Dead man walking?

My grandad Archie never spoke to me about his family. It was his death, only six months after that of one of my grandmothers, that first sparked my curiosity about where I came from. After all, his surname is my middle name.

Archie was born in 1920 in central Glasgow, in a tenement. Nearly 40 years later members of the extended family were still in the same tenement when my mother visited Scotland as a child.

Archie had an elder half brother, Robert, and two younger half brothers who had the same father, John and Joseph. Sadly, we don't know who Archie's father was.

Among his effects was a scrap of paper bearing the the address in Rutherglen of 'Mr and Mrs Miller'. Apparently, grandad had once told my grandma that this referred to his uncle. We knew absolutely nothing more.

Research I undertook several years ago revealed that Archie's mother, Jeanie, was herself illegitimate, born in 1895 to widow Helen Scossa (born Helen Miller). Helen died in 1939 and so my grandad Archie would have known and lived with her until he left Scotland to fight in WW2.

Scossa is a very unusual surname (certainly not Scottish!) and so it was straightforward to find Helen's wedding to Arnold Scossa on New Year's Eve 1884. The location - Plymouth - was somewhat of a surprise, given that Helen's family didn't seem to have ventured outside of the Glasgow area for decades! Arnold was a waiter and so perhaps Helen was also involved in hospitality.

Helen was six months pregnant and the child was born back in Scotland at the end of March 1885. His name was Archimede Scossa - who was known as Archie Miller (and after whom my grandad Archie was named), the 'Mr A Miller' on the paper among my grandad's belongings.

In April 1895 Helen had a daughter - my great grandmother, Jeanie - whose father was John McCaul. Jeanie's birth certificate records that her mother was the widow of Arnold Scossa who died in New South Wales in 1886.

I've just discovered that Arnold Scossa emigrated as an unassisted emigrant from Plymouth - describing himself as British and single - on 21 August 1885, arriving in Sydney on 5 October. And then an Arnold Scossa died in South Balmain district, New South Wales in 1905.

So, it seems that Helen was not widowed until 1905.

As with all genealogical answers, it throws up more questions! Why did Arnold leave England when his son was just 6 months old? Why did he describe himself as single? What sort of life did Arnold make for himself in Australia? And did my grandad's uncle know any of this - or did he believe that his father had died in 1886?

Jarvis reunion

On 15th August, over 100 people gathered in Corpusty, Norfolk at a family reunion of the Jarvis family. This year marks the 175th anniversary of the birth of James William Jarvis, who had ten children and was my great x 3 grandfather.

James died in 1912, and my grandfather's cousin Kath told me she remembered him. Not bad - a first hand memory of someone born in the reign on George IV.

I wasn't able to get to Norfolk for the Jarvis reunion, so I printed out a descendant family tree including all the people I have in my database who share James William as an ancestor. The tree covered 37 A3 sheets!

I hear that the reunion - or 'frolick' as such events are called in Norfolk - went very well and that several people brought photos and documents to share. I look forward to seeing those and adding more flesh to the bones of the Jarvis tree.

Parson Woodforde Society Committee

I am delighted to be co-opted on to the Committee of The Parson Woodforde Society.

I joined the Society as a Life Member when I was 18, having already had one research feature published in the quarterly Journal, its members' newsletter. A second feature followed...and then I never got round to writing more. However, on my mind's 'to do' list are at least two features that now I am to take some responsibility within the Society, I really should commit to paper.

First, I'd like to write a follow up to the article I wrote about my own direct ancestors whom James Woodforde knew and wrote about in his diaries - John Bates the carpenter and Mary Dunnell and her sons Harry, Thomas and Barnard.

The aim would be to correct some mistakes from previous features and shed new light on some Woodfordean characters.

Then, I wish to turn my attention to the entwined relationsips of several Weston families, including Andrews and Engledow. I have yet to establish that I am directly descended from the Andrews family, but I've discovered that my great x6 grandmother - Woodforde's 'Mrs Dunnell' - was born Mary Engledow and that her sister Bridget was stepmother of Stephen Andrews 'the Elder', one of Woodforde's closest neighbours and a key diary figure.

So - time to get writing!