Family History

 

https://bookswelove.net/martin-paula/

I first became interested in my family history when I was in my twenties and asked my grandfather and my grandmother’s brother to write down what they knew about their families. In those days, before computers and the internet, the only way to find out more was to visit Somerset House in London, which held all the birth, marriage and death records since 1837, or to visit local churches to look at original parish records and gravestones. With a young family and a full time job, that was impossible for me, so the family tree information was put in a file and almost forgotten.

Fast forward about thirty years, and a friend who was researching her family history told me about a couple of resources available on the internet. When I got home, I found my family tree file, searched for one of my great-grandfathers in the parish records which were online, and found him, along with several of his siblings. After that, I was hooked, and have spent many hours finding out more about my family, which has been a fascinating voyage of discovery. With some lines, I have been able to get back to the 17th century; with others, I have hit ‘brick walls’ in the early 19th century.

When I first started researching (in the late 1990s), online resources were fairly limited, but since then millions of genealogy records have been digitised. The information from my grandfather and great-uncle Joe proved to be an invaluable start, as it gave me the names of their siblings and parents, and also some details about their grandparents.

One of these always fascinated me – Uncle Joe’s grandfather i.e. my great-great-grandfather John, who was born in Liverpool in 1815 and became a mariner. This is the only photo (unfortunately damaged) I have of him, taken in the 1860's when he was in his fifties.

I obtained copies of his Mate’s and Master’s Certificates from a cousin which showed that he was first employed as a seaman in 1830 when he was fifteen. Uncle Joe said his grandfather John ‘sailed the world’ before joining the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1838, which I was able to confirm. About six years later, John was promoted to captain of the paddle-steamer Ben-My-Chree and in the 1850s commanded other boats owned by the company, which transported cargo, mail, and passengers from Liverpool across the Irish Sea to Douglas in the Isle of Man.

Paddle Steamer Ben-my-Chree

I visited the Isle of Man about fifteen year ago and spent a rewarding day at the Heritage Centre in the town of Douglas, trawling through microfilms of the minutes of the Steam Packet Company and making notes of every entry that mentioned John. I also took dozens of photos of the inner harbour where the boats used to moor in John’s time, and visited the graveyard where three of his infant children were buried.

A few years ago, I discovered that the archives of Isle of Man newspapers had been digitised and indexed. £6 for 24-hour access – I stayed up very late that night! My reward was dozens of articles about John, many of them praising his excellent seamanship during stormy weather or with mechanical problems on his ships. I began to feel quite proud of my g-g-grandfather.

In 2019, having written several novels based in Ireland, I decided I need a change of direction. But in what direction should I go? One evening, after doing some more family research on Ancestry about John’s parents, I started to wonder about a family saga, covering three generations – John and his wife Betsy, their daughter Lizzie, and their granddaughter Beth. After a couple of false starts, I realised one novel covering all these would be far too long. It was as if John was telling me, ‘Write our story first.’ So I did, and gave my imagination free rein to bring John and his wife to life, along with other members of their families, in a story of secrets, jealousy, tragedy, and of course love and loyalty.

The result is my novel, ‘A Family’s Secrets’, the first of my ‘Follow Your Heart’ series, which will be published by BWL on February 1st. I hope you will enjoy it!