Family History treasure for Christmas 2012!

When she was 20!

When he was 3!

     Well Christmas 2012 was definitely different! It was the first Christmas we, as parents had woken up on Christmas morning with no children!  For many years our children woke us up, as most kids do, at some ridiculous time in the morning wanting to open presents, (although they’ll say that for more years Daddy was the one who woke them up on Christmas morning!!)  But with children all grown up and living far away, it was just the two of us - for a while!

     Apart from the Cereal-Bar-Christmas Lunch, my family history hobby brought a few gifts as well! 

There is a ‘French Lady’ in the Kelland family’s past (1824-1886) and other researchers also appear to have struggled to find out her past; all we knew was what was recorded on her marriage certificate - that her father was ‘a French Army officer’. 

     When I by chance found a forum message mentioning the French surname, I was given a most surprising gift as a fellow researcher shared his information on our common ancestor. 

     It revealed a story of fleeing from the French Revolution, then abandoning children in Devon and returning across the channel; 

orphaned children under five years old put in a workhouse; and cross-continental family feuds. Someone was remembered in a letter for their music & painting lessons. I heard of a great great uncle, a sea captain, who sailed emigrants to Australia and decided to stayed there; and another great great uncle who was shipwrecked, when no-one survived and no evidence of the ship was ever found. I discovered a 2^nd wife for great great grandfather when he remarried at 70 years old! Relatives of a great uncle, living in South Africa with information on grandfather Kelland shared the stories that had been passed down to them. On the Crossley family side via another forum message, another far-back cousin’s story came my way with some of his trials and tribulations when he settled in America and helped some of his family settle too.

     All in all, some surprising and interesting treasures which add colour to names and dates!

(Pics 3,4,5 from google!)