Sunday 1 April 2012

Following the family history trail


This is one of those family photographs I am drawn back to. We all have them and this is my grandmother and Uncle Roger in the back yard of 12 Hope Street in 1929. It is one of a collection that I inherited and set me off researching my family history.
At the time I was very much at “sea” and would have welcomed anyone who had a similar interest but a little more knowledge and experience of following the family trail.

I ended doing it the hard way, but on the way had tremendous help and encouragement from the staff at the Archives and Local Studies Centre of Manchester Public Libraries which are currently in two sites at Central Library, Elliot House on Deansgate, and the Manchester Room and Greater Manchester County Record Office on Marshall Street, http://www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries/a

It was there that I came across the Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society http://www.mlfhs.org.uk/ who hold sessions for beginners at Elliot House.

And now I have news of the ManchesterandSalford Familyhistoryforum at http://manchesterfamilyhist.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=pmview&view=1&id=3854#ixzz1qVYeq74S which “is a new family history web site and forum, dedicated to helping people find their ancestral roots in Manchester and Salford. We are looking for new members who are researching their family trees or who can help researchers with requests for information. We are also looking for copyright-free old photographs of people and the area, which could be used on our website.”


So the quest goes on. I still turn up pictures like this one which at present are a mystery, but I travel in hope and know that at some point someone will help me unlock the secrets of who these men were and where the photograph was taken.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

No comments:

Post a Comment