Tuesday 17 March 2009

My grandmother

I'll start my Family History blog with a close relative and someone I actually knew... my nan on my dad's side, Evelyn. She was born on the 23rd August 1906 in Wednesbury a town in the West Midlands. She was the seventh and youngest child of Enoch and Louisa who had married in 1889. This photo was possibly taken between 1915-1920, it's hard to tell for sure how old she is on this photo.

Not only was she the youngest child she grew up with no one really close to her age. Enoch and Louisa had a daughter Alice May in 1900 who died before Evelyn as born in 1904. I think they probably didn't think they would have any more children and then my nan came along 6 years after the last. Her next closest sister was Louisa (known as Louie) who had been born in 1898 and was therefore 8 years older.... but even in later life these 2 were very close. Auntie Louie lived just up the road from nan for many years.

Sadly in 1917 Evelyn lost her mom, Louisa, she was only 11 and even as a child I remember her saying how sad it had been to lose her mom at such a young age. Enoch actually remarried in 1924 but no one ever liked his new wife and most of the photos I have ever seen of Enoch have his wife cut out of them!!

Evelyn married Robert in 1936 and my dad came along 9 months later.... (that was close!) Robert died in 1974 when I was only 7 so I remember very little about him I only remember my nan as a widow living on her own in a big old house. It became tradition that every Friday night she came for tea and stayed the night.

In the early 1990s she started to deteriorate and started to suffer from dementia. This resulted in her going into a home, where she spent the rest of her life. She never really knew that she had become a great grandmother when my twin daughters were born in 1994 while she was still alive, she never met them as she barely knew who my dad was by then. She died 21st October 1994 aged 88 and is interred at Bushbury Crematorium.

A new blog for me....

Well I thought it was time to expand in Blogland and create another blog to go along with my Cross Stitch blog.
This blog will record some of the things I have found over the years relating to both mine and Stuart's family. Some of the stories will be a little interesting and some are just plain ordinary. Some will have photos of ancestors, or churches, or places.... some will just give names and dates etc.
I doubt if this blog will be of much interest to other people but it is a great place for me to record stuff!! You never know through my blog I may find some long lost relative!!
So until my first proper posting.....

Ginnie x