Parentage: Part 4

In my last “Parentage” installment my cowboy great-grandpa met three wayward men on his migration from England to Canada. (The wayward part is my embellishment.) We also found out that these three brothers would become his brother’s-in-law! Yeehaw!

Here’s where I started getting confused by the way this story was written. One moment I was being informed that my great-great-grandparents had eleven children. However, they left England with only six children. I really wanted to insert some humor here, but as I read on It was revealed that two of their children had died. (That’s sad.) The three brothers, who my great-grandpa encountered, had emigrated to Canada earlier. My great-great-grandma persuaded great-great-grandpa to move to Canada with them. She wanted to be with her sons. She was also fearful of the impending war. So they boarded a ship for Canada with their 6 children. 

I’m going to back this train up a bit! My great-grandma was born in the county of Kent, southeast of London, in a small village called Bromley. Her father worked for the railway, first as a switchman and later as a ticket collector. (What? A demotion? I’m teasing.)

He apparently had a good education and was offered a job as a railway inspector (Now we’re talking!) However, he turned down the job. (What!?) It would mean living right by the railway line and he felt this would be too dangerous a location to raise a family. (Very good! Very smart man! That’s my great-great-grandpa!) 

Not only was he known for his sense of fun, he also had a good singing voice, and as the evidence reveals, he was a very wise man. From here on in I shall refer to him and the mrs. as my very-great grandparents.

As the 6th child, my great-grandma was exactly in the middle of a family of 11 children. It says that even though my very-great-grandma had a bucket-load of children, she found time to study the Bible as well. Okay, maybe it doesn’t say bucket-load, but clearly 11 children is a very full bucket.

I don’t know how a women with that many children finds time to read her Bible. She must have had some super powers.

Do you know what I would do if I had that many children? First I would cry, but after that I’d get one of the youngins to read the Bible to me while I was darning socks. I bet my very-great-grandma was a clever lady. She probably killed many birds with one stone and and that small army of children. Evidently my very-great-grandparents took “be fruitful and multiply” very seriously.

My great-grandma inherited the eye problems that plagued her mother. (Yeah, I was wondering if I was seeing things too.) Because of her eye problems she missed a lot of school. She attended St.Paul’s School (a girls school run by the Church of England) in the nearby community of Maidstone. 

It says here that it’s debatable whether my very-great-grandpa was happy about the move to Canada. (Pshhh… Canada is a land of wonder.) He had worked for the railway in England for twenty-four years and had only one more year to go before qualifying for a pension. (Awe man…)

Well…. one day he’ll be happy when he meets me in heaven! 😃 Pension smention. Who needs it, right? He has a very-great-grandaughter who clearly inherited his sense of fun. 😆

I told Andrew I was having fun rewriting my family’s history. He said, “Rewriting your family history? Oh! You are English!” (Laughing…) Hey, I’m just keeping everyone awake during history class. 

---

Steps 

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.”

Proverbs 16:9

“This is to be understood, not of a wicked man, in whose heart is frowardness, and who devises mischief and evil imaginations continually, Proverbs 6:14; for such are an abomination to the Lord; nor will he direct their goings, or prosper and succeed them in their ways: but of a good man, or righteous man, as Aben Ezra; who thinks of the way in which he should go, and desires to walk in a right way, as Jarchi; and who is influenced by the Spirit and grace of God to think and act in this manner; for otherwise the way of man is not in himself; it is not of his own devising and finding out; nor is his disposition to walk in it of himself; and it is only such a man, a good man, whose steps are ordered by the Lord, as follows; see Jeremiah 10:23;

Gills Exposition of the Entire Bible 

(Photo credit goes to Pixabay.com user 12019.)