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Epilogue.
So there you have it, our family traced through 25 generations and 750 years. When I look at what I wrote to sum up in 2012 it is perhaps no surprise that this expanded and re-worked version has taken the best part of two years to research and put together.
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The Pursers had been a largely closed book with just a few tales told by my Grandmother. First time around I could not find enough definite information to be able to reliably get back more than 3 generations.
A couple of strokes of pure good luck started to clarify things but after having my DNA analysed the family virtually jumped out at me !! Within days of my DNA being added to and cross-matched with the huge database held by Ancestry, messages started arriving as the descendants of various branches of the family got in touch wanting to know how I fitted into their family trees.
You will recall George Thomas Purser had to skip the country in a hurry with his wife and three youngest children. Well, they settled in Australia making a new and successful life there. However as their children grew up he forgot to mention that they had an older brother & two sisters who did not go to Australia. They could remember little of their early childhood in London so when George died, our half of the family simply dropped out of memory.
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Researching family trees is a big deal in Australia, as the entire white population came from somewhere else, many of them having been transported, not electing to emigrate. So several family members who like myself use Ancestry and similar organisations, got notified that an extremely close DNA match to themselves was alive and actively looking for them in the UK. So I found the Australian relatives that I knew of but could not locate and they found three entire and recent branches of their trees.
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This is how family trees get propagated and it is only by relentlessly chasing down DNA matches that I have been able to progress so far.
BOOK OR WEBSITE.
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When I set out to re-work the 2012 book the plan was for this to become another book, volume 2. As the project has grown to much greater proportions, especially with the Pursers now being included, the cost of getting it printed as before is prohibitive. This is a shame as it seems to work so much better as a book, so as a compromise I will look into the possibility of a shortened text as a book with all or the pictures, charts etc on-line.
There are of course loose ends and some brick walls that I can not get past (so far ). I will keep looking and if anyone is remotely interested then you can subscribe to this site via a link on the feedback page. As a project such as this can never be regarded as finished, if anyone does actually subscribe then they will get the occasional update when I find any significant new information. Nothing more than that, fear not I will not sell your details down the pub or any such thing.
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One of the more irritating loose end is the supposed Turvey connection. I know about plenty of Pursers who Lived in Turvey and even some who worked in t'big-owse . However if Grandma is to be believed there should be a direct connection to the owners of the house and estates. After much searching I can find nothing and the current incumbents who have been most helpful, know of no such connection either.
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The easy thing to do here would be to consign it to the mixed up fancies of a very old lady and ignore it. The problem with this, is that it is the only one of Grandma's tall tales that have not been subsequently shown to be 100% correct. So dismiss this at your peril! I will keep looking.
THE LAST WORD.
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As before the last word is for the latest generation, who so far consist of George, Toby, Jessica and Matthew, or they are the ones I know of and can put a name to. I know that there will be many others in branches of the family that we have not managed to keep in touch with, this is for you too.
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So George, Toby, Matthew, Jessica and all others, this bit is just for you. This website and the book that went before it has taken a huge amount of time to put together and it seems a shame to just draw a line under it and say it is finished. It is the story of our family and families grow.
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Eventually you will get to an age when your thinking is not so much about what you plan to do in the future, but is more about things done in the past. At this age life's big decisions, have mostly been made, and now you are living with their consequences for good or bad.
So when you get to such a time in your life, dust down this website / book and add to it. Add a section about you and your brothers, sisters & cousins. Write about what have you done with your lives, where has life and fate taken you? tell of your lives, your loves, your triumphs and your disasters. Write about your own children, Grand-children, even greats if you live long enough.
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When you have written what you can about your generation then please, pass it on to one of your own children, nephews or nieces, and ask them to do the same.
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Neil Duffin. June 2021
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