My siblings and I grew up knowing that we had no living relatives on my father's side, except for one distant cousin, several times removed. I knew my father grew up in Calcutta, India and lead a privileged life, much different to that of most people here in England. His family were part of the Anglo-Indian community that resulted from years of Europeans living and working in India.
My sister and I have often talked about looking into his other life, but lack of time and other things always get in the way. Sadly, our father died 21 years ago, and I never asked when I had the opportunity. Finding the Army & Navy catalogue rekindled the thought, so last week I started to search out our family history.
I knew the name of his mother (my Grandmother) and the first name of my Great-Grandfather. My mother has a few photographs and bits & pieces that came from my Dad's family and was able to offer several clues.
This is a bag that belonged to my Great-Grandfather and it must be well over 120 years old. I started to search online for the family name and uncovered a staggering amount of information and so far, can trace my family back to 1800. What's more, I have found two other distant strands of the family who are researching our ancestry! We have gone to one known relative to many ...
I am now an official genealogy addict.
