Did you ever wonder as a child, “How did I get here?” If you think of it for a minute, it is truly amazing that a family name, let alone a line can extend continuously for centuries across time and space leading up to the day you were born. It is also sad how within one generation or perhaps two, the story of that line can be lost forever and with it answers to questions about the historical DNA that we inherit from our ancestors.

In researching our family history, old family stories begin to unravel or for the first time are tied together. Family threads that have dropped along the way get picked up and woven back into the fabric that binds us all. There are rows and rows of plain gray threads, punctuated by a colour, so fantastic that one wonders if it was part of the original pattern. There are mistakes and regrets that while creating a difficult patch in the fabric actually strengthen it overall. There are achievements, purely joyous moments and acts of love and courage that are nothing, short of miraculous. This is the garment of life, the fabric of family that each of us is wrapped in – a tapestry that we should wear proudly.

My stories focus on the ancestors of the Wall and Chase Families – my husband’s ancestors – and the Brennan (Stockley) and Jukes (Hanson) Families – my ancestors.

I hope future generations find this a valuable source for understanding the past.

Marg Wall