The adventure to find our beginnings

I enjoy watching Archaeological shows and I notice that the Archaeologists always begin their ‘digs’ with
theories, hypotheses and assumptions based on small pieces of concrete evidence, such as their finds of coins,
jewellery and the more intangible evidence of geophysics. Then as they dig away the earth, more and more evidence
arises, which forces them to change their theories.

Following our ancestors back through time and history, reminds me of the same principles. We make
assumptions, have theories and hypotheses of where they came from and who they were and what their story was, but
the more we dig through time and our ‘finds’ surface, such as birth records, wills and newspaper accounts, the story
changes dimensions and grows. For example, if our ancestor is born in a certain place, we often assume that, that is
the whole family’s place of origin and it is not until a bigger picture emerges that one discovers that that assumption
was not correct.

As each new piece of information emerges, their history, the history of their times and the area that they were
living in, I have had to re-write these stories. Then magically at each re-write, the whole story takes on a new shape
and what I had previously written is no longer a perception of the whole picture. So, in view of this, this written story
will by no means be the end of the story of the above families. As future generations have the capacity to research
what I have been unable to locate, then their story will change again. So please be aware that these family’s stories
are always evolving and changing as each new piece of information emerges.

All the while, we must be mindful, that once one goes back beyond the history of our memories and our
grandparent’s memories; our ancestry is no longer 100% certain. A genealogist wrote the following and I think that
all who read these stories need to bear this in mind, like archaeology, what is buried in time, we only see a small part
of the picture and it is by no means ‘certain’. While I have tried my best to be as accurate as possible, like our own
life stories, the stories of our ancestors are a fluid history, depending on which information becomes available and
from which perspective one looks at them. So, these stories of our ancestors are not a definitive history, they are very
small and cloudy windows that we have been given the opportunity through which, to glimpse a smattering of their
lives! And the glimpses are not certainty, only a beginning!