He Started It

Meet Johnny A.  He started it. He was the person who started me on a twelve year quest to find out about my ancestors.  Strictly speaking I had made half-hearted attempts before.  My beloved once bought me a book where you could enter all the details you knew about your family.  When I had put in mine, there was very little to show!

Shortly after we got our first computer, Mike bought me for Christmas a Family Tree programme.  I thought he was taking the mickey.  When I saw how many names the programme would hold and totted up how many names I had, it all seemed so ridiculous.  However, I decided to put in the information I had , plus some photographs, onto the programme and this left me wanting more so I decided to get my box of photographs out of the loft and have a look through.

Enter Johnny A.   When I was about fourteen my Mother was clearing out drawers in her bedroom whilst I sat and chatted to her. Lots of old pictures came out and she explained who they were. Then this one appeared.  Who was this handsome young man in uniform?  I asked my Mother, she said she had no idea - he was something to do with my Father's side.  So, I went and asked him. He said "Oh that is Johnny A"  I could not understand it, our surname began with F.  What connection could he have to us.  I asked Dad.  "He is Grandfather's half-brother's son" came the reply and that is all I got.  My Father had not been close to his family and did not talk about them much.  For some reason what he said intrigued me and I scrawled on the back in pencil - Grandfather's half-brother's son.  I asked if I could keep the photo and was told that I could. Maybe I had a sort of "crush" on this handsome soldier but I knew that I did not want to part with the picture.

Keep it I did, I grew up and got married and moved house several times.  With each move, Johnny came with us in the box along with many other photos.  Looking back now I think it just had to be that I never threw him away.  It was fate.

Anyway, having come across his picture again I decided to try and findoutthe connection between the A family and our family going by what was written on the back.  I could come up with nothing so him indoors kindly said he would pay for a professional researcher to find the link.  I was so excited.  I duly found a reliable person and sent off the details I had.  I waited weeks and weeks only to get a letter saying that absolutely no link could be found between the families and that my Father must have been mistaken.  I knew my Father, he did not make those sort of mistakes.  Oh, how I wished I had asked him more but he had passed away by this time.

Mike then said he would fund a second researcher.  This time I decided to try a woman as a woman might just have more intuition.  Again weeks went by.  Again a letter saying nothing could be found. It made no sense to me.

I am not blowing my own trumpet here when I tell you that it was one of the happiest and proudest moments of my life when I myself cracked the mystery - partly through writing many letters, partly through the internet and partly through sheer dogged determination. The day when what I had been seeking finally came and I saw the proof with my own eyes, I let out such a yell of sheer joy and pleasure that Mike came running. I had the great satisfaction of being able to contact the two "professionals" to tell them that my Father was correct and they had been wrong!!!!!  The mystery was solved and Johnny was indeed related to us.

I do not know if any of you are doing your family tree or whether anybody  would be interested, but if you would like to know how I did it, then I will make that my next entry.