A Tribute To Our Ancestors
Yesteryear
Have you ever stopped to think about where your ancestors came from? I never did until my parents died and since then I have had this insatiable desire to find out more.
My parents rarely spoke about their parents and if they did, I didn’t listen as all my grandparents had died before I was born. My mother would often talk about Grandma Fanny or Aunty Ruby, but I just didn’t listen, I so wish I did!
I started researching with the dates of birth of my mother’s parents, found on her birth certificate, from there it just skyrocketed and the information that came to light just boggled my mind. The unknown relatives that I connected with were all willing to share their information and documents.
It appears my maternal great-great-great-grandfather born in 1835 came from a very prominent family in Jersey in the Channel Island Islands but ended up in Australia. I was curious as to how and why?
It appears great great great grandfather Henry was somewhat a playboy at the age of 16 and did not want to study to be a doctor or lawyer like the rest of his siblings so the family decided to put him onto a relative’s ship to sail the seas for a few years. The shipped docked in South Australia in 1851 so Henry decided to jump ship and head to the Ballarat goldfields. His family consequently disowned him and denied him any inheritance he would have received.
Henry was not deterred, found a wife, and had 9 children. They lived in a hut made of hessian bags on the banks of the Murray River . Food would have consisted of rabbits and the famous Murray cod found in the river. Life would have been a struggle, but I somehow get the picture that Henry preferred this to the lifestyle he could have. The last piece of information I received was that he moved to Perth in Western Australia in 1902 building homes for the elderly and died in 1905.
One thing that did strike me in my research was the number of repetitive names our forebears used when naming their children. This sometimes makes the research a bit daunting.
I therefore encourage you to take a look at your ancestors, especially during these Covid lockdowns. You will find a few skeletons, but that makes it all the more addictive.
I also like to think that, albeit it was 187 years ago, my Henry is now still being remembered and documented by his granddaughter three times removed.
