Re-united: Our family and this photo of Jimmy & Bobby
Dooling Family
Posted Apr 13 2010
Picture courtesy of Stuart & Jacqueline Light, identified by Kevin Morris and brought to us by Roy Priestley.
Thank you all so much!
I will be posting some comparison shots of young Jimmy here so we can verify that this is indeed Jimmy but early signs are that this is indeed my granddad carrying my dad as an infant in his arms. Presumably the photo was taken by Jimmy's cousin Aggy Batty since it has remained in her family since. Judging by the age of baby Bobby (I am guessing around 18 months) this picture could be dated around 1940.
Here is the best comparison picture I have of Jimmy a couple of years earlier getting married to Mamie. Compare the two but I think there is little doubt that this is the same person.
1943 Is The Year My Great Grandad Died
Dooling Family
Posted Mar 19 2010
There are several mysteries surrounding my great grandad, Thomas Dooling (born 1878, Bradford).
Still plenty of missing records and unanswered questions. It's why I was so thrilled last year to
learn about his trip to America.
Well now a much more mundane detail, but significant none-the-less, has emerged as his death record has surfaced in the FreeBMD transcription project. This answers one question at least: The year of his death. I had estimated it to be some time in the forties maybe even fifties based purely on my dad's limited recollection of having visited him as a small boy (but he wasn't sure how small).
Well now we know he died in the year 1943 and the death was recorded in the second quarter (April through June) which usually indicates it occured during those months. Of course we don't know anything else like how he died, where he was living at the time (my suspicion is Otley Rd area of Bradford) but we do know he was 65, not bad for that generation. I'm guessing that was the retirement age back then as it is now and sad irony that like his son my grandad after him he would pass on so soon after his working life was ended.
We will find out more once I can afford to purchase the death certificate. Meanwhile, another question now answered is how old my dad must have been when he visited him as a lad: No more than 4 years old!
More Faces from the Past
Armour Family, Commons Family
Posted Mar 4 2010
As I continue to connect with more researchers and we explore our distant relationships, one of my favourite things to do is to discover old family photographs and today I was lucky enough to come across no less than two in one day. Neither of these people are directly related to me but both belong to families that I belong to.
The first is a cousin to my grandma, James Armour born in 1890. James's father, also named James.
was brother to Robert (my great-great grandfather and my grandma's grandfather).
Photo from Margaret Marshall's collection
The second is a cousin to Mary Guilfoyle (nee Commons), my grandad's grandma. This lady is Catherine O'Rourke and in this picture taken around 1950 she is no less than 90 years old. Her grandfather, Daniel Commons just happens to be my own great-great-great-great-grandfather too.
Photo courtesy of Betty Dwyer
Is This Robert Armour?
Armour Family
Posted Feb 22 2010
Yesterday I was given a copy of a photograph which is known to be that of Robert Armour and his daughters (below left). This has given me a chance to compare a photograph (below right) I have had for a long time which I believe to be Robert Armour (in advanced years) but have never been able to prove for sure. I need your help in comparing these two photographs and giving me your view on whether this man is one and the same? Email me with your thoughts.
The Hickman Family Story Begins
Hickman Family
Posted Jan 29 2010
My granpop's mum Mona Mary Hickman hailed from a family who made quite a name for themselves in Market Drayton in the second half of the nineteenth century and further South in Ruiton in the Midlands even before that. The first installment of the Hickman family story is posted today.
Who Is This Girl?
Philpott Family
Posted Jan 22 2010
Whilst sorting through my nanna's collection of old photographs I came across this picture which I am unable to identify and since my nanna died some years ago, I obviously can't ask her who it is. It looks early 20th century and possibly one of her older sisters but hard to tell. It could even be her mother as a girl for all I know. So I am on a quest to find out who this is and who may know.
