On the reverse of the portrait photograph, in the shaky handwriting of my grandmother in later life, is written "Frances Kate Gould my mother". Alongside these objects I received stories such as: Frances came from a large family of about 21 children, she had been a school teacher, been married previously and had three children of whom one died young and was buried in the same place as his father.
So how did my great-grandfather come to marry a widow, become a step-father and have what might today be called a blended family? My earliest notes from interviewing family members say that my great-grandmother was Mrs Gould, formerly Mrs Down, née Miss Moore. He was Albert Edward Gould and his first wife was Judith Down. So, my great-grandfather married Miss Down, who died after a few years, and then he married Mrs Down, who was a cousin by marriage.
Just how does one record that on a family tree? Well if the two who died in the respective first marriages were cousins then their parents must have been siblings. Since this Miss Down and Mr Down shared the same surname then we're looking for their fathers to have been brothers (although an unmarried sister could also have passed on the surname). Miss Down and Mr Down shared the same grandparents.
A distant cousin passed on some personal and research details, "Frances Kate married John Parker Down ... but John died at only 35 ... How she met Albert Edward Gould is unknown ...". He could tell me that Albert's first wife, Judith Amelia, died in childbirth age 32 and his second wife was known as as "Aunt France". In exchange, we could tell him that the two couples used to visit together and this continued after Albert became a widower and when Frances became a widow a few months later.
Ancestor cousins made the history and modern cousins together unravelled that history.