A progress report of sorts

I have been researching my family tree for some. When I first started there was no such thing as the internet and I originally had to write letters to people in the hope that they would respond favourably. I had many responses from the Wigan and Burnley area, some were positive and some were not and some were interested and some more disheartening. Most of all they had a weariness about them because at that time people were just beginning to become interested in trees and genealogy as a whole. I think many local vicars were at the point where they were transferring the records that they held to the local county archive service. I think many of the local clergy were quite delighted to rid themselves of these records and the contact they had from people like me. Some letters from local clergyman were lacking in Christian charity whilst some were quite delighted that someone had actually written to them in the first place. One took one's chances and wrote. I was reminded of the idea of casting one's bread upon the water.

Of course, there was always the possibility that one could visit Wigan and Burnley. However, it was such a long way to go and even when I got there I wasn't sure that I would know what to look for or where to go as the starting point. So, I started to research in the paper record and started to ask for certificates. Births, marriages and deaths started to flow into the house. At that time the price of certificates was, by modern standards, quite cheap. Although to a youngish person starting out in life, the cost of endless certificates became daunting. To say the least, life also got in the way and a great many things happened as a great many things happen to everyone else. Interest in genealogy and family history ebbed and flowed and sometimes 'things' were forgotten only to be resurrected at a later time when life had settled down and the past became more pressing than the present. The certificates would be brought out and analysed and thought about and examined before being brought back in the box in which I retained them. This box was carried dutifully from house to house as I moved from one home to the next as part of my job. The ancestors stayed with me in the form of these certificates and at some point I knew that I would put it all together and make some sort of unity out of all the little pieces of information and all the little bits of rubbish that I had collected. This makes true the idea of 'never throw anything away'. I should never have thrown away some of the things that I had to throw away but in various house moves little pieces of paper became lost and detached and discarded. These many little pieces of information I regret losing because now when I do have time to sit down and resurrect the whole story they are a gap that cannot be filled.

Needless to say, new pieces of information had been found and I rejoice at the ability of the Internet to provide new information as archives go online, people become more interactive and information is out there. Like pebbles laid out on the beach, information about the ancestors becomes more and more accessible. We have cousins in Australia and the United States who are delighted to find their ancestors. Perhaps more than people in the United Kingdom, Americans and Australians have a greater interest in their roots and heritage and I can understand that. There is perhaps also a time in peoples lives when roots become more important and it seems significant that many genealogist and family history experts are older people. I suppose they had the time to dedicate to such a time consuming passion and the determination to look at a screen in the hope that something useful will pop out. Older people do have the time, although they also have lives and retirements which are to be lived and enjoyed. Despite this I think that genealogy and family history is something that can be enjoyed by everyone and it speaks to us of our roots and heritage. Genealogy also speaks to us of our past but also it says something about our future. Where others have been; so too may we go in the future.

The Finch family history is in many ways a little bit of a roller coaster. I have certainly in some manner of speaking been disappointed that I have not yet found a British Duke in the ancestors. I never really expected to find a British Duke (or any Duke for that matter). However, all of the genealogy programme's lead us to believe in some sort of gateway ancestor that will lead us into that possible nobility and aristocracy and sometimes I think we are all a little disappointed not to find that link. The Finch family has been a disappointment in this matter although the disappointment is perhaps, in reality, of my own making rather than that created by the ancestors who lived their own lives and made their mark on their society in their own way and in their own time. My disappointment is nothing in comparison to the daily achievements they made in their own lives. They got up in the morning among often grinding poverty and they went to work in often terrible conditions before returning home to live the lives to which they had no alternative. Our ancestors were remarkable creatures and my own little disappointments at not finding 'nobility' are quickly changed to a strange sort of delight that they, as a group, had survived. So, I do not yet have the gateway ancestor and I cannot claim to be part of any great noble house although I do hope and I do look out for such an ancestor and if anyone knows of such then please speak up I am only too willing to hear it.

In reality, like many other families, the Finch family is often clothed in obscurity and it does not pop-out of the historical record easily. We are coalminers and we are factory workers. The history of the Finch family and those who married into the family is written in carbon. Our lives are sometimes brief and later we rest in the Lower Ince Cemetery before a branch of the family transferred over to Burnley. So far I have not come across anybody that is famous or important or noteworthy although increasingly that has a sort of reassurance to it. Although we have no one of historical importance in our family it also means that neither do we have generals who have been responsible for the mass murder of their fellow citizens and neither do we have religious zealots who lead the Church of England (other denominations also exist!) from time to time. If members of the Finch family made mistakes then they made mistakes were themselves and their own family rather than whole communities. There is something a little comforting in that. It is better to be responsible for one's own mistakes rather than to find them writ large upon the pages of history. Still, it would be nice to find one of 'us' that had made it.

Ancestry.com has made the whole process a lot easier. We are able to share information and I know that over the past few months I have had some wonderful contacts from family members around the globe who have contacted me with their own contributions towards the tree that you can see. It is wonderful to be able to work collaboratively in such an intensive manner towards a common goal. The Finch family has moved on as a result of such collaborative endeavour and I look forward to further work in this area using Ancestry.com. The weblog has also proved very useful in sharing information and raising the profile of the Finch family that originates in Standish and Wigan. I hope that using the website 'Find a Grave' will, similarly, raise the profile of the family and encourage others to add their own contribution to build up our knowledge family members around the world. Raising the profile on the Internet may mean that we become more noticeable and others start to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of this ancient Lancastrian family.

So, research which began in the past continues and picks up pace over time. Internet research has built on pre-existing paper documentation gathered so many years earlier and is augmented by contemporary contributions. Knowledge about the Finch family, its origins and contribution to society develops and little historical questions are resolved. In terms of a progress report I think that the past year has been extremely important, rewarding and interesting and I look forward in continuing this research in collaboration with others.