Three generations

Today's family gathering included the grandchildren, greatgrandchildren (A and W), and great great grandchildren of Jacob Storer and Janet Higginbottom (gravestone added as an extra, even though it was taken yesterday).

K (W's mother) (here on the left) is one of eight, and they are all still alive, and four of them were there today. From K's sister, L, I learned that the Storer marriage was not a happy one at all (it seems that Jacob was violent and quite a wastrel), and that Janet experienced what sounds very much like early onset dementia, and spent the last 15 years of her life in a state hospital. It's a wonder they ended up in the same grave. The story has parallels to the story of her eldest daughter (Mr A's grandmother), which we discovered in 2011 at the beginning of this family history journey.

This all sounds a bit sad, but the day wasn't sad at all. It was great for Mr A to meet so many of his Australian cousins, as until 2011 he didn't know they existed at all. We've loved meeting W's children - the youngest is seen here. She has modelling ambitions. It doesn't seem unreasonable ;-)