Twice in the past month I have been chatting with long term friends and got onto the subject of family trees (I tend to wait for it to emerge in conversation organically rather than being all evangelical about it!).
On the first occasion I offered to show my friend Mrs J the online sources I use. One thing led to another and within 40 minutes she was hooked - and we were back to the 1851 census...and a BMD marriage reference including a Bates from Norfolk. There was a pregnant pause as we looked at the screen and considered the ramifications - could we be related?
A little extrea research showed that while my Bates family come from near Norwich (and were probably called Betts before the 1730s), Mrs J's Bates family were from far west Norfolk. So if there is a link, it is way, way back.
Then yesterday I had a vino catch up with Mrs L, a Scottish friend. Talking about her mother's upcoming 70th birthday party she went on to mention her Glasgow grandfather, Tom - Tom Daly.
"Er...any relation to Fred Daly?", I asked.
Fred was my grandad's stepfather, father of uncles Joe & John who both still live in sunny Scotland.
Daly is a relatively common Irish Catholic surname in Glasgow, linked with the shipyards. But could there be a link that makes us not just friends, but family?
