 How did all this start?
My inspiration came from my father Gordon Panitzke.
He was a wonderful story teller and was able to hold me spellbound
as a child for hours on end recounting tales of his family life and
those of his fathers Charles (Frederick Carl) Panitzke (PC53 on the
Hull City Police Force) whom sadly I never met but have managed to
learn quite a lot about. Picture on left.
However at the time I must admit I didn't take a lot of
notice of my fathers tales, as a young man I had life to get on with
and it was only later in my life when Lesley and I where blessed
with children and with the passing of my father that I realised how
much there was to document and how little time was left to do so.
It's at this point I offer some words of
wisdom.
Don't leave your family history until your ancestors have deceased
!
The time to start is Now.!
Ask your Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents about your family
and make detailed notes.
You will be surprised just how much information you will collect .
Ask for stories, photographs, letters, books, certificates anything
that you can think of. You will not be thought of as a nuisance on
the contrary most will be flattered that you are taking a personal
interest.
Along your journey you will
discover some skeletons in cupboards, don't be embarrassed or feel
ashamed, illegitimate children, bigamous marriages and criminal
fraternity are normal occurrences. Well they are in my family !
Just record the facts, and don't be tempted to pass judgement.
'The Data' currently contains over 6,000
people and is growing all the time.
However only our Direct Line Ancestors are shown here.
If you find yourself or a relative in the records and would like
to amend or add to it, after all that's the
purpose of this site, please contact me via email:-
To get started click 'The Data' on the menu
at the top.
Best Regards.
Stephen & Lesley Panitzke. |
And
this is my dear wife Lesley Anne Panitzke (nee Smallwood.)