I became very interested in family history some years ago when I discovered that my 4th Great Uncle Thomas Midgley and his family became Mormons and emigrated to Utah in the 1850s. But on the Mormon trek his wife Ellen "Died 4 Sep 1855, crossing the Platte River, Wyoming". Despite various romantic notions, it seems she died after catching cholera from those she was nursing. The Midgleys particularly those from Almondbury are detailed elsewhere on the web (eg. FamilySearch Family Tree) as well as my page here.

On my father's side, my ancestors lived around Huddersfield but my mother came from Stoke-on-Trent I have some photographs of some of them.

I have compiled details and an index of my ancestors and relatives, and descendant summaries and trees for the following ancestors (excluding those born less than 100 years ago). Some branches are not as well sourced as my One Name Study, particularly the Midgleys - contact me if you have questions. The following are my "tree tops" from West Yorkshire:

• William Armitage and family of Almondbury Summary Tree
• George Blackburn and family of Cleckheaton Summary Tree
• William Clapham and family of Birstall and Cleckheaton Summary Tree
• William Harpin and family of Almondbury Summary Tree
• William Hetherington and family of Leeds and Ossett Summary Tree
• Jonathan Midgley and family of Almondbury Summary Tree
• James Mitchell and the Micklethwaite family of Huddersfield Summary Tree
• Stewart Newsome and family of Kirkheaton Summary Tree
• John Senior and family of Thornhill and Ossett Summary Tree
• John Whitfield and family of Kirkheaton and Lepton Summary Tree

and from Staffordshire and Shropshire:

• George Bebbington and family of Barthomley and Kidsgrove Summary Tree
• John Caton and family of Goldenhill, Tunstall Summary Tree
• Joseph Dixon and the Chambers family of Hartlebury, Stewponey and Biddulph Summary Tree
• Thomas Jenks and family of Kinver, Stewponey and Biddulph Summary Tree
• William Malpass and family of Stoke Summary Tree
• William Mills and the Duckhouse family of Cannock Summary Tree
• Ralph Nodin and the Lowe family of Barthomley and Biddulph Summary Tree
• Job Oliver and family of Hanley Summary Tree
• Thomas Pankhurst and family of Wybunbury Summary Tree
• John Perry and family of Shifnal and Hanley Summary Tree
• William Pointon and family of Hanley Summary Tree
• John Shaw and family of Church Aston Summary Tree
• John Stubbs and family of Audley, Dublin and Hanley Summary Tree
• John Turner and family of Gnosall Summary Tree

I am of course also very interested in all the Micklethwait(e)s (and other variants of the surname) who seem to have originated in SW Yorkshire, and have collected a lot of information on them over the years, which now forms a One Name Study. I've had my DNA tested to try and help find my ancestors - see my DNA page.

I must acknowledge the help and guidance of many, especially those on the Rootsweb lists and everyone in the Crich WEA FH group, but particularly Bev Stubbs and Ann Simcock for their hard work on the Catons, and my 7th cousin Roland Haigh from Melksham, and Pat Smith from Mirfield - they taught me a lot.

These old sites are no longer updated: my father's branch from Huddersfield, my mother came from Stoke-on-Trent, my wife's family came from Warwickshire, Notts/Derby and Rochdale.

When I was trying to understand relationships, I wrote a cousin calculator - it's available here

I would like to dedicate this site to our ancestors, in particular my mother, who would have loved to know more about the families but didn't have the resources and technology (censuses, Internet, DNA, etc) that we have today.

I started a blog a few years ago but health issues mean I don't update it much now - please visit!