Annie Murray, author

Scrapbook

I found my long-lost family…

Recently, when I was doing a book signing in Birmingham I met two ladies who told me they were ‘long lost cousins.’ One of them, Judith Malcolm, was kind enough to tell me her story….

"In 2007 I decided to research my family tree. I started off with my mother’s side as I had no knowledge of my father’s: he was a soldier, killed at Dunkirk in 1940 when I was a baby. My mother and I were evacuated from Vauxhall, in Birmingham, to a farm near Malvern where we stayed for the duration of the war and several years after, by which time we had lost touch with his family, and I had never met my grandmother. However, I knew her maiden name, and thought I would enter it on to my tree.

"Much to my surprise, I had a reply within a few days from a lady in Australia who thought we might be related. To my amazement, she told me that my father’s sister was still alive and that she was in contact with her and all the family. The best thing was that my aunt lived only a few miles from where I did, and she also put me in touch with my aunt’s daughter who lived in Canada. Sadly my aunt passed away a few days before we made contact, but her daughter was over from Canada making arrangements. It was a wonderful but sad reunion. My aunt had wondered all the time how she could find me and would have been so happy to know that I had been ‘found’ again.

Above: Cousins Judith, Barbara and Shirley, The portrait is of William, their Great Grandfather. Click on the image to enlarge.

"I was shown photos of all the family and of our grandmother who passed away in 1947. I was then introduced to several cousins who lived locally. Fortunately we all got on well and were pleased to have met at last. The strange thing was that our paths had crossed so often without us knowing of the other. One of my cousins, Shirley, shares my love of reading and also enjoys Annie Murray’s books, as they are set in places in Birmingham we both know well.

Right: Restored graves of our Great Grandmother Ann and Grandmother Martha, Witton Cemetery. Click on the image to enlarge.

"Shirley’s daughter Kim and I have visited several of the places where our relatives lived, and found where our grandmother and great-grandmother are buried. We were saddened to see that it had almost disappeared over the years, so decided on a project to make it good again. We feel we have achieved something by doing that. I am now in contact with my Canadian cousins who have been able to visit and we use Facebook so that we can share photos. Kim and I also plan a short visit to France to visit the graves of my father, and his father who died in the First World War. I feel sure they would both be happy to know that I have finally found them all and am no longer ‘lost.’"