Skeletons in the Closet

Despite its poor reputation for promoting the seamier side of life, the internet has also made so many different tasks simpler. My own business would not exist without it as I couldn’t possibly afford to travel around the Far East sourcing products. One or two clicks of a mouse and a whole myriad of products were at my fingertips. Another boon from the net has been tracing the past, in particular, your own past. A business trip to Belfast last year whetted my appetite to look in to my ancestry and, just over twelve months later, I have a published family tree with over 600 family members and more being added by the day. I have discovered cousins in Canada and the U.S. I had no idea existed. A few weeks ago a cousin visited from Canada for a couple of days. We knew nothing about each other until less than a year ago and there were many coincidences in our life patterns along the way. Her brother Ian even underwent the surgery I will be having in the next few days. Until I met him, I knew of no other cases of cancer in my family line. Heather started her research online thinking she was of Scottish extract with no other extended family. Now she knows she is Irish and has relatives by the score. Along the way she discovered her Grandfather was a double bigamist and had three families, none known to the others. I discovered my Granddad deserted from the Army in 1902 (it seems to get married) and was fined and dishonourably discharged. He redeemed himself, joining up in 1914 and being invalided out in 1916 after being buried alive by an exploding shell in the Flanders trenches. Just yesterday I found out which hospital he was in and I am now trying to find out anything I can about his stay there.

I owe my own existence to Michael Collins and his orders to execute a Lisburn based police inspector, witnessed by Aunts and Uncles as children outside church one Sunday lunchtime in 1920. This murder brought about the infamous Lisburn burnings. Without that, and the reprisals against Catholics in the town, my grandfather would never have emigrated to France and then to England where my parents eventually met. I have enjoyed the “Who do you think you are” series on the Beeb but most of us will have just as fascinating backgrounds if we only take the time to look. If you have not done so, I suggest you do. It is relatively cheap and the information is out there, if you take the time to look.