Why I Started My Family Tree
People start researching their family for a number of reasons: a fascinating family story, an intriguing artefact, a bereavement, the birth of a new child. For me, it was my mother’s stories of the Hopkins family, starting from when I was very young. She didn’t know so much about her father’s side (the Jenkins) as her parents had divorced and she rarely saw her father, but she knew lots about the Hopkins, her mother’s side. It was photos like this that captured my attention:
So many members of the family in one image! My mum (Joyce Jenkins) is on the left, being made to giggle by her uncle Leo. In front of Leo (not Leonard) Joseph Hopkins (1914-1974) is his wife Florence, known to the family as Floss, née Phillips (1916-2006). My Grandma, Winifred May Jenkins née Hopkins (1910-1975) is in the centre. Then we have cheeky chappy, Barry Hopkins, son of Leo and Floss. Far right is Elizabeth (Lil) Mary Cecilia Hearn née Hopkins (1899-1975), who was the sister of Leo and Winifred.
The photo was likely taken around 1962-1964 and most likely in Erdington, near Birmingham, where the family lived for several generations. As you can imagine, even with this one photo I wanted to draw something on paper even if I didn’t know what a family tree was yet.
The older generation all died when I was quite small so I only have few memories of my Grandma. Many years later Mum took me to visit my Grandma’s grave for the first time (she didn’t feel able to go for many years and I was considered too young for the funeral).
My Grandma’s name hadn’t been added as there was no room, but her ashes are interred here. The last name is sister, Lil. Then it gets more interesting from a family history point of view. Joseph Bernard and Anne Hopkins were my great-grandparents and Joseph Hopkins was my great-great-grandfather. Suddenly I had lots of family tree information.
Sadly, we then fast forward to 2001, when my Mum died. We had her ashes interred at the Hopkins plot and I had the stone replaced to include my Grandma and Mum:
This was when I first started my family tree in a more formal way. I can still remember the first search I did on Ancestry and I signed up to GenesReunited in the hope of making contact with distant cousins. Imagine my surprise when I spotted my Uncle Rog, Mum’s brother, on GenesReunited. They say “great minds think alike” and by sheer chance he had also taken up an interest in researching the family tree. We shared lots of stories and he also pointed out there were other Hopkins buried at Erdington Abbey:
Joseph was my great-great grandfather, actually buried in the same plot as Mum’s ashes, and Isabel was his wife. Then the sad tale of children who died infancy. But there was more:
This last stone is more difficult to read from the photograph but is the grave of a couple, Joseph and Mary, the parents of Joseph, and my great x 3 grandparents.
That was it, I was hooked, and I haven’t looked back since.
What about you? Why did you start YOUR family tree?
