I can’t believe it is more than a year since I started this blog with every intention of adding to it regularly.

So here goes with my second annual entry!

The 1891 and 1901 Census records show my paternal Great Grandfather as having been born in MALTA not France. How could this be given his son was nicknamed Frenchy for having been the first English born male in the family.

Perhaps this was a mis heard pronounciation of Marseilles noted down by an enumerator unable to discern through a thick French accent.

Certainly my Grandfather considered himself to have been of French descent as he stated this on port of  New York manifests now accesible through the Ellis Island site.

Perhaps my G Grandfather had something to hide.

One day the mystery will be solved.

My first posting so here goes.

I started researching my family tree about 3 years ago and how I have leaned over that period.

My maternal grandmother had died in 1986 but in 2000 I discovered a hand written list of her family details going back into the mid 19th century.

Many years before I had spoken to my paternal grandmother and gleaned some sketchy details regarding her brothers and sisters and mother and father.My notes had lain in the back of a folder for nearly 20 years.They were actually written on the back of a blank William Hill betting slip!

On top of this I had some further interesting info.

My paternal grandfather was known as “Frenchy” because so it was said his father was from Marseilles in France. My grandfather had however been born in England.

Inevitably my researches have unearthed some surprises. Incorrect names, dates of BM&D and most of all that my g-grandfather wasn’t French at all!!

As a salutary lesson I would advise that although obtaining details from living relatives is to be a starting point you should always check the “facts” as they are often incorrect. Recollection is often obscured by time/age.