Whilst searching the online records I’d quizzed my Mum’s older sister and also written to my Mum’s cousins in Canada and her only remaining cousin in Essex. These were all whose addresses my Gran possessed, to try and get any information that they may have been passed by their parents. Being the youngest grandchild of almost the youngest child was not an advantage as all the older generation had passed away before I hit my teens.

I was also posting on various genealogy forums hoping to try and track down where he was born and anything else I could find out about him and his family.

From these posts another lovely researcher from Canada contacted me, she was also searching for a German ancestor with the same surname and the same occupation as my Great Grandad. Her ancestor had come over to London about the same time as mine and lived in the Walthamstow, East London area. This made me expand my research to cover all those with the same (unusual) surname who were born in Germany and living in East London. Many of those who emigrated from Germany to London had specific occupations whether it be as a Baker or even a Hairdresser and they set up in the same trade once they’d settled in London, this fact did help my research I must admit.

We still weren’t sure where my Great Granddad was from but some of these other emigrees stated they were from Hanover – finally a clue!

In the meantime, my possibly newfound relative in Canada had made contact with the descendants of Mum’s cousins and arranged a meet up, bringing along lots of photos of their parents and grandparents. They all decided that we were very definitely all related as the photos of our grandparents and great grandparents were sooo similar- there was a specific ‘family face shape’ which was repeated throughout the generations.