Stephen Dando was my 5x great-uncle, the son of John Dando & Ann (nee Brothers), my 5 x great-grandparents. Born in Rodborough, Gloucestershire, in about 1770, he came from a Non-conformist family who were in the hat manufacturing business.

In 1785, Stephen moved to New York, where he lived until his death in 1851. His hat store was situated near Broadway. He also became an agent for a publication known as The Christian Advocate and Journal. Stephen was a religious man who had often heard John and Charles Wesley preach and he also held anti-slavery views.

Stephen Dando evidently met the famous radical propagandist and pamphleteer, Thomas Paine, who died in 1809. What follows is a letter to the editor of The Liberator (Boston, MA) from one EJ Webb, dated 1st July 1848 and published on Friday 9th May 1851.


The writer appears to have known Stephen Dando for a long time and thought of him as a decent and honest but misguided man who, in his opinion, had been used by a number of clergymen to deride the memory of Thomas Paine, whom the writer much admired......Read more »

You can now search 9,122,481 new records from the Society of Genealogists on findmypast.co.uk...

Apprentices of Great Britain 
Boyd’s Inhabitants of London & Boyd’s Family Units
Boyd’s London Burials
Boyd’s Marriage Index
Boyd’s 1st Misc Series
Faculty Office Marriage Licence Allegations
Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills Index
St Andrew Holborn Marriage Index
St Leonard’s Shoreditch burials
St Leonard’s Shoreditch workhouse deaths
Teachers’ Registration Council Registers
Trinity House Calendars
Vicar-General Marriage Licence Allegations

There are more new birth, marriage and death records for Derbyshire too...

Amber Valley (Ripley)
Ashbourne
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Mansfield (Notts)
South Derbyshire (Derby)

I was recently nominated for an Ancestor Approved Award by Mike at 'You Don't Choose Your Family'. Many thanks to you, Mike.

This award was created by Leslie Ann Ballou of the Ancestors Live Here blog. Recipients are asked to list ten surprising, humbling or enlightening aspects of their research and to pass it along to ten other bloggers who they feel are doing their ancestors proud.

So here's my starter for ten, with a slight twist...

1. It's official! I'm a genealogy anorak. And to think I was going to trace my family inside 14 days with Ancestry's free trial!
2. My 4 x great-grandfather left over £24,000 in 1860 (getting on for a double millionaire today). Now I need to know, what became of the money?
3. Since taking up blogging, there's been no time for actual research. Duh!!
4. Victorians weren't so straight-laced as they'd like to have made out they were.
5. What did happen to all the money?
6. I simply adore stomping about in wet graveyards with soggy socks and the wrong shoes.
7. And what joy there is waiting for Mr. Postie to deliver that certificate with all the answers, only to leave you with a load more questions.
8. No really, where did the money go? Just kidding! Lol
9. I don't know about enlightening moments, I think I've had my share of senior moments.
10. Now was she my third cousin, three times removed or my second cousin, four times removed? Scrub that, we're related by marriage!

And I'm presenting this award to...

1. Audrey at The Family Recorder
2. Caroline at Caro's Family Chronicles
3. Rosemary at London Roots Research
4. Brian at One Pilot's War
5. Jennifer at Climbing My Family Tree > One Branch at at Time
6. CeCe at Your Genetic Genealogist
7. Lorlee at Dear Annie...
8. Emily at Writing Your Memories
9. Miles at Miles' Genealogy Tips
10. Lidian at The Virtual Dime Museum