I became very interested in family history a couple of years ago when I discovered that my 4th Great Uncle Thomas Midgley and his family became Mormons and emigrated between 1850 and 1855. But on the Mormon trek his wife Ellen "Died 4 Sep 1855, crossing the Platte River, Wyoming". Despite the romantic notions, it seems she died after catching cholera from those she was nursing. The Midgleys particularly those from Almondbury are detailed elsewhere on the web as well as my page here.

I am of course also very interested in the Micklethwaites of SW Yorkshire, and have collected a lot of information on them over the years. I've had my DNA tested to try and help find my ancestors - see my DNA page. The Catons of Goldenhill, Staffs have also had some attention.

I must acknowledge the help and guidance of many, especially those on the Rootsweb lists and everyone in the Crich WEA FH group, but particularly my 7th cousin Roland Haigh from Melksham, and Pat Smith from Mirfield - both of them taught me a lot.

On my father's side, my ancestors lived around Huddersfield but my mother came from Stoke-on-Trent. I have some photographs of some of them. I'm also including my wife's family who came from Warwickshire, Notts/Derby and Rochdale.

When I was trying to understand relationships, I wrote a cousin calculator - it's available here

I would like to dedicate this site to our ancestors, in particular my mother, who would have loved to know more about the families but didn't have the resources and technology (censuses, Internet, DNA, etc) that we have today.

NEW - I've started a blog - please visit!