The past lies in documents, photos, places and memories. When my Dad first fell ill towards the end of his life, he took me on the first few steps of my journey telling me stories and visiting places associated with my family. During this period, my attention was caught by a news item on breakfast television announcing the release of the 1911 census. I paid a fee and downloaded the page for my grandfather’s family simply because I thought Dad would love to see it.

I was hooked.

The details on one page brought up a myriad of questions and I soon became a time detective spending hours researching my family.

One of the first questions you get asked when you tell others that you are exploring your family history is about how far you have managed to go back with research. I quickly discovered that I was not satisfied with lists of dates, names and places but that I wanted to know more about the lives my ancestors had led – to walk in their steps and follow their storylines in space and time.

 I have found my family to be extraordinary. But I suspect this is true of everybody’s family if we dig deep enough and explore the territory in detail. I have discovered tragedy, poverty, heroism, deprivation, rags to riches, crime, illegitimacy, bigamy, suicide, adventure and entrepreneurship. The list goes on.

My Mum grew up in Brierley Hill and my Dad in Wednesfield, both Black Country communities in the United Kingdom. The birth place of the Industrial Revolution, the Black Country was shaped by the exploitation of resources and explosion of industry. The earth was mined with a fury, the furnaces glowed red and the sky turned black. It was a time of upheaval, massive social change, invention, innovation and wealth creation.

I have been researching on and off for around 15 years and now there are over 13,000 people on my extended family tree. All of these people had lives – a story – and I hope you enjoy reading some of their stories as much as I loved discovering them.