Do you remember the trio of Ronnie Corbet, Ronnie Barker and John Cleese in the brilliant 'class' sketch, you should find it here. Well I have been finding things out about my background. I am dismissed by my grand daughter as a person without family background because I am illegitimate and got adopted at birth. My childhood is of little importance here but I eventually was allowed information on my birth mother when I was very much older.
Her maiden name was Colclough, Oh I said that means I am related to the family that brought out Colclough china. But in my usual skeptical mode, I feel that family trees just spread and spread. So when I was made to have a DNA test it turned out that I was 77% English, the rest being European 11%, 9% Irish, Scottish and Welsh, and a bit of Baltic tossed into the mix. The revelation came that the 77% came from the Midlands, and West Midlands - Staffordshire where I was originally born.
Now as words always intrigue me I wanted to know the breakdown of Colclough. Clough is a deep ravine and Col apparently comes from coal, denoting a dark swarthy man. Although Col could come to mean cold. There is a mention of a Colclough/Cowclough, Whitworth up here in Lancaster and according to the Wiki this is where it originated. Well blow me down Whitworth is just up the road, so have I returned to the place of my ancestors? Alright I know I don't take things seriously. But.................
On looking the surname up, I find that my very 'Englishness' is derived from Anglo/Saxon inheritance but that from 1690 there were a bagatelle of Colclough baronets, all who served as members of parliament. And not only that but six of them had the first name of 'Caesar'. Now that is intriguing and worth some thought. Are we seeing a lazy form of naming, or were all these sons expected to be men of statue in the eyes of the public. Why Caesar? early conqueror of Britain, though he sailed away without his wishes fulfilled.
A dark and swarthy man? Then what happened?
ReplyDeleteI have a double barrelled name, the first of which I don't use but it begins with 'Col..'. So, I wonder if that is also coal related, or being strongly of Scottish heritage, perhaps cold.
I hadn't seen that sketch. I didn't know the two Ronnies ever connected with Cleese.
"A dark and swarthy man? Then what happened?" He bought a razor and things changed. I take a lot of what I read with a pinch of salt. And you will see that Colclough also comes from Cowclough, though you wouldn't keep your cattle down a steep ravine.
DeleteCoal! They would welcome you with open arms in Scunthorpe.
ReplyDeleteThought they were turning over to electricity? Perhaps I should go to Newcastle.
DeleteMy sister is the one who is studying our ancestry and trying to find out about those that came before us. We have a few family "tales" that have been passed down but when my siblings and I speak of them we sometimes remember slightly different versions of the stories so who knows what is the truth! My ancestors came from Italy, Ireland and Poland.
ReplyDeleteI think the stories are there to entertain Ellen, and over time gets changed. I expect your family finds it exciting following the Italian and other countries traces of ancestry.
Deletei am a Weaver.... and i live in a weaver's cottage..... coincidence?
ReplyDeleteIt probably means your roots are here and there are quite a lot of weaver cottages around.
ReplyDeleteI am late to the party, so to speak, but you know, when I read that you were made to have a DNA test! Argh! Tell your granddaughter that you are a woman of mystery!!!
ReplyDeleteActually finding out your DNA can be useful Debby, for instance I learnt the story I had been given over my lifetime was in actual fact not true.
DeleteMy home state of Vermont [USA] has only in recent decades dropped the designation of 'legitimate' or otherwise from birth certificates. In researching various families I'm amused when I find a birth cert stating a child is legitimate when I've also found marriage details that indicate the legal union was accomplished only shortly prior to the birth of the baby! Adoption records are very difficult to obtain either by the adoptee or descendants even years after the fact.
ReplyDeleteA paternal cousin of mine always knew her mother was adopted. Years after her marriage to a young man whose family had been my neighbors, he and his siblings learned, practically a death bed confession, that his Mom was also adopted and knew nothing of her biological family except the town where they lived. I was able finally to identify the family, although the certificate of adoption could not be had. Sometimes it might be better not to know when the circumstances are sordid [?] I didn't report all that I unearthed.
Genetics, dna, family connections--perhaps for the adoptee there may always be a sense of something missing, but he or she is no less a person.
Yes Sharon they made it very difficult to get details of adoption, I presume to protect the family at a later date. But it left a lot of adoptees feeling lost, even though they may have been adopted into good families. As for the rigid terms of whether a child was conceived before or after marriage, now that hardly matters.
ReplyDelete