
Looking through family documents, I’ve come across an interesting tale of the melding of two middle class London families through an arc across the Regency and Victorian eras. This story has the usual drama of social climbing and a whiff of scandal. For reasons I don’t know, several prominent members of the family immigrated to the United States, and then to Nebraska, in 1870. They’re buried in the once tony Prospect Hill Cemetery, only a few miles from where I used to live.
I propose to write a series of posts following the fortunes of this family. Though I’ll use some “objective” internet sources such as passenger manifestos and census documents, I’ll mostly stick to records, some official, which have come down through the family. There is even some material evidence in the form of mourning jewelry and a couple of photographs from lockets.
I will give due credit to others who’ve filled gaps at places like ancestry dot com after I’ve finished my own reconstruction. I’ll keep the posts short so as not to tax the good reader’s patience, and I’ll employ a lot of visuals to lighten the burthen.