I was born Valerie Mary Shaw,  the eldest of three children born to Frank Shaw and Mary (neé Ingle). Dad trained as a cost and works accountant and held various posts in the Bingley area of West Yorkshire, England. During his life he took up various pursuits, he studied photography and made his own developing studio at home and was a keen member of local photographic societies. He was a keen hill walker and took many excellent photographs in the Yorkshire dales and other locations. After retirement he attended extra-mural studies run by the University of Leeds, notably archaeology, and travelled abroad with the group to ancient sites. It was a field trip  to Greece that determined him to learn this language - he had learned Latin and Ancient Greek at school, but now he wanted to learn modern Greek. He became fluent and loved to chat to locals during expeditions - he also undertook to give lessons to other members of his group. But it was his interest in genealogy that I want to talk about here.

He was in the habit of discussing his hobbies with me, and I remember how perplexed he was that he could find no Shaws further back than his grandfather. One day, visiting a church at Norton Woodseats near Sheffield, the vicar told him that two ladies had been there not long ago, enquiring about the same family, and put him in touch with them. These turned out to be Winnie and Dollan - the daughters of one of his father's brothers - his cousins. Dad had met this family as a small boy - Winnie and Dollan were able to produce a photograph of them all together - but perhaps he had forgotten, or never thought to trace them.

Father's father - my grandfather - Stanley Frank Shaw, was the youngest of five sons born to Joseph William Murfin Shaw - and thereby hangs a tale. Joseph William (born 1856) and his elder sister Eliza (born 1853) were the children of Thomas Murfin or Murphy born 1830 in Chesterfield. Thomas married Martha Birch in 1852 and must have died without producing further children, as Martha remarried in 1859. Her new husband was Thomas Shaw and the couple went on to have a further five children. It seems the two Murfin children added Shaw to their names. Thus the no-Shaw mystery was solved! The family were not Shaws at all, but Murfins.

Joseph William Murfin Shaw and his wife Rosetta Biggin had five sons and one daughter. The first three children, Bertrand Lee Murfin Shaw, Arthur Murfin Shaw and William Birch Murfin Shaw(1881-83-85) all received the Murfin name,  but the last three (Walter Richardson Shaw, Stanley Frank Shaw, Ethel Mary Shaw) did not carry the Murfin name, and my grandfather  grew up a Shaw. Contributing to my father's loss of Murfin identity I think was the career chosen by his father - he became a policeman and as it was the habit to distribute police officers round the country, and perhaps policy to remove them from their local environment, Father grew up in Shipley West Yorkshire. It would be quite a journey in those days, and with limited time off, to travel from Shipley to Sheffield, and so I would guess contact between Grandfather and his family members dwindled.

The meeting between Dad and his cousins, the daughters of William Birch Murfin Shaw, was very productive, as Dollan had been actively researching the family for some time and was able to provide Dad with much useful information. In particular, he discovered that we had a Romany ancestor, from the Lee clan - Elizabeth Lee - a portrait was held in the family of William Birch Murfin Shaw. Our ancestor John Biggin (born 1796) married Elizabeth Lee, Romany (born 1799). Their son Charles Biggin (b 1828) married another Lee - Hannah, born 1829 and their daughter Rosetta became the wife of Joseph William Murfin Shaw - see above - my grandfather's father. Below is a picture of the Elizabeth Lee portrait. As the common people were not in the habit of having their portraits painted, we think that this indicates she was a person of note and interest due to her Romany origins. As I read tarot and study astrology I wonder if I have inherited some Romany traits! Pictures of the sons of Joseph William show very Romany-looking, swarthy men.

1. Elizabeth Lee; 2. Bertrand Lee Murfin Shaw and Margaret; 3. William Birch Murfin Shaw and Amy Bower

4. Ethel Mary Shaw;      5. Stanley Frank Shaw (my grandfather)(Ethel and Stanley Frank were not given the Murfin name);  6. Stanley Frank taught boxing to youngsters - seen here at a weigh in - a possible Romany connection? 

7. Frank Shaw (my father); 8. Stanley Frank Shaw (my grandfather) and his second wife Eliza Blackburn, with their daughter Hilda and son Joe (Stanley's first wife, Mary Ann Garfitt, 1892-1919, died when my father was three. Stanley remarried and had another three children, Hilda, Joe and Raymond); 9. My father Frank Shaw with one of his stepbrothers (either Joe or Raymond)

So how did I become a Murfin?

When my fourth marriage failed I thought I should like to have a name of my own once more and decided to revert to Shaw, but bearing in mind Dad's research, wanted to add the Murfin back in. So I became Murfin-Shaw, and as I had never liked my first name Valerie - Dad named me after his favourite film star, Valerie Hobson - and I was paying for my name change, I awarded myself the splendid name Geraldine.

I'd just like to say congratulations to Ed Murfin of Jacksonville, Florida - well done in setting up the Murfin website Ed!!