Jack is in trouble for being really late this week – –

I have a second cousin who has become the historian of the family and has been writing stories going back generations and putting them up on FaceBook.

The first few were so far back that I had to dig deep to recognize the people he was referencing. Of course that was partly because they existed on the periphery of my direct forebears. Nevertheless, some names were familiar, including my grandfather on my dad’s side after whom I was named.

I read recently that if you go back ten generations you have over a thousand direct ancestors that have contributed to or share your DNA.

But as Donald began to get up to date, more and more familiar names emerged. People I remembered from when I was a child and we would go on trips to visit them over in the west of Scotland. This was often quite an adventure in our unreliable pre-war and second hand Hillman Minx. There were no modern roads and we would meander slowly through towns and villages until we arrived.

Cousins, Aunts and Uncles and friends of theirs (many long gone) have emerged into the light through Donald’s stories which are amazing and a mixture of remembered family memories and research through on-line databases. He always manages to work in a connection between the family story and what’s happening in the wider world at the same time

 A recent one concerned the marriage of his parents – John and Sheila Adamson (Sheila was my dad’s niece, the daughter of his sister).

The photograph he posted of the wedding was a real time-warp. A mixture of folk that teased back through various family strands and forward to my own life now. My sister Margaret and cousin Pat were bridesmaids and I seem to remember the occasion although I was only seven.

When Wendy first came over to Scotland she was able to record family stories from my mother and these add another dimension that is more immediate, but also adds another layer in her own words.

I’m sure Donald would say this is just a hobby for him and that may be, but I know that these stories, written from a family perspective, but placed in that wider context are important and I hope he is archiving them safely!

Much kudos to Donald Adamson for taking on this time consuming task!!