We’re delighted to announce that Series One, Episode Four (S01E04) of The Family Histories Podcast has been released, titled ‘The Entrepreneur‘, and is now available across your favourite podcast feeds.

In our fourth episode we’re meeting Lisa Louise Cooke, who has spent 14 years switching on her microphone at conferences in the US and the UK, on long-running podcasts like Genealogy Gems, and most recently on her YouTube live streams, where she shares the latest news and research techniques with listeners all around the world. It is an honour to have THE Genealogy Gem on the show.

Listen to the episode

Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and others…

The Life Story:
Harry Cooke

Lisa’s choice for the Relatively Speaking section of the show, is Harry Cooke, her husband’s entrepreneurial grandfather.

Lisa tells us about his beginnings in mid-19th century rural Huntingdonshire, UK, and the opportunities that came his way with a move to work in Kent, UK for a Sir David Salomons.

After a double family tragedy, Harry bravely takes his family to start life a-new in Canada.

The Brick Wall:
Gustaf Sporowski

It’s a small village in East Prussia (now in modern day Poland) that provides the location of The Brick Wall in this episode, as Lisa asks for help to track down the parents of her great grandfather Gustaf Sporowski (aka Sporovski, Sporowsky). Gustaf (or ‘Gus’) was born on 20th July 1881 in the village of Kotten in Kreis Johannisburg, East Prussia, and Lisa wants to push further back into his parents’ lives.

Is the cryptic note of “Spowart in Irish” from a relative really a clue or a red-herring? Can you help track down Gustav’s parents Charlotte Wnuk and John Sporowski?

If you think you have an idea of how to help Lisa, then you can reach out to her at her Genealogy Gems website.

As you’ll hear in this episode, Lisa is more than happy to accept Andrew’s help to solve this puzzle, but will she manage to find any more clues?

---

Episode Credits:
Series One, Episode Four

• Andrew Martin – Host and Producer
• Lisa Louise Cooke – Guest
• Eliot Lees – Foley Artist