Once upon a time, in a generation or two back from now, my ancestors were born, bred and continually resided in Devon. It wasn’t until my paternal grandparents moved away for work that any of my Maunder family line lived outside the county. And so today, I headed back and through the homeland. In fact, I am now sitting in Cornwall, in the FWL SW Office. But I am only just in Cornwall….
For many decades, my Granny Maunder (and initially in their childhood, my father and uncle) lived in Tavistock (a lovely market town). Moving away briefly to Leicester, she returned in the early mid-1950’s to Tavistock ‘with family’ and continued life there well into the 2000’s, until her departure. I have always felt an allegiance to the county, despite never having lived in it.
FWL has offices all over the world as well as the various regional offices within the United Kingdom. I try to visit them all on a regular basis (well, the ones here in the UK!)…. and the roots of FWL are now firmly planted across the globe. There is no country which is beyond us. Denmark? Belize? Cambodia? Gambia? South Africa? China? No matter how hard people try to hide from us, we can locate people for whatever reason, wherever they are in the world.
Where are your roots? Do you have a particular county/country where your family foundations are laid? Which documents are you desperate to locate? Are there myths/legends in your family history which you would love to prove or disprove?
I will hopefully find time to visit my ancestral home during my time in Cornwall/Devon and pay homage to my ancestors – some of whom have gravestones and some do not. It is sad to think that some of them have passed away without memorial. At least I know that they are there (in a particular place, known to me) …. but it would be great to have something (a tablet or similar) to recognise their presence.
Hmmm…. something to consider for the future, when pennies allow.
