My name is Mary St.Leger-Bardon and from an early age my Grandmother fuelled my passion for genealogy. During the 1960’s, she took the time to research both her family and my Grandfathers and then constructed an amazing embroidered sampler, that contained all of the main and pertinent information she had discovered about their respective ancestors. The sampler was something I saw every day, at the age of 16, when clearing out a bookcase for my parents, I found a letter with a scribbled set of names and a spidery hand-drawn family tree, with this, my genealogy passion was born. Of course, I asked Grandma lots of questions, being born at the turn of the Century, she knew all about the names and dates it contained. The stories that followed gave these names presence, form and solidity, and I could see my ancestors staring at me from the page. I wanted to know more. Who had gone before me? What jobs they had done? How did they live? Who did they love? Were they married? What historical events had they lived through and had it changed their lives for better or for worse? What tragedies and triumphs had shaped their choices? I started to learn the craft of historical research, which ‘back in the day’ was the pain staking task of searching through library records, dusty books and micro fiche. Thankfully with the availability of digitized records and databases being widely available, this has now become considerably easier and more accessible. Using the knowledge, skills and experience that I have gained over 30 years, doing this as an enthusiast, I chose to develop my passion into a career. I specialize in British Ancestry records and I also have experience in Genetic Genealogy research, please check out our DNA page for more information on this. All our families have a past and a story to tell. If you’d like to find out more about where you came from and who your ancestors were, why not use the details on our Contact Us page and we can start to Build your Tree.