I was awake in the wee hours of a weekday morning, by wee hours I mean 4:00 am, so I went downstairs and made myself a cup of tea, and decided to sit in the sitting room quietly, and light the candles on my mantle piece, which I had just cleaned and rearranged the day before.It's always so peaceful at that time and with the candlelight flickering, I started to think about pioneer days in the States. Maybe sitting at night in a cabin in New England, or weathering a winter through in a sod cabin in the Prairies.
And it made me think of my husbands ancestors who came over very early in the European history of the USA. In fact I contend that he's more British than I am, all the surnames in his family are totally British, where as my maiden name was of French derivation, my grandfather coming from Somerset and the West Country of England has always had close ties with Brittany.
Not too long ago we found my husbands whole family on his father's side, that we did not know, which is a whole post on it's own. By finding his family, which was wonderful, it opened up to us all his history and photos, Oh! such wonderful photos. I never thought he totally looked like his father, and we didn't have a photo of his grandfather, but now we even have his great grandfather and great, great grandmother. And who does he look like, his great grandfather. I said to my husband we know we've found your family, I only have to look at them, we were thrilled.
So on more research, and Bo's relative P. who we found had traced the family back to the 1700's, to Massachusetts and then Vermont. I'm sure one part his family came over in 1638 on the ship Diligent, out of Ipswich, Suffolk and landed in Boston, Mass. That is only eighteen years after the Mayflower landed.
So to get back to my musings, I started to think about them by candlelight and what they had left behind in England, this was just two years before Oliver Cromwell began his Parliamentary rule there. What made them leave? And I think anyone who's ancestors came as settlers to a country has to wonder so much.
Did they sit by candlelight quietly contemplating all that led them to where they were?
So such were my thoughts on a quiet morning.
Christy
Cool thoughts. I don't know much of my families history but being Europen New Zealanders we know our roots are somewhere in Europe. My Dad is very proud of the fact that his mothers line can be traced back to the 1400s, the McLeod clan and Dunvegan castle. I'd love to visit England and Scotland one day to see if I feel the connection. I don't know much about my mothers line to which I feel most connected. Simple acts of cooking, growing things in the garden and sewing make me feel connected to all the women of my line. Thanks for a lovely post to make me think of them.
ReplyDeleteI visited Dunvegan castle and the Isle of Skye with my parents, when I was about fourteen. It's a beautiful island. Then we went over by ferry, but now I think there's a bridge.
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