I am Paula, a member of RQG with a particular interest in researching people from the island of Ireland and those who went to sea. After retiring early from teaching, I obtained an undergraduate Diploma in Genealogy from Cork University and an Msc in Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies from Strathclyde.

Let me explain how my interests developed.

My mum was born in Liverpool but orphaned at ten months of age and brought up by her mother’s unmarried sister in Dublin. My great-aunt Bridget Mary O’DONOGHUE, born in Tralee in 1881, was a very strong-minded woman and an important figure throughout my childhood. When my mum married and moved to England, she regularly travelled back to Dublin to see her aunt. I was usually taken along and always loved being in Dublin.

I remember Mum and I searching through dusty volumes of indexes trying to find references for her maternal grandmother’s family. Mum told me the De QUINCEY line was French and we were related to Thomas De Quincey, who wrote Confessions of an Opium Eater. I wasn’t sure I believed her, and we didn’t find any evidence one way or the other at that time. I think she would be happy with what I have discovered since, but like many family stories there are elements of truth and traces of embellishment.

Mum didn’t know much about her dad; her aunt did not keep contact with his side of the family. As far as I know when Mum died in 1993, twelve years after her aunt, she knew no more about her dad than his name and that he was a sailor who drowned before she was born. At least if she did know she didn’t let on.

Finding my Grandfather

In 2008, by complete chance, I found the CWGC website and my grandfather. John Reid, my mother’s father, was a merchant seaman who died when the SS Dwinsk was torpedoed in June 1918. I discovered that the crew list for that final voyage of the Dwinsk was held at the National Archives in Kew and my interest in family history was re-ignited. Tracing my grandfather’s time at sea was challenging but enjoyable. I was hooked. I will always remember the excitement of lifting the crew list from the box and searching the pages and columns until I found his entry. To gently handle the page he had signed ninety years before was a very emotional experience.

A first cousin on my paternal side did a wonderful job uncovering much of our shared tree back in the late sixties before online genealogy existed. Although I have helped take it back a little further, my Irish ancestry was more challenging so took more of my time. That said a paternal great-great grandfather was a mariner so my English ancestors will undoubtedly appear in my blog at some stage.

Starting this blog, in the middle of a pandemic, was my way to record research already completed and take it a little further. By revisiting work from several years ago I found new information and hopefully improved my skills. Since then I have completed my Masters at Strathclyde.

I intend to return to the blog and am researching details for new posts.

If you are choosing to read this, thank you, and I hope you enjoy my posts.