Freshly shelled peas. Frosted pink lipstick. A spritz of hairspray from a gold can. The memories of my Nan are weighty and visceral. A comforting riot of smells, colours and tastes that hold space in my heart and my soul (the taste of fresh strawberries doused in cream always feels like her Anais-scented embrace).

I loved her so, so much. So, as you can imagine, losing her to dementia two years ago (that cruel, cruel disease) was a huge blow to me and my family.

She was a matriarch in the oldest sense of the word. She could cure you with a cuppa or send you to the naughty step with one sideways glance. In the aftermath of her passing, I knew I wanted to do something more to honour her memory. That’s what first prompted me to start exploring the idea of a family tree…

In today’s busy society, finding the time to start a family tree might seem daunting. However, to get myself on the right path, I signed up for a free account on Findmypast – the online genealogy service that does most of the work for you when accessing official documents (such as birth and marriage certificates) and helping you build a family tree online.

All you need is a few key dates. For example, DOBs, maiden names. Locations of key events are also helpful when tracking down information through the search engine. 

After setting aside an evening a week, I started to find the process quite addictive. The element of discovery is really interesting and, in regard to my grandmother especially, super-insightful because everything I’d ever learned from her was via word of mouth (accompanied by a brew and a bit of cake) or by way of the faded photographs kept in a battered old Quality Street tin.

For example, I knew my Nan was evacuated from London during WWII – she often spoke about being picked up from Castle Cary station in Somerset with her little name tag attached to her coat – and via Findmypast, I could see that her real mother was actually born in Tower Hamlets (my Nan was later adopted by the woman who took her in as an evacuee), and had a slew of brothers and sisters that she lost touch with during the war. 

Every week, I discovered something new about her, and while she would have lived a somewhat quiet or ‘traditional’ life in the grand scheme of things, recording her history felt important. Recording her history felt like I wasn’t forgetting her. 

At the start of this journey, I didn’t expect to feel how I do now. Dedicating this small amount of time has shown me how important it is that no woman slips through the cracks of time. And there’s a very good reason why we should all be doing the same. After browsing Findmypast’s website, I found a statistic stating that there are over 39m women missing from family trees. Over 70% of ‘unknown’ people on family trees are women.

While these numbers are shocking, sadly I wasn’t surprised. Women being erased from history or simply forgotten about, is something we’re used to. We’re taught about men’s accomplishments in school, we’re au fait with the history behind their sports teams and scientific discoveries – surely, it’s time we started making sure more women are celebrated, whether that’s because they were a suffragette, a female cricketer or a beloved grandmother (who wore frosted pink lipstick). 

All these stories are noteworthy, which is why family trees are so important. Learning about the women in my family has in some ways helped me understand myself that little bit better. For example, my Nan’s earliest memory was growing up hearing ‘the sound of Bow Bells’ – who knew that nearly half a century later her first granddaughter would be living just a few miles away from that famous church in Cheapside. I now found myself drawn towards it on bike rides around the city, wondering if I’m taking the same steps as a small girl who would shortly begin another life in a leafy Somerset village. It brings me closer to her in a funny way… 

Building a family tree may seem like a daunting task if you’ve never made one before. But the good news is it’s easier than you might think. With Findmypast, you’ll have access to over 10 billion genealogy records, the 1921 Census and more. You’ll also be able to follow the site’s hints to help you find more relatives and trace their stories through time.

To create your own, visit findmypast.co.uk