It all started with B.M.D. notices

In 1964 I started one of my first jobs with the Daily Telegraph in London and that was as a junior typist in the Birth, Marriages & Death's department - yes the BMDs that we all look to for information. It increased my knowledge of different places in the UK and also surnames. I noticed that certain areas of the country had the same surnames and place names intrigued me. Before this I had worked at my first job at the DT in the postal department - which also dealt with various place names - some really strange. I think this gave me a good grounding in the basics you need to find your way around the country be it by place names or surnames.

Following on from this I was also intrigued when asking my father about his aunts and uncles, that he did not know the name of two of them. Why not? He told me that his mother's brothers had emigrated to Australia before WW1 and that one of them had returned to fight in WW1. It was not until the 1911 census was published that I was able to find them with his mother [my grandmother] on the census. Unfortunately the surname was a very common one COOPER but luckily Walter who had returned for WW1 put his mother's maiden name of JAGGARS as a middle name on his army joining document and I was able to confirm that was him. By the time I found this out in 2011 both my great Uncles Walter Jaggars COOPER and William George COOPER had both died. But eventually through Ancestry I was able to make contact with a granddaughter of each and although they were in Australia and I in the UK, I have had a visit from both of them.

I started to research my family history seriously c1995 shortly before my mother died. I had been videoing her photos so that she could watch as she was not very mobile and tired easily. We went through the photos and she explained who each person was and she mentioned my father's family and I remembered what my father had said about his uncles. After my mother's death mid-1995 I inherited all her photos and some documents so I carried on. Since retiring in 2006 I have been researching most days for 5-6 hours a day and have learnt a lot from other researchers and had a lot of help in the early days; which I try to return by helping others.

I joined Lost Cousins in 2005 just to receive the newsletter and did nothing else not realizing what a help it could be to me. It was only when I saw the competition Peter started last December that I thought why put all I have researched to waste; so I was able to quickly add many people to the 1881 census for both myself and my husband. I have since paid my subscription and as I have already had contact with two cousins since December I await some more. I just wish I had realized how valuable a tool it could be back in 2005.

regards to all
Barbara

 

Welcome to the forum, Barbara, and thank you for your story.

 

Baby steps to begin with, thankyou for the welcome