My Ancestors Stories

My mum was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and although we always knew that her paternal ancestors were from Ireland we had presumed that her maternal ancestors were all Scottish. However as you can see in her birthplace tree below, research revealed that one branch of her maternal tree was actually English and another was also Irish! Since 2017, Mum has taken several DNA tests with different companies to help me with my research. Over the years, she's become more and more Scottish each time Ancestry update their DNA Ethnicity Estimates. AncestryDNA calculates ethnicity estimates by comparing your DNA to a reference panel made up of thousands of DNA samples from people with a long family history in one place or within one group.   Over time, Ancestry tests more people in these reference panels which is why we get these updates every 12-18 months.  Mum's results have gone from 53% Scotland to 75% Scotland.  When you look at the Ancestry map it depicts the long history of movement amo

Wenlock Priory I've written previously about my paternal 2 x great grandmother, Clara Williams and my quest to find her father.  I've had much more success locating Clara's maternal family who were from Shropshire. I was lucky to spend a week in Shropshire in July 2017 and was able to visit several of my ancestral villages.    Charles Plimmer, my 6 x great grandfather was baptised 7 February 1764 at Holy Trinity Church, Much Wenlock.  Charles was the eldest child of seven known children of Thomas Plimmer and his wife, Rebecca Jones. Much Wenlock is a market town and parish in Shropshire, situated between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth.   Much Wenlock contains 104 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England, including many early 15th century timber framed buildings, the Guildhall and Wenlock Priory.  Much Wenlock township (above) Wenlock Priory (below) To the modern day visitor it is a lovely well maintained historic town, however a visit to the l