Ancestor Approved Award

Thank you to Allin at Australian Genealogy Journal (ausgenjourneys) for nominating the Anglers Rest blog for the Ancestor Approved Award. I do feel really honoured to have received the nomination.

This Award was created by Leslie Ann Ballou at Ancestors Live Here in 2010, who asks two things of those who receive it:

1. They should write 10 surprising, humbling, or enlightening aspects of their research.
2. Pass the award on to 10 other researchers whose family history blogs are making their ancestors proud.

Ten enlightening, humbling or surprising aspects of my family history research:

1. I was very surprised to research that my own Grandparents, George Butcher and Lilian Edith Matthews were 6th Cousins. Something that they never knew in their lifetimes.
2. It was surprising to establish that for 30 years we had been paying our respects to my Great Great Grandparents, Charles and Annie Prudience Butcher (nee Harris) at the wrong grave.
3. It is humbling that all our ancestors lived through such hardships in order for the next generation to survive. We owe so much to our ancestors.
4. I was surprised to see exactly what material was left behind by our ancestors. An example of this is the picture drawn by Esther Bellasis in Australia circa 1803. Truly wonderful.
5. I was surprised to see that one of my Grandmother's uncles - Alfred Elstone said to New York as a young man, in 1890. He did return to England where he married Rose Butcher of Merrow, Guildford.
6. I am always surprised just how little some of my ancestors moved around. Both my Grandparents ancestry is centred around the Home Counties borders of Surrey, Hampshire and Sussex (apart from one line who comes from Warwickshire). Movement of no more than 40 miles over 300 years.
7. My plan for 2011 is to create a weekly post for this blog called Ancestor of the Week. I am quite surprised by just how much I am enjoying travelling back over the research steps I have already travelled, so that I can produce posts that document a great deal of my family history.The second surprise of this is what data and information had been unnoticed the first time around! Which just shows looking with a fresh pair of eyes is always a good thing.
8. I was surprised that the elusive Henry Budd may have been born into a very nearby rural parish that I had not expected. How could he have done this to me?!! I really have over the last 20 years or so become quite attached to him.
9. I was surprised to see that my Great Great Uncle William Arthur West had been married twice. Firstly to Caroline Josephine Kimberley in 1887. She died in Eshowe South Africa in 1894. William West was a soldier in the Zulu War, having joined the Army in 1879. His second wife was Emma Jane Ellis whom he married in 1897. I was even more surprised when I started to research William more, to find that he was Emma Jane's first Cousin.
10. I am very humbled by two photos that I have in my collection. The first is of the son of William Arthur & Emma Jane West, William James West born 1898 in Hampshire. This is a photo of William James as he went of to Europe to fight in the First World War. Sadly William died aged just 20 years.

The second photo is of his mother who is wearing, with pride and deep sadness the loss of her only son, a pendant bearing the photo on the left. This is a really humbling fact of my family history and we have plans to head to France and pay our respects to William James.

Ten other researchers whose Blogs are making their ancestors proud

1. Blundering Blindly Backwards
2. Kentucky Kinfolk
3. Cruwys News
4. Our Family Quilt
5. Leaves for Trees
6. Twigs of Yore
7. Little Bytes of Life
8. Random Notes
9. Tangled Trees
10. A Brummie Family Tree

There are so many humbling and surprising things that we find along the way when researching the lives of our ancestors. Likewise there are so many fascinating blogs and websites that document other families. Choosing ten was quite a challenge!