Notwithstaning my earlier comment, about avoiding a family history being just a list of dates, people and places, I had a go at embroidering the facts with some credible padding, if that isn't too much of a muddled metaphor. I'd welcome any comments or criticism.
"It was a cold morning in November 1882 as Annie Maria Ballard laid on her bed in Eden Street, Hartlepool, moaning and groaning with the gruelling pains of impending childbirth. Eventually a small girl came into the world, crying surprisingly lustily for her small size, soon followed by her twin brother, who was much quieter and didn't seem anywhere nearly as strong. The midwife looked sorrowfully, and turned to Elizabeth, and confided that '...that one looks as if it does not have long for this world'.
The girl was named Kate, after her mother’s favourite sister, and the boy was called John, after his father and grandfather, and took his grandmother's maiden name of Mowbray as a middle name. Little Kate seemed to take her new surroundings in her stride, little aware that she was the future matriarch of a diverse and widely spread dynasty. Her life would see two world wars, the invention of the hula-hoop, and men being fired into space.
The double birth was a great strain for young 20 year old Annie Maria, and sadly she would only be vaguely well enough to be aware of the death of her second-born, 6 weeks later, and never fully recovered before her own sad premature death less than a year later. Annie Maria's husband John, a local watchmaker of some repute looked proudly on his new daughter, but felt ill at the sight of his sickly little son.
He held his wife’s hand, although the effort of a double childbirth had left her exhausted and she slept for many hours. As days progressed the new mother was able to pay attention to her new twins, and she was very concerned about the sad sight of the younger child, John. Little John spent much time motionless, before finally passing on, aged only 41 days, just a week before his first Christmas. It was a heart-breaking time in the house."
I don't know whether it is good or not that I now almost believe that that is how it was!
Martin