Introduction

I first became interested in researching our family history in 2001 and with encouragement from my husband Kevin and cousin Shari in Texas have decided to publish my efforts so far. As this site grows and changes I will add Census Information, extracts from Parish Records, facts about people and places and photographs.

Kevin was researching his family and I thought I would have a go at tracing my roots. Not as easy as I thought it would be, as most family historians will probably confirm. Firstly where do you start? My father died when I was only six and we lost touch with his brothers and sisters, and Mum was orphaned when she was only three years old. Luckily she was brought up by her father's mother and so could give me some leads. Next we found my father's birth certificate and this opened up another avenue of research.

I have spent hours at the local Records Office in Wigston, Leicestershire and in the local studies room of my local library. Luckily we live quite near to the Derbyshire border and so the library has some of the records I need to look at. Joining Internet county lists and JustGen Chat has helped the family tree to grow. Through the Leicestershire list I have found Shari and together we are breaking down even more brickwalls.

I have finally invested in the purchase of a microfiche reader and this is making life a little easier, I can do some research 'out of hours'. However I must point out that researching family history does not come cheap - census records, Parish Registers, IGI, and certificates of birth, marriage and death, (all come at a price), not forgetting the hours spent on the Internet on various search sites, plus the time needed to research records. All this is offset by the sense of achievement when another piece of the jigsaw finally falls into place.

As anyone who has tried tracing their family history will know, this has taken a lot of time and effort, not to mention the many setbacks when I realised I was barking up the wrong 'family' tree. Hopefully the information contained on these pages will help others in their efforts and if you recognise anyone please contact me, I will be glad to hear from you.

Family history is addictive. You never stop searching for that elusive ancestor and trying to break down brick walls.

Contents

Contact

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