"Hello Sid, you found us!" said Dr C as Buddha sat down beside them in the library. "Yes, it took a while since we used to meet in the wine bar and now you spend more time in the library, is this to be our usual meeting place?" "Sure Sid," I said, "we need to … Continue reading Buddha on ancestors, twitter ………
Tag: bloggerlife
Imaginative Ancestry: 3. Caxton’s England, 1422-1491
My ancestors may not have known William Caxton but they sure as heck were influenced by him, as were all of YOUR ancestors if you live in the English speaking world. His machine did more than just print “things”...... it prepared the way for a new language, literary English, in which multiple dialects were unified … Continue reading Imaginative Ancestry: 3. Caxton’s England, 1422-1491
Imaginative Ancestry: 2. Chaucer’s England 1340-1400
The 14th century in England brought about social change that was possibly unrivalled until the era of the Industrial Revolution. And this is the point of going so far back in time when researching your family tree, because the changes begun here would affect the lives of my earliest ancestors, traced so far, only a … Continue reading Imaginative Ancestry: 2. Chaucer’s England 1340-1400
Imaginative Ancestry: 1. The shifting fabric
“Our imagination craves to behold our ancestors as they really were, going about their daily business and daily pleasure. In fact the whole appeal of history (and ancestry) (my addition) is imaginative, and without social history especially, economic history is barren and political history is unintelligible” These words are taken from the opening chapter of … Continue reading Imaginative Ancestry: 1. The shifting fabric
The life of Sarah Elizabeth in an English workhouse, 1867-1874.
The streets of Illogan echoed to the steady clip clop of the old nag pulling Joseph’s cart. Beside him sat his old and dear aunt, Sarah Elizabeth, still unmarried at the ripe old age of 75, now destined to spend the rest of her days in The Workhouse. They sat in silence, neither of them … Continue reading The life of Sarah Elizabeth in an English workhouse, 1867-1874.
