Ramblings for Tuesday, June 13, 2017 About 10:00 am on the second day of our journey we headed east from Montreuil to the ancient town of St Pol-sur-Ternoise, the seat of my medieval forefathers, the Counts de Saint-Pol. My previous research about this community and its significance to our family history did not prepare me for what I was to find. The earliest … Continue reading Exploring the Château de Saint-Pol
Ramblings for Monday, June 12th, 2017 It was with a degree of tragic irony that I departed the WWII Leubringhan Cemetery and headed to the ancient port city of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Unbeknown to my uncle Henry Sambells, the very lands of the Pas-de-Calais upon which he fought and died – was the original homeland of his clan over a thousand years earlier. At that time the … Continue reading Geopolitics & Genetics
Ramblings for Monday, June 12th, 2017 The first day of our tour in France focused on tracing the last footsteps of my late uncle Henry who was a casualty of WWII. Henry (Harry) Sambells died in action Sept. 1944, while serving as a Sapper in the 6th Field Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers. After he and his comrades had completed clearing land-mines along … Continue reading Journey of Remembrance
After twenty-five years of researching my paternal family history and publishing “Sambells Family History: Origins and Lineage”, I decided that it was time to share my discoveries and insights with a wider audience through this new web blog. The saga of my research begins with my most recent pilgrimage to the places which featured so prominently in the lives of my ancestors. The record of my journey … Continue reading Intro: Ramblings in 2017
