in this period between samhuinn and the winter solstice i have been thinking of my ancestors a great deal and finding some frustration in how far i can can trace my roots.
i have gone back a long way with some of them~
to my great x 12 grandfather john lywood who was born in compton chamberlayne in wiltshire in 1550, my great x 8 grandfather simon edsell born a few miles from compton chamberlayne in 1685 and the betteridge's, chalks and chandlers...both villages only 25 miles from where i now sit and before changes to boundaries part of the new forest.
then there are the hawkins, duke, fletcher and sparkes from portsmouth, only 30 miles away and the kimbers from small villages south of newbury
some of my hawkins ancestors
not forgetting all of my welsh and irish ancestors~williams, byrne, gaul, sullivan and flahavan.
so many ancestors coming from within a 45 mile radius of here...my forever home
whenever we have been away and drive home i always get a strong feeling of being 'home' long before we actually reach the village~its a very powerful sense of belonging to the land...not just to the land, but this very land i live on now. many were farmers and farm labourers and so had a strong connection to the land they worked~obviously following what we now call the wheel of the year.
i wonder how far back these people go, these people whose blood i carry~researching the surnames in my bloodline some originate from old-english, some from anglo-saxon, one,ormes, comes from old norse~such a mix of people.
its no wonder i feel such a connection to the land, that i feel i belong here~i wonder how i will feel when i travel to wales and ireland? will i feel a strong connection to that land i wonder?
6 comments:
I love genealogy, too, and finding my ancestors, too. I've traced mine back to the 1600's. Many of my ancestors on my paternal side came from small towns in Norfolk, England, but I have found ancestors from Wales, Scotland, Germany, and Ireland. Sadly, I haven't gotten anywhere with my Irish lineage because of the fire that burned so many of their records...and my grandma's name was Alice Keating. Do you know how many Alice Keating's there are in Ireland? LOL!!!
Mary
You can't beat that grounding you feel in that sort of connection.It explains so much for us.We all fi nd our own stories fascinating ecause they're so real to us.
How interesting. I always feel like I'm coming home when I visit Ireland, I know I have a few Irish ancestors but they are quite distant.
Mr Twigs however, had a Nana from Yorkshire, a Grandad from Ireland, A Grandma from Glasgow and a Grandad from Wales. He has very interesting blood coursing through his veins and I think this explains his gorgeous looks,colouring and dark red hair - but I'm biased :)
Twiggy x
ah twiggy you cant beat red hair!
my maternal line are dark with jet black hair(think david essex in the 70's!) as was my dads family~i am an irish throwback but i have my welsh granddads grey eyes~the red hair, pale skin and freckles are irish :)
i so love reading of your visits to ancestors past! very inspiring...i'm hoping to come to know the Dea's & Hearn's, and all who came even before them. a wee bit of a daunting task! but you make it seem much more possible.
mama p~once you get going its very addictive and i find i want to know more and more about them. i dont just look for names but look at their occupations, where they live and even check old maps to find where their houses were.it makes them much more laive to me
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