Past to present

May 13 2008 by Hannah Davies, The Journal

Hannah Davies discovers how people in one Northumberland town are unearthing their ancestors as part of a genealogy project.

MANY of us are fascinated with our family trees. Discovering where we come from, what our ancestors’ jobs were, how they lived, even what they ate is a source of fascination for many people.

Intensive care nurse Jacqueline Murray, 48, of Bedlington, has taken this fascination and developed it into an all-consuming passion, from intriguing beginnings.

She explains: “The family story goes that before my father was born, his mother had been warned of the dangers of getting pregnant with a fourth child – she did and died soon after.

“My father was taken in by the next-door neighbours and didn’t know until he was eight that the people next door were his biological family.

“He never talked about it, but in the village he grew up he was known under the neighbours’ names.”

Because of this mystery, Jacqueline and her family knew nothing of their dad’s past. He had passed away in 1984.

Her growing interest in the family’s roots has led her to take part in a genealogy project which is being exhibited at Woodhorn Museum in Ashington, Northumberland.

Her family stories are just part of the mountain of information uncovered by people in Wansbeck.

Jacqueline has been researching her family tree for four years and it has begun to be an all-consuming passion.

As well as the stories surrounding her father, Jacqueline’s mother’s family have come under scrutiny. She explains: “My mother’s parents were cousins and came from the same village but despite this my mother knew very little to nothing about her grandparents and Irish cousins and I wanted to see what I could discover.”

Jacqueline says unearthing your family tree is a thrilling process and has given her an insight into what has made her the person she is today.

“When you see things like the jobs people have done in the past, the hardships they have suffered you can link the person you knew or the stories you have heard with them to create a better picture of what formed them.”

Another thing she says shocked her was the large number of coincidences she discovered.

Jacqueline explains: “I discovered I was bed and breakfasting on the farm where my great-great- grandfather had been a farm manager near Castle Douglas in Dumfriesshire, which was fascinating.

“But I’ve also found distant cousins and unearthed some stories such as discovering my Irish grandparents’ family were involved in some tragic skirmishes with the local police.”

Much of Jacqueline’s family, bar the Irish branch, is from Northumber- land although she has traced one branch, the Elliots, back to Wooler and Ross with some coming from the Scottish Borders.

Her relations the Straughans (James Elliott and Mary Jane Straughan married at Wooler in 1887 to bring the branches together) came from around Berwick.

Just looking at the dates of some of the family shows some of the terrible tragedies people suffered in the Victorian times.

Jacqueline points out: “Three of Richard and Betty Straughan’s children died within three days in 1852, and two of them on the same day.”

But Jacqueline’s research has also turned up experiences of joy. One photo shows her great-grandmother Margaret Murray. She explains: “She hosted a woman’s institute meeting in her home in 1920 where the ladies had made food parcels then decorated and sold them to their male audience.

“Much hilarity was experienced and a jolly time was had by all,” Jacqueline explains: “Knowing she had a hard life, it was good to see she had enjoyment as well.”

Researching in the archives at Woodhorn, Jacqueline actually met a distant relative. They got chatting and noticed they had a line of ancestors in common.

“So we shared some of our notes,” Jacqueline says. “It’s great when you find these links with different people.”

Jacqueline is researching her family tree for the rest of her family, but also for the great deal of pleasure she gets from it herself.

She adds: “I hope other visitors to Woodhorn get as much joy and fulfillment as I have done and a realisation that we must preserve our present so that or future families can understand their history.”

THE GENEALOGY EXHIBITION

THE Woodhorn our Woodhorn (WoW) Project is the brainchild of artist and conceptual poet Ira Lightman to encourage people in and around Wansbeck to research and investigate genealogy.

Visitors to the museum will be able to see the displayed 500 family tree shirts of people who took part in the WoW Project. They will be hanging alongside a huge family tree shirt that will be at the centre of the exhibition.

There will also be a plasma screen showing the cyber forest.

The WoW Project provides a ready-made genealogy tool kit to people.

Ira says his inspiration for the WoW Project was his own experience of understanding family history and the ructions that can unfold; Ira's father is adopted and the subject matter is approached with due caution when talked about in family circles.

The exhibition is open from 10am until 5pm, Wednesday to Sunday (and bank holidays) until June 8.

The Study Centre is open Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm.