A Mission with a Purpose

One month from today, I will be traveling to England, the country of my birth, to visit relatives, both alive and dead, do some genealogical research, see sights both old and new to me, and spend two wonderful weeks with My Hubby, the Love of My Life. Hubby actually calls this vacation "The Great Dead People Tour". He is being very patient with my need to know my ancestors. I've created this blog to share our travels with those back home. I hope to update regularly, subject to Internet availability, of course. I want this to be an electronic record of our trip but also a way to stay in touch with all the people who mean so much to me and may be curious about our adventures. We will spend time in England, then Scotland where my mother's family came from, and finally, we will spend four days in Iceland on the way home. No relatives there, but it will certainly be a different place to visit.

St. Thomas Church will be one of the first stops when we get to England. This is the church where my Carter/Ford families attended starting back in 1847 when it was first built. Two sets of great-great-grandparents where married here: Thomas Carter and Mary Ford on February 12, 1849 and George Ford and Mary Wise on November 14, 1857. As far as I can tell right now, these two Fords were not related. My grandparents were baptized here as was my father and all his siblings. Some of my relatives are buried in the churchyard here. I have poured over the parish records of this church and I know many of the names of families who lived in West Hyde, Rickmansworth, and Chalfont St. Peter. This is one of my most important stops on our journey. My plan is to attend the worship service on Sunday, Sept 2, the day after we arrive. It's important to me to worship in the same church as so many of my ancestors did. Will I feel them there? I hope I do.