 |
| Baptism record for John Young 21 August 1803 |
I have one Scottish ancestor on my maternal side in John Young, son of Alexander Young and Anne Brash, who left his birthplace of Kirkcaldy in Fife to move to Loughborough in Leicestershire. John Young was born 16th August 1803 and baptised on 21st August the same year. He married Maria Parkinson of Loughborough on 9th April 1826 at All Saint's Church, Loughborough. Later the whole family were baptised into the Dead Lane Primitive Methodist Church in Loughborough, including my great great grandfather Alexander Young, who moved from Loughborough to Nottingham and then to Ilkeston in Derbyshire. He was a tailor by profession just like his father and grandfather.
I'd assumed that the Norwegian heritage came from Scotland but I'm beginning to wonder now as on my father's side I have ancestors, the Edwards family, who came from the South Derbyshire villages of Ingleby and Foremark which are very close to the small historic town of Repton.
 |
| Pages from an article written by Roly Smith in the January 2019 issue of Archaeology and Conservation in Derbyshire and the Peak District. |
There have recently been reports and a television programme on more recent findings at Repton and it being the site of a great Viking Army overwintering nearby 873 to 874 AD now CE. A mass burial site was found in the vicarage garden which seems to prove this theory first mentioned in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles.
Modern tests on bones found seem to back up this theory dating them to the time mentioned. It seems that the overwintering site was slightly away from the burial site and evidence of metal working as well as other fragments of Viking habitation have been found.
It's not beyond the realms of belief that some of the army could have stayed behind when the main army moved on. Could they have lived and worked alongside the local people and finally settled there? If so is this where my 2% Norwegian heritage comes from? Maybe, but Scotland still seems the more obvious answer as probably the Repton Vikings were Danes rather than Norse.
 |
| Record of the marriage of John Edwards and Ann Lilley both of the parish of Ingleby who married at Foremark church 3rd Novmber 1779. |
I'll never know but it is intriguing and worth musing over on this dark, wet, windy and dismal day.
Below some photos of Repton taken in October 2010 when we visited after looking at the villages mentioned above.
 |
| Arch from the old Priory with Repton School behind |
 |
| St Wystan's Church |
 |
| Repton Cross or Market Cross |
Very interesting! I need to take one of these tests.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ann, we weren't sure about doing the tests at first but I'm glad we did it has been interesting:)
DeleteFamily history is so interesting. There are some great historical and archaeological programmes on TV recently.
ReplyDeleteThank you Julie, family history is fascinating. Yes, there have been some interesting little history and archaeology programmes on recently especially on channels four and five:)
DeleteWhat an interesting thing to find out!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Louise, it is quite intriguing:)
DeleteOhhh, I vote for the very early Viking heritage!!!! -smile-
ReplyDelete😊 🌱 😊
Thank you WoW, I bet in reality the Norwegian connection came much later in the day in Scotland but it is nice to ponder on other possibilities:)
DeleteHow interesting. Taking one of those tests would open up a whole new avenue of family research.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lorrie, we both expected fairly usual Western European, specifically UK central England results which was what we both got except for my little 2% Scandinavian/Norwegian:)
DeleteOh how exciting and intriguing too. 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you Karen, yes it is intriguing I wish I could find out more but it will be way back in the past:)
DeleteFamily history is so fascinating. 2% Norwegian how intriguing. I’ve yet to have my dna tested. One of those things on my ‘to do’ list. B x
ReplyDeleteThank you Barbara, it has been an interesting thing to do and they keep refining results little by little. I'm glad we did the tests, although we waited until they had an offer on them:)
DeleteOh I find all this fascinating i've been doing work on my family tree through Ancestry for a while and my next step is the DNA test (once it's on sale again!!). It's a good theory and maybe one day there could be something out there that could give a more definitive answer?!
ReplyDeleteThank you Pam, yes, it is wise to wait for an offer or sale on the tests as they are expensive. Family history is fascinating and it's interesting what turns up:)
DeleteI always knew you had a little bit of the viking in you, dear Rosie :-)
ReplyDeleteAmalia
xo
Ha, yes now I know why I enjoy watching those Scandi Noir mysteries on television;)
DeleteWhat a fascinating and interesting post Rosie. It is lovely to ponder on ancestors and your theory is a brilliant one (loved the Repton photos by the way :) ). I've heard of the dna tests on Twitter and it is something I have thought about for the future! Still at a very basic level here - currently going through Broseley Parish Registers, which are thankfully free online on a local history website, making notes which I will compare with the family tree a distant cousin did! Still thinking of joining Ancestry or something similar at some stage in the future when I have done more basic research :)
ReplyDeleteThank you RR. Yes, Ancestry or Find My Past are very useful but quite expensive to join although you can keep registering for a few months and then cancelling for a while. There are also lots of other free sources on line which you have found. When I first started I used to go to the archives and look at the parish registers and just extract anything I found with family names and then sorted them later. After that it was census details to find where all the families fitted together, by that time they were on micro film, then later nicrofiche. I don't think I'll ever get back any further than I have done now but it is a fascinating thing to do:)
DeleteI think I can access the two ancestry sites at the local library - if I can get on a computer there but presumably would have to pay to print stuff. OH years ago had a free trial on Ancestry I think and I was able to get some details then for my paternal grandmother. I may join for a few months when I have everything sorted and a list of questions prepared!!! In one way it is good that a cousin who was a professional genealogist did so much work and prepared a family tree for the paternal side (goes back to late 15th century from memory) but in another way it takes away some of the motivation for me!!! Really I would like to confirm his findings and then try and fill in details of the people on the tree if that makes sense! My cousin did the tree when I was in my late 20's i.e. well before internet!!!! so I assume he visited parish registers etc. I could of course continue on my paternal grandmother's side and also start on my mum's family tree. Just wish I had started the latter years ago when people were still with us and could have filled in a few details of recent family!!! But as you will know it is all quite time consuming and expensive if you want stuff like birth and death certificates and I am not really devoting enough time to it. But I will plod on slowly!!! :)The family moved to Herefordshire around the mid 1880's I think so I am hoping when we spend some time there I might be able to do some research in churchyards etc.
DeleteHow wonderful to have a family tree going back so far. I too always like to verify details other people have given me just to be sure. I've seen one or two things on Ancestry in other peoples' trees where they have got the wrong information. If parish registers have been used the information is probably more correct that later information where the people used to transcribe the information haven't understood local names,places names and etc. I found this a lot with the last couple of census returns (1901 and 1911) with several family names miss read. There is a site that has my father's name as Harvey and not Harry as it should be, I've e-mailed and messaged but they won't change it:( Sometimes on line isn't so good as the real records:)
DeleteHow fascinating to have Norwegian ancestry. Did Paul have anything out of the ordinary show up in his? I have just read that people with blue eyes have a single common ancestor so if you have blue eyes we could be related Rosie!!! Family history is so interesting but as I come from 'commoners' the records only go so far back. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Simone, it was a fascinating thing to find. Paul's was all Western Europe, English, Midlands so nothing unusual or unexpected. Yes I do have blue eyes and like you have fairly ordinary working class ancestors, saddle makers, tailors, miners, graziers, cheese makers, lace makers in Nottingham and frame work knitters too:)
DeleteI haven't had it done, but I'm sure there's some Vikings in my background.
ReplyDeleteThank you William, yes, I'm sure there must be, it's fascinating to think about isn't it?:)
DeleteThis is fascinating, isn’t it? I wonder how many of us can trace our ancestors all the way back to the Vikings? Marie x
ReplyDeleteThank you Marie, it's nice to ponder upon even though I'll never know:)
Delete