My Ancestry Story

Since I moved to Hamilton a surprising amount of strangers have asked me the question
"Where are you from?"
This was a question I answered all the time when I was abroad , being asked in my home city is kind of funny. Aaron says it's just because I still have a small town-esque disposition but I'm sure they're just captivated by my beauty...

Anyways I always give people the same answer; I was born here but my Mother was born in Jamaica and my Father in England. I'm a first generation child!
My parent's heritages have always been something I'm proud to share and learn more about. My Mother tells the most bright and fantastic stories from her upbringing. My Father's a baby boomer who immigrated with his Mom at a young and doesn't have many stories from adolescents in England. I always just imagine him with an accent as he spoke of the days he can recall.

Through out the 60's and 70's my Mom grew up in rural township in Montego Bay. Her Father was a farmer/business man and her Mother a strong house lady. Her childhood stories involve waterfall adventures, the elders that came by and did business with her Father, her Mothers record collection and beating up bullies for her sister. She comes from a large family of 11 brothers and sister and a small livelihood.

My Father was born in Sussex England in the 50's and immigrated to Canada when he was 11. Him and my Grandmother came over by boat and his oldest sister stayed and raised her family in England. My father only knew his Father's name and that he was born in India. As far as he knew he died before the war and if my grandmother had married him our last names would have been Jolly! (that always amused me)

It was Aarons idea to buy the Ancestry DNA tests, I just thought I knew enough about my heritage to answer the questions of strangers so that's probably all I'll ever need to know. My first experience with Ancestry was when I met my cousin in Australia who had been adopted out of my family. Using Ancestry she was able to find her birth Mother (my Dads older sister) and the rest of her siblings. Now on my own ancestry journey, I was connected with another cousin who is related to me by a brother my Dad never knew he had from his Father who he also never met.

I sent my Dad the pictures of his father and his brother immediately. I would describe his joyousness as that of a kid who opens their first kinder egg! He found out about his fathers business importing and exporting goods from China to England. Which is so coincidently similar to his own business, shipping goods to the Caribbean. Talk about destiny!

My grandfather passed away in 1983 at the age of 77. My father now in his 72nd year of life has finally "met" his father.

If you are thinking about getting yourself or someone else an Ancestry DNA test I strongly recommended. It's simple and quick and you may just find someone across the world who shares a little piece of your life.