Ancestors – What are Ancestors?

Who are they and why do we want to find them?

The definition of the word “Ancestor” is a person, typically one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended. 

This makes sense as a lot of people would know or have known their own grandparents but perhaps not their great-grandparents.  Grainy photographs may exist and their names may be remembered but unless your ancestor was famous or infamous you may know nothing about them at all.

Why do we want to know about our Ancestors?

The reasons people want to understand their ancestry are numerous.  Some people are just curious about where they came from; others want to understand where an unusual surname originated; some want to see if they have any famous or royal connections. Some want to know if they have convict links and others may want to see if long lost relatives are still living. Whatever the purpose for wanted to research your family’s history, you are in for a treat of twists and turns, frustration and elation and a new understanding of historical events which were likely missing from your history classes at school.

My Ancestry Journey

When I was a genealogy hobbyist, looking back, it appears my goal was to get as much information from Ancestry (other genealogy websites are available. . .) So I wasn’t a genealogist, more a collector of dates, with little or no understanding of the context of these dates.  Then not long after my son was born, a little pink and white box was given to me by my grandmother. It contained photos of people I knew, people I had heard about and people I didn’t know. There were photos of my great grandparent’s at their wedding in 1911. There was a telegram congratulating my grandparents on their marriage in 1938; there was a Girl Guide diary from 1927, a passport and several military photographs – one taken in 1910.  There were pictures of soldiers and sailors, the names of who were written on the back but who were not known to me – yet.

 

There was a christening record for my grandmother with the sponsor’s name of Dorothy Fisher – who was Dorothy Fisher? There were documents with names of other people I did not know.

My grandmother talked to me about the people in the photos, who they were, where they came from and how she knew them. I talked to my Dad and my Aunt about the photos too; the discussions between my Aunt and my Dad were often very lively, so as well as finding out a lot of useful information we had a lovely time reminiscing. Lots of other photographs were brought out and stories told about these too. I came away with some useful information.

• Full names – very often unknown as children were not supposed to ask questions
• Dates of birth – very often only approximate, but it was a start
• Place of birth – vague
• Marriage details – who, where, when
• Death details – when, where, how
• Occupations – what they did, where they worked

Armed with all this information I started putting together my family tree and a determination to understand more about my family and the lives they had led.  It has been a journey full of twists and turns that would take me from Surrey to Hampshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire, to South Africa and North Yorkshire.  I have built a picture, not just of my family, but of a time that experienced two World Wars, poverty and industrial and occupational change and the migration from rural communities to towns and cities and I haven’t finished yet.

My Professional Journey

From here I developed a passion for genealogy that turned into a career change.  In 2018 I progressed from amateur genealogist to an Associate of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives – AGRA. I am a student of the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies – IHGS and I now spend many hours researching other people’s families and homes.

A-Z of my genealogical journey

I was thinking about how much I have learned and discovered during my genealogy journey and decided to write it all down from A – Z. I hope you find my stories as interesting as I do and that you find some nuggets of information to help you to research your own family’s history. And drop me a line if you’d like some help or advice.

All the best

Lorraine

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Looking forward to being on the AGRA stand at the Family History Show London – 24 August 2019

In memory of my Ancestors

I dedicate my love of family history to my Dad who passed away in May 2018; I’d drag Dad along to do some “dead relative hunting” – he was happy as there was usually a village pub involved. And, as I am now unable to share my research with him, I hope it’s ok to share it with you.