ICHTHUS FAMILY HISTORY

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About Ichthus

Ichthus is a new business that will provide Family History services in a manner consistent with the Christian faith of the owner, to people with British Ancestors wherever in the world they may be now. The business is run by Vince O’Connor from his home in Powys with invaluable help from his wife

Vince is in his late 40’s, and grew up in Birmingham. He attended King Edwards VI Camp Hill Boys School, and then undertook further education at Teesside Polytechnic, Middlesbrough.

Researching family history has been his passion for over 20 years, for both his own family and for others. He has gained experience in research in many record offices and in tackling many different types of problems.

As a Civil Servant, Vince spent 2 years in a research section. After some 22 years service, circumstances changed and Vince decided to leave. Following prayer he felt that he should spend time doing something he enjoyed, whilst at the same time helping others. Thus Ichthus Family History was born.

Vince is married, has 3 teenage sons, and lives in beautiful Mid Wales. He attends the Parish church in Llanidloes, and helps out however he can. He is undertaking further studies to increase his knowledge of genealogical and family history sources.

This is such a wide area, no-one knows everything! As the saying goes: “You choose your friends, you are stuck with your family!”.

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Our Services

We can undertake all types of family history research – for example:

• Full family history trace, starting from what you know to as far back as records allow. You would receive a full report and a printed tree, professionally presented.

• Problem solving - we use our experience to get round seemingly intractable problems in your family history search.

• Performing research in areas you can’t get to yourself! We will be your eyes and cover all avenues.

• One off look ups – for example, checking an entry you have found elsewhere, and if possible providing a copy of the original. At all times we will keep you fully informed, and provide a full report.

Please remember that we have no idea what we will find. We may well find skeletons somewhere – but they are still part of your family history.

If you are not prepared for this, please don’t ask us to dig!

Genealogy v Family History
Genealogy is the study and tracing of family pedigrees. This involves collecting the names of relatives, both living and deceased, and establishing the relationships between them based on primary, secondary and/or circumstantial evidence or documentation, thus building up a cohesive family tree. Genealogy is sometimes also referred to as family history, although these terms may be used distinctly: the former being the basic study of who is related to whom; the latter involving more "fleshing out" of the life and family histories of the individuals involved. (Source: Wikipedia:The Free Encyclopedia)

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Case Studies

Over the years, we have researched many interesting problems. Here are just a sample- anonymous of course!

Case 1

There was a story that a gentleman had been important in the border counties. By using Herefordshire Record Office, Gwent Record Office & the National Library of Wales I was able to trace family that was previously unknown. I found a number of newspaper articles from the 1870’s, detailing his activities in the Hereford area, including his ownership of property in the Hereford area, and then his families move into Monmouthshire. I found his obituary, and his will. This involved Parish Registers & Non-conformist records as well as other archives.

Case 2

A family had split in the 1930’s and the whereabouts of the Father after that were unknown. B y using Electoral Registers, GRO records, & clues from family stories I was able to track his movements in an inner city area & his eventual death.

Case 3

A man with a reasonably unusual surname couldn’t be found in the part of Birmingham he was expected in. By careful use of indexes I investigated a record of a man with a variant name. This didn’t look very promising as he was described as a “son in law” a year before my man was married! It turned out to be the correct entry. Looks like the girl’s mother was too embarrassed to call him a lodger when the enumerator came round!

Case 4

I followed a number of families in rural Wales that appeared to not be where they should be. I was able to track them through a number of farms, finding them in various censuses, & by using various registers managed to add branches to the family tree. I even found that originally one branch was English! You never know what you are going to find.

Useful links

We want to develop this page as a resource to all those interested in the subject of Family History.
If you have any useful link that you think should be added please get in touch with us.

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Our fees

Rate
Our basic hourly rate is £15 (Currency converter) and will be broken down in to 10 minute sectors.

Travel
Visits to the National Library of Wales, Powys Archives, Shropshire Archives, and to Birmingham, are free of travel costs. Other areas will be charged at a fair rate which can be negotiated before we undertake the trip.

Other expenses
These are charged at cost - for example obtaining certificates.

Postage/carriage charges
Within the UK – no charge.
Overseas – at cost.

Payment
We accept Sterling Cheques, US Dollar cheques, or payment by Paypal. Terms: 30 days from invoice date.

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Contact us

You can get in touch with us in a number of ways:

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