A structure or pattern is now emerging in my new-found genealogy interest, with FOUR strands combining to give me focus and direction. I freely admit that my motivation is more intellectual than emotional, and there’s a cold logic rather than warm excitement, I really couldn’t care less whether I am descended from Isaac Newton or Alfred The Great for example. I am driven by learning about the historical context in which my ancestors lived, their occupations and travels giving meaning to the social history of England. In turn, this drive is fuelled by learning how to conduct the research, some of which is occurring formally via the Strathclyde University online course, some is happening experientially through particular writing and blogging, and finally through the fantastic engagement of other enthusiasts both amateur and professional. Here are my four strands:

1. Ancestral lines
After various mistakes, brick walls and rabbit holes I have researched and verified the twin ancestral lines of my mother and father going back 3-4 generations in each case. I was born and raised in Cumbria, as was my mother, with her father and his ancestors mostly being miners from Cornwall, and her mother’s family being navvies and agricultural workers from Kent. My dad was born and raised in Durham, his paternal ancestors were miners from Devon and his maternal ancestors were also mostly miners as well as agricultural workers from North Yorkshire. And so I have four ancestral lines like this:

The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure

3. Personal learning
In my professional psychologist days I was branded as a “learning animal”, always wanting to keep up to date with recent research, regularly trying new approaches and making sure my staff did too. It seems to be part of my DNA (!) and my approach to family history is no different. The online learning course with Strathclyde University has coaxed me through strategies and techniques galore, as well as evidence based approaches, the proof standard, and shown me many different sources of information. Some are common and obvious such as the GRO (General Records Office) for births, marriages, deaths, but then occasional gems get thrown in such as the Cambridge Research programme into occupations since the 1300s with an example from their work in the graphic above. But MOST importantly I have gained so much from fellow bloggers, within this blogging sphere everyone being willing to share experiences, whether they be a rank amateur like myself or a professional of many years standing. This is quite a different environment from my wine blogging experiences!

4. Blog organisation and engagement
I decided fairly early that I would not create a new blog for my family history but would continue with the old one, same web address but a different blog title. I’d done this before as our blog focus changed from mountaineering to Nepal education aid, then to travel and finally to wine collecting, each also having various political and philosophical rants thrown in. The previous changes were easy, new categories and different menus were all that was needed, but something wasn’t quite right with the new focus that I hadn’t realised until I came across Chips Off The Old Block. Gail has been genealogy blogging for quite some time, take a look at her blog and you will see everything categorised by family name, date, location and more so that everything is cross referenced. It’s a colossal piece of organisation and Gail told me she had done this from the beginning so as to keep track of everything. So, thank you Gail, I only had three months worth of research and posts to sort out which I have now done into those three sections mentioned. They’re not stuffed full yet, but they will be! Gail has been typical of new genealogy online friends and followers with meaningful engagement from many who are willing to share, advise and comment including Gerry at GerryBolton , Eilene at Myricopia , and also WesternLady, plus my long standing supporters from my wine and travel days Andrew at Have Bag Will Travel  and Darlene at Darlene Foster’s Blog . Do take a peek at their blogs.

5. Next?
I have just finished several chapters in Trevelyan related to the Tudor period so the next Imaginative Ancestry post will be about Shakespeare’s England, and then I start delving into Cromwell’s England …… don’t you just wish he would get down off that statue near Parliament Square today, march into both houses of Westminster and scare the shit out of those useless self interested morons? (Sorry Andrew, I did promise no more political rants)! …….BUT …….. “in the name of God, go!”
Family tree stuff will now concentrate on Cornwall so we are visiting the county for a week around the St Agnes and St Austell areas for research plus some usual and unusual tourist attractions, and reading about tin and the mining of it, plus lots about Methodism, John Wesley in Cornwall, plus the social aspects of non conformism.
And finally I am really struggling with referencing newspapers! I have a subscription to British Newspapers Archive but my searching technique just isn’t working as I can’t seem to get specific enough with their search engine. I’ll persevere however.
We hope you’ll join in.

“In the name of God ….. go!”

Categories: Family History, Genealogy

Tags: ancestors, ancestryblog, ancestrylearning, ancestrytips, bloggercommunity, englishculture, englishheritage, familyhistory, familytree, Genealogy, genealogyblog, lovehistory, mindfulblog