This was written by my previously unknown to me cousin Alec. It was originally published on Mexborough heritage site, but I cannot find it. So here it is...
Yes there are loads of frustrations and pitfalls doing own genealogical research and iI agree its sooh annoying to look at an ancestry family tree and then realise, after you've investigated it that it was, hopefully unintentionally completely or partially wrong
I don't think you,ll have seen my name on a poetry forum, as I've never posted any poetry
My surname is originally from East Yorkshire and not many of us about, but there are other variations of it, with slightly different spelling.So we Wastlings are either from East Yorkshire or Wastlings from elsewhere are usually cousins The surname is supposed to have been Wazo or Wascelinus originally and was said to mean Little dragon in Anglo Saxon or Norman Much as I adore being a little dragon I presume the original name was altered as dragon in Anglo-Saxon is Draca and Dragoun in Norman I think
My dad had a cousin Richard Wastling who was heavily involved in local folk music and his wife Jean is in the White horse ceilidh band and had written a memoir about her childhood, I believe
Also I have a distant cousin, though he like Richard is sadly deceased, called Clint Wastling and he wrote stories and poetry,so you may have come across one of them.
I very much appreciate you sharing this part of your family history in this post. There was lots of interesting information in it. I have been interested in Genealogy for years ,not just my own but other peoples because there are 1000s of people to meet all with their stories to tell and I love how people are so interconnected.
However, I don't know if exposure to the past requires you to be a little emotionally detached .The hope is your investigations will find your ancestors healthy and hearty, jolly yeomen or pearly kings or even the Lord of the Manor.
Unfortunately you often find poverty or illness and then the sheer heartbreak of the entries in the parish registers of the many deaths of babies and little ones . Even though you try not to get upset, even if they lived many years ago you've got to know them,. They are your family and you want them to have had the best of lives.
However painful it might be you get drawn in Family history like a drug, you want to find out more and more, go back further and further. to ancient times ,to the Stone age. You know this isn't possible but now nothing can stop you .
After that I will once again say thank you for this. I'm not sure if you are interested but a cordwainer not just works with leather but makes shoes,as opposed to a cobbler who mends them.Its quite a common occupation to come across in the census and even warranted its own Worshipful Guild.
I don't know about anyone else but have always found something rather thrilling about Medieval Worshipful Guilds ,but I digress
By the way I live near Hull and my parents friends who have lived at a farm nearby for many years are called Oliver.
Thank you, glad you liked it. I didn't know any detail re cordwaining other than Kenneth Willaims sang of 'cordwanglers':). I think it's human to respond to joy as well as disaster and it can be obssessive. Thankfully, modern science actually put the brake on for me. A DNA test can only tell you what's been discovered about any given lineage. IE, they haven't and probably never will join the dots. But it's a rush finding stuff out. All those parish records Alec dug out - I'd begun searching decades ago as my sister handed over her beginnings - but didn't have the wherewithall to go wambling about the country. Many more Olivers and etc could be linked if more was known about their trees. But sadly many anxious to be right folk link the wrong people. I use Salt Lake cos it's free but even their researchers ge awry and mix gender up - I sometimes wonder if it's not deliberate. And the paid sites - argh, facebook mentality. I seem to recognise your name from somewhere - a poetry group? My mother's side (Clarke) came to England from Ireland via Drypool at Hull, 1840s. I suppose I ought to write more about the genealogy, but I can only put out what my 'mind' decides on when it does:)
Yes there are loads of frustrations and pitfalls doing own genealogical research and iI agree its sooh annoying to look at an ancestry family tree and then realise, after you've investigated it that it was, hopefully unintentionally completely or partially wrong
I don't think you,ll have seen my name on a poetry forum, as I've never posted any poetry
My surname is originally from East Yorkshire and not many of us about, but there are other variations of it, with slightly different spelling.So we Wastlings are either from East Yorkshire or Wastlings from elsewhere are usually cousins The surname is supposed to have been Wazo or Wascelinus originally and was said to mean Little dragon in Anglo Saxon or Norman Much as I adore being a little dragon I presume the original name was altered as dragon in Anglo-Saxon is Draca and Dragoun in Norman I think
My dad had a cousin Richard Wastling who was heavily involved in local folk music and his wife Jean is in the White horse ceilidh band and had written a memoir about her childhood, I believe
Also I have a distant cousin, though he like Richard is sadly deceased, called Clint Wastling and he wrote stories and poetry,so you may have come across one of them.
Thank you for this.
I very much appreciate you sharing this part of your family history in this post. There was lots of interesting information in it. I have been interested in Genealogy for years ,not just my own but other peoples because there are 1000s of people to meet all with their stories to tell and I love how people are so interconnected.
However, I don't know if exposure to the past requires you to be a little emotionally detached .The hope is your investigations will find your ancestors healthy and hearty, jolly yeomen or pearly kings or even the Lord of the Manor.
Unfortunately you often find poverty or illness and then the sheer heartbreak of the entries in the parish registers of the many deaths of babies and little ones . Even though you try not to get upset, even if they lived many years ago you've got to know them,. They are your family and you want them to have had the best of lives.
However painful it might be you get drawn in Family history like a drug, you want to find out more and more, go back further and further. to ancient times ,to the Stone age. You know this isn't possible but now nothing can stop you .
After that I will once again say thank you for this. I'm not sure if you are interested but a cordwainer not just works with leather but makes shoes,as opposed to a cobbler who mends them.Its quite a common occupation to come across in the census and even warranted its own Worshipful Guild.
I don't know about anyone else but have always found something rather thrilling about Medieval Worshipful Guilds ,but I digress
By the way I live near Hull and my parents friends who have lived at a farm nearby for many years are called Oliver.
Thank you, glad you liked it. I didn't know any detail re cordwaining other than Kenneth Willaims sang of 'cordwanglers':). I think it's human to respond to joy as well as disaster and it can be obssessive. Thankfully, modern science actually put the brake on for me. A DNA test can only tell you what's been discovered about any given lineage. IE, they haven't and probably never will join the dots. But it's a rush finding stuff out. All those parish records Alec dug out - I'd begun searching decades ago as my sister handed over her beginnings - but didn't have the wherewithall to go wambling about the country. Many more Olivers and etc could be linked if more was known about their trees. But sadly many anxious to be right folk link the wrong people. I use Salt Lake cos it's free but even their researchers ge awry and mix gender up - I sometimes wonder if it's not deliberate. And the paid sites - argh, facebook mentality. I seem to recognise your name from somewhere - a poetry group? My mother's side (Clarke) came to England from Ireland via Drypool at Hull, 1840s. I suppose I ought to write more about the genealogy, but I can only put out what my 'mind' decides on when it does:)