my genealogy life

Family stories are my buried treasure

Tracing ancestors in Canada, England, Scotland & Ireland

Sharing my love of digging through old documents, uncovering family stories, and sharing the real papers that bring our ancestors back to life.

Blog Posts

Tag: Great Yarmouth

  • Profile of Thomas Lee Norton a Master Mariner

    Profile of Thomas Lee Norton a Master Mariner

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    by

    Patricia Greber
    in , ,

    Lee Thomas Norton (often Thomas Lee Norton in records) was a mariner by trade, plying the seas around England. Thomas was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, baptized on September 18, 1816 to parents Jeremiah Norton a shipwright and his wife Elizabeth Sharpe. When Thomas was 15 years old he became an indentured servant to William…

  • Richard Lee Norton’s 200th Birthday

    Richard Lee Norton’s 200th Birthday

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    by

    Patricia Greber
    in , ,

    Today marks the birth of Richard Lee Norton in Norfolk, England, my great great grandfather. His father Jeremiah Norton was a shipwright who likely was away from home for months at a time, and his mother Elizabeth Sharp kept the house running. The family lived in Kings Lyn, Norfolk but also seem to have connections…

  • The Inkwell and the Captain

    The Inkwell and the Captain

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    by

    Patricia Greber
    in , , ,

    It’s a simple item, an inkwell that was given to me a few years ago by my great uncle. He said it was an inkwell that had belonged to his grandfather Richard Lee Norton and he used it on his voyages. Richard was a sailor/seaman born in 1819 in Great Yarmouth, England. His father before him…

  • Open the DNA Floodgates

    Open the DNA Floodgates

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    by

    Patricia Greber
    in , , , ,

    The floodgates have opened for me in the last two days and all because of DNA. Yesterday it was all about my Norton family from Great Yarmouth, England. A person emailed me, yes you read that right, they contacted me! Our trees didn’t jive though because I had an error in mine. I had the…

  • Working on Ships in 1800s

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    by

    Patricia Greber
    in ,

    Jeremiah Norton was a carpenter on various ships throughout his career. Jeremiah was born in Great Yarmouth on the 29th of August in 1781, he stood a modest 5’4″ and set sail in 1805 at the age of 24 years. An anchor and a half moon tattoo was proudly displayed on his left hand. When…

  • The Brock Family of Hackney

    The Brock Family of Hackney

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    by

    Patricia Greber
    in

    My connection to the Brock family was not an obvious one. It all started with a four-page letter written by a niece to her uncle in 1883. This letter must have been important as it was passed down through my family until I rediscovered it in 1993, one hundred and ten years after it was written.…