Genealogy at its best

24/01/2023

I’ve been very absent on my account, it seems so long and I’m not going to lie I’ve missed documenting my finds.
So I thought my first post back would be to say hi 👋 and that even though it’s a sad post, this man deserves to be mentioned, my uncle Len.
This is one of my Grandad’s brother, Leonard Watkins. I never met him as he left for a new life in Australia on the 30th September 1957.
When I was young I always remember talking to the man from Oz, remember receiving birthday cards with cute Australian animals on the card but the sad thing is, I can never remember what we spoke about.
Sadly at the age of 88 and still living in Australia, Uncle Len passed away. Being so far away he didn’t have any family with him but he was a much respected and loved man that I’m sure he wasn’t on his own. Only of late, I’ve found out he was in the Royal antedeluvian order of the buffaloes. After his death, his sister received all the certificates and memorabilia from his time in the buffaloes.
Even though I never met him, there is immense sadness at his passing. He was the last living child of my Great Grandparents John James Watkins and Martha Hooley, and the last grand uncle connection to my grandfather Cliff.

I often wonder what it would have been like when they were all together, I can only imagine the laughs, insults, jokes and tears that would have happened. But I’m sure they’re all together somewhere having a drink and reminiscing on the good old days.

Leonard Watkins -
25th May 1933 - 28th April 2022

01/04/2022

• Yet Another Brick Wall •

I’ve done a previous post about brick walls and how utterly frustrating they are and about the feeling you get when you knock it down.
Mary Jane Twemlow has been my brick wall from the very start.
I knew who her husband was, I knew who her children were, I knew she was born in 1875 in Sandbach, Cheshire and that she moved to Barnsley, Yorkshire but I could never find where she went after 1916 when her husband passed away. I’d convinced myself that maybe she had died in child birth after having her last daughter in 1906 as there was a death index for a Mary J Watkins around this time.
It never entered my head that maybe she remarried or that she never actually stayed in Yorkshire.
I’d previously looked for a 1921 census for her and couldn’t find anything that would be close to her so yesterday I looked for her 2 youngest daughters Florence and Lily. I looked for Florence first but the only Florence that was close was born in 1901 and the Florence I had was born in 1903 so I looked for Lily born in 1906 and there she was.
After 2 years of trying to find out about Mary Jane, her daughters held the link.
The 1921 census showed that Mary Jane remarried to Henry Sidebottom in 1919 in Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire… same year and place my Great Grandfather married.
It never registered that maybe they moved as a family from Yorkshire to Ashton but it appears that they did.

I really do love what I do and when moments like this happen it shows that patience always pays off. I’m now able to tell the story of my 2x Great Grandmothers life with no ifs or maybe’s.

Sadly she passed away in 1928 (yet to be certified) at the age of 53

23/03/2022

• Honesty Post •

If someone had of handed me this years ago telling me these are the people I came from I’d have been overjoyed at having names of family, times and meaningful dates. But of late I’ve felt deflated by the whole thing. For each person listed on my paternal side I have no happy memories or stories to share, only unanswered questions.
As I get older I realize the true meaning of family even more so since having my own children. Sadly these people have never had any intention of being part of me, even before I was born.
Saying that though, I’m truly blessed that I’ve been able to find out what I have. Even more so when all I had was one name to go on.
Even though their action have caused heartache, I’m sure one day they may realize what they missed out on too

12/03/2022

Happy Heavenly Birthday to my Grandma Lilian Watkins nee Crawshaw.

Born in 1934 to Richard Crawshaw and Florence Gertrude Mann, she was the youngest of 2.

Nothing was known about my Grandmothers side. She didn’t talk about her father as they didn’t have a great relationship and her mother died when I was 3 so don’t remember her but have some lovely pictures with her when I was a baby.
It wasn’t until she was diagnosed terminally ill that she said that she had 2 half siblings Leslie and Elsie and that her father had been previously married to Maggie Buchan who sadly passed away in 1927 at the young age of 38.

One thing I can say is that she was an extremely brave, strong, loving, and incredible woman that stood by me through everything but she was also a incredibly stubborn woman who said what she thought with no thought of the hurt it might cause.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2020 and sadly lost her battle on the 5th October 2020.
That day I had had a phonecall from the hospital saying that she was becoming very agitated. I hadn’t been able to visit due to covid restrictions but they said I could visit her that day to see if it would help calm her. I said I would be there at 7 but arrived a little earlier as I was told I’d have to wear PPE. I got in her room and she calmed down when the nurse said I was there. She was alert so told her that Summer’s cleft appointment had gone well and no operation was being planned. She passed away 10 minutes later 💔

19/02/2022

•Brick Wall•

Since starting my tree my 2x Great Grandfather William Henry Mann has been my brick wall.
I never copy other peoples research but with ancestry they come up with hints. Other peoples trees that came up just didn’t fit.
One thing I’ve learnt is that a marriage certificate can hold all the clues. Having the certificate can lead you half way to who their parents are but also a vital clue on what their marital status was before their marriage.
I was always told that my Great Grandmother Florence Gertrude Mann was the only child of William Henry Mann and Mary Leah Farrar, which is true. But when I received their marriage certificate it said that my 2x Great Grandfather was a widower when he married my 2x Great Grandmother.
Looking for his previous marriage I found 2 marriage index’s that held 4 womens names. Then came the lengthy process of entering all 4 names into my tree to find which lady was previously married to my 2x Great Grandfather.
After what felt like hours researching I finally found her - Elizabeth Ann England. She had passed away less than a year before he married again.
This is where I found out that my Great Grandmother had a half sister Elizabeth Ann Mann born in 1882.
This is another example of family secrets and more questions not answered.
My Grandmother was always insistent that her mum never had any other siblings. There was 20 years between them, I’m sure by that age she was already married and living her own life and my Great Grandmother would have been 52 when Elizabeth passed away. My Grandmother being 20 at that time.

