Ancestry

I am reading a biography at the moment about William Colenso, who was a missionary in NZ from Cornwall, england apparently with some scandal in his life as he had an illegitemate son with a maori woman while he was married.

Not to repeat all the story as you can read for yourself, but one of his contributions at the time was to print the first Bible in nz in english and maori translation. Literally he worked in the printing press with ink and paper in the 1800s. He was there at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and was a witness to all those important events that make what the nation is today in terms of relations between two different peoples.

Im finding it fascinating that maybe his descendants today can tell that story.

It got me thinking does my family have anyone like that in the past or...am I like the first 'missionary' in my family? The first to become a christian? Or how about other people do they take faith in their family for granted? Are there any famous people who did worthy things in your family history or perhaps involved in anything scandalous that changed the course of history. Did your 'tribe' encounter anyone outside or is it your family has always kept to themselves, their class or kind of people?

Nowadays there is a huge diaspora and migrant population, how far have you come and how far will you go? I read about illustrious families in america who run the country and high up in politics who could trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower. and then there are people who have no idea, and are lost and dont even know their own mum or dad.

halfway through and Im wondering what became of the illegitimate children.
People dont say it these days but so many have children outside of marriage that its become normal not to even know your own parents.

I once wanted to do that Ancestry Tree thingy, but by the time I realized that my forefathers were either Preachers or Bootleggers, I kinda lost interest.

The only real thing I learned of value/interest was that I am kin to George Washington's wife............hey, that's something I guess.

Once we accept Christ and make Him Lord of our lives, our "ancestry" goes back to Him, we are no longer our own, "all things become new". best wishes

I went to one of those ancestry sites one time and it said you really don't want to know this!

I have been my family's genealogist for thirty plus years. If you are a history buff, it is a great way to study. What has really been fascinating to me is how DNA has verified much of my research. My wife's father's family has been a part of the Maine, Plymouth, Cape Cod area since the Mayflower arrived. Reading their papers really give me a new respect for those settlers.

If you are into history, it's a great way to get the real history of the world.

one of my friends was researching hers, half her family is from Ireland, so she was horrified to learn all about the famine and what they went through. The other half is Danish, and she also has british.
Mine are chinese.

The interesting thing about being adopted into Gods family is learning about the Israelites, because their entire ancestry is written down up to Jesus time...and he had some notoriously scandalous ancestors in his lineage.

Im sure many did not know at the time that their lives (and mistakes) would be written in the Bible to be recorded forever. But I supoose if you do look back on your life you not gonna whitewash all the stuff you did wrong anyway. Cos we are human!

i finished reading the bio, so what happened to the son, well williams mission station house n Hawkes Bay got burned down but he actually refused to leave the site, his wife fled to Auckland and took their two children with her and pretty much divorced him, she took her wedding ring off and posted it back to him and after some anguished correspondence they never saw each other again. she had taken his illegitimate son and looked after him because the maori maiden was already married and her second child to her own husband (williams had married them in haste, probably to cover up his fornication/adultery) was sickly and she could not look after both.
His wife taught school and then they went back to .england, all three children went back there to attend boarding school. Williams illegetimate son was somehow financed by his family back in england and became an english gentleman while his older siblings, a brother and sister went back to their mums family, never seeing their dad again. Not that they saw him much when young anyway cos he would always go off collecting plant specimens and leaving them and their mother alone at the mission house.
the fanny, the daughter had married and had family who are descendants today, wiremu, his illegitimate son or love child, married but had no children, and latimer, the other son did not marry. (must check that again). williams didnt remarry...the bio is a bit unclear about what happend after. his house burned down as he had a fight with the missionary society and also was assaulted by maori seeking revenge in which he retaliated and was charged, another home was built but he lived as a kind of recluse and wrote his autobiography, ostensibly for his son probably confessing all the stuff ups he made.