Scrutinising the evidence
When I was born my paternal grandparents lived with us. So I knew from a young age that Nan’s surname had been Scrivener and that her father, John, was often referred to as a steeplejack, though a ‘Roofer’ or ‘Slater’ would probably have been a more accurate job description.
It was not until I retired in 2008 that I found the time to join Ancestry and begin to make serious efforts to build an accurate family tree. When I came to the Scrivener family I knew that they had their roots in Luton, Bedfordshire, and I quickly realised that there were many branches of the Scriveners thereabouts. It was so tricky to sort them out that I put the Scriveners on the back-burner and concentrated on other family lines.
In 2019 I was going through some family photos and came across one that Mum had noted was my father with his grandparents. I recognised one of the ladies as my greatgrandmother Eliza Kingsman because I had several other photos of her. Therefore the man on
