Join me on his A-Z journey into A SENSE OF PLACE with reminiscence on places that are connected with my family history or are part of my own personal memories.Place names beginning with X abound in China and there are some in Wales and Greece - but I have been to none of these. So I must admit here to deviating from my Sense of Place theme and focussing on some of my family history EXperiences, beyond travel.
X is for:
EXcitement at finding ancestors who were unknown to me. After many years of appearing on message boards etc. with minimal success, my blog was discovered by three different third cousins and resulted in new photographs and new stories.
A wedding photograph of the family of my third cousin, Stuart
EXchanging Information: In pre-Internet days this activity came from joining Family History Societies and studying their listings of Members Interests. Now the world is open to us. My first venture into Internet research on my Bryning connections resulted in more information in four weeks than I had unearthed in four years. A wonderful tool - as long as you check sources!
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| Roxburghshire Militia List of 1797 Courtesy of Heritage Hub, Hawick - www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub |
EXceeding EXpectations: When I first started on my family history trail, I thought I would be lucky to trace my very ordinary Danson family back to the 1841 census. I have far exceeded that, discovering my great great great, great grandfather John Danson, born 1736, son of Peter. Here is his signature from his will found in Lancashire Record Office.
EXpressing the family stories: Research is an all absorbing task, but turning the facts, names and dates into a family story that people are interested in reading, whether through blog or book, is my favourite FH occupation.
EXcursions into Local and Social History - The possibilities are endless. for adding colour to a family story.............,,,,,
- Was your ancestor alive when a Napoleonic invasion threatened towns and villages ready to light beacons to warn of the French attack?
- Might your ancestors have seen the Jacobite army marching through Scotland and the north of England in 1745 as Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) attempted to take the Hanoverian throne?
- What entertainment did your ancestors enjoy locally?
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| Concert poster in the collection of the Heritage Hub, Hawick www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub |
- The coming of the railway to a community must have been a thrilling event to witness, with local newspapers giving extensive coverage of the excitement generated.
- What about the impact of the invention of the sewing machine on the task of making a family's clothes?
- Might your female ancestors have seen suffragettes campaigning locally?
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| Peebles Station in the Scottish Borders, c 1910. With kind permission of the Heritage Hub, Hawick www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub |
A suffragette meeting, at Towerknowe, Hawick in the Scottish Borders, 1909.
Note - the number of men there.
Photograph by permission of Scottish Borders Council Museum & Gallery Service
from the Hawick Museum
- When was your local cottage hospital built, or the local football club formed?
- How did your ancestral town or village mark Queen Victoria's Jubilees in 1887 and 1897 and her death in 1901?
And finally after all of this - EXhaustion!
My father enjoying a snooze in our garden in Edinburgh c.1960's
An eXcellent X post and all attributes that I have also experienced in my research.
ReplyDeleteI agree. eXcellent use of X that ties right in, to what you love. Great job!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Agree with all the xs.
ReplyDelete