52 Ancestors 2022 Week 1

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2022 - Week 1

Foundations

The foundations of my interest in family history are the stories.

I was lucky to grow up with parents who talked about their childhoods and told their family stories.  My mother was a legendary storyteller who told stories that were funny or sad with the attendant laughter or tears as part of the tale.  My father was less emotional, but I realised when I began to think about this theme, that I knew a great deal about his family from the stories he told.  He was particularly attached to his mother’s family, the Whites, and very proud of their contribution to the life of his home town, Lismore, NSW.

So, when I began to research the family history, it was to flesh out the bones of these stories from my childhood.  To know more about the people who they spoke of, and perhaps to verify too that the stories were true.

I was curious about the people I had no stories for.  Who, for example, was my maternal great grandmother who had disappeared so totally from my grandmother’s life in her early childhood that she was believed to be dead, only to reappear when her death was announced some 46 years later?

And what was the real reason for my paternal grandmother’s often-voiced antipathy towards my great-uncle Michael?  Was he really an alcoholic wastrel?

Over 40 years of research I have found the answers to both of these questions and uncovered many more secrets and lies within the family stories.

In 2022, I will be looking for more.