Hello all It has taken twenty years but, with a little help from my friends, I've 'found' my Great-aunt Cis nee RATCLIFFE and husband Ted SPENCER in Vancouver, Canada. Not only that but beforehand I also uncovered 3 cousins and a sister who also emigrated, mainly to Ontario! One cousin Ada BLACKHURST nee RATCLIFFE, was lost on the Empress of Ireland disaster in 1914 coming back to Belper for a family visit. I've made contact with several 3rd cousins who are descendants of Elizabeth GILL nee RATCLIFFE, sister Ada (above) and cousin Arthur RATCLIFFE. My Great-Aunts Bertha HUDSON (dau of Thomas RATCLIFFE and Louisa nee BRADSHAW of Harrison St, Derby) married Edward Henry Hudson (son of William Herbert HUDSON and Selina nee ??) in 1900 and emigrated to Canada in Sept 1913 to join Edward with her 4 children. She died in February 1914 from pneumonia and her husband remarried Harriet JEWELL another expat. Child Henry Hudson died in a tragic accident involving a freight train in 1920 at the tender age of 8. I haven't found any living cousins to the surviving children Edward 1900, Leonard c1902 and Ethel c1904 but do have a copy of the wedding certicate of Leonard to Elsie ROACH 17/2/1928. Does anyone recognise the names?? As for Cis &Ted I NOW know that she was Emily RATCLIFFE (dau' of Thomas RATCLIFFE AND Louisa BRADSHAW) and she joined Edwin (!) SPENCER (son of Ernest SPENCER and Harriet nee GRICE also of Harrison St, derby) in Halifax, NS in March 1915 and married him the next day. They then seem to have settled in Brandon, Manitoba (1916 Canadian census) and I have record of Lawrence Gordon SPENCER being born there in Aug 1916. A daughter Edna was born sometime before this as I know she was the eldest. The family moved to BC sometime and I believe I've found Cis's death in Vancouver on 24/7/1949 aged a young 58. Two more children Gordon and Thelma were born and I believe I've found both boys in Vancouver in various voters lists. Does anyone recognise THESE names? In the course of these discoveries I've realised that the Ratcliffe family, children of William and Mary nee Nightingale suffered the loss of so many of their family in the course of the second decade of the 1900s! Bertha HUDSON 13 Feb 1914 -Toronto Ada BLACKHURST May 1914 - in sinking of Empress of Ireland Louisa RATCLIFFE Feb 1916 - Derby Infirmary William RATCLIFFE 14 Feb 1916, Flanders - son of Louisa and brother of Bertha and Cis Henry HUDSON May 1920 - Toronto ........just the ones I've pinned down so far! I know death was not an unusual visitor especially during the War but my ancestors must have wondered what they'd done to deserve such loss!! So there you have it! Please get in touch if you recognise any of the above families. Andrea Newham