I have a terrible burning desire to know about where I came from. I don't mean literally - I paid attention in biology, thank you - and I don't mean geographically, as even I can remember living in Benfleet as a child, but I mean learning about where I really came from. Learning about my ancestors...
Even before the 'Who Do You Think You Are?' series helped propel genealogy into the spotlight, I was fascinated by Ye Olde Relatives and Those Who Came Before. When I was still at primary school - I think I was about 8 - we had to do a very simple family tree, and I remember sitting down with my Dad and very carefully writing out the names of my grandparents and great-grandparents. From that tiny seed, a family tree started to grow...and my passion was born.
Happily for me, my maternal aunt is pretty much the family historian and so I've been helping her to track both her maternal and paternal ancestors; she's also helped me to discover a bit more about my paternal heritage. When we started, we wanted to try and solve a family mystery (which we still haven't been able to do) and I was secretly hoping for relatives who were fabulously wealthy and terribly interesting. Fabulous wealth, alas, appears to have eluded both sides of my family, but terribly interesting? Ohhh yes...so far, I have discovered that one side of the family has someone who was transported to Australia for 7 years for theft from the post office and someone who had tertiary syphilis; on the other, I have a lunatic and someone who ended up in the workhouse. So criminal, mental paupers...that's the stock I come from. And you know what? They might not have been rich, they might not have done anything spectacular of note and they may not even have been especially nice people...but they are mine and I love them for it.
So here's to the lunatics, the crooks and the poor - God bless you, my ancestors, because if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here now. We might not have been the rulers of the land but we were the ones who built the Empire, on the sweat and the strain of our labour, and as far as this descendant of yours is concerned, you are all the most important people in history. I wish I could have known you (although some of you may have scared me) but I shall always be grateful to you and will never forget you!
Even before the 'Who Do You Think You Are?' series helped propel genealogy into the spotlight, I was fascinated by Ye Olde Relatives and Those Who Came Before. When I was still at primary school - I think I was about 8 - we had to do a very simple family tree, and I remember sitting down with my Dad and very carefully writing out the names of my grandparents and great-grandparents. From that tiny seed, a family tree started to grow...and my passion was born.
Happily for me, my maternal aunt is pretty much the family historian and so I've been helping her to track both her maternal and paternal ancestors; she's also helped me to discover a bit more about my paternal heritage. When we started, we wanted to try and solve a family mystery (which we still haven't been able to do) and I was secretly hoping for relatives who were fabulously wealthy and terribly interesting. Fabulous wealth, alas, appears to have eluded both sides of my family, but terribly interesting? Ohhh yes...so far, I have discovered that one side of the family has someone who was transported to Australia for 7 years for theft from the post office and someone who had tertiary syphilis; on the other, I have a lunatic and someone who ended up in the workhouse. So criminal, mental paupers...that's the stock I come from. And you know what? They might not have been rich, they might not have done anything spectacular of note and they may not even have been especially nice people...but they are mine and I love them for it.
So here's to the lunatics, the crooks and the poor - God bless you, my ancestors, because if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here now. We might not have been the rulers of the land but we were the ones who built the Empire, on the sweat and the strain of our labour, and as far as this descendant of yours is concerned, you are all the most important people in history. I wish I could have known you (although some of you may have scared me) but I shall always be grateful to you and will never forget you!
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