In this episode of Series Eight, host Andrew meets Australian genealogist Jennifer Jones, who tells him about how she got hooked on researching family history, her motivation to blog her research, and her One-Place Study in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

THE LIFE STORY - THOMAS WATERS
Jennifer has chosen to tell the life story of Thomas Waters, her 2x Great Grandfather who was born in 1829 in the little village of Dunton in Bedfordshire, England, but in 1852 he emigrates to Australia. It has always baffled Jennifer quite why he did this, but it's been fascinating to speculate.

Once out there, Thomas writes home to his family, and through a fortunate cache of letters being deposited in an archive, Jennifer has been able to read his words and can see that he really was homesick. It appears that he didn't necessarily want to move so far away, and that his family back home did not particularly want to write to him either.

THE BRICK WALL - JAMES McEWAN
It's a research dead end for a Captain James McEwan that causes Jennifer's Brick Wall. Unfortunately, his name also comes with variants, including McQueen.

Jennifer has traced James back to his military career with the 33rd Regiment Foot in Jamaica, where he is a landowner and also unfortunately the owner of an enslaved person.

Whilst Jennifer knows that he leaves Jamaica, and ends up in Australia in 1832 via a return to the UK, she doesn't know his origins. She knows he's born about 1796 and it's thought that there is a connection to Scotland, and perhaps his surname reflects this, but she is yet to find any evidence.



If you think that you can help Jennifer with a research clue or idea, then you can send her a message at her Twitter or Bluesky account or via the email address she gives in the episode. Alternatively, you can send a message via our contact form and we'll pass it on to her.

In the meantime, Andrew and Sándor offer Jennifer some help, but will she take it?

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Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Jennifer Jones - Guest
• John Spike - Sándor Petőfi

For more episodes on researching genealogy within Australia check out:

• 'The Priest' with Jill Ball
• 'The Shoemaker' with Kelly Cornwell

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