Violet was born at 29 Broad Lanes Sedgley - the same road as her future husband, George Thomas Howell. They must have known each other well from when they were children, as they only lived a few doors away from each other and of a similar age. They would have probably gone to the same school.

Her father had the same name and birth quarter as her future mother-in-law's brother. This led to confusion when I was researching, and for a while I was convinced that Tommy and Violet were cousins, but this turned out not to be true. You may not be interested in the side shoots from your tree, but researching them often shines light on the part of the tree you are really interested in. That was the case in this instance.

Violet was listed as a domestic servant. At the age of 15 she would have probably been working for a couple of years. Her mother states she has had three live children, but we only know of two daughters.

At age 25 she gave birth to Nellie. Having a child out of wedlock was associated with quite a lot of stigma at the time, but Violet was lucky to have a caring family to live with. I was not able to ascertain who the father was. It is possible that he was a soldier who never came back, as she would have become pregnant during the Great War.

With Ellen settled Violet was freed from the responsibility of caring for her.

George Thomas Howell (Tommy) grew up on the same street as she did as a child.

Tommy had a young family that needed the care of a mother.

Edward John Howell was born in the summer of 1939. He was always named for his grandfather, but didn't use that name, he was known as Johnny.

I met him once.... he had the same eyes as my mother, hazel (Howell eyes).

His estate would have been equivalent to about £142,000 today.

Tommy died intestate. This is shown by the word 'Administration' in the entry. His property therefore all went to his wife of 17 years, Violet. His children from the first marriage had no legal claim. This caused family upset, as it had been understood by Tommmy's family that he wanted to provide for all of his children.

The estate would be worth roughly £164,000 today. It was divided equally between her two children. 'Probate' indicates that she made a will, although without a will the money would have been divided in this way in any case. The mention of Charles Johnson in this entry probably means he was the executor of her will.