Who would I really like to meet? Well, lots of ancestors actually to find out if the family stories are true, or just to find out more about them.
I've run into a few brick walls along the way - unable to find parentage to go further back, or unable to find how people arrived in Australia or UK, so I'd love nothing better than to go back and question some of my ancestors.
I'd ask my three time great-grandfather on my mother's side, Thomas Trowbridge (abt 1798-1865), about his parents, or is he the Thomas Trowbridge born at the Foundling Hospital in London. Or talk to Michael Cahill (abt 1815-1886), my three time great-grandfather on my father's side, about the family story that he met his wife on the ship coming out here - or is he a convict as I suspect?
I'd like to talk to lots of them about their experiences sailing out here in the 1800s - no doubt, all with a very personal slant. The convict, Alfred Dale (1827-1879), would have had a very different trip in 1845 compared to the Trowbridge family (John, Susan and seven children) who migrated to Australia in 1872, following in the footsteps of John's father and two sisters.
Did my Mum's maternal grandparents know each other in Monmouth, Wales when they were children? Who really was my paternal grandfather's father - are we Sawyers or did someone else get his Mum pregnant? And, how did Dilkoosha Loveland come by her unusual name?
In a way, I'd like to visit all of them from my parents backwards, just to sit and talk about their lives and what memories they have of the times that they lived in. How wonderful it would be to add some personal stories alongside the historical facts.
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