English Ancestors

A photo of my great (x4) grandfather, James Allen Ransome

   My ancestors on my mothers side came from many places. These places include Ireland, Scotland, Germany, but most dominantly, England. I was able to gather information on my ancestors back until 1753. My great (x6) grandfather, Robert Ransome, was a farm implement maker in England, and passed it down to his son, James Ransome, who won many medals and prizes from the Royal Agriculture society, for their implement improvements. These two men were very inquisitive, always wanting to know how things work and understand them. I understand now where I have gotten my curious and motivated mind. I also got a better understanding of why I am interested in writing, as my great (x4) grandfather, James Allen Ransome, wrote a book entitled "The Implement of Agriculture", based off of his grandfather and fathers work. He even has his own page on a history website called "Grace's Guide" (https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/James_Allen_Ransome), which according to my grandma seems to have all the correct information about him, which I think is pretty cool. James Allen Ransome's son, Wilson Ransome, then moved to Canada in 1859, and we are not sure why. My grandmother Debbie believes it could be for better farming or more land. His brother Robert James Ransome followed him to Canada in 1861, and they both settled in East Garafraxa. My great great grandma, Mary Ransome, was born in East Garafraxa and then had my great grandma, who had my grandma and then my mother.

   I was able to gather this information from my grandmother, who says that her aunt had done previous research about our ancestry. As I mentioned before, we are not one hundred percent sure what pushed our ancestors to move from England to Canada, except that they may have wanted to come her for more land or better farming conditions. My family maintains some connections to our ancestors culture in England. We love tea in our family, which is a traditional English beverage, as well as crumpets or tea biscuits, which as I discussed in my Christmas tradition blog, is a tradition that we eat tea biscuits every Christmas morning. I enjoy hearing stories about my ancestry and find it fascinating to know how I got here, but I do not feel the deepest connection to my ancestors as some people may. I suppose our Christian religion was passed down from my ancestors and I intend to carry it on to the next generation of our family. Our religion also supports our biggest holiday and tradition, which is Christmas. I would love to share the tradition of Christmas with my children as it is very important to our family and has always been celebrated. According to my grandmother, we have always supported equality and respected everybody as a family, and I intend to place that attitude on the next generation as well. "We have always loved and respected the environment", my grandmother says, and we have been "taught to love the land and environment around us" (Holmes 2017). Since my ancestors were big farmers, we have all learned to respect the land. I am glad to have learned this new information about my ancestors and would love to hear more stories from my relatives in the future.

Works Cited

Grace’s Guide. “James Allen Ransome.” Grace’s Guide, edited by Grace’s Guide, Grace’s Guide Ltd, 4 Dec. 2014, www.gracesguide.co.uk/James_Allen_Ransome. Accessed 6 Dec. 2017.

Holmes, Debbie. Interview. By Jadyn Whyte. 4 Dec. 2017.