Variety - the Spice of Life

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I got drawn back into the maelstrom of family tree stuff this afternoon by some mysterious force or other, and although I started with the intention of following up further my mother's line, I got distracted and ended up with my dad's mother's side of the family: the Rudges. Sorting through some of the family photos, I came upon this rather battered snap of my grandmother and my great-grandmother Rudge in the back yard of 41, Wills Street, Smethwick. I only latterly noticed the small boy on the left of the frame, whom I can only assume was my dad's oldest brother, Samuel [can't be sure, but judging from nan's apparent age, I can't be far out, but I'm open to correction], which would put the date of this picture to around 1918-19, as Sam was born in 1914. Our ethnicity is fairly obviously not Anglo-Saxon: as to its ultimate composition, one can only speculate, but I'd rather it thus, than otherwise. Racial purity? Kiss my arse: it don't exist...

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