David Benson
17-04-2009, 10:21 AM
Having done quite a bit of tracing my family I wrote to a relative (on my mothers side) and asked if they had or knew who might have any papers about the family.
The reply was amazing - they had a bag full of papers that they had never looked at since inheriting them from his father.
It revealed Army pay books for my Great Grandfather, dated 1864, giving details of eye & hair colour, height, complexion etc., and also his father-in-law dating from 1857. A marriage certificate dating from 1874 in Malta together with the Banns notice. Letters giving permission to marry, from the commanding officer. Letters home to his sister from various parts of the world giving a real intimate insite into the life of the family during that time. The pay books & letters contained details and exact dates of Births & Deaths of children who often had not been found on the usual BMD indexes as they had taken place abroad.
There were also numerous 'Carte de Visite' photos taken in different countries and sent home.
Altogether some 100 plus items which put a lot of meat on the bare bones that I had previously found.
So, ASK THE FAMILY, you may be suprised what's kept and not been looked at for years.
The reply was amazing - they had a bag full of papers that they had never looked at since inheriting them from his father.
It revealed Army pay books for my Great Grandfather, dated 1864, giving details of eye & hair colour, height, complexion etc., and also his father-in-law dating from 1857. A marriage certificate dating from 1874 in Malta together with the Banns notice. Letters giving permission to marry, from the commanding officer. Letters home to his sister from various parts of the world giving a real intimate insite into the life of the family during that time. The pay books & letters contained details and exact dates of Births & Deaths of children who often had not been found on the usual BMD indexes as they had taken place abroad.
There were also numerous 'Carte de Visite' photos taken in different countries and sent home.
Altogether some 100 plus items which put a lot of meat on the bare bones that I had previously found.
So, ASK THE FAMILY, you may be suprised what's kept and not been looked at for years.