I created a “time machine”. It is named the “Blur”. It allows me to go back in time by just entering the date and location. The Blur allows me to take one person (you) along with me. So, come along with me. Here we go.
Our time machine has landed in Bridgewater (Somerset), England. It is 1582 and we have landed on a farm where the birth of a new baby boy has just taken place. He is Henry A. (“A” is the abbreviation of the family name). Henry A. happens to be my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather. It is a time of unrest in England, as the Church of England persecutes the citizens and many flee to “the new world” (the colonies of the United States).
I “inch” my time machine (the Blur) into the future by jiggering the software. I’m just in time to see the birth of Henry A.’s first son, also named Henry (I don’t know if they used the “junior” in names or not). The location is Daventry, Northhaptonshire, England, and it is now 1608.
Soon, thereafter, in 1620, the Mayflower sails with infamous Pilgrims headed west across the sea to the new world. They land at Plymouth Rock and establish the Plymouth Colony.
I don’t know if Henry Jr. was part of a religious sect, but somewhere around 1635-1640, Henry Jr. took the journey to the new world with his family, including his new son, John.
I want to know what happened to Henry Jr. and son John once they got to the new world. So, I “jog” my software in the “Blur” in time to witness Henry Jr.’s son John’s death and burial in 1679 in Boston, Mass. I explore Boston by horse for awhile and found that Boston is only 50-75 miles from Plymouth Rock. My ass is sore from horseback riding and I am hungry for bratwurst, so I head home to Wisconsin in the Blur. Enough for the first trip.
What have I learned? The biological family with our surname beginning with ‘A’ leads back to England. Our family came to the colonies in the early 1600’s. They established roots in the vicinity of Boston. Eastern Masschusetts would be home for the next 150 years. I have no evidence of religious affiliation.
I’ll have to refuel “the Blur” for another trip, another day. I’m tired.
Love,
Dad