Many years ago I started researching my family’s history via websites like Ancestry.ca, FindMyPast.com, Newspapers.com and others. The Hyne family (my surname) was the primary focus of my research.
I was able to trace my lineage back to my great, great, great grandfather Captain Charles Hyne (born circa 1805), seaman in the British merchant service. However, for the longest time, that was as far back as I could go. I’d hit a brick wall. The earliest record I could find that I could say with certainty was him was his 1836 marriage to Louisa Hole Carruthers, my great, great, great grandmother.
Charles rose to the rank of Captain around 1838, and from then until his death in 1863 I was able to find names of several ships he commanded, and from newspaper articles I was able to trace his travels in great detail. For instance, I know that on March 5, 1855 he was around latitude 33′ south, longitude 16′ east (near the southern tip of Africa). But I still didn’t know who his parents were. I realized however, that I knew a fairly completed biography of his life, at least the later half.
Fri, May 11, 1855 – 3 · The Hull Packet; and East Riding Times (Hull, East Yorkshire, England) · Newspapers.com
And in fact I had biographies for many members of my family. I decided to write them down, and being a web developer by trade, I decided to create a website to write them on. That’s what this website is, a collection of my biographies of my ancestors, members of the Hyne family.
The website is currently rooted on Captain Charles, and covers primarily him and his descendants, Charles being the oldest direct ancestor of mine that I’ve been able to definitively trace.
The plan for the time being is to include a page for Charles and each of his descendants. I also intend to include pages for the spouses of anyone featured on the website. Each page will tell the story of one person’s life, in as much detail as I can find.
I do not intend to include pages for anyone living, nor for the parents of anyone living, for privacy’s sake.
This website is a work in progress, and I add to it in a very piecemeal way. Some of the pages are just placeholders for people, places and things related to the Hyne family’s history which I plan to flesh out as time goes on.
The pages also get updated as I find more information.