I have come to an impasse with my family history research. Firstly, I haven’t really been able to go back more than a generation with my Kirby ancestors than when I started. And all I know is that my 4x great grandfather was a gent called George of Kensall Green, Middlesex. He may have many descendants, but only Kirby male ones seem to be via my father who was an only child. So it’s not clear whether anyone else out there is likely to have any other clues for us other than their DNA.
My mother’s Birtwistle line has been traced back to Ralph De Bridtwisell born about 1160, but much was already known about her family so they were less of a mystery – thanks in large part to her not so distant cousin Billy who wrote a couple of books about the family history and their cotton manufacturing heritage. That said there were some fascinating discoveries thanks to Steve Robinson and Kathryn Neville about my maternal grandmother’s family and relations. The photographs, family trees and biographies they shared really helped bring those families to life.
I also enjoyed discovering more about my not too Scottish relatives. My great grandmother on my father’s side was a Maitland. Through her I discovered disputed clan chiefships, as well as descent from aristocracy and monarchy that could be traced all the way back to Adam & Eve – hence the tongue-in-cheek title of this blog. But as mentioned in my last post, that is not altogether surprising because as you go back further through the generations the greater number of grandparents you have relative to the population at that time. And so there’s a much greater probability of royal descent as UK soap star Danny Dyer discovered in BBC genealogical documentary series Who Do You Think You Are.
And it’s that exponential number of grandparents that lies at heart of my impasse because unlike Pokemon it’s unlikely that I’ll catch them all. That begs the questions which ones get followed up on and why. Answering those related questions is complicated because the further back I go the less connected I feel to those I find. That’s because there’s either little about those ancestors other than who begat who, or they are figures of significant historical importance so what’s known about them is pretty comprehensive.
What I have also discovered over time, is that it is the social aspect of family history I have enjoyed the most. That includes all the back and forth with my cousin Hamish who has amassed a gigantic family tree of related families. But also the long list of others who have connected to me via this blog over the years to shared what they have found including stories of murder and other ancestor mysteries to be solved.
But I am now struggling with if and how I take this forward. Who knows maybe there will be another catalyst soon to inspire me to do some more research… perhaps through DNA-type connection some of my family and relatives have instigated.
