How intriguing it can be to learn mere partial details of a story as opposed to knowing its entirety, often leading to much speculation, wonderings and daydreamings upon the subject.

Not content with researching my own humble family tree, i have also been delving into my wife's origins which has led me to the mid-19th century and the charming Joseph and Jessie, a London born couple who set out on foot for a new life up in Hull, a journey of over two hundred miles.

There they remained and raised a large family and hopefully lived happy ever after but i do wonder why they trudged halfway across the country together in an age when many folk lived out their days within a thirty mile radius of their birthplace.

And what was the attraction, with all due respect to the worthy citizens of that area, of Hull?

Were they escaping a miserable past in the capital or had they been left a little property by the passing of some obscure relative and decided to make a go of it up north?

It all seems very romantic when viewed from such a distance of time, a brave young Victorian couple bidding farewell to the life they had always known and venturing hand-in-hand into the unkown future...just the two of them in a cold, hard, unforgiving world.

More romantic still when i reflect that without them, my wife would never have been born and so, although i know so little about Joseph and his beloved Jessie, i owe them a great debt of gratitude and am happy to raise a glass in their honour.