I was a sickly child and spent a lot of time being looked after by my grandparents. My grandmother talked a great deal about the family origins in the West Country & East Anglia. So I was delighted when at university in the 70s that they tasked us to write about the origins of our family as a summer project. A daunting task I now realize. In those pre-internet days all I had was a book I found on genealogy and my grandmother's memories. I didn't have the time or money to visit record offices. I don't think I made a very good job of it. The university didn't think so either.
In the 1990s my father-in-law and a group of friends started researching the history of their village as a Millennium project. In preparation they all went on a course on research techniques. My father-in-law showed me the course material and I realized that I could use it to have another go at the family history and that perhaps this time I could do justice to my grandmother. The sad thing was that I had lost all the material I used for the university project and by this time my grandparents were dead.
I've had a lot of fun and I'm sure that I might even have surprised my grandmother with my discoveries. However, we have letters to my grandmother from relatives who even after 20 years of research I haven't worked out where they fit in the tree. So perhaps another 20 years of fun to look forward to.
In the 1990s my father-in-law and a group of friends started researching the history of their village as a Millennium project. In preparation they all went on a course on research techniques. My father-in-law showed me the course material and I realized that I could use it to have another go at the family history and that perhaps this time I could do justice to my grandmother. The sad thing was that I had lost all the material I used for the university project and by this time my grandparents were dead.
I've had a lot of fun and I'm sure that I might even have surprised my grandmother with my discoveries. However, we have letters to my grandmother from relatives who even after 20 years of research I haven't worked out where they fit in the tree. So perhaps another 20 years of fun to look forward to.