Six weeks ago my mother mentioned she always wished she knew something about the family of my dad's mother who had died in childbirth. Seemingly when granddad re-married things became awkward and all contact with her family was severed. Dad hadn't been concerned to look them up when he grew up, but then his step-mother, my Nana, was a somewhat domineering woman, so maybe he hadn't wanted to open old wounds and risk her wrath. My dad died young too and as we lost contact with Nana and family on Teesside a few years after that, all I have to go on is what my mother remembers being told: his mother was called Annie, his father's father came from Scotland and that he had an aunt Lucy on his dad's side.
Never having done this before I didn't hold out much hope of finding very much in the short term with such scant information. Little did I know how powerful is the internet and how helpful the family history community. Not only did I quickly found my grandmother Gertrude Annie Scotson and her immediate family in Stockton, but also my Bryce, Roy, Pringle and Paton ancestry in Dalry Ayrshire back to around 1790. My family tree already has 741 confirmed individuals and I now have a compulsive new hobby.
Fingers crossed I'll find someone with a box of old Scotson photos that includes one of grandma Annie.
How did you start down this road? .....
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