My fascination with family history began when my grandmother, Dollie Bell BOWMAN MATHIAS, came to live with my mother, Betty, and me when I was 6. Grandma Dollie brought with her the Bowman family bible. In it was the piece of paper that would start my obsession with tracing my "roots." That piece of paper was the wedding certificate for my great great grandparents, George Alfred ILLIDGE and Elizabeth JAQUES ILLIDGE, dated 1836, St Mary's Parish, Newington, Surrey, England.
Since then, my travels in search of answers to my questions about how my family finally ended up in California, have taken me from Hawaii, across the US to the East Coast and then beyond the Atlantic, to England. I'm hoping to make it to Australia for research, too.
My primary family names are: MATHIAS, BOWMAN, ILLIDGE, JAQUES, VALENTINE, GREEN, WEBER, CONKLIN(G), MULFORD, GARDINER and their numerous branches. I'd love to hear from others researching the same.
I'm willing to help others with their searches for family and can do local cemetery grave/marker photos.

dena mathias
[email protected]

My fascination with family history began when my grandmother, Dollie Bell BOWMAN MATHIAS, came to live with my mother, Betty, and me when I was 6. Grandma Dollie brought with her the Bowman family bible. In it was the piece of paper that would start my obsession with tracing my "roots." That piece of paper was the wedding certificate for my great great grandparents, George Alfred ILLIDGE and Elizabeth JAQUES ILLIDGE, dated 1836, St Mary's Parish, Newington, Surrey, England.
Since then, my travels in search of answers to my questions about how my family finally ended up in California, have taken me from Hawaii, across the US to the East Coast and then beyond the Atlantic, to England. I'm hoping to make it to Australia for research, too.
My primary family names are: MATHIAS, BOWMAN, ILLIDGE, JAQUES, VALENTINE, GREEN, WEBER, CONKLIN(G), MULFORD, GARDINER and their numerous branches. I'd love to hear from others researching the same.
I'm willing to help others with their searches for family and can do local cemetery grave/marker photos.

dena mathias
[email protected]