First of all let me explain why I wanted to do my family tree. I've always been interested in history and I wanted to know where my family came from. I always wondered if any of my family had been part of any major event.
I started by asking my grandma if she she knew anything about my Geordie roots. She then said my cousin Lindsay had done a family tree a few years back. The next time I saw her, she let me borrow what she had done (I still have it lol). I'd always assumed that most of the family were from the Newcastle area. However, my dads cousin Nigel had also done some research and found the Atkinson side of my family actually originated from a place called Kirklinton in Cumberland. Not only that, he found out that they were all Mormons. Just as important as finding this out, he also provided me with photos of my granddads side of the family which I had never seen before. The census records Lindsay provided also showed that my family were based all over the North East in places such as Prudhoe, Durham and their was even some Makem blood in there too. There was also some Scottish blood. And as I am writing this I am sure there is some French too. As you can tell the majority of my dads side of the family was done for me. However, my mums side was a lot harder to do as you'll find out.
This side was a lot harder to do for many reasons. First of all we have no idea who my Granddads father was. Also, my great grandma was adopted by her Aunty. With regards to my Granddads family all I really had to go one was the name Winifred Baker. I found a Winifred Baker born in 1909. I traced her paternal side of the family back to 1841 in Knutsford. I then traced one of my great great grandmas family back to 1798 in Lichfield. I'd done all the brothers and sisters families too. I thought I'd done really well and put lots of effort in. Then my uncle came to my house and I showed him the tree. With one sentence my work was undone. He said "who are these people?". That's right I'd worked hard for a month tracing the ancestry of the wrong family. He then rang one of his uncles asking for a bit of info so I could get started again. Eventually I traced the Bakers back to 18th century Derbyshire. We still have no idea who my Granddads father was.
My mothers maternal family was also quite hard to follow. This was because of my Great Grandmother and her mother. My grandmother was born in Newark in 1900 but raised in Spilsby, Lincolnshire. She was raised by her Aunty. So she had at least 2 surnames when she was young. I had no idea who her mother was until my mums cousin showed me a birth certificate. This showed her mother and fathers name. However at this time her mother was married and her surname would've been Wilson. The male on the certificate was called William Blatherwick. That's right, she had an affair. I assume because of this, her husband left her and she gave up my Great Grandmother. So not only had we found out her birth name, we also had the name of a father. However we don't have birthdates etc.
So far on my mums side of the family I have traced them back to mid 19th century Staffordshire, early 19th century Notts, mid 16th century Lincolnshire and early 19th century Newcastle. Thus bringing the tree full circle.
As for finding any people who've done something famous or been well known, well my family appear to have been very working class.
