SCORES of people have a passion for researching their family histories – their family trees – resulting in some amazing discoveries.

Evidence of this hobby can be seen in public libraries, with researchers thumbing through parish records or copies of local newspapers.

Paul Willis, born in Hawkhurst in 1969 but now living in Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, has his family roots in the Dover area.

His research, and the research of others, indicate that his ancestors go back to around the Norman Conquest in 1066.

And, in more modern times, he's discovered a scandal involving a Dover public house.

Paul says: "My father was born and brought up in Dover and my mother in Whitfield.

"My father's home was in Church Road and my mother's family in Forge Lane at Whitfield and, from them, their line goes back over many centuries, with their family rooted in Dover town."

His father's ancestry has been traced back to Baron Hamon de Poutes-Nieiul (922-981) with the family first found in England after the 1066 Battle of Hastings.

His mother's line has been researched back to Guitmonde d'Avranches (1017-1109) who was the great grandfather of Robert de Hougham, a direct descendant of Norman dukes who fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

There are links between the Avranches family (named after the town in Normandy from where they came) and the Houghams.

Members of the Avranches family held responsible posts at Dover Castle for nearly 200 years.

William (1037-1087) was made Lord of the Manor of Hougham and was one of the eight knights under John de Fiennes (son of the Earl of Boulogne) who guarded the castle (The Annals of Dover by John Bavington Jones says William de Averanch, Lord of Folkestone, was the first Constable of Dover Castle to be appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports).

Says Paul: "Our family tree is spread around Kent, especially in Dover, St Margaret's-at-Cliffe, Whitfield and Folkestone.

"Over the centuries, individuals from the family have left the shores of England to settle in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand."

The Willis family tree has links with nearly 7,000 people spread over 1,000 years and across three continents. These individuals have produced some fascinating stories.

None more so than what went on at the Red Lion public house in Charlton Green, Dover when James Willis was the landlord there in the early years of the last century.

James Willis was born in Dover in 1875 and the 1881 census shows he was living with his parents George and Mary above their grocer's shop in Dover's Union Road. Ten years later, George was described as a baker as well as a grocer and young James, now 16, was a photographer.

This is where the scandal starts. By the time he was about 19 years old, James married Laura Kidd in 1894 but there is no further record of Laura Willis and no record of her death.

In 1897, when James was 23, his father bought him the Red Lion in Charlton Green and, by the next census in 1901, James is listed as the licensed victualler.

About this time, early in the 1900s, James met and fell in love with a young Belgian girl named Romanie Marie Demey, originally from West Flanders. But. at the time, aged 18, she was working as a domestic servant at a hotel in Cannon Street.

It was not long before Romanie, the daughter of a petty officer in the Belgian navy, moved in with James at the Red Lion and they were married in March 1907 at Dover register office.

Says Paul: "It is likely that James was a bigamist, illegal but common in those days when divorce was rare and expensive. There was good reason for James and Romanie's marriage. She was already carrying their first child, Maurice, born in the summer of 1907."

Other children were born to the couple and in 1915 James joined the Peace and Harmony Lodge of Freemasons who met regularly at the Masonic Hall in Snargate Street.

James had been unwell for some months and, in August 1916, aged 42, he died from pneumonia and liver trouble. He was buried at Charlton Cemetery and his funeral was covered at some length in the Dover Express.

His widow Romanie lived on for something like 50 years and died in February 1968, to be buried in the family grave at Charlton Cemetery where a headstone records details of the family.

The family tree is littered with drama and sad events.

Edward West, a gamekeeper, was accidentally shot and killed at Barham in 1869, Jacob Greenland was drowned while boarding a ship, Tom Hopper died in 1916 from an alcohol-related illness and William Dennis committed suicide in 1934. And there are many more. One never knows what will be found by delving into the past.

Further details about the Willis family tree can be found on: http://main.thewillistree.info