To a lot of people ancestry isn’t important. Matter of fact, the Bible tells us to not get involved in vain genealogies. However, one thing I have learned throughout my study of my family history is that everything in my family history has made me exactly who I am today.
My interest in all things British began the day I first saw Peter Pan fly past the Houses of Parliament to Neverland. Something in me resonated seeing the Houses of Parliament; not so much political, but I knew something was different. then I met my first English friend; from the moment she spoke I was in heaven. My parents let me watch BBC shows, Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, Doctor Who and I got the humor.
One day I saw a beautiful woman on TV, that everyone was calling a Princess, but she wasn’t a Disney princess; she was the real thing. I asked my mom who she was and she was telling me that this woman was the future Queen of England. Now like most kids, I figured there was no real thing as a Queen, who this was a woman who had just decided she never wanted to grow up. However, my mom, handed me a book and I started to read about this woman named Elizabeth, and how she was the Queen of this country known as England. Suddenly, all the references in my BBC shows that I didn’t get made perfect sense.
As I got older, the more books on the British Royal family I read, but I stayed deeply connected to my roots; those that were and are buried deep in the history of the now United States. The first ancestor I ever really wanted to study was that of Tom Dula, a man accused and wrongfully convicted of murder then hung in my hometown of Statesville, NC. My great-great grandmother was a Dula, so it made sense to follow her line; in doing so, I found out that my 6th great grandfather was Tom Dula’s (made famous by the song The Ballad of Tom Dooley) uncle. Making this famous murderer my first cousin 6 times removed. Growing up singing the Ballad of Tom Dooley, and always declaring Tom’s innocence has helped me understand that sometimes we take the blame for things to keep others from suffering.
When I started my dad’s family it wasn’t so cut and dry. Going back only a few generations I found civil war soldiers, then going back just a few more, I found that we were related to the Harrisons. I know you are probably thinking “So who are the Harrisons?” To be honest, Benjamin Harrison, the signer of the Declaration of Independence is my 8th great uncle. His son William Henry Harrison would be our 9th President.
However, it’s Carter Henry Harrison, Benjamin’s son that gives me deeper roots into who I am. Carter married Susannah Randolph. Susannah’s father was Isham Randolph, whose sister was Jane Randolph Jefferson, the mother of Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence; President and Patriot.
So I know you are thinking now “Well you have such deep roots in the colonies and the founding of a nation, how can you remotely care about Great Britain?” It is through my Randolph roots that I find my ancestors in what is now Great Britain. My 14th great grandmother is France Tanfield, her grandmother is Catherine Neville, the daughter of Sir Edward Neville. His father George Neville was the son of Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny and Elizabeth Beauchamp. He was knighted by Edward IV on 9 May 1471, after fighting for the King at the Battle of Tewkesbury. My 21st great-grandfather Ralph Neville, 1st Baron Neville de Raby (18 October 1262– 18 April 1331) was a Norman nobleman and member of the powerful Neville family, son of Robert de Neville and Mary FitzRanulf. Neville married first Eupheme de Clavering, daughter of Robert de Clavering (5th Baron of Warkworth & Clavering) and Margaret la Zouche, sister of Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby. Ralph and Euphemia had fourteen children. Ralph was buried in the choir of Coverham Abbey.
Now let’s move forward, let’s talk about my 18th great grandfather, whose daughter, Cecily Neville, who known as a Rose of Raby, married Richard Plantagenet, the 3rd Duke of York. Their son, Edward became Edward IV. His illegitimate daughter was Elizabeth Plantagenet, who while called illegitimate, was welcomed back at court by her uncle Richard III. She married Sir Thomas Lumley. Together, they had my 3rd Cousin 16x removed Roger Lumley, and his daughter Agnes married William Blackiston, whose grandson became Sir Francis 3rd Baronet Blakiston, who was married to Anne Bowes. Their daughter Elizabeth married a cousin, albeit distant named Sir William Bowes. Following this line, we come to my 13th cousin 6 times removed; Thomas George Lyon Bowes; whose great-great granddaughter would become Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI—thus making the current Queen of England, Elizabeth II my 17th Cousin 2x removed—and Prince Henry Charles Albert David…well that makes him my 19th cousin.
So, while it may bother some people that I can’t sing the American national anthem by heart, but I know every word to God Save the Queen, while it bothers people that I don’t own a US Flag, but I have a Union Jack, while it bothers people that I don’t know as much US history as I probably should—I have dedicated my life to the study of my family—who we are, and where we came from. Their stories have become my story—deeply personal that will and do affect me today. The ink that is indelible on the Declaration of Independence sitting in the Capital in Washington, DC is less so than the noble English blood that runs through my veins and the DNA that creates me. The revolutions of the past do have an impact on how we react to challenges in the present day.
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