The Sum of Me

This one comes as a bit of a shocker to me. I had not anticipated how much I was going to

Pa’s Castaway

It started as a simple concept a while ago and has branched out considerably. It might even go

Family Steps

It was a busy day in an unusual way. The first part of it were spent “zipping”

Tiny Research Steps

The steps today seemed tiny and, on occasion, even a bit futile. Which seems like a strange thing to say about a day touring around in a foreign country.

Our visit to the Liverpool area was twofold. We wanted to visit our friends who live there and do some research into my great uncle’s life, death and perhaps final resting place. The computer “paper” trail of my great uncle’s life has gone a bit cold. I was lucky that my Canadian cousin did a lot of base research. Born 1886 in a poorhouse in Ormskirk, that’s also where we believe he died. A brief stint in Canada from 1911 to 1925 but as he was an “undesirable” due to some sort of mental illness that rendered him unemployable, he was deported from Canada shortly after his mother’s death.

So armed with a great local driver we set off for Ormskirk. The history section and a librarian were a good start.

So then info turned up that the Ormskirk work house was closed in the 30’s when it became the Ormskirk County Hospital.

Which was then closed in 1948 and the patients were farmed out. So we’ve managed a couple of descent suppositions about where he went in the as either Greaves Hall Hospital or Sefton House Hospital.

The National Registry office at Ormskirk sent us to Preston. Preston to Liverpool. Liverpool had already replied to my email in the negative. Ah fun and games. Perhaps I wasn’t asking for the right info from the right place?

Our heads full, my research assistants and I went to the beach to check out a cool art display there.

Then this evening, as we told info to our lovely friend, she picks up her tablet and starts finding connections. More info to tract down and possible places to look for more info. Plus an offer to check out records if my future email inquires turn up more leads. It really helps us that she grew up here and totally understands the changes to boundaries etc.

One tiny step closer to perhaps finding out an answer or two. First up though sleep!

Bernie

Ps never managed to hit post last night as it was a long day, late evening and then an early morning today.

The Steps from our Past

My grandfather, Bowyer Bradford, left England in 1903 for a better life in Canada. He wrote back to his older sister, Lizzie for decades. Sadly the letters are gone but they kept alive a connect with his family in the “old country”. During the