Too often genealogy is a race to trace the ancestoral tree as far back as possible. People from whom we are decended become just names out of time and place, but they were just as real as we are, living their lives, loving, suffering and putting up with the politics of their time. It isn't easy for amateur family historians to put the meat on the bones of their bare family tree and much of it will remain skeletal, but I have decided to try to find out a bit more about the lives of a few of the people I have identified in my tree. Not all of them direct ancestors. Indeed to commemorate the centenary of the WW1 armistice I began with the great uncle of my mum. The only relative I know of who died in combat. He is the first entry in my new "Family Stories" section.