Lest I Forget

A Memory of Elham.

LEST I FORGET!
How it was for my 1st, 2nd and 3 x great-grandparent who lived and worked and died in Elham,Kent, and my dear sweet great-grandfather who was born in the Elham Union workhouse and in 1913 moved his family to New Zealand after his parents died.
Lest I forget... how hard it was for them... his mother was sent to Chatham madhouse years prior and died in 1901 ...aged 81.
Lest I forget... the hardship and the torment of not knowing what the next day will bring...what food to eat, what clothing to wear, what bombs will do.
Lest I forget... how it was for them.... and how I found them in my search for family, not knowing why I didn't have knowledge of my grandparents' family on my mother's side. I left NZ and moved to Australia aged 16 and at 55 started my genealogy...my family tree... It has broken my heart many times...over and over as I plod through so many things...piecing things together, trying to remember if I had met any one of my relations....then my mother sent me some photos, as I had asked her many times who is the old man in my dreams that has blue eyes and earrings and is always smiling... he was the man in the photo, with me sitting on his lap, I was 3 years old...he passed away in 1959 and my life changed forever...for as young as I was and as old as I will be, I will never forget...
my West family from Elham, Kent.
LEST I FORGET!