WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE

Hi there

I suppose we've all done it at some time, wondered where we come from ( I'm talking geography here not biology) and why we live where we do.  Well my journey of discovery only began about 18 months ago.

Somehow despite the fact that we didn't seem to have any relatives living anywhere near us, I never asked any questions.  Talking to friends of about the same age though I realised that you just didn't question your parents in those days. O no I sound like a real relic, but it was a while ago!

I grew up with my mum and five siblings, 3 brothers and 2 sisters and although I do remember odd snatches of conversations about Aunty this and cousin that I wasn't really that curious.

What a cute bunch we were, can you guess which is me?

My sister, who is 12 years older than me ( and still like a spring chicken) went away to the York school for the blind, now part of York University, when she was 7 years old ( no sympathy needed, she is more independent and more adventurous than any of us) and so was the only one of us to really correspond with and know anything about our cousins or any of our family outside our front door!

As mum sadly passed away years ago and dad died  when I was only 2 and the eldest 14, I did leave it rather late to start wondering, but such is life and me.

However every family should have an older sister with a memory that amazes me to this day. And so according to all the best 'Trace your Ancestry' books I have pumped her for every scrap of information memory and photograph until she must be sick of me.  Unfortunately my memory is a bit like a goldfish at times and so I'm sure I keep asking her the same questions!

Are you bored yet?? Sorry I do go on a bit.

Anyway if you've nothing better to do I'll continue, if you have and you can't put off that glass of wine a moment longer, I hope you'll come back later.

Any way!!  Needless to say half the people she remembered I'd never heard of.

So armed with this I started my research, bit posh that, actually I signed up to one of these ancestry sites and let it do the work for me. The 1901 census didn't help me much as although I now had people born before this I didnt have exact dates or their addresses at that time, so I nearly gave up before I started.  But wait...

the 1911 census was released early and now I could find both my parents and their families and the journey began...

It has been such a journey of discovery that I hope you will come back for the next episode.  I won't do them all in a run, I'm trying to build the tension here.... and perhaps gather a few folk on the way!!  But there were exciting finds, no murderers so far.. , but who knows what may be round the corner......

To be continued....

Back soon

Jenny x