I have always had a close affinity with the Sea, I am at my most happiest when I am walking along an empty beach, with the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
Come rain or shine, Winter or Summer, a walk along the beach is one of the most pleasurable feelings. Even better when you can feel the sand between your toes and the water lapping on your feet.
It conjures up idyllic thoughts and feelings…….a peaceful and calm place that I love more than any other.
Not long after I started researching my family tree, I had this romantic idea that I must come from a long line of seafaring Ancestors, maybe some Smugglers inter-mixed for good measure as well. I am just reading Nathan Dylan Goodwin’ wonderful book, The Wicked Trade, so why not have a Smuggler in the midsts as well!
All of this couldn’t be any further from the truth! I do have a few distant ancestors who were Thames Lightermen, but that’s sadly where my Seafaring Ancestry ends! Well at the moment anyway……I almost feel cheated that I don’t have any “Sea Blood” in me after all! So I’m not the “old sea-dog” that I thought I might be.
Has anybody else had a feeling or connection like this, either to a place or trade etc that they just cannot find a connection to, or is it just me? I would love to hear from you if you do……..
“There be some pieces of eight if you do”, or I’ll make “ya Landlubbers walk the plank” instead.
Here are just a few, literally a tiny snippet of all of the hundreds of pictures of beaches that I have, I hope you enjoy them.
The Chiddicks Family Tree 
My wife had exactly this feeling as she loves being by the sea and after being in industrial Lancashire all our lives we now live with an incredible view of the sea here in Somerset. She is of Irish descent and my line appears to have my family specifically created for the cotton mills of Lancashire. So on the face of it when I started doing the family research over 10 years ago I did not expect too much excitement or surprises but I was very, very mistaken. It turned out to be the best episode of WDTYYA (if they would make it). An area my wife specifically loved and always had a genuine feeling about was the area around Porthleven in Cornwall where we holidayed quite often. Everytime we went there she always’ felt at home’ and could not explain it. I was amazed when I discovered part of her direct line going back to Truro, Helston and Redruth and realised that this area was in a sense ‘home’as regards her English line. It formed a large part of the story when I came to write my book on our Family history. Funny how a place can sometimes seem to be in our genes. So maybe not quite what you are after as a response as in our case the feeling was true but maybe you have yet to discover that connection to the sea. I am enjoying your 52 week challenge and might have a go at that myself when I get back into family research.
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Thanks Neal for sharing that remarkable story. It does feel like home, as did Dublin, when I visited there a few years back. As you say, maybe my Seafaring Ancestry is something that I have yet to discover. Maybe there is a link and connection that I just haven’t discovered, you never know!
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Never had a this is me moment.
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I have always had the same feeling and your post was exactly how I felt. Right down to the ancestry searches! For the last 10 years I have beeniving on a houseboat which means I’ve found my own place at last.!
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Oh wow how spooky is that! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, maybe I need to buy myself a houseboat!
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Perhaps wait another 40 yrs. No rush!
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I don’t think I’ve got another 40 years left in me!!
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I am the same. I hate to be away from the water but my grandfather was in the merchant navy and Dad’s side was full of naval people. It is funny to think that so much of who we are seems to stem from our genes.
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I’m hopeful I have yet to find my nautical ancestors!
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beautiful pics! I too have an affinity for the sea, practically grew up on Cape Hatteras, NC! Would you be interested to know that, if I made family connections on the Morris side of the tree right, Bjorn Ironside is a direct ancestor of mine? I was astonished, my dad? Not so much!
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Thank you, you cant beat being by the Sea, it’s where I feel most at home! I am always interested to know family connections, do you mean the Norse Viking himself? or the actor that plays the part?? have you taken a DNA test yourself???
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I mean the Viking…I have taken the DNA test, and it does show some ancestors from that area… Russia, Norway, Sweden… I can’t know for certain… but I do know that my great, great, great grandfather came from Wales, his name was Thomas Morris. and from what I could gather, he was a direct decendent of William Morris
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Nearly Everyone will have a percentage of Viking blood in them and it’s interesting that you have connections in Wales, albeit that Morris is a relatively common name in Wales, have you started to trace your Family Tree?
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I’ve got it on my heritage, right or wrong… with over 14,000 people! another thing I found, I grew up hearing stories about how we were (distantly) related to Princess Diana, having made some of the connections I’ve made, if they’re right, I don’t doubt it at all
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Sometimes there’s an element of truth to every Story! It’s worth finding out
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I have always had the feeling that I don’t fit like you my time is running out I am soon to be 84 and have not yet discovered why.
I had a teacher once who told me I had a book in me but I never knew what brought her to that conclusion. I wish I knew.I did love school.The last day of school when all my friends were so happy I was sad,
My ancestors are Lancashire mill workers,farmers,gardeners,railroad porters the like.
My granddaughter said the Mill workers fit in with my sewing and knitting abilities maybe she is on to something.
This is an interesting subject Paul.
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Thanks Isobell I really think it’s a fascinating subject, there are definitely things we learn from our DNA, but there are also lots of influences that we learn from our surroundings. It’s the old nature versus nurture argument. Have we suppressed skills that given the right circumstances flourish? Who knows? I know I absolutely feel at home and my best by the beach, why I have no idea!
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