FAMILY TREES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 23, 2 May 1947, Page 6

FAMILY TREES

TRACING REMOTE ANCESTRY In the fishing village of Bosham, Sussex, a woman has died at the age of 87 years who could trace her ancestry back to the days of Queen Elizabeth by means of two ancient family Bibles. She was Miss Ellen Ann Ashcroft, one of whose Elizabethan ancestors was a high-ranking naval officer, who lived at Ashcroft Point, not far from Liverpool.

From this ancestor Miss Ashcroft was able to trace the family tree down through the ages, when the young boys of the family ran away to sea or became leaders of communities—one was a major of Torquay.

Few families are able to beat this record of family history. Our forebears, it seems, did not think themselves as worthy of historical record as we now consider them to have been. But today there is sweeping across Britain a desire to preserve all current family records. A very frequent gift for mothers is an illustrated book in which to preserve *hll the details of her new child’s progress . . . when he was christened, when he uttered his first intelligible word, when he took his first unaided steps across the room. Latest of these publications is “The Family Book” in which can be preserved a permanent record of the personal' history, adventures interests, and achievements of every member of the family. There are pages for school reports, examination results, family photographs and red-letter days.