A victim of the Titanic disaster, a High Sheriff of Berkshire and a wealthy landowner who shot himself - all are characters uncovered by two men who have traced their family trees back hundreds of years.

Law teacher Bob Frampton, a lecturer at Abingdon College, and optician Chris Wheable both responded to an Oxford Mail appeal for anyone who has researched their family history as far back as the 1400s to contact us.

Mr Frampton, of Jackman Close, Abingdon, has discovered he is descended from, among others, William Alexander who went down with the Titanic and a wealthy landowner who shot himself after gambling away all his riches.

He admits he has become fascinated by the research - although the rest of his family are nowhere near as enthusiastic.

He said: "In 1983, in three successive months, my sister got married, my child was born and my father died. It got me thinking about family cycles of life and death and I thought I would find out more about it."

He found it was easy to trace back to 1837 using civil records but the difficulty was taking it further back than that. His search through the archives has uncovered some interesting characters from the past. Using the name Knowler, which his father had before he was adopted, Mr Frampton discovered the family's origins were in Kent - and his descendants had been wealthy landowners at one time. He said: "One relative lost the family wealth through gambling in the 18th century, though, and shot himself. I could have been a rich man."

Another relative lost his life on the Titanic. William Alexander, aged just 22, had been on his way to America to meet up with the rest of his family, who had emigrated.

Optician Chris Wheable, of Bostock Road, Abingdon, has also spent much of the last 14 years tracing his family's roots. He has a comprehensive list dating back to 1540 and more sketchy details before that time.

It has brought him into contact with other Wheables from as far afield as the United States and Canada - and led him to discover that one of his relatives was a former High Sheriff of Berkshire, who once paid money out of his own pocket to help restore Reading Abbey.

He said: "I have met some interesting people through doing it and found out about some from the past, too."

He even discussed the idea of holding a party for as many Wheables as possible but didn't have enough positive response. He said: "It would have been an awful lot of work and, while I find it interesting, not everyone else might."

Indeed, a close relative admitted: "It's all he talks about. It bores me silly."

Mr Frampton believes he has picked up some useful tips in researching family trees and is willing to pass them on to anyone else interested in doing the same thing.

For more details, call 01235 203248.

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