Page 94 - All About History - Issue 33-15

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Photos Leaving Channel
Scans of snaps that
offer insight to the past
Antiques and Island life behind
objects
Show off your family heirlooms,
mementos and retro curios
Letters from the past Peter Mitchell gathering,Iwroteonthebackofaswimming
In 1963, when I was nine years certificate all I had learned that evening from my
Old correspondence can hold a wealth of
old,Iwastakentosayafinal merryrelatives.Itwasn’tmuch,butIknewthat
historical info and fascinating stories
goodbye to my grandfather, Albert I had to find out more. However, growing up got
News clippings Michel.Thissolemnvisitisthe in the way and the certificate was forgotten for
Articles reporting on iconic events only recollection that I have of awhile.35yearslaterIcameacrossit,andthis
Amazing stories him.Therewasalwaysamystery became my prompt to get on with it. It had all the
surroundingAlbert’searlylife.Nooneknew,for clues I needed.
Interesting or insightful tales passed
sure,anythingabouthisparentsorhissiblings. Albert Michel was born on 22 April 1896 in Saint
down from your ancestors
Even his wife and their seven children knew very Helier, Jersey. His birth certificate names his father
Eyewitness accounts little about his early life. Later, I began to hear as Guy Michel and mother as Augustine Leferve.
Did you witness a historic event in storiesabouthowheoncelivedonadistantisland Albert left home at 14 for a life on the sea because
person? Share it today namedJerseyandhowhehadrunawaytoserve he did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps
on a British sailing ship. As I grew older I began to asashoemaker.TheshiphejoinedwasBritish
Family trees askfamilymembersaboutmygranddadandhis and the captain, so the family story goes, wrote his
A chance to boast about famous or life on the island of Jersey. Information was sketchy name incorrectly in the ship’s log. From then on
significant ancestors to say the least. When I was about 14, at a family Albert Michel became Albert Mitchell.
Send your memories to: allabouthistory@imagine-publishing.co.uk

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