‘Imagination is the highest kite one can fly’ – Lauren Bacall.
Hello! I’m Elaine, and I was born in the Hampshire town of Aldershot in 1958. I am something of a bookworm, and I love science-fiction. In 1980 I created the only official appreciation society for ‘The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by the late Douglas Adams. It’s called ZZ9 and I’m happy to report that it is still going strong today. In more recent years I have written several books (mostly science fiction but sometimes romance) and found great satisfaction in creating websites for fellow authors and friends.
In 2002 one of my paternal uncles passed away. During the process of clearing the house he and our father had grown up in, my sister and I discovered a treasure trove of old family photos hidden at the bottom of our Grandma’s wardrobe. Hardly any of the photos had anything written on them, so with a few exceptions, we had no idea who most of the people in them might be.
A few years later, a letter came addressed to our late uncle (my sister was by then living in the house). It was from a company who specialised in tracing relatives of those who had died without an estate, but without having any known heirs. Once we had verified our connection to this unknown cousin -which I was only able to do by doing some online research using what little we already knew about my father’s family – the company confirmed our connection and ‘divvied out’ our inheritance. It wasn’t a great deal by any standards, but far more exciting was the little Family Tree that they sent us, and the realisation that it might be possible to find out who some of the nameless people in those photographs might be.
Several years down the line, with the help of older relatives -who have sadly since passed away – I have managed to find our three times great paternal grandfather, many more cousins and great aunts and uncles besides, and contacted a cousin on my mother’s side who had got as far back as 1699 or thereabouts. We’ve also met cousins on my father’s side that we hadn’t previously known about and have visited some of the places our ancestors lived. Perhaps the most emotional moment was discovering my great-great grandfather’s grave in Tweedmouth cemetery in 2008. We suspected he might be there, but when my son found the headstone it was a moment I will never forget. Inscribed on it are the burial locations of the remainder of his family, so a few years later we were able to visit them, too.
I have since researched my husband’s family (with the help of our son who did a study on Haplo Groups at college) and in case you hadn’t guessed, I am now completely ‘hooked’ on this genealogy lark! I hope you will join me on my continuing journey of discovery.
Elaine
AncestorsReunited 