How is your life like your ancestors?

[sarahsean]

My family travelled a great deal during their life.
My grandfather lived in Australia for 7 years before moving back to England and then later emigrating to Canada with his family.
My grandmother emigrated to America back to England where she met my grandfather and then later emigrated to Canada.
My father emigrated to Canada with his family and then returned to England where he met and married my mother.
My mother, father and sister emigrated to New Zealand for 2 years before returning back to England.
My sister lived in America for 4 years with her husband before returning to England.
I emigrated to Ireland from England and live there still with my family.

So I would say emigration runs in the family!!

How have you found your life to be similar to that of your ancestors?

Sarah

[Lydart]

Most of my ancestors seemed to live fairly sedentary lives; except for Great Aunt Lizzie ... she was the one who got up and went in the 1890's ... to Canada, and travelled around it with her husband in a covered wagon ...

... and I've had itchy feet too.   Wanted to travel to Africa after learning about the explorers Livingston, Speke, Stanley, etc as a child ... and it was reading Karen Blixens 'Out of Africa' about her farm in Kenya that finally got me there in the late 60's ... and there I stayed for 11 years !   I have since been back to other parts of Africa 3 times, as well as the Middle East and Canada ... and the feet are itching again ... before its too late ...

[Viktoria]

Not exactly but it was a family story that my maternal grandfather had  some Belgian blood.
I went to live in Belgium for almost twelve years and everyone said "what a coincidence"however since getting interested in family history I found out that my great grandmother was born in Antwerp,
which is in Belgium but when she was born was still in Holland. Both parents were English so we can only surmise her father was there in business.The pity is I did not know that when I lived in Belgium or I might have been able to find out more.So grandad did not have any Belgian blood ,just his mother was born there ----of such are family legends made. In this case more a leg end!!Viktoria.

[GailS]

Hello all,

I have Great Grandparents who travelled around NZ quite a bit, and I intend to find out why!  (I have an inkling)

The other occupations my families seem to have are bakers and teachers, the teaching line spans 4 genarations.

I never made it to be a teacher, but I sure love baking 

[Ruskie]

When I first read this post I couldn't think of any way that any aspect of my life was remotely like any of my ancestors. But after reading Gail's reply, I thought about my children and their teacher ancestors. They have:
3 grandparents
2 aunts
1 great aunt
2 great grandparents
2 great great grandparents

PS. I predict that one of my daughters will carry on the tradition. 

[sarahsean]

Hello everyone,

Interesting to read the replies. It really gives you great admiration for your ancestors and their achievements. Just imagine what the journey was like for your Great Aunt Lydart it puts getting on a plane into the shade! 

Also very interesting to see that all your ancestors were teachers Ruskie a good profession to be in at any time!

Sarah

[Nick29]

My life is not at all similar to my ancestors, and I am extremely grateful for that 

The reason for this is that going back 4 generations in my father's line, I don't see too much happiness.   I am the first person in this line for over 200 years that could really say that they have had a really happy life.

My g.g. grandfather was a labourer, who died of TB in the workhouse at 61 years of age.

My g. grandfather was a bricklayer, who died of pneumonia at the age of 41, two years after the birth of his 8th child.

My grandfather was a bricklayer, whose wife died giving birth to twins (who survived) at the age of 34.  He turned from a loving family man to one who sought solice at the bottom of a bottle.

My father was left motherless at the age of 6, and he was brought up by an aunt who was widowed after only 5 years of marriage, and who did not have any children of her own.  He was so miserable that he ran away to join the navy.  My father's first wife died a slow death from cancer of the ear, leaving him to bring up their son as best he could.

On the other hand, I have never wanted for anything, and both of my parents were there for me right into adulthood.  I did lose my father when I was only 35, but it didn't leave me emotionally scarred. I have been married to the same woman for over 36 years, and we are very happy together.  I have never been out of work, and at the moment I run a small business which provides a good standard of living. 

So, I am really very glad that I have "bucked the trend" in my father's family line (I hope !) 

 

[LizzieW]

Well apart from the fact that my ancestors moved house frequently and so did I, there's not much similarity between us.  Unfortunately, they moved because they were poor and had to keep moving on, we moved sometimes just for the sake of it and other times because my husband's job moved.

There were butchers, bakers, hairdressers, shopkeepers amongst the ag labs, but apart from one son who trained as a butcher but then gave up, neither I nor any of my children have followed those professions.  However, in my mother's generation there were butchers, bakers, hairdressers and shopkeepers, so I suppose it is only that my children have much more choice that they didn't carry on the traditions.

Lizzie

Modified - Just realised that one of my sons has worked all his life in supermarkets and loves retail so in that respect he has followed the shopkeepers and I suppose in an earlier age he might have had his own shop.

[Ruskie]

Also very interesting to see that all your ancestors were teachers Ruskie a good profession to be in at any time!

Sarah

Yes - honorable, but possibly more difficult these days I think.  Coincidentally, the subject of becoming a teacher was raised independently by my daughter earlier this evening (she's 14). 

I actually believe that some of my ancestors were more courageous and led more interesting lives than I do (for a time at least). Harder? Most definitely yes.  I believe some of them were miserable much of the time (and that includes those who were a little better off financially). Long story.