The Ancestors' Geneameme - Gill Chesney-Green

When  I developed the Ancestors' Geneameme last Friday I made an offer to  genealogists who do not have a blog. I indicated that if they wanted to  join the challenge I would post their response on the Genimates blog. I was thrilled this morning when I found this message in my e-mail.  Following is that message and the meme response from Gill in the UK,  I tried to post it to Genimates but the colours just wouldn't work with the Genimates design so it's here on Geniaus.


The instructions were : 
The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item 

Hello!

 

Yours looks to be an interesting blog... found through The Wandering Genealogist's blog via the Geneameme... nice idea!

 

You invited folk to send this to you if they didn't have a blog themselves... which I don't.

 

1. Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents
2. Can name over 50 direct ancestors
3. Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents - no just 6 out of the 8, I'm afraid.
4. Have an ancestor who was married more than three times
5. Have an ancestor who was a bigamist
6. Met all four of my grandparents  - yes and have good memories of them!
7. Met one or more of my great-grandparents
8. Named a child after an ancestor
9. Bear an ancestor's given name/s
10. Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland - as a Brit most are from GB but I have Irish ancestors too.
11. Have an ancestor from Asia
12. Have an ancestor from Continental Europe
13. Have an ancestor from Africa
14. Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer - loads and loads!
15. Have an ancestor who had large land holdings - yes, back in the 1600s in Maidstone, Kent
16. Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi - sort of as one of my maternal G Grandfathers was a bandsman and conductor in the Salvation Army in St Helens, Lancashire
17. Have an ancestor who was a midwife
18. Have an ancestor who was an author - not a direct ancestor, but George Swinnock was my  8th great uncle, a Puritan preacher in the 1600s whose books are still being read today, apparently.
19. Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones
20. Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng
21. Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X
22. Have an ancestor with a forename beginnining with Z
23. Have an ancestor born on 25th December
24. Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day
25. Have blue blood in your family lines - still trying to prove this one!
26. Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
27. Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth - some 2 G Grandparents only (Ireland)
28. Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century - yes
29. Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier -yes
30. Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents - yes, on census returns of 1911
31. Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X - yes
32. Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university - yes back in 1600s, to Oxford University
33. Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence - hoping to find one!
34. Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime - unknown
35. Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (George Tebb, my G Grandfather, Salvation Army -http://www.ancestryaid.co.uk/boards/results-board-facts-photos-your-ancestors/19051-george-tebb-devoted-salvationist-st-helens-lancashire.html)
36. Have published a family history online or in print (Details please)
37. Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries - hoping to find one or two of these still standing!
38. Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family - no, unfortunately
39. Have a family bible from the 19th Century - again, no, unfortunately
40. Have a pre-19th century family bible - I wish!

I have found researching my family an amazing journey... that isn't over yet! I've found out a vast variety of occupations that they had... eg cordwainers/ shoemakers, tailors, barge men on the River Medway, paper-maker (before going bankrupt in 1727!), Master of a Workhouse, glass-makers, teacher, milliner (back in late 1500s), timber merchant, thread twister, Mayor and Jurats of Maidstone, Kent (1600s), Professor of Music... etc (I'll stop before I bore you!).

 

I think that another wonderful benefit of genealogy is the wealth of knowledge one picks up along the way... historical, social, medical, geographical, financial, political etc and the skills that one gains in terms of research. Finally, the sharing of ones findings with others - long lost cousins and strangers alike... which bind us together in our separate, but strangely similar journeys into the past.

 

Great stuff! Now to wander through your blog, which looks to be interesting...

 

Best regards,

 

Gill

 

Have you seen my website?

 

http://www.astrologica.co.uk
and a site I helped to create:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/drama/

 

Want to help people in the world get on their feet? Go to
http://www.kiva.org/ - a micro-finance site.

 

So you think you're insignificant? Then you've never slept with a mosquito!