Ancestors

This is one of my favourites from my collection of old family photos. I'm really luck to have loads of old photos, and also a good batch of really old family certificates - they were a great starting point for my Family History research.

This photo shows one set of Great grandparents with five of their seven children. My paternal grandfather is the handsom young lad 2nd from the right. Great Grandfather was from the Isle of Wight. He left home to join the Royal Navy and later became a Coastguard - eventually settling in Northumberland.

Great Grandmother's family were from Devon and Dorset. Her family moved to the Isle of Wight from Bridport in Dorset but soon after this my Great Great Grandfather Grigg died leaving his wife with two little girls and another baby daughter on the way. My 2x Great grandmother was a dressmaker, I was lucky enough to make contact with a lady on the IOW who, as a very small child actually remembered visiting my GG Grandmother and told me how the house was full of beautiful stitched items and furnishings that she had made.

She very much later remarried and I have more photos of her with her second husband - the identities of this couple were a mystery to our family until I started doing my research and was able to discover who they were. The Family History "network" is a wonderful thing, full of people willing to share their knowledge - I've found so many "cousins" and between us we've been able to answer questions and fill in some gaps.