Ancestral Roots



The Avengers

It was twenty years ago that Julie and I took our first trip to the United Kingdom. We started in London and then went far afield into Wales, Scotland, the Cotswalds and a particularly beautiful area called the Lake District.

Driving that little rental car around the winding roads in the countryside, shifting through gears with my left hand, brought back memories of TV's The Avengers, although the cassette I found at a market and played throughout the trip was music of James Bond movies.

We raced through 1200 miles of roadways in a little over a week, so we didn't have time for every site, including all of the wonderful castles.

Sizergh Castle in England's Lake District

Julie had sorted through guide books in preparation for our trip, picking specific castles that would be representative of the best so that we didn't dissipate energies essentially duplicating experiences.  We passed close to Sizergh Castle, but it wasn't on the list.

Flash forward to this month, when Julie started planning another shared journey by purchasing a month of international searches on Ancestry.com.  You've probably seen their commercials, and if you don't recall them, now that you've read this, you'll start being aware of them now, since that is how our brains are wired.

Edward I of England

On Ancestry.com, we've come to lots of interesting discoveries, including the fact that I have ancestors who owned Sizergh Castle.

My mom always said her side of the family came from England, and in fact a few months before she passed away, she shared a printout she'd received from her sister tracing her family back to when the ancestors with paternal surnames of both her mother and father came over from England in the 1600s.

Considering she was born in and grew up in a house without indoor plumbing, I never would have guessed she came from royalty, although she always was a very special person who could light up a room with her effervescent sweetness.

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" Attraction in Schilthorn

I also discovered that my first ancestor in America with my last name immigrated from Switzerland, not France as my grandmother had told me long ago.  It turns out my great grandfather had died young, so my grandmother only know my great grandmother, and her ancestors came from France. 

Julie's mother's maiden name was Scottish, she believed, but in searches it turned out to be more likely Irish, although her dad's maternal line is Scottish.  Because her grandfather Nick came from Crete, we had no doubt about that origin.

As we branched out with new surnames from ancestral marriages, we revealed a massive family tree, especially because so many of our ancestors had ten or more children over long, fertile marriages.  I guess that explains what they did before television.

Sir Isaac Newton

We recognized the names of places we'd visited and other destinations went on our bucket list.  Because of our wonderful classless system in America, where everyone is free to go as far as his abilities and initiative will take him, if you decide to research your family tree, you will find, like we did, that you have some famous folks among your ancestors.

While the computer searches are fun, there's nothing like actually traveling through the real world.  Even if you know more about the history of the Beatles than of your own family when you visit a far off region at the outset, it is still a great experience to travel and learn the history of mankind firsthand. 

It is the advance of civilization and the lessons from its missteps that create our shared heritage.

The more you look into your ancestry, the more you realize how interconnected the world is.  Wouldn't you like to explore it?

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