# Getting information for a biography



## Sonata (Jul 7, 2016)

For some years I have been writing a biography,  Not for publication but so that my children, grandchildren, and those of my family,  might know from where they came.  I remember a lot of things that my maternal grandmother occasionally said, but lost all contact with those who were still around.  There is one, who might know a bit, at least he might be able to put me in contact with others.  His mother and my paternal grandmother were either full sisters or half sisters, and although I know the name of another one, she was always known by her maiden name.  I telephoned him and left a message with his secretary but he never bothered to call back.  I think there was a bit of political snobbery there.  Others?  Mother's mother was the 13th child in her family and I have no way of tracing them because they were always known by xxxx then their maiden name.  Not all the same surname although I am still trying to trace who and how and why.

Regarding my maternal grandfather - Mother's mother died when Mother was only 19 and there is no way of tracing her.  And there is nobody whoever knew where her father was from.

I think I have come to a full stop and I do not want to give up - not after years of trying to not only to pass on family information to my own family, but to find out for myself.


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## Sonata (Jul 8, 2016)

I just needed some advice to help me - it is not for publication but more a question of where do I go now?  Not just for my children and grandchildren but for me?  Where did we come from and how can I find out - those lost in the Holocaust will never be known, but there are some who left at the end of the 21st century - someone must know?  

This one - cousin of my cousin - maybe even before then.  He must know who his mother was, who her sister was, and yet when I telephoned his secretary said he would call back.  But he did not and yet I can read about him on Wikipedia.  And his mother, who was my Mother's cousin, is also on Wiki as she was an appointed a life peer in January 1967.

I just need to know more details of my family.  And her son is probably the only one who might be able to help me.


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## Sleepwriter (Jul 8, 2016)

there is a company that has a website where you can research and post your ancestry.  My daughter has used it and has been able to go back 6 generations on one side, but has hit dead ends after 4 on others.  There are some churches and organizations that will help you with genealogical research. I'm sure for a fee.


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## Sonata (Jul 8, 2016)

Most things will never be traced as they were lost in the Holocaust.  We do not even know from where they came.

But I remember names of Mother's maternal aunts and uncles - I am probably the only one who did,  I somehow found most of them when my father died, but I do not know how.  It is not a matter of cost -  I just want to know.

Whether Nicholas, who would never know me, would or could, I do not know.  His mother would have remembered me but she died in October 2002.  She was  made a Life Peerage in 1967

I can get so far with background and then everything just goes, and and no doubt most of them are dead now.


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