The David Blake

A couple of years ago, I started to search for my ancestors and it took my Mum and me on an amazing trip through the UK & Europe in 2004...

We never really had a lot of information about where we had come from. Mum's side was a direct link to Aberdeen Scotland through her parents Annie and Davey, and Dad's side was a bit of a mystery. Annie and Davey came out to Australia in the 20's and lost all contact with family back home in Scotland. It had been a fairly small family and as far as we knew there was no-one left in the old country. Little were we to know that there were Uncles and Aunties and Cousins galore, wanting to get in touch!

The internet is an amazing thing! With the mass of records kept by the Mormans over the years, it didn't take long before I had several generations back to Somerset in the UK through my Father's heritage. A fluke guess on the Births Deaths and Marriages site, found my Great Great grandparents and from there the world opened up! Mum's side of the family had done some paid searches through a lady in England and then the was the story of how her Dad had arrived in Australia...

In the 1920's, David Currie was a fisherman and took the opportunity to come across to Australia, on the first ever fishing trawler to cross the Atlantic. His wife followed later. The trawler was The David Blake! Mum always knew there was a copy of the ships log in the state archives but we'd never got around to getting a copy.

I mentioned The David Blake a couple of times on the genealogy boards and one day, out of the blue, I received an email from a man in Scoltland who questioned whether we were related to David Currie, a crewman on the trawler that left the port of Torry, Aberdeen on the 20th December 1920. Small World!

The link was established! Stuart had been researching the history of The David Blake for several years and was in touch with someone who knew of my Grandfather's brother who was still alive and kicking in Scotland. My Grandfather had died before I was born but I had heard tales of his adventures on the ice being chased by Polar Bears!

Then Stuart finds my Grandmother's sister - also still alive. Living in Aberdeen with her family, my Mum's cousins, and they want to get in touch!! How wonderful, we now have all of this family, we never knew existed.

Many emails and letters later, we have plans, my Mum and me! We're going to finally take the plunge and head off on a trip to Scotland. And while where there, maybe visit Italy...

To be continued.