Week 52: Me, myself and I #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

Looking back from a future I will never know, what will my descendants know about ME?

I will have left quite a substantial family tree for immediate future generations, if they are able to access it, so they will know that at the very least I was the family historian/storyteller. My children know quite a bit about my early life and we are close, so I feel they know me well. If they have children, will they pass on what they know? Will their children even be interested? And as for generations after that, the immediate knowledge will diminish and may even be lost sooner than I think. I can't start to imagine the amount of information I could have had even about my own parents had I thought to ask them while I still could, never mind my grandparents or great grandparents. Lives all gone, lifetimes forgotten.

And what have I discovered about MYSELF in doing this #52ancestors challenge?

I have learned that I like the discipline of 'having to' produce a piece of writing on a given topic. Taking part has let me share stories I had already discovered and also do deeper research on others to learn their tales - and I enjoy that very much. I also have learned that although it is great to write and share stories with others, it is also fun just doing it for MYSELF.

So, how will #52ancestors affect what I do next?

Firstly, I intend to try and keep up the challenge in 2024. It could be that I will run out of stories to tell or it could be that I have to look further into the branches on my tree to find new ones. I know that even if I don't manage another 52 I will keep writing on my blog, the first blog I have ever written!

I'd like to thank Amy Johnson Crow for organising #52ancestorsin52weeks and of course I'd like to thank each and everyone of you out there, who have come across any (or all 52!) of my blog entries. Maybe I have inspired some of you to to research your own family. You don't have to build a tree or blog. Just ask questions and discover the stories!

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2025 Week 26 : Favourite name #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

As well as researching my own family, one of the other trees I have spent a lot of time on is that of my daughter-in-law, Lucy. Whereas my heritage is Scots and Irish, Lucy's is English and therefore some of the names I came across were quite different to those found in my own tree. One of my first favourites was a Francis Badger who appeared in the 1851 census for England! He wasn't actually a relative, but an apprentice to Lucy's 3 x great grandfather and who also lodged with the family. I did wonder how that surname came about - did the original Badger have a funnily shaped face? or perhaps a white streak through his hair?? Or was he just an annoying person?? I'll never know, but it was fun to find him! Francis Badger's entry at the bottom in the 1851 census for England. Source: Ancestry.co.uk However, my all time favourite name - and character - from Lucy's tree is a man named Golden Bridge ! He is Lucy's 5x great grandfather and he was born in Essex...

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A few years ago, I came into the possession of a family bible. It was the family bible of my paternal grandparents, John McAra and Christina Walker. Until her death in 2018, the bible had been in the hands of my Aunt Inez, widow of my Uncle Will McAra. When I started enquiring as to its whereabouts, I found that it was her grandson, John, who now had it. John himself had no real interest in it at all, so he was quite happy to hand it over to me. However, it was, to say the least, in a bit of a state. The front cover was completely detached and there were many loose pages as the spine of the book was also damaged and detached. I had no choice but to take it to a book repairer in Glasgow, where it was repaired as best it could be. The bible itself had been originally published in Glasgow in the late 19th century. In Victorian times it was common for Christian families to have such a large bible in which they could record events such as births, marriages and deaths. The one I have al...

2026 Week 2: A record which adds colour #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

My husband's paternal grandmother, Janina Ciupka, was born in 1902 in a small town, Nieszawa, north of Warsaw, Poland, on the banks of the River Vistula. She was the youngest of 12 children, only 8 of whom survived to adulthood. At this time Poland had been occupied by their three neighbours, Germany, Russia and Austria and Warsaw was under Russian control. Her family were very wealthy, owning granaries, bakeries, brick factories and carriage factories and they also bred white horses for the Russian Tzars. As with her elder siblings, Janina was taught by a private governess and the family had many servants, including cooks and cleaners. She obviously was leading a very privileged life. There was little known about the period of her life from about 1909-1919, The family had moved south eastwards to Haczow around 1909. The reasons for the move seems to have been a combination of business and politics, as Haczow was under Austrian rule, considered more liberal than that of the ...

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