Suddenly tracing my family tree has taken on a whole new meaning for me. It started out as a curiosity into who my distant ancestors were, as I live close to Malpas church and had seen the Brereton chapel there several times, and Brereton is my maiden name. But now all of a sudden I have come across more details of Samuel Brereton b. 1848 at Harthill and I find that these are painting a picture of the life of my fairly close ancestors. Samuel was my father's great uncle - his brother Edward was my Father's Grandfather.
Anyway for those of you who might be interested, Samuel emigrated to Buffalo New York in 1908. He must have married here(UK)first - will look that up in a minute - as he was met by his son in law, a Mr G R Nevelle - on arrival. His contact back home in Britain was his brother Edward, my great grandfather. He then went on to re-marry in Ontario in 1912. It makes it all seem so real, discovering such detail, it gives a very vivid snapshot of an important event in their lives, even though they were born way back in the mid 1800s. I can almost picture them waving goodbye! It's quite amazing. My Dad died when I was 12, so I know little or nothing about his side of the family, apart from his 5 brothers and their families.
I thought that I would share this with you, and maybe it will give encouragement to anyone who is finding it difficult to retrieve information to keep on searching for your family tree, as it may well be worth the struggle in the end.

Jill