May 15, 2020 | Family Matters
For a long time, I would be told that I was just like my father. I certainly look like Dad, but the comparisons between us went deeper than that. We both loved music and to explore the world and there were odd coincidences along the way, like Dad leaving Stockton as a...
May 7, 2020 | Family Matters
As far as I can ascertain, the Coates family lived in Yorkshire for more than 200 years. That changed somewhat in the early 19th century.“ Robert Coates, my fourth great-grandfather, was born in 1781 and baptised in St Cuthbert’s Church, in the Peasholme...
May 4, 2020 | Family Matters
Run a Google search for the meaning of my surname and you’ll see this: “English: status name for a cottager, or a topographic name for someone who lived in a relatively humble dwelling (from Middle English cotes, plural (or genitive) of cote, cott), or a...
May 4, 2020 | Family Matters
Who do you think you are? As a question, it can have negative connotations and is usually asked of those considered “bolshie” or with plenty to say for themselves… which might explain why I seem to have heard it rather a lot. But it can also be a...
