My name is Louise Baldock and for 8 years I was a Labour Councillor in Liverpool (I stood down in 2014). During that period I dedicated a great deal of volunteer time helping lead the heritage project to restore an abandoned Victorian Jewish Cemetery in Deane Road, Kensington which was in my ward. (You have covered some stories about this in the paper before). I also helped organise Liverpool’s civic Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations several times in recent years. I enjoyed a strong friendship with the Jewish community in the city and still keep in contact with some even though I left a few years ago.
I am a keen genealogist and over the last thirty years I have traced my family back around 10 generations on most branches; they are all Christians from England (apart from one small Irish branch). For my 50th birthday I had my ancestral DNA tested, I thought it would be interesting to see how accurate my research had been and perhaps enable me to prove some of it by finding people living today who were related to me genetically as well as on paper.
I had a big surprise coming!
My test showed that I had an element of Eastern European Jewish DNA; other families members then agreed to be tested and by a process of elimination I now know for certain that one of my biological great grandfathers had 100% Eastern European Jewish DNA and was not the person on the birth certificate. I also know that he must have had Lithuanian roots because further research shows links with other people of Lithuanian Jewish extraction.
It has been the most wonderful discovery and perhaps goes some way to explaining my strong sense of belonging to people who ostensibly I had no connection with. I am also transfixed by the distant possibility that I could have a relative buried in Deane Road Jewish cemetery or might be related to someone on the committee that I carried out the work with.
I particularly want to hear from anyone with Luthianian roots who can hopefully work with me to find the connection.
Best wishes, Louise
Louise.baldock65@btinternet.com