Things like this blows my mind!

09/02/2022

I always knew genealogy was addictive.

I always knew there was more information out there that would fill in gaps that were missing.

I always knew that more of my ancestors story was out there for me to tell.

Then along came the 1921 census and along came another need to find things out.

I’ve found out that my great grandparents were living with my 2x great grandmother weeks after her husband passed away, that my 2x great grandfather had boarders shortly after his 2nd wife passed away, I’ve found out about children I didn’t have listed and sadly probably wouldn’t have known about and I’m extremely lucky to know each and every address they lived at.

How lucky are we that we are able to know about them but not have had the privilege to have known them.

13/01/2022

Today I bought my first 1921 census on the Watkins side of my family and there was some surprises.
After finding out that my great grandfather worked in coal mines all his life, I finally have the name of the company he worked for but not just that I have also found out my great grandparents lived with my 2x great grandmother at the time it was recorded.
My 2x great grandfather had passed away 2 months prior but the house they lived in is the house that my grandfather was born at in 1930. I’m guessing my great grandparents were able to buy the house from her at some point or she handed it down to them as at the time of my 2x great grandmothers death in 1936 she lived at a different address with another of her grown up children.
It’s amazing how things can slot into place when you discover new information

04/01/2022

24/12/2021

on the 24th December 1930 my Grandfather Clifford Watkins was born at 78 Hill Street, Ashton Under Lyne. He was the 7th child born to John James Watkins and Martha Hooley (John and Martha went on to have 2 more children).

I have no stories to share of his childhood and no baby/child photos to cherish, only ones of him in his 20s that could have been lost along the way. So many people of this era don’t share their stories, the good and the bad, being only 11 when he passed away I never had the questions I have today. To me I had my mum and my grandparents and that was my perfect bubble, I didn’t need to know anything else. But sadly when it’s too late and the questions go unanswered it’s a whole different feeling of heartache. He never spoke about my great grandparents… I’ve been lucky enough to hear lovely stories about Martha for my Grandads nephew but sadly my great grandfather passed away before any of his grandchildren could meet him. I long to know about him, I hate the thought that time has forgot him and no pictures exist of him and that those that once loved him are no longer here to make his memory live on. My Grandad was very much a closed book, not even talking to his children about things and it seemed to be a common thing with the other 8 siblings as no stories were passed down either.
When you see on social media ‘if you could spend an hour with someone who is no longer here, who would it be?’ It would be a hard one. I’ve longed for my Grandfather for as long as I can remember but just seeing my Great Grandfathers face and to have the ability to know the man he was would be everything. Did my Grandad look like him ? Did my Grandad have his traits ?

Who would you like just one hour with ? What would you questions be ?

24/12/2021

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CX3GvgXlhtu/?utm_medium=copy_link

0 Likes, 0 Comments - Sarah 🌳🍃 () on Instagram: “Happy Heavenly 91st Birthday Grandad”

15/11/2021

I can’t remember the last time I sat down and done some work on my tree, seems like a long time ago.
From being poorly, to going away and now covid has hit our household it seems everything including the Watkins family 🌳, that once seemed so important is at the bottom at the pile.
Thankfully me and the kids tested negative but my husband tested positive a couple of days after we came back from Scotland, so looking after everyone came first.
My children could have still gone to school with having provided negative tests results but I just didn’t feel comfortable sending them in, even more so that my daughter goes to a complex needs school and having others who attend the school at high risk.
Today we went for our day 8 PCR so that fingers crossed the kids can go back to school on Thursday.
Even though I’ve not been working on my tree, I’ve certainly been thinking about it and the next thing I want to work on is finding out about my maternal Grandfathers siblings.
I grew up with one GrandUncle and had contact with another that emigrated to Australia but I have no idea about the other 7 and sadly never met them.
I also want to delve into my Maternal Grandmothers half siblings from her father’s first marriage. I had no idea they existed until I told my Grandmother I was starting my tree and she mentioned half siblings, I’m not even sure her own children knew about them.
It would be so lovely to try and make contact with the Crawshaw side like I have the Watkins

03/11/2021

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been extremely quiet as we’ve all been poorly with the awful cough and cold that seems to have been doing it’s rounds across Norfolk.
I still have one poorly child and we can’t seem to budge the cough we’ve had for 2 weeks now but we’re extremely thankful that all our COVID tests are still coming back negative.
But with the hard times come the good and we were extremely blessed to have been able to visit Gretna Green to witness my husbands daughter getting married. It was our first time visiting Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and I was absolutely mesmerized with the scenic views and calmness as we drove there and back. We all had an amazing time away even though my eldest struggled being away from her homely comforts but we’ve made amazing memories and an adventure we wouldn’t have missed for the world.
A massive congratulations to the happy couple ❤️