A family history podcast · Series 1
Twelve files.
Opened one at a time.
A constable's number. A word on a census. A mark where a name should be. Small details in real records, followed until they become a life.
From Thursday 29 October, wherever you get your podcasts.
Four drawers. Twelve folders. Pull one open.
Launch day
Thursday 29 October 2026
The first three files open together. Then a new one every other Thursday, through to March.
About Relative Files
Every family has files nobody has opened. Relative Files opens them.
Each episode follows one life, or one family, through the paper it left behind. A stoker who ran. Four men who shared one name. Letters that never reached home. A mother with many names and only a mark to sign them.
The research took more than twenty years. Census returns and certificates. Parish registers and old newspapers. Ancestry, Findmypast and MyHeritage, county archives and local libraries.
Where the record runs out, we say so. We don't fill the gap.
Written to be heard, and told by Terry. Living people are left out of the stories.
Every episode ends with
A Note on the Record
One practical tip, taken from the story you've just heard. Try it on your own tree tonight. The forms in the resource drawer will help.
The Filing Cabinet
Four drawers. Twelve folders. Each one holds an episode, its show notes and a full transcript.
Open the drawersThe Resource Drawer
Free forms to print for your own family tree. And a guide to the websites behind every episode.
Open the resource drawerStay in the loop
Get the next file in your inbox
A short note every fortnight when a new episode is out, with its Note on the Record tip to try on your own tree. Unsubscribe whenever you like.