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Pathways from the Past
by Val Atkinson
Article ID: 19, First Published: January 2005Once my husband and I went to Acomb Youth Hostel just outside Hexham in Northumberland. We walked the two miles or so from the town up to the hostel, and it was amazing how soon civilisation was left behind, and we were in the wilds.
We struggled down a hugely overgrown path, with nettles and weeds higher than my shoulders, and I kept asking if it was the right way to Acomb.
My husband finally said firmly with the long experience, wisdom and patience he’d acquired while being married to someone who just HAS to know where she is:
“We’ve joined a very old path FROM Acomb. It isn’t often used because people have forgotten about it, but it’s the quickest path to be on for travellers needing Acomb because that’s where it came from".
Sure enough, after a while, we emerged into the village street with the hostel in front of us. The path FROM Acomb was a true path.
Next day we followed the path FROM the place where North and South River Tyne join to flow to the sea, and YES we got there.
I felt confident just knowing that paths led FROM places and we spent all that holiday on them. We always arrived safely.
Each of the paths was true, and led us to the place of origin. Often we battled thorns, thistles and weeds, and sometimes we had to divert, but each time we finally reached our destination.
We soldiered on bravely into the unknown because we knew the destination existed.
APPLY THIS TO YOUR ANCESTORS.
We always tend to think about getting back TO our ancestors.
This experience taught me that it’s sometimes helpful to think about the path FROM our ancestors, and labour through nettles and weeds to access it until we reach the PERSON OF ORIGIN.
We’re not blazing an unknown trail, we’re revealing a previously known way.
This way of thinking is so helpful for the ones that try to ‘get away’.
I’m sure you’ve said to yourself: ‘I KNOW SHE’S OUT THERE SOMEWHERE’
This is when you’ve been looking for the path FROM the past, and have become bogged down.
It’s a bit like being in a maze. If you had a ladder you could climb up and look over the hedges to see the way out. This reassures you that the ‘way out’ is real, then you have to climb down and work to locate it.
It’s all about ‘ROUTES FROM YOUR ROOTS’ and how to access them!
IS THERE ANY ONE PATH?
Well, in this modern technological world there are innumerable paths, but if you have British ancestors you need to aim for the current and most important British ‘Path from the Past’: the 1901 census, which leads from the 1891 which leads from the 1881 and so on.
One of the ways we ‘gain our past’ is to be on the ‘census highway’, so we need to reach it.
In this world we gain certificates of merit for exceptional achievement. We hang them on our walls and gloat over them. They serve to remind us of our glorious past.
I recently went to see my son receive his long service and exemplary conduct medal from the army, and as he stood with the framed citation in his hand, he was looking back at the pathway he stepped on at the age of seventeen.
Every official family event is marked with a certificate, and until you’re a genealogist, you never think of gloating over them, but they serve as reminders, signposts and mini-pathways. They speak and testify of our past and point us in the right direction as markers of the ‘route from our roots’.
There is a process used by all effective genealogists to access their British past, and cutting corners never works.
A simplified version is:
Start with yourself.
Birth certificate gives parents’ names
Search for their marriage.
Marriage certificate gives ages and fathers’ names
Search for births of bride and groom
Birth certificate gives parent’s names
Search for their marriage
HAVE YOU REACHED 1901 YET? ARE YOU ON THE MAIN HIGHWAY FROM THE PAST?
Now I know you’re going to tell me about the problem ancestors whose pathways you can’t find, or who have great impassable potholes here there and everywhere.
I’ll just say this: when I started researching, the main British ‘Pathway’ was the 1871 census, and as each subsequent census has been released, routes from the past have opened. I wonder if I’ll still be researching when the 1921 census goes public, because that will be the day when a personal mystery blocking part of my family pathway will be solved at last.
I’ve learned that sometimes it’s just no good being in a hurry.
To paraphrase my husband’s wise words:
“We’re joining a very old path FROM the past. It isn’t often used because people have forgotten about it, but it’s the quickest path to be on for travellers needing their families, because that’s where it came from’.
Finally, may I say: There IS a pathway leading from everyone’s past that can be accessed through patience, longsuffering and love unfeigned. It won’t have been used much because everyone but you has forgotten it, but you can re-open it and reveal its former beauty. You can gloat over it as you become part of your own glorious past, becoming acquainted with the ‘people of your origins’
