Like most of you, I discovered twists and turns when putting together my family tree but I recently found an entire branch of our family I had no idea existed.
I knew my Dad had 3 brothers and 1 sister, and I was told as a child Ellen, my Aunt, died young. To me as an 11 year old, I thought that meant as a child, however my research soon showed she died aged 32. I then discovered she had in fact, got married and had 5 children before her death caused by poly-cystic kidney disease (which runs riot through my family).
As soon as I found out the 5 kids had been taken into care, I set about tracking them down and much digging and writing to Nazareth house and Facebook stalking, I found the youngest of the 5, Angela. She took several weeks to reply, worried I may be a scammer!
Fast forward to today, the remaining 3 cousins joined a family re-union with all their other cousins and we were able to tell them all about their mother, provide photos etc. They had no photos of their mother, didn't know why she died or where she was buried - all resolved now.
However, there was a father Francis, born in
1930's, in Huyton, Liverpool. Once married they settled in Bootle.
After Ellen's death Francis tried to cope with the kids by himself but 6 months later, they went into the care system. The cousins have vague memories of him visiting and being around but this tailed off. They last they knew was being informed their father had drowned in the River Mersey.
So, I know from the phone book records he was still in the house at Southport Road in 1976 but by 1978 he has completely disappeared, I can't find a death record anywhere in the UK under Frank or Francis and various spellings of L.
I would love to tell my cousins what became of the father, but I've only been doing genealogy for 2 years so my experience is limited. Can anyone give me some pointers of where to turn to next?
Thanks in advance!
P.S. Francis Anthony L who died in 2004, in Liverpool, is his son.
