Tracing Family Branches

My husbands Great Aunt Kathleen Murray died on the 22nd of December 1919 off the Sultan Shoals, Malacca Straits on board the ship Ipoh with her cause of death being recorded as dyspnea following a badly ulcerated throat.  Kathleen was only ten years old and had been a border at the Penang Convent along with her three sisters Violet, Molly and Dolly, until she had fallen ill.  Her mother Helen had gone to Penang and was bringing Kathleen to their home in Singapore when tragedy struck.  Kathleen was buried in Singapore on the 23rd of December 1919. Death at Sea record for Kathleen Murray As I have previously posted (see here ) her death was reported in The Straits Times newspaper on the 23rd December 1919, which can be found here .  The Straits Times, 23 December 1919, Page 8 Untitled 'A sad occurrence took place on board the Ipoh on the voyage from Penang to Singapore, Miss Kathleen Murray, the second daughter, age 10, of  Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Murray of Singapore, succumbing to an atta

M y husbands Uncle William Allardyce James Martin (known as Jimmy) died aged five in Barrow in Furness, England on the 1st of March, 1934, while his mother and siblings were visiting relatives of his father there. Jimmy was the eldest child of William Allardyce Martin and his wife Violet nee Murray and had been born at the Maternity Hospital, Penang, Malaya on the 18th February 1929.  His father William was a Prison Warder in the Straits Settlements and Jimmy spent most of his life with his family living in Penang, Malaya. Now, thanks to a recent birthday present from my son, I have Jimmy’s death certificate and we know that Jimmy sadly died of Broncho-Pneumonia and Measles at 70 Thwaite Street, Barrow in Furness, where the family had been staying, with his mother present. Death certificate for William Allardyce James Martin Jimmy Martin Violet Martin nee Murray with her sons from left Jimmy, Alan and Ronald   I have previously posted about Jimmy here , here , here  and  here .

Life has been busy with house renovations, helping with the four grandchildren's home schooling and my husbands health issues of late, which has meant that this blog has been sadly neglected.  I have not been completely idle though, as I have been sorting out my family trees and chasing up DNA matches here and there. Excitingly I was recently contacted by an American distant relative of my husbands Martin line, through him seeing some of my blog posts.  This has resulted in Richard filling in some important missing pieces of the puzzle for me and has helped me to knock down a major brick wall I had with the Martin line.  I am so very grateful that he reached out, as it has led to so many new discoveries for me, which I will share in future posts. If you have read some of my former posts,  here  and here , you will know that this line has taken me on quite the journey over the last twenty seven years!  There was a family story about a connection with Canada which I thought I had unr