of the Soviet Red Army where he was forced to sign-up to their army. Whilst here, he sustained another injury during an explosion - this time to his head - which caused him to be sent to multiple places for treatment. Miraculously, once he'd regained enough strength, he escaped again and made his way home - the long way round!
THE BRICK WALL - ANNA SIEMIONOW
Related to the Life Story above, Eliza is asking for help to find records for her Great Great Grandmother Anna Siemionow - who, as she has discovered, was a single mother seemingly from Dubki near Pskov in Russia.  The challenge for Eliza is that Anna was a peasant, and peasants in this area did not have surnames until the 19th century - meaning that it's hard to reliably find her in records (even just a birth record).
She does know, that Anna's father was an Ivan Siemionow, but apart from the Dubki connection, she's not managed to get any further back.
Can you help?
If you think you can help Eliza with a research idea or clue, then you can email her via the address she gives in the episode, or head over to her Genealogia Polonica website and use the form there. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it right along to her.
In the meantime, Andrew offers Eliza some help, but she decides it's time for war...

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Episode Credits
Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
Eliza Karpińska - Guest

Support the show
Thank you for listening!
You can sign up to our email newsletter for the latest and behind the scenes news.

You can find us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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For our third episode of Season Eleven, host Andrew Martin meets public historian and family historian Ulysses Swanson, and hears about his family history journey, his use of Wikitree, and his project Transgender Ancestors - tracing the lives and family histories of gender nonconforming people from the 1840s to the 1940s.
THE LIFE STORY - EDGAR WALES BURNHAM
Ulysses has chosen to tell the life story of organist Edgar Wales Burnham who was born in 1841 in Woodstock, Vermont, USA, as Ellen - the daughter of Milo and Ellen Burnham.
In 1859, Ellen married Luke Winthrop Powell, and by 1863, Ellen's father had renamed his drugstore to 'M. L. Burnham & Son', signalling the transition of Ellen to Edgar. 
In 1868, Edgar and Luke are found on a train, where Luke is noted as State Agent, and Edgar is arrested as a 'confederate spy in women's clothing'.  This soon leads to a string of newspaper articles that reveal Edgar's transition, and those articles would go on to be republished for more than 20 years. 
The author of the article.... happens to be Edgar's ex-husband, Luke Powell, now down on his luck. Did he write those in an attempt to raise money?

THE BRICK WALL - SALLIE TALBOY BINNS
It's a brick wall in Philadelphia, USA, that has Ulysses asking for help. 
Ulysses has identified a popular actor named John 'Sallie' Talboy Binns, who was famous for playing lots of female roles. However, there's hints in newspapers that Sallie had Irish roots... but Ulysses has not yet been able to confirm that.
He knows that Sallie was born in about 1812, and that she's reported as having been in the US since the 1850s, and that she possibly had Irish roots. 
Sallie is admitted to the Philadelphia Almhouses in 1853, and she dies there in 1882... but Ulysses wants to know about her life before 1853. Can you help?

If you think that you can help Ulysses with a research idea or clue, then you can message him via the email he gives in the episode, or edit Sallie's Wikitree entry, or alternatively, you can send us a message and we'll pass it right along.
In the meantime, Andrew and Sándor's offer of help appeals to Ulysses, but can they help him find answers without mishap?
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Episode Credits:
Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
Ulysses Swanson - Guest
John Spike - Sándor Petőfi
Support the show
Thank you for listening!
You can sign up to our email newsletter for the latest and behind the scenes news.

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If you liked this episode please subscribe for free, or leave a rating or review, or consider giving us a 'tip' to keep the show funded.