Briar Island Rock #1
One of the rock features already along the path in our front yard is a pentagonal chunk of black basalt. Over the next three posts, I will tell you the story of what it represents and how it came to be in our yard.
The story begins with my study of our family history and genealogy. Of course, being interested in genealogy means you will always have something to do.
As you go back in time, more and more people become part of your life story. By the time you go back only three generations (your great-grandparents), you have 8 grandparents to research. If you include your great-great grandparents, you have 16, and so on. By the time you get to eight generations, you’ll have 256 people to call your own. At 14 generations you have 16,384 grandparents! Think of how many people had to meet and procreate just to make you!
The sad thing is, you will never know most of these people by name, let alone by their many stories.
One of my great-great grandparents would have quite a story to tell. My great-great grandfather, William, came to Canada from England when he was about seven years old, with his mother, step-father, and brother. The ship they travelled on, the Trafalgar, was shipwrecked off Briar Island, Nova Scotia on July 25, 1817.
In my next post, I will tell the story of the shipwreck.
© Jane Tims 2011
nichepoetryandprose 
“By the time you get to eight generations, you’ll have 256 people to call your own. At 14 generations you have 16,384 grandparents! ” I like this -if everyone thought seriously like this shouldn’t you abolish certain rascist attitudes overnight?! Everybody comes from somewhere else in a certain sense & we ‘re all in that together.
You should be a history teacher Jane!
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Sonya Chasey
December 15, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Hi. I think the odds that we even made it here are stunning. If you go back far enough, we are all related! Jane
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jane tims
December 16, 2011 at 7:33 am
“Being interested in genealogy means you will always have something to do.” Isn’t that the truth!!! Looking forward to reading more of your great-great grandfather’s story. I love the drawing… It’s always a thrill when one discovers a story to go along with all the names and dates we collect as family historians.
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Barbara Rodgers
December 6, 2011 at 10:31 am
Hi Barbara. The stories are too few. Perhaps these blogs will help some of our stories to survive???? Jane
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jane tims
December 7, 2011 at 5:46 pm
Excellent post Jane. The drawing came out great. I know hands are always hard to draw and you pulled it off. Even the drawn picture looks great. Perspective in the drawing is spot on.
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JD
December 3, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Hi. Thanks. I’m glad you like the drawing. This set of posts on the shipwreck took a long time to do. Jane
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jane tims
December 3, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Hi Jane,
My relatives were also on the Trafalgar! Would like to compare family history notes. Email me?
-Cheryl
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cheryl andrews
February 17, 2014 at 6:56 pm
Hi Cheryl. I’ll contact you. Interesting how lives intersect… Jane
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jane tims
February 19, 2014 at 10:33 am
I would be interested in talking with you about william and the trafalgaras william is my ancestor as well.
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Garth Stevens
December 13, 2014 at 10:48 pm
Hi. A cousin! How do you trace to William? If you want, email me at timstims@nbnet.nb.ca. Jane
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jane tims
December 14, 2014 at 2:25 pm