Iwas told that my maternal great-grandmother, Annie Newman (b.1871, Coleby, Lincolnshire) was one of seven sisters who grew up in a tiny two-up twodown cottage, in Coleby near Lincoln. My nan, Mabel, was Annie’s only daughter.
In 1985, I started researching my family history, starting with these seven sisters. Pretty early on, with the help of the Lincolnshire Family History Society, I found the marriage of their parents, Robert (b.1821) and Sophia (née Crampton b.1830) Newman in Coleby in 1854. Tragically, their only brother, Charles, born in 1855, died shortly afterwards. But hang on, I counted eight daughters, what happened to the missing sister?
Fast forward to 2009. I was about to attend the graduation ceremony for my MA in History. With days to go, I got a surprise phone-call.…
