A reader shares their discoveries
Family folklore can resonate through the generations, and Jennie Long, a genealogist from Stoke Newington in Hackney, North-East London, has a striking example. She vividly remembers being told an emotive story by her dad Eddie when she was growing up.
“We used to cross Tower Bridge in the car to visit my gran, who lived in Bellingham, Lewisham, South-East London,” Jennie explains. “One day as we did so, Dad told me that one of his uncles drowned in the Thames and that his father had warned him to avoid the river.
“The tale of the lost uncle was in the back of my mind when I began researching Dad’s tree in 2008. I traced the Long family through my paternal grandfather Harry, who was born in Bethnal Green in 1902.
A MYSTERIOUS DEATH
“His parents were Albert and Hannah Long, who had 10
