This is a family blog about my search for my family, one at a time. Beginning with one cousin on my father’s side, I now have many more and finding them is such a pleasure. I thought I had no family on my mother’s side. How wrong was I!
Via ancestry I filled in my details on my family tree, and soon found someone also searching for my mother. How amazed I was to find her family were looking for me! One of my main aims had been to find a photograph of my maternal grandmother. Here she is!
May Annie Doris Cockett known as Queenie
There are many posts on here about my search, here is one of them:
Adoption and Naming – Detective Work
By this time I was hooked on filling in my family tree. I have found many new cousins and family members. We have shared photographs, documents and memories.
My father’s family has also been very interesting to learn about, here is my great grandfather:
George Dinnis
One of my favourite posts about my 2x grandfather, John Dinnis tells of his occupation as a cook and Publican in Brighton. I live in Brighton and these places are still here.
http://jackiedinnis.com/2013/11/16/visiting-the-old-ship-hotel-in-brighton/
This blog helps me to keep some order in my chaos, to store my photographs and record information. It has taken off in several directions, you will find a lot of writing about Brighton, Brighton & Hove Albion and World War II. Here are some of my favourite posts:
Gordon Charles Dinnis – The Journey to War
Meeting my family 
I started my family tree project in 1995; I’m not sure if blogs even existed then – I certainly hadn’t heard of them and it was late 1990s before I had a website of any sort. But looking back at the way I wrote up the project in my ringbinder it would have been well suited to a blog.
However, despite blogging on WordPress for a year it had not occurred to me to combine that with the family tree until I read about you on Paula Acton’s sitte the other day.
Thank you for your comment Rosalie, I find blogging such a good way of making things clearer to myself! I find the family one by one, a little at a time, and writing it down in small chunks helps me to sort through who is who! I also like using the blog to try and practice writing, which is another hobby of mine.
Lovely blog – and particularly your blog pic at the top of the page! As you say, a blog is a great way of processing researches. I’m finding my way around my family at the moment too which I’m finding unexpectedly fascinating and (almost too) absorbing.
I have a family history blog too but at the moment it is set to “private” because it is so messy and confused that even I have trouble following it!!!!. It’s hard work sorting out all the photos and various pieces of information.
I think the whole family history thing is very confusing but as long as you’re enjoying it I don’t see a problem You might find http://www.theorganizedgenealogist.net/ helpful!
Oh thank you for the link 🙂
Jackie, I’ve now put in a reciprocal link from my cafedharma blog to your wish park page. Also mentioned your blog to my local councillor friend Chris Hawtree who was involved in the Wish Hills opening.
Thank you Anne 🙂 I love your blog, and you must have fun researching for it 🙂 I’m working on more Brighton and Hove Park histories – Hove Lagoon is next up in the series!
Hello
I recently moved my family down to Brighton from North Wales, and set up an office overlooking the Old Steine. I love it there and have been searching for good photos of the area to use for my website, and stumbled across your blog. I wondered whether you ever give permission for others to use your photos? They are really good.
All the best
Dave
Hello Dave, great to hear from you and I’m glad you and your family are enjoying life in Brighton. You are welcome to use any of my photographs, if you can mention a link back to my blog that would be nice. Not all the photos on the blog are mine, I try to always indicate where I got them from so hopefully it should be obvious which are not my photos. All the best, Jackie
This is so awesome! My sister’s and I are so excited about finding you (our 3rd cousin). We cannot wait to learn more about our ancestors and share the info that we have. This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship😄. Much love from your American family.💜
Hello Jackie. My name is David Muggleton and I am writing a book about the history of Brighton Pubs. I was fascinated by the history of your ancestors at the Packet Inn and the Queens Head. I was wondering if I could draw on some of that information and even use a photograph. Obviously I would give you credit. My email is thequaffer@yahoo.co.uk.
This explains it very well. It must be so exciting to finally find your family.
Hi Cathy, yes it has been a very exciting journey! And the blog definitely helps people find me, and helps me find things I’ve already written!
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What an interesting thing to blog about: being reunited with your family members! Your story is so engaging.
Thank you so much for your kind comment 🙂
I enjoyed your ‘About’ page very much – it’s warm and inviting, and the photographs are lovely. So nice to put a face to your name! I’m too shy to do that yet, but it really does add to the overall feel of your site. Happy blogging!
Thank you for your comment, I hadn’t realised I had introduced a picture of myself! It was taken at the latest reunion this year. Thank you for saying it adds to the feel of my site, that is very kind of you.
Wow. That is such a romantic true story. I admire your quest and I am so glad for your successes’