Thomson Family History

Every family has stories to tell… these are the stories of my ancestors.

I have vague wisps of memories of my paternal grandparents, none of my maternal grandmother, and very loving memories of Dandan, my maternal grandfather, who lived until he was 93.

We didn’t live in Melbourne, where most of our family lived, until I was in my teens, and so I really never knew any of my aunts or uncles or cousins. I think because I felt as though we didn’t have any extended family, I wondered about who had come before me, who they had been and what they had done. I always felt that parts of them still lived within me.

So about 40 years ago I started looking into my family history. Tapping into a rich network of researchers looking at one branch, I was surprised to find out I was descended from convicts on my father’s side! Then in a conversation with my mother’s uncle (Uncle Win) he warned me off investigating our tree – saying that

“the dead should be left buried, and their secrets with them.”

Well… rather than a disincentive, this was like a red rag to a bull, and I was determined to find out what secrets there were! Over the years I have uncovered many. However, their secrets need to be examined in the context of the times in which they lived and the circumstances of the people involved. Over the years, I have met wonderful people, relatives and not, who are part of the genealogical community. I’ve been given help and helped others, and this is one of the joys of this pasttime.

And then came DNA testing. Brick walls have crumbled, and new family has been discovered; it’s been a great ride, although there are some stubborn ones still.

So here I am, starting the process of documenting what I have so that it’s all together somewhere safe.

The main lines of my family are:

Paternal branch:

Thomson – including Boyd, Raeburn, Calderwood, Merry, Dinshie (Scotland), Withell, Peter (Cornwall), Davies, Lloyd (Wales)

Guy – including Young, Howson (Middlesex), Hockey, Reakes (Somerset), Barefoot (?), Welborn, York, Cody, Womack (USA), Causon, Swain, Ireland, Arkell (Gloucestershire), Scown, Braginton (Cornwall)

Burgess – including Allwright, Alder, Frewin (largely Berkshire, Oxfordshire), Shearman (maybe), Batt (Hampshire), Tranter, Cope, Deadmash (Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire), Jeffrey, Howes (Buckinghamshire)

Hill – including Bonnett/Barnett/Burnett, Sherriff (Lincolnshire), Williams, Glanville (Cornwall), Jørgensen, Hansen (Denmark), Barker (Derbyshire), Langford, Sidebottom, Butterworth (Cheshire)