A couple of years ago my lovely family history support group and I started working on the stories of our grandmothers. Some of us are still going. I am 3500 words in and have got as far as Granny leaving school; I may be some time. This week I have been looking at what the students on my Pharos Writing and Telling your Family’s History course have produced in just three months. I don’t grade their assignments, just provide constructive feedback. Incidentally, the course starts again in March if you are interested. Looking at Granny’s story, I tried to imagine what my feedback might be. I’d never say this to a student but ‘could do better’ came to mind.
So yesterday I took what I’d written so far and tried to make it ‘look pretty’. Granny’s name was Ivy, cue some pretty Ivy fronds. Not sure what I will do if I get to my other grandparents, Frederick doesn’t conjour up anything similarly artistic. Anyway, after a day’s work I am quite pleased with the first twenty pages. Now to take the story further.
My mum jotted down some notes, one of which was ‘had a boyfriend in the 1914-18 war, used to sing opera to her on the train on the way home from work’. She added a not very uncommon surname. Could I track down possible candidates?. I tried unmarried men with the right surname and right sort of age, living in a five mile radius of Granny in the 1921 census. There were fourteen. Some seemed unlikely on the grounds of occupation. Of course I had no idea if I needed to cast my net wider in terms of age or location. Equally, said boyfriend could have been married, have moved away or have died in the war.
I turned to the 1911 census and found a possibility living just round the corner. This young man became one of the first RAF pilots, stayed on after the war and was killed when flying in 1919. Have I found the right person? In 1911, aged nineteen, he was working in his father’s saw mill, presumably locally. Does this preclude a train journey home from work? He may of course have changed his job after 1911. I am basing this on a Chinese whispers kind ‘evidence’ here. Perhaps there was just one single shared train journey. It also doesn’t quite square with mum’s other note that my grandparents’ first date was in 1911. They married in 1922. Did they drift apart during the war? My grandfather joined up but remained on English soil due to his poor eyesight and clerical skills (he was an accountant), so it doesn’t fit with a ‘don’t wait for me while I am gone’ scenario. Was he actually a boyfriend, or just someone who took a shine to Granny?
Someone has the potential boyfriend on a small private ancestry tree, suggesting they are a reasonably close relative. Said someone hasn’t logged on to their account for over a year. Nothing daunted I’ve sent a message. It seems a pretty fair bet that they won’t reply. If they do will they have any anecdotal evidence about a penchant for opera singing? I know I’ve had more than my share of family history luck this year. I can only dream about the possible survival of a diary mentioning Granny, a photograph of them together and a handy opera score tucked away somewhere.
It is that time of year for resolutions. How about joining me and resolving to tell a family story of your own next year.
The History Interpreter - Janet Few 
I really like the way you are telling this story, it’s much nicer to read than what I have written so far! More inviting, and with historical,detail. I also like the way you’ve included the images in the text. Is this a feature of WordPress?
I’ve used Microsoft Publisher but you can get similar effects with Word or Powerpoint.
I don’t have to make a resolution this coming year, Janet, as I made a start on the story of my paternal grandmother and eight siblings who survived to adulthood earlier this year, spurred on by the story sent to me by a previously unknown second cousin in Canada which told how two of the siblings (sisters) went to Australia, married there, and then moved to Canada. Now my resolution is to incorporate comments made by some of my second cousins about their direct ancestors and roll the whole thing into one for each of the families where I have managed to find a current descendant. Just to encourage others, this would not have been possible without DNA testing bringing me into contact with my Canadian second cousins, and the story would be less interesting without being able to find the houses so many had lived in, via Google maps.
A lovely story Janet. I have the opposite problem – a grandmother whose husband died of cancer when he was quite young and she then had a “boyfriend”. I have a photo, but no name. Sadly, her daughter gave her an ultimatum and the relationship did not progress.
Maybe the records or newspaper reports of amateur opera or operetta companies in the district or some local production might give you a lead. Good luck.