May 28th 2010

When I was starting to box up our memorabilia at the start of the year, I found a photograph of Liverpool’s first horse drawn taxi. I had a feeling that it had belonged to my dear friend Cynthia, who was killed in a riding accident some ten years ago. As all her family had died over the space of a few years I ended up with some of her personal belongings and when I found the single print, I felt sure it had been hers. Today, as I was going through more boxes, I found a partially completed book that contained some information on Cynthia’s family tree and several sepia photographs of her great grandparents and her great great grandfather too. Her great great grandfather was named John Ansonia and he lived in Liverpool with his son Joseph Conradi Ansonia and his wife. After searching the internet I have discovered information on Ansonia and Co who ran the first bus service in Liverpool at the time that Cynthia’s family were living there and I’m convinced that they have to be the same family. This would also explain the picture of the horse drawn taxi, so I need to go to the storage company and retrieve it.

I also have some pictures of the Neen, Harrison and Worrall families related to Cynthia. I feel it is right and appropriate that these pictures are handed on to existing family members and I have joined an ancestry website in the hope of locating some distant relatives. It’s going to become a new obsession. I have searched the forums and have come across an old post from someone who mentions one of the ladies on the Neen side whose photographic portrait is in Cynthia’s book. I have messaged him and hope that he gets in touch although looking at the history on the forum, he started the thread several years ago and hasn’t logged on for months.

I have also just joined an Italian genealogy website as I have found a link to the name Ansonia on this site. The lady who has posted a message is also looking for information on a John Ansonia who was in Liverpool at the same time as Cynthia’s great great grandfather. Her relative came from Genoa, as did Cynthia’s so perhaps they are the same person. I shall have to be patient as this lady has not been an active member of the forums for some while either as far as I can make out and I really hope that she gets my message through the website as I cannot find any other way of getting in contact with her.

It has now gone midnight and I must stop otherwise I will be trawling the internet until the morning. I can totally see why researching a family tree can be addictive. I am hooked and it isn’t even mine!

This entry was posted on 17. June 2010 at 21:47 and is filed under Sarah Fisher. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.