Genes Reunited Blog
Welcome to the new Genes Reunited blog!
- We regularly add blogs covering a variety of topics. You can add your own comments at the bottom.
- The Genes Reunited Team will be writing blogs and keeping you up to date with changes happening on the site.
- In the future we hope to have guest bloggers that will be able to give you tips and advice as to how to trace your family history.
- The blogs will have various privacy settings, so that you can choose who you share your blog with.
Official Blogs
The British Newspaper Archive
Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?
Who Do You Think You Are? Gregg Wallace - Series 9 Episode 2
If you missed the second episode of Who Do You Think You Are, you missed an emotional one. Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace sets out to discover more about who his ancestors were. The story started off in Plymouth where he hopes to find clues to solve a long standing family mystery about the whereabouts of his great grandfather Henry Springett, who allegedly abandoned his family. After talking with his mother, it comes as a nice surprise to Gregg that Henry was a greengrocer by trade just like him.
But the story didn't end on a high, as Gregg sadly found out. He learns that Henry's daughter's nightdress caught fire from a lamp and she died from her injuries. We found details of this in the British Newspaper Archive on the site.
It was a very sad moment and the tears were flowing.
Just as things looked like they couldn't get any worse, it was also revealed that when his great grandfather Henry was away on duty in the Navy, his wife cheated on him and gave birth to twins, one of whom later died.
Gregg did learn that Henry found love again and went on to have two children, settling down in Northern Ireland. However, there was more heartbreak to follow when in another tragic twist Henry witnessed his wife being knocked down and killed by a car.
The episode was filled with heartbreak and tragedy, but it was a very good watch. You can catch up on episode two here.
Who Do You Think You Are? and researching your own family tree can often have happy endings, but you have to expect to find some sad and tragic stories along the way too, just as Gregg did.