William Charles Murrell b1872

Gosh, well where do I start?

I have had the good fortune to be put in contact with two lovely, helpful people who are connected to the Murrell One Name Study. With over 60 years of research between them into the Murrell name and its variants I spoke with a lady in Canada who helped go through my Murrell information and suggested I write to the person who holds all the information on the one name study in the UK. She gave me some information on the tree which might contain my Murrell's, and was proved correct when I received a reply to my letter.

The information which they have come up with has proved to be a bit of a double edged sword. It blows a lot of family stories out of the water, going back over five generations. It would appear the my great great grandfather was probably - well almost definitely not from France as we all thought. Nor were his parents, grandparents, or great grandparents. In fact the tree, as far back as it goes, originates in Ipswich, moves to Stoke Newington, Hackney and Bethnal Green. Maybe there is a French connection somewhere, but it's not, it would appear, where we thought it was. The sad thing is that my great grandmother and her family would have moved within a few miles of where her father lived, just a few years after he died. Family stories had him running off to Spain when my great great grandmother and him parted, and I guess my great grandmother would have never even thought to look for him. On the upside I have also been put in contact with someone who is a descendant from the same Murrell tree :o) - how exciting is that?!?! I am looking forward to hearing all about the Murrells.

I'm also hoping to investigate Mr William Charles Murrell and find out why he moved from London to Sunderland in the late 1800's. Over 60 years of experience with the contacts I have met pointing me in the direction of the Ipswich tree cannot be ignored, but I feel I need to find out more, the how's and why's - to tread William's footsteps from London, to Sunderland and back again - all be it that I'll probably be using the internet to tread most of them ;o)