David's first introduction to Family History probably started at the age of 10, when as a school homework project he was asked to draw his family tree. The idea was to show brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, nephews, etc. The problem was, that he had a very small family and had none of these, so the resulting tree only consisted of parents and grandparents. Compared to everyone else’s, it was sadly lacking.
David's mother (pictured below) was also embarrassed about the lack of relatives, so took the tree, saying “There must be more to our family tree than this”. So she started searching, and didn’t stop for the next 40 years.
In the process, she became a founding member of both the Wiltshire and Devon Family History Societies, obtained a grant for transcribing the 1851 census for Wiltshire (no-one had ever attempted anything like this before), transcribed many Parish Registers, personally undertook a project to produce a Marriage Index for Wiltshire, completed a University degree by correspondence course resulting in a Doctorate in Family History studies, became a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists, and founded the Nimrod Research business which has helped thousands of people over the years.
As such, we had good training, and are deeply grateful to our founder for this.
David and Jenny Carter
In the process, she became a founding member of both the Wiltshire and Devon Family History Societies, obtained a grant for transcribing the 1851 census for Wiltshire (no-one had ever attempted anything like this before), transcribed many Parish Registers, personally undertook a project to produce a Marriage Index for Wiltshire, completed a University degree by correspondence course resulting in a Doctorate in Family History studies, became a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists, and founded the Nimrod Research business which has helped thousands of people over the years.
As such, we had good training, and are deeply grateful to our founder for this.
David and Jenny Carter
Why were we called Nimrod ?
Our business name came from two sources:
Firstly from the Biblical ‘Nimrod’ (Genesis, Ch.10, v.9) who was described as a mighty hunter – we also being hunters for your ancestors.
Secondly from Barbara's direct ancestor Nimrod John Dening (born Winsham 1838) and his father Nimrod Dening (born Axminster 1803) - we rather liked this unusual name and used it as the name of our business. The photograph below shows his drinking mug.
Firstly from the Biblical ‘Nimrod’ (Genesis, Ch.10, v.9) who was described as a mighty hunter – we also being hunters for your ancestors.
Secondly from Barbara's direct ancestor Nimrod John Dening (born Winsham 1838) and his father Nimrod Dening (born Axminster 1803) - we rather liked this unusual name and used it as the name of our business. The photograph below shows his drinking mug.
Sir Richard Grenville
Among our numerous successes over the years, was being able to establish the date of birth and exact birthplace of the celebrated explorer Sir Richard Grenville. We now know that he was born in Bideford on 15th June 1542 on the site of No.1 Bridge Street, which was the location of the 16th century Manor House of the Grenvilles. For the full report on this research, please click here. A plaque now marks the site of his birthplace. |
Who Do You Think You Are?
We have worked on a number of WDYTYA cases over the years, for both the UK and Australian TV. In 2023 we had the pleasure of helping Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna) discover his connection to a Royal Scandal, and set him off on his journey to discover more. Sadly he died before the programme went out, but it was a pleasure to work with him, on what was his last full TV appearance. |
Last updated - April 2024