February may be known as the month of love, but my recent explorations of newspaper archives shows that the path to happiness is not always smooth. In the case of one young woman from Connecticut, USA, love ended in tragedy. As … Continue reading →
If the steam engine hadn’t been invented I wouldn’t have been born in Wales. Maybe I’d be a native of Ireland instead. Or perhaps American or Australian. But as a result of one of those significant turning points in history, … Continue reading →
Late in October 1882, officials gathered around the grave of Francis Heenan in Ararat Cemetery, in rural Victoria. He’d been dead three years, but questions had recently been raised about the manner of his death. Had he really died as … Continue reading →
This is a photograph of my paternal great grandfather William Heenan. It was taken on a rare holiday at a seaside resort called Weston-super-Mare in South West England. He’s one of 73 William Heenans I have in my database. This … Continue reading →