How researching living relatives brought cousins together to share
their family stories.
One of my recent clients asked me to find information about her mother,
Ruth - as she was brought up by foster mothers; and the only information they
had was a name on her birth certificate. Searching through the 1911 census and
birth records, Ruth's mother, Rose, was found living with her grandmother
and a young uncle in a small town in Buckinghamshire - but after her last grandparent died, she then moved to London. We can only assume she moved to London in the early 1920s, to seek
employment and perhaps some excitement, because by then Rose was a young woman.
But by 1928 she became an unmarried mother. Without social or family support she had to leave her baby girl in the hospital - baby Ruth was handed over to a child carer employed by the local
authority. Rose was able to move on with her life and went on to marry, and had
another child. A boy. It is hard to imagine how Rose must have felt leaving her child behind, and never seeing her baby again.
Ruth grew up in different foster homes, never knowing any family relative, until she eventually married and had children of her own - by researching living people, Rose's grandchildren were found and were introduced to their unknown Aunt Ruth. Now two branches of the same family are gradually getting to know each other.
Photos and stories about Rose's life are currently being shared with Ruth and her family, and so for the first time in her life Ruth knows more about her own mother than just a name. Rose's grandchildren feel sad, knowing that their grandmother, as a very loving mother and grandmother, had carried her
secret, of her baby girl to the grave.
Lynne
Family Historian
Check back next week for tips on searching the history of a house....
their family stories.
One of my recent clients asked me to find information about her mother,
Ruth - as she was brought up by foster mothers; and the only information they
had was a name on her birth certificate. Searching through the 1911 census and
birth records, Ruth's mother, Rose, was found living with her grandmother
and a young uncle in a small town in Buckinghamshire - but after her last grandparent died, she then moved to London. We can only assume she moved to London in the early 1920s, to seek
employment and perhaps some excitement, because by then Rose was a young woman.
But by 1928 she became an unmarried mother. Without social or family support she had to leave her baby girl in the hospital - baby Ruth was handed over to a child carer employed by the local
authority. Rose was able to move on with her life and went on to marry, and had
another child. A boy. It is hard to imagine how Rose must have felt leaving her child behind, and never seeing her baby again.
Ruth grew up in different foster homes, never knowing any family relative, until she eventually married and had children of her own - by researching living people, Rose's grandchildren were found and were introduced to their unknown Aunt Ruth. Now two branches of the same family are gradually getting to know each other.
Photos and stories about Rose's life are currently being shared with Ruth and her family, and so for the first time in her life Ruth knows more about her own mother than just a name. Rose's grandchildren feel sad, knowing that their grandmother, as a very loving mother and grandmother, had carried her
secret, of her baby girl to the grave.
Lynne
Family Historian
Check back next week for tips on searching the history of a house....
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