I noticed that a few genealogists were posting on social media some pedigree-style charts of their ancestors’ birthplaces, colour-coded to show the different counties. I knew that most of my direct ancestors were born in Staffordshire, but it wasn’t until I filled in the chart back to my 3x great-grandparents that I realised quite how many of them were from the county.
Every one of my direct ancestors back to and including all 16 of my 2x great-grandparents were born in Staffordshire. I’ve traced one line – the CORNS line – back to the marriage of my 7x great-grandparents, Richard Corns and Ann Cartwright on 1st December 1700 in Wombourne, and all of their direct line descendants to me (nine generations) were born in Staffordshire.
The chart below shows the counties of birth of my direct ancestors back to my 3x great-grandparents. Of the 62 direct ancestors, 41 of them (or 66%) were born in Staffordshire, six (10%) in Shropshire, and five (8%) in Worcestershire.
It’s certainly safe to say that I am definitely a Midlander – 87% of these direct ancestors were born in the West Midlands, with another 5% born in the East Midlands. I do wish there was a bit more variety, but I guess it does make me feel deeply-rooted in the region.
The template I adapted to create the charts is at GeneaSpy: My Colorful Ancestry
Tracey