« Reply #1 on: Sunday 15 December 19 14:55 GMT (UK) »
What I would do is write the letter..... you are interested in being in contact and maybe going and visiting her, you are the researcher......what others in your family do is up to them.
I started researching decades ago when my father died aged only 42yrs old, I remember asking who his mum was, she had died when he was 4yrs old and he had always said he didn't know her name , so I wanted to find out her name 'for my dad'...of course I know now all he had to do was look on his birth cert but at that time I was young/naive and knew nothing about records.
So off I went to find out, my mother asking me one day "what I was doing" which I told her and asked to see any records she had, she told me " she had none" later telling me to "let sleeping dogs lie" she was very agaist me researching and provided me with no help whatsoever..so I KNEW she was hiding something and didn't want me to find out...... ten years on my FH folder was on the table and I caught her looking at it as I walked in the room, she quickly put it down as if she didn't care but was clearly happy to read it thinking I had no 'found out'......... I had, I knew within 6 months what she was hiding but the FH folder she looked at didn't give all the information, ( all that was in the one at home) and my reasoning was it is MY hobby, MY interest and I do not wish to upset her even if it is based on her ancestors 'guilt' which she has taken and carried on .......in 40 yrs she still doesn't know that I know and she will only ever know if she asks me directly.
Leicestershire:Chamberlain, Dakin, Wilkinson, Moss, Cook, Welland, Dobson, Roper,Palfreman, Squires, Hames, Goddard, Topliss, Twells,Bacon.
Northamps:Sykes, Harris, Rice,Knowles.
Rutland:Clements, Dalby, Osbourne, Durance, Smith,Christian, Royce, Richardson,Oakham, Dewey,Newbold,Cox,Chamberlaine,Brow, Cooper, Bloodworth,Clarke
Durham/Yorks:Woodend, Watson,Parker, Dowser
Suffolk/Norfolk:Groom, Coleman, Kemp, Barnard, Alden,Blomfield,Smith,Howes,Knight,Kett,Fryston
Lincolnshire:Clements, Woodend