The Chiddicks Observer Edition 46
As the dust settles after RootsTech, which I missed completely due to a family holiday, let me bring you another mix of wonderful posts to enjoy. This week, we dive into storytelling, memory, and human heartbreak, while also giving you moments to question what we uncover. It’s our job to ask the questions, but it’s just as important that we also question the answers.
We’ll explore the raw grief behind census numbers in Victorian Surrey with Emma Newland Cutting’s story, follow the audacious life of Claude Hobday, the detective who claimed to be “the original Sherlock Holmes,” and uncover the mystery of a 3,500-pound safe forgotten for nearly a century in the Capitol. There are practical tips on using AI in genealogy without losing the human touch, a fascinating post on the Swing Riots through the eyes of the House brothers, a new YouTube story and even tales of bold investments and entrepreneurial courage. Each post illuminates lives, choices, and moments that shaped real people and families, offering history that is lived, remembered, and felt.
We begin this week with two posts from one of my all-time favourite Substack writers Lori Olson White , so I know we’re in “safe hands”, pun fully intended.
These are the first instalments in a series telling the remarkable story of what became known as the “Century Safe.”
On July 1, 1976, President Gerald Ford, Speaker Carl Albert, Representative Corine C. Boggs, and Minority Leader John J. Rhodes gathered with reporters and spectators in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol to open a massive 3,500-pound iron safe.
The safe had been sealed on Washington’s Birthday in 1879, ninety-seven years earlier and for more than seven decades it had been largely forgotten.
It’s an extraordinary story, and as it unfolds over the coming weeks, you’ll definitely want to follow this story, trust me!
Now for something new from The Chiddicks Observer, a move onto YouTube!
Lisa Rex is launching a brand-new story on her channel, bringing her research and storytelling to the screen. If you enjoy a good historical puzzle with plenty of twists, this one promises to draw you in.
The question is: will you be able to solve the mystery before the final reveal? Stay tuned, have a watch, and see if your sleuthing skills are up to the challenge.
Are your Substack articles invisible to AI? The post below from Ana Calin explores why that might be and what it means for writers today.
If you’re still finding your way with AI as a writing partner, there are some genuinely useful tips and practical insights shared here. It’s a thoughtful look at how structure, language, and even headlines can affect discoverability.
It certainly made me pause and think more carefully about how I write and how I title my upcoming posts.
Ollie - ifOnlyi... certainly knows a good deal, and a good product, when he sees one! But spotting an opportunity is one thing; having the courage to take a punt on it and turn it into reality is something else entirely.
Fair play to Ollie for backing his instincts. One day we’ll have to share a beer or two and hear the full story in person.
Curious what he invested in? Discover what Ollie spent his money on here:
Let me introduce a new Substacker to you and an old friend of mine, Barry Rees.
Barry has written a powerful and moving account about the House brothers and has managed to weave the wider story of the Swing Riots into their personal experiences, which really brings the history to life. It’s striking how differently their lives unfolded, James’s tragic early death and Abraham’s unexpected second chance in Australia. A fascinating and well researched piece.
In this post, Randy Seaver, Geneaholic demonstrates the real power of AI, not as a tool to do the work for you, but as one to work with you.
That distinction matters. AI isn’t there to replace research, insight, or creativity. It’s there to assist: to help organise ideas, spot patterns, test interpretations, and strengthen the final result. Used thoughtfully, it becomes a collaborator rather than a shortcut.
Alongside some practical and sensible tips on how to approach that balance, there’s also a compelling story at the heart of the piece, proof that good research and good storytelling still depend on the human touch.
This is a beautiful and moving piece from Carole McCulloch . Her idea of “documented imagination” feels careful and respectful. She clearly shows what comes from records and what comes from thoughtful reconstruction. What stayed with me most was the simple, painful math of 12 born and 6 living. By placing Emma Newland Cutting firmly in Kingston upon Thames and in the real details of Victorian life, Carole turn census numbers into a human story.
Emma’s story doesn’t feel like a statistic anymore. It feels remembered.
What a fascinating glimpse into the blurry line between detective and trickster from Dr Nell Darby . Claude Hobday almost feels like a character out of a novel, especially with his bold claim to be “the original Sherlock Holmes”.
I’m struck by how the records slowly peel back his shifting birthplaces, changing professions, new aliases. But by him through census returns and press reports, Nell really captures that slippery quality. Some people vanish from history because they were ordinary, Claude seems to have vanished because reinvention was his habit.
I don’t often posts notes in The Chiddicks Observer, but this note from Dr Angela Buckley is too good not to include. In fact I hope that Dr Angela Buckley turns this into a full blown story in the future. So we end with a murderer and “the man they couldn’t hang”.
It’s been a week full of stories that remind us that genealogy is about lives, choices, and the human experiences behind the records. We’ve seen history come alive in surprising and moving ways. We’ve explored practical tips for working with AI without losing our own voice, peeked into new storytelling ventures on YouTube, and even followed bold bets and entrepreneurial daring.
These stories honor memory, spark curiosity, and challenge us to question what we think we know. And as always, more fascinating tales are on the horizon, ready to surprise, inspire, and remind us that history is never just in the records, it lives in the people and the stories we uncover.
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Another great collection and a few new folks I’m not familiar with, which is always fun! And thanks for sharing the story of Annie and her safe with your readers - it’s quickly become one of the favorite tales I’ve ever come across and I’ve got some big announcements about it coming soon!
thank you for highlighting my blog post about Thomas Dill's life memoir. I learn something new every time I do one - mainly about social history of the times they lived in. The AI stories are always insightful and inspiring.