I went down an ancestral rabbit hole today. The more I dug, the more roots I came up against. I believe it’s important to know where I come from, but unfortunately, it has never been something I’ve paid much attention to. I find dates difficult to remember and I find names of people I’ve never met difficult to connect with. I used to use history class as a chance to catch up on sleep in between English class and basketball practice.

Thankfully, today’s prompt forced me to get a bit more intimate with the roots of my tree, and while I don’t think I went as far back as I could have, I uncovered a new root that stopped my digging. Listed on my mom’s side was a piece of a story that grabbed my attention:

Picture reads: Carthina Morrison Stewart. Born in between June and July of 1834 aborad the Barque Cartha on the Atlantic Ocean.

I was hooked! Imagine starting your life aboard a ship, on a voyage across the ever unpredictable Atlantic. I imagined Carthina’s parents, Catherine and John, deciding it was time to move from their lives and friends in Scotland and venture to an uncertain future and land in Canada. What must that decision have taken? And what was the journey like? Aside from the obviously suboptimal birthing ambiance, I don’t think a voyage in 1834 on the Barque Cartha would have been a joy ride in general…

It turns out, aside from plans to uncover more of my family history, I am going to have to write a future story about this root in my family tree – what a great prompt in itself!

Written for Bloganuary prompt 8: How far back in your family tree can you go?