This is the home of my family history project.
I’m a Finch, born in Surrey in 1963. I’ve spent several years working on my family tree and I want to share my findings with a wider audience, partly with the hope that distant cousins will be able to add to the wealth of stories about my ancestors.
I don’t want this to be a dusty collection of names and dates because while they’re the essential foundations to any family tree, they can become pretty dull after a while. So I’ve added colour where I can, telling stories about my ancestors that I’ve discovered from searching newspapers, records and other sources.
How the site is organised:
- The top menu items link to generations of my family by surname with relevant family trees. These pages feature an overview of those ancestors and their offspring
- Blog posts have been written where I have lengthier stories to tell about individuals in those family trees. While this may mean a degree of repetition in one or two cases, I think it’s better than cramming lots of info into just one family group page.
This site isn’t just about the Finch family. You’ll find a whole host of other families (and a wide variety of spellings of their names).
If you want to contact me, please feel free to leave a comment on one of the pages.
A note on sources: I’ve used a large number of sources to gather information, not least discussions with surviving family members. Most of the records are available on Ancestry.co.uk, attached to the family tree I maintain there. I’ve also used records from another membership site, Find My Past. Other sources were found at the Society of Genealogists, both online and in their excellent library in London.
Family history societies have been another invaluable source. Sussex Family History Group has an excellent online database. There are two family history societies in Surrey, covering the east and west of the counties, and another in Norfolk that I’ve also plundered for information.
There are many other sites that I’ve used over the years, both professional and modern, and many of these are featured on my full list of useful websites.
I don’t suppose you’re related to Donald, Graham or Pauline Finch, all from Reigate area, I think? I believe they might be distant cousins of mine, and was hoping to be able to get in contact
Hi Paul. Thanks for the post. They could well be related but I don’t know them. Sorry about that!
Hello Paul
I am a Dolamore and have started researching my family tree and have been amazed by the information that you have found out detailed on these pages.
I was born to Brian Dolamore and Joan England on 12th September 1965 my grandfather was a Robert Henry Dolamore born 1910 and his father was Henry John Dolamore born circa 1883. They are from the clerkenwell area of London I believe. If you had anything that you think could help I would be delighted to hear from you.
Best wishes
Cheryl
Hi Paul
I’m really interested in your research into the Goulty family, you have done some sterling work.
I would love to share notes, do you have any other information on the Goulty family, other than that which you have made available on your site?
I’m happy to share the Goulty research I have collated over the last couple of years
Warm regards
Mike
Hello Paul,
I am interested in John Finch who married Elizabeth Cleere (Cleare, Clare) at St. Bartholomew the Less in London on 15 July 1677. They had 11 children between 1678 and 1692, all noted in Joseph Lemuel Chester ‘The Parish Registers of St. Michael, Cornhill, London (London 1882). Elizabeth was the daughter of Richard Cleare (d. 1682), the famous carpenter/architect and she is mentioned in his will as the wife of John Finch (NA, PROB 11/367/498).
In case it is of interest, while digging I came across a blacksmith, John Finch, who died before 30 April 1737 when his will was probate (NA, PROB 11/682/453). It refers to his wife Elizabeth and in view of the connections you have identified with the Ward family, it may be of interest that his will, written on 16 February 1733, was witnessed by George Ward. He can’t be the man I am looking for because he appears not to have had any children at the time of writing his will.
I hope this is of interest and that you can help.
Cheers,
Joe
Hi Joe
First up, my name is Stephen. I’m not sure why people keep calling me Paul, but there we go!
Thanks for the info. I don’t know this strand of the family so suspect they are not related to mine, at least not in any meaningful way. In the years you mention, my Finches were mainly to be found in Sussex rather than London and while John may have married/lived there having moved from Sussex, I’ve so far not found any evidence to that effect. The Wards didn’t marry into the Finch family until the mid-19th century when Phoebe Ward moved to Surrey to work and met Isaac Finch. So the Ward/Finch link you mention seems more like a coincidence.
Good luck with finding more about John!
Stephen
Hello Stephen,
Thanks for getting in touch. I realised after I had sent the message that you were not Paul but couldn’t change it! Maybe it was related to the way I accessed the site….
Interesting comment as some of the people in the generation I am working on did indeed migrate to London from the surrounding countryside, or their parents had.
Please get in touch if you ever bump into John or Mary.
Cheers,
Joe
Dear Stephen Finch,
Do you have information also about the Finch family in Mitcham, Surrey (now part of the Borough of Merton, London)? The first wife of my father (Ursula Margaret Jean Finch, 1906-1950) was the daughter of the then Vicar of Mitcham, C. Aubrey Finch, who died in 1941. I have inherited some books dating back to the 19th and early 20th century which belonged to members of the Finch family.
Thanks in advance and
Best regards
Thomas
Hello,
I am researching Rebecca WEATHERALL and her illegitimate son Robert b about 1830.
His sister Mary Ann Preston WEATHERALL declares her father as Isaac Preston GERMAIN, a gentleman. I am wondering whether this was Isaac PRESTON b abt 1774 Yarmouth, a merchant and later magistrate. He was married with a large family.
He had many servants, including a footman, so could be described as a gentleman.
Hi there. Thanks for the mail.
I’ve done a fair bit of research on Mary – as noted here https://www.finchhistory.org/wetherall/mary-ann-wetherall-1829-family/ – but have yet to locate an Isaac Preston Germain. So it is possible that the Isaac you’ve located was the father and that ‘Germain’ was an affectation of some kind! It’s also worth noting that another Isaac Preston was baptised in 1782 in Yarmouth. Isaac Preston Jnr married in 1797 with ‘junior’ on the record. Was Junior somehow corrupted to Germain? Of course this was the age when wealthy men who could afford servants quite often ended up fathering the illegitimate children of servants, so was this the case with the Wetheralls? Perhaps one day DNA may provide a clue… Stephen