Photo albums can be treasure troves for rich family histories full of exciting twists and turns.
Having known very little about the paternal side of her family beyond her grandparents, 59-year-old civil servant Edwina Sleeman was amazed to discover a fascinating tale of poverty and medical achievements when perusing photos of her grandfather in her great-grandmother’s belongings.
Edwina has been avidly updating her family tree for six years, using Ancestry to get to the bottom of several familial mysteries.
One of the enigmas concerned her grandfather Dr John W Cowen, who she’d never had the opportunity to meet, as he’d died before she’d been born.
Edwina, who’s based in Cornwall, had originally thought that her grandfather must have come from a privileged household, having worked in the medical profession.
However, it turned out that he’d actually grown up in very tough conditions.
Her great-grandfather, Thomas Cowen, had been placed in Kirkdale Industrial School in Liverpool at the age of 11, which used to be a workhouse for orphans where they were taught various trades.
As a young man, Thomas’ son and Edwina’s grandfather John had been awarded a scholarship, which had allowed him to train as a doctor despite being of little means.
John’s life came to a premature end in 1954, passing away suddenly at the age of 52.
However, prior to his untimely death, John had achieved incredible feats both before and after the onset of the NHS.
In the early stages of his career, John had worked as Resident Medical Officer at Port Sunlight Hospital in Merseyside, which has since been transformed into the Leverhulme Hotel.
Following his stint at the hospital, John became a partner at a medical practice, which consisted of him carrying out his work as a doctor from his home in Bebington with his family taking on the duties of staff.
John’s medical prowess was pushed to the limit during the Second World War, with two of the doctors that he’d partnered with enlisting in the army and the older doctors being on the verge of retirement.
From August 1940 until January 1942, the city of Liverpool was subjected to an onslaught of bombings from the German armed forces.
During that time, John’s family was evacuated to Mersey by boat.
However, John chose to stay behind so that he could tend to the wounded.
His funeral was a very mournful occasion, with shopkeepers standing outside of their stores as the procession passed them by in order to show respect for their much-beloved doctor.
On the other side of Edwina’s family, there had always been a lot of mystery surrounded an elder half brother of her mother called Harry, who had been in the navy.
Edwina’s maternal grandfather had tried contacting his son throughout the years, with a letter that he received revealing that Harry had a son called Christopher.
However, despite further attempts to contact Harry through the Salvation Army, nothing more was heard from him. That is, until Edwina used Ancestry to trace his family’s whereabouts.
Edwina managed to find Christopher’s address, writing him to explain that they were cousins.
Much to Edwina’s delight, Christopher responded, stating that he’d known very little about his father’s family, including the fact that his father had four sisters, a half sister, two brothers and a half brother.
Edwina now remains in close contact with her cousin Christopher, his wife and his daughter, and has described the events that led to their meeting as “wonderful.”
She's been astounded by the amount of information that she’s been able to gather through Ancestry, which also surprisingly included a marital connection with a member of the Russian royal family.
Delving into her family's past proved a very eye-opening and shocking experience for Edwina.
