WELCOME to my website, MyStockingRoots, which is the product of over 40 years’ exploration of my family history. I have researched both my mother’s and father’s sides of the family, and this website focussed initially on my paternal line, starting with my granddad James Aaron Stocking (1901-1965) and grandmother Jessie Ephgrave (1901-1974).

More recently I have started posting about my maternal grandparents’ lines too: Horace Brown (1901-1994) and Elizabeth Sarah Fage (1901-2002).

Exploring my family history has become more poignant over time, with fewer relatives still living to answer questions, and my father’s memory dwindling due to Alzheimer’s. However, since I started my research, so much more material has become available online, making more exciting finds possible. We have also had to clear the family home, revealing many more documents and thousands of images on slide, negatives and in print, which I am gradually sifting through. This blog has also led to contact with other branches of the family, cousins who have been willing to share photos and memories.

For me, this site is an aide-memoire and a helpful check on what I have – and have not yet – discovered. I hope it also offers something of interest to others, both in terms of the stories themselves, and the sources used to explore them. Links to the latest posts can be found from this page; select All Stories to see everything posted to date, or use the search or tags. While I have tried to verify and triangulate as much of the information here as possible, and state where I do not have proof of facts, if you know from your own family research or lived experience that I have something wrong, please let me know and I will update the posts as soon as I can. You can use ‘updated’ as a search term to find posts I’ve amended as new information comes to light.

You can also explore my 2022 project: The 1898 Diary of a Victorian Lady, which isn’t connected to my family, but taught me much which I want to apply to this site too. Thanks for reading.

Dr Lesly Huxley (also Plumridge, nee Stocking).