Apologies for not posting for a while but sadly my Mum passed away last month after a short illness. Had a sad few days back in Hornsea but there were also some good memories as we looked through old photos including one of myself, my two brothers and sister in the seventies. Here we are holding it for comparison purposes!
Andrew, me, Julie & Nigel with 70s photo
I’ve also finally got round to researching my family tree and joined Genes Reunited. Within days I had received four contacts with an unbelievable amount of information. It would seem that most of my ancestors are of good East Riding stock although sadly most seem to be farm labourers and servants. Definitely more Baldrick than Blackadder!
Most perturbing was the discovery that my Great Great Great Grandfather on my mum’s dad’s side had a brother (my Great Great Great Uncle) who subsequently married and whose Great Grandaughter was the mother of my mum’s mum. I’ll leave you to work that out!
On a more positive note it would seem that I am distantly related (Fifth Cousin once removed) to John Hillaby, a relatively well known travel writer and explorer. He was also the first president of the Backpackers Club. Some history here. It would however seem from Paddy Dillon’s comments in this OutdoorsMagic thread that we both shared a gene for wandering off path! Anyway I’ve ordered a couple of his books which I’m looking forward to reading.
I’ve actually been able to trace my mum’s side of the family back to the early 18th Century – quite amazing considering all I had to go on was my Grandparent’s birth, marriage and death certificates. The only real problem I came up against was not having a record of my Gran’s father as there was nothing recorded on her birth certificate. Now I’m sure there’s a story there somewhere…maybe Lord Blackadder is involved after all…!
Ayrshire Tiger 