When DENNIS ‘DAN’ SUCKALL of Leeds conducted research into how his grandfather spelt his surname, he never dreamt he would discover a long lost cousin. ‘‘I had always been interested in the spelling of my name,’’ he said. Dennis consulted the 1891 census of Leeds and found a Suckle family who lived in Noble Street. ‘‘I recognised the names of the children who lived in the house,’’ he added. ‘‘They were the names of my father’s elder brothers, so I knew that I had the right family.’’ However, Dennis was informed that the spellings in the census may not be correct because the census researcher would often guess at spellings. ‘‘As far as the census went, I had drawn a blank. So we passed the information on to our son Gary, who researched the name spellings on the Internet.’’ Gary received an email from a Peter Sochall of Portsmouth, who had recognised his father’s name — the late Jack ‘Yankel’ Sochall, of Leeds. ‘‘It turns out that my Uncle Yankel, who I’d always believed was a bachelor, actually wasn’t,’’ Dennis remarked. ‘‘Apparently, he met a girl, got her pregnant and married her — but they never lived together,’’ Dennis said. ‘‘Peter had never actually met his father Yankel, who we always regarded as the black sheep of our family.’’ Dennis and Peter have already met up with each other and discovered that they had so much to talk about. ‘‘Peter left technical school and joined the navy, where he became a Lieutenant Commander, and he also received the MBE.’’ Coincidentally, during the war, Dennis’s wife, Adele, was evacuated to the same village as Peter and had sat in the same school hall as him. Now Dennis is furthering his research into his Uncle Yankel, who had been a bookies clerk and a tailor’s cutter. Dennis is appealing for information into whether anybody knows when Yankel Sochall died, or even where he is buried.

If you have any information, contact Dennis on 0113 2886003.

BRENDA HABSHUSH of Israel is searching for relatives named Crystal who may have been related or connected to Annie Viner of Stamford Street, Leeds. Brenda hopes this will help her find family connected to her grandfather Yosef Viner who was married to Bashie Bershansky of Jonova.

Contact Brenda at Kibbutz Sde Boker, Ramat-Negev, Israel 84993 or tsionh@ramat-negev.org.il

DARREN DRUCE of Cheshire is looking for members of his family. His father, Brian, has  a brother called Lawrence and a sister called Jacqueline. Their parents were Arthur and Faye Druce. Darren’s great grandparents were Harris and Brianna from Moscow. He adds that Faye’s maiden name was Marcovitch, but he doesn’t know her parents’ names. In addition, Darren is also looking for Mick Lipkovitch, who he believes is approaching 80.

Write to 1 Bosley Close, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NW or
email darrendruce@darrendruce.worldonline.co.uk

In May 1999 ROBERTA BENTLEY of Manchester made an appeal through Roots Directory to trace her father Benjamin Rosenheim’s family. ‘‘The response was wonderful,’’ Roberta says. ‘‘I am now in constant correspondence with Bennie Linden who has asked me to put together a family newsletter.’’ Roberta would like to hear from any members of the Rosenheim, Levy and Eppel families.

Contact 27 Highclere Road, Crumpsall, Manchester M8 4WH or telephone 0161-740 3899.