Your Family Stories

I love my distant cousins. I didn’t know most of them until I started researching my family tree. Over the years, I have corresponded with and met many cousins, having connected via DNA matches, shared ancestors on family trees or simply being introduced by another relative who said, “You must speak with so-and-so. They know lots about our family history”.

Take, for example, my second cousin once removed – Michael. He is a cousin on my Foster line (my paternal grandmother’s paternal line). Like me, Michael was born in Liverpool, England. Michael’s grandfather, William John Foster (1899-1965) and my great grandfather Robert Foster (1892-1958) were brothers.

Michael shared with me copies of two Foster family wedding photos from 1920 and 1921, including the names of many of the people in the pictures. That is a big win! These photos show my grandmother Frances as a 7 year old girl, and her sister Cecilia as a 3 year old, as well as their parents – my great grandparents, Robert and Frances Foster (nee Hornby), 2 x great grandparents, Albert Edward and Ceclia Foster (nee Thomas) and other aunts, uncles and cousins.

Michael also shared photos of a handwritten family tree created by Minnie Foster in the 1960s – she was Robert and William’s youngest sister. Minnie and my grandmother Frances were extremely close. Whilst Minnie was Frances’s aunt, they were born only months apart in 1914, so they grew up more like cousins. As a child, I remember my Nana and my dad speaking about Aunty Minnie.

I knew the Foster family was originally from Portsmouth, and my 3 x great grandfather Robert John Foster (1845 – 1888) was a ship’s joiner. As well as the usual names, dates and places, Aunt Minnie included many interesting snippets in her family tree:

• Albert (my 2 x great grandfather) was brought up in Glasgow from 6 months of age, as their father had contract work there before they moved to Liverpool. Albert met Cecilia, my 2 x great grandmother, when he was wearing a kilt! (I had wondered why I could never find the family on the 1871 England and Wales census).
• Cecilia was in service at the home of the organist of St George’s Hall (she got £5 a year as kitchen maid and had half a day off once a month).
• Albert Henry, another of Albert and Cecilia’s sons, died suddenly in the street in June 1934, aged 37, due to being wounded and gassed at the Battle of Loos in 1915.
• Our family line is noted as moving to Australia, and my dad’s brother, Rodney as moving to South Africa in the 1960s.

Some people like to only concentrate on their direct ancestors; however, including our ancestors’ siblings and children can link us up with members of our family who may be able to fill in some blanks about the lives of our ancestors. If you go digging, you too could find some genealogy gold:  photos, family stories, family trees, heirlooms, not to mention new cousins who may become friends.

As a postscript, I visited the UK twice last year and met up with many second and third cousins for lunches/dinners and day trips. My sister and I were even invited to stay with a lovely second cousin in Wales, who drove us around sightseeing and catching up with other relatives. Another highlight of the trip with my husband was meeting a cousin who lives in New Zealand, who happened to be visiting Cornwall at the same time as us. Before my travels, I discovered that I have some distant cousins living here in Perth, Western Australia, whom I have caught up with a few times.

I love digging for gold!

1920 Wedding of Albert Henry Foster and Alice Hughes, Liverpool

1921 Wedding of William John Foster and Marion Agnes Shepherd, Liverpool

Frances Foster (my nana) and her aunt Minnie – 1915, Liverpool

July 1938 wedding of Stanley Lucas (my grandad) and Frances Foster (my nana) with Albert Edward and Cecilia Foster (Nana’s grandparents), Liverpool

[Note: This article was also published in the Liverpool Family Historian – Liverpool and South West Lancashire Family History Society – December 2025]