Tracing family histories is a journey of discovery, each and every time. People start knowing little about their heritage and often have stories which have been passed down the generations – are they fact or fiction? The journey can be smooth without too many major ‘events’ to write home about, or there may be many a story to be told.
Much like our journey to Polperro today. A day down at the FWL South West Office and, having cleared a considerable amount of work as well as completing the necessary team training, a visit to the beach was required. It would be rude not to! So, our chauffeur prepped and the Sat Nav (not Gertrude) primed and ready for action, we set off on our journey of discovery. All went well – a few slow moving vehicles but what do you expect in Cornwall? – until the Sat Nav decided to send us down a few small lanes instead of the perhaps more obvious A-road route. Whilst it was a delightful detour, it was rather narrow at times and I think our chauffeur was jolly lucky not to meet any other vehicles travelling in the opposite direction. That would certainly have required some entertaining reversing! Rather like family histories require at times….
The odd U-turn or two…. a detour off the beaten track ….a bit of backtracking…. an unexpected pothole (or two or even more if in England!) along the road…. We’ve all been there on our family history searches. It’s an enormous jigsaw puzzle just waiting to be pieced together and it’s never ending. There are no edges. Some pieces seem to fit for a short time and then you realise that maybe they don’t in reality.
However, the important thing is the weird and wonderful jigsaw puzzles we can make as a result of our journeys. What was the picture you were expecting to create when you began? Perhaps not the one you finished up with in the end?!
[Lovely day down at the SW Office – researching tomorrow in Cornwall Record Office and then returning to HQ.]
Source image: © Kirsty Gray, 2015
