And it is often the moment at which we realise how much they were the key to our family roots.

Judith Sowerby felt compelled to look into her ancestry after losing both her parents to illness within two and a half years.

Mail reporter, EMMA GREENHALGH, spoke to her.



JUDITH Sowerby can usually be found in a library.

It's where she spends much of her spare time finding out about her ancestry.

She will scour old papers for information, looking for snippets. She will check Census records as well as the births, deaths and marriages registers.

She has become such a dab-hand at compiling in-depth information that she has even set up her own website.

The site called Judith & Tommy's Kith & Kin displays details of the family tree of both Judith and her husband Tommy.

The 52-year-old works as a merchandiser for supermarkets.

She said: "I lost both of my parents within two and half years of each other. I wanted to know about my roots."

Judith's father, James Dick, died in 2001 and her mother, Dorothy Dick, nee Maughan, died in August 2004. Both were aged 72.

To find out more about her roots, she first contacted Genes Reunited, a website similar to Friends Reunited but for people looking up their family tree.

She was inspired by people doing the same thing.

"I got in touch with marvellous people who helped me on there, and I met some relations I never knew I had," she said.

Judith met up with distant cousin Margaret Robertson and was delighted that Margaret's mother could remember her grandmother, Margaret Anne Elizabeth Charlton, who married James Jones.

She said: "Meeting her was fabulous. So many pieces fell into place and her mother could remember my grandmother."

Judith, originally from Sunderland, moved to Castleton Road, in Seaton Carew, when she was 12, because her father worked in the amusement sector.

The mother of three said she was most enthralled by the background of her great great great grandmother, Lydia Lonstaff Jones, who died in 1903.

The former Owton Manor Secondary School pupil said: "If I could speak to anyone it would be Lydia Longstaff, who was born in 1848 in Barnard Castle, because I would like to know what it was like to live in those times and bring children up."

Now living in Telford Close, on Hartlepool's Headland, with husband Tommy, 55, Judith finds that researching her family tree has become almost addictive.

She said: "I could be there until 4am. I got so into it. It was an obsession.

"You think I want to know that and you want to go a bit further and further."

Judith, whose maiden name was Dick, also discovered her great grandfather James William Dick, born around the late 1860s, was from North Shields.

He came to Hartlepool where he met his wife Eliza Farnaby and set up a butcher's shop which she believes was in Warren Street, Hartlepool.

She also discovered that Eliza Faraby's mother, Mary Brown, born around 1840 in West Yorkshire, married Jessie Farnaby, a tailor born in 1834.

Together, they moved to Hartlepool from Sheriff Hutton and had eight children. Judith believes their ancestors remain in the town.
She said: "There was quite a few so I'm sure there must be ancestors out there."

Judith also researched her 81-year-old uncle, Richard Maughan's, family tree and discovered that his great grandfather was James Parker Charlton, who became a tramp.

Judith said: "He left his family and was a tramp for years and years in Sunderland.

"He used to dart about the country and sometimes when he came back to Sunderland the town people would say 'I saw Parker today'. But there's no record of his death."

Judith, who has three grandchildren, Brooke Sowerby, seven, Jordan Stabler, 14, and Brogan Stabler, nine, heard about the Headland Development Trust Footprints service and immediately volunteered.

Footprints meet every Friday between 12pm and 2pm and research family trees for people from all over the country purely for their own enjoyment, presenting their findings in a photo frame for the clients.

She explained that it costs £20 for a single ancestry, covering one side of the family, and £32 for a double ancestry.

People can also pay extra amounts to purchase copies of documents such as birth and death certificates.

To find out about becoming a volunteer or having your own family tree researched people can go to the trust's premises at 21 Northgate, on Hartlepool's Headland, or phone Jackie or Pauline on (01429) 420302.