At some point in our lives, most of us wonder about our ancestors. Where did they live? Were there any famous — or infamous — people in our family trees? Are we related to royalty? I knew there would most likely be more questions than answers, but in deciding to uncover what I could of my family’s history, I had no idea it would become such an absorbing, intriguing mystery.

Updated 25th February 2009

The entry point for this research is a post titled My Family Tree, published 28th November 2008. If you haven’t read it yet, you’re strongly advised to do so as it covers the first part of my research and establishes my mother’s and father’s immediate families, providing important background information concerning what I discovered next.

That post branches into two pages, following what I thought at the time were two possible candidates for my paternal grandfather. I labelled them “Yeovil” Frank and “Tendring” Frank, after the districts where their births were registered. I thought that either of them could be my paternal grandfather, though subsequent digging proved me wrong. I never did much research into “Tendring” Frank’s history, but I uncovered considerable detail about “Yeovil” Frank’s family before ceasing my enquiries along that line — and it threw up some intriguing mysteries, some of which were resolved with helpful comments from other genealogical researchers.

To read the research I did into “Yeovil” Frank, click here.

To read the brief research into “Tendring” Frank, click here.

Those two branches of research are now closed. An additional post, published 25th February 2009, takes up the story — read My Family Tree: Root And Branch Reform.

Feel free to leave comments about this research by clicking here (this will take you to the associated post).