Westbury Family History Group will welcome Graham Warmington who will be speaking on the subject of Cornish Emigration and the impact that it had on his Cornish family, on Thursday 24th March.
The second half of the 19th Century saw the demise of several traditional Cornish industries especially those involving mining and quarrying. As a result of this, the Duchy experienced mass migration (in many ways similar to that of Ireland a few decades earlier) to other mining areas of the world such as those in Australia, South Africa, Argentina, USA, Canada, etc.. It was said that wherever there was a hole in the ground anywhere in the world, there you would find a “Jack” (Cornish miner) digging in it, with a Jill (Cornish miner’s wife) at home making him a pasty.
Graham’s family, coming from the granite producing area near Falmouth, saw many of their members emigrating to the granite producing area in Massachusetts, just south of Boston. In the Autumn/Fall of 2015, Graham and his wife Sue visited the area catching up with second cousins and other relatives, finding out about the lives of the American branch of his family. At the same time, they also explored other links between New England and “Old” England such as the Pilgrim Fathers, Boston Tea Party and the American Revolutionary War.
The Westbury Family History Group meets every fourth Thursday of the month at 7.15pm in the foyer of Westbury’s Methodist Church. The branch has regular interesting and informative talks and discussions by members and guest speakers on all aspects of family history and general history.
