My mother, born Elsie Logan, was one of six chdren so we have a lot of Logan cousins who we have kept in touch with since we were small, but my mother's father was also one of six.
His brother, my Great Uncle Archie, sailed for Canada in 1909 leaving behind a wife and two children but taking with him his pregnant ladyfriend Edith. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that she took him having sold her Lambeth sweet shop to pay for the ticket.
Archie and Edith's new family knew nothing of their London life and Archie's son Harry never found out where his father went. It took over a hundred years, some tenacious research and a contact by Rebecca through Ancestry DBA for the truth to emerge.
Archie's wife Charlotte had eventually married again, her first husband presumed dead but Archie never married Edith although their children believed they had.
In a time when divorce for ordinary people was nearly impossible many unhappy marriages ended in emigration with confused children left to try and piece together their fragmented memories.
This renewed Logan connection is too late for anyone who knew the story. But I have a new cousin who is as easy to talk as the rest of the family and despite being the same age as me, brought back faint memories of my aunties.
And she lives in Thunder Bay.
