Wednesday, May 9, 2012

SAY GOODBYE TO ANCIENT FAMILY PROTOCOLS
Remember in my last installment: There are many families that love to pass down stories about their ancestors.
My mother, not so much.  Her siblings have stories, she just can't recall them.
(Note to self, contact my aunties)
sigh.
Here's the problem: (I'll say this up front - maybe save you from the tedium of reading)
My maternal grandfather was a rebel.  From, oh, say, 1910 or sooo, he chose another life.  He chose to emigrate from England to Canada. (I can't be sure of the exact time frame, it may be later - was he dodging the call to fight in WWI?)  I'm speculating.  But to the point, he really wanted nothing to do with his former life, or family.  He's not found on record in the Mormon Church Records of Ancestry.... this is a total drag!
So what do I know so far: William Thomas Emery was born with 5 other siblings.  (I'll get the birth order right when I reach my aunt)
His mother's father owned a rock quarry - This makes some sense, since Lyme Regis is recognized the world over as a place of Jurassic period fossils, along a very rocky coast line.  The Dorset and East Devon coast are a near continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous rock exposures..  In short it's a World Heritage site.
Now here's the really fascinating add-on to his family:  His mother's father was also (as it was told to us when we were young) Lord Mayor of Lyme Regis.
You would think it would be useful to get the maiden name of his mother correct, right?  I'm working on it, but, eh, no, not at this point.  Memory fades with my mother.  So I hope to hear from my aunt to vet more of the story AND to recover his mother's maiden name.
The point of all this is he chose to walk away from his family, and never to contact them again.
Never, ever.
What happened?

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